You
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to church. Can I get you to grab your hymnals and take a seat?
Grab your hymnals and take a seat
And
Can I get you to turn in your hymnals to hymn number
191 I'm number one nine one in my heart there rings a melody
in number
191 in my heart there rings
Jesus gave me
There never was
I love the price
Oh
There is a melody
Brother Jason
I
Can I get you to turn now to him number 255 him number 255 come and dine
In number 255
Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God affect the advice is chosen people
Come and die master
Disciples
Oh
Good singing
Can I get you to?
Now turn in your hymnals to him number four hundred and eleven
In number four one one hold the fourth number four hundred and eleven
Oh
All righty, can I get you to grab your bottles now and turn to Ephesians chapter
Ephesians chapter 6 and brother Matthias is coming up for the Bible reading Ephesians chapter 6
Ephesians chapter 6
Children obey your parents their Lord for this is right honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise
That may be well with thee and thou mayest live long in the earth
And he fathers provoked not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in
sickness of your heart as unto Christ
Not with I service as men pleases, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart
With good will doing service as the Lord and not to men
Knowing that what to have a good thing any man doeth
The same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and ye masters do the same things unto them
For bearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven. Neither is their respect of persons with him
Finally, my brethren be strong of the Lord and in the power of his might
Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil
For we for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers
Against the rules of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand
Stand therefore having a loins go about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shot with preparation of the gospel
of peace
above all taking the shield of faith
wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and
Take the helmet of salvation and the word sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching their runs through with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and
For me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel
For which I am an ambassador in bonds that there and I may speak boldly as I ought to speak
That ye also may know my affairs and how I do
Tychicus a beloved brother and faithful minister on the Lord shall make known to you all things
Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that ye might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts
Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen
Dear Lord, thank you for this day. I
Pray that everyone could learn something from the sermon that my dad was filled will be filled with the Holy Spirit in Jesus name
I pray amen
Okay, thank you Matias
So Ephesians 6 is the chapter that contains the famous
Armor of God that we're to put on that armor
Why would you why would we need to put an armor?
To go to battle because we're soldiers of the Lord because life can be challenging life can be difficult
And we need to not only defend ourselves
But we are to attack using the sword of the Spirit
But that's not really what I want to draw your attention to I won't notice what it says in verse number 18. Just following that
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching their unto with all
Perseverance and supplication of all for all Saints you see not only is the armor of God important
And of course every part is but we need to remember to always pray
So always pray as we go and live out this life
Which is challenging which we've been called to be a soldier for our Lord Jesus Christ
The title for the sermon this afternoon is how to enrich your prayer life how to enrich your prayer life
I know that when it comes to prayer. It is something that is easy to
Not do properly let's put it that way
Okay when I think about prayer of course prayer is how we speak to the Lord we go to the Lord and we bring out
Prayer of course means to ask we come in we ask things from the Lord
You know we speak to the Lord
But you know it's not the same as speaking to someone that I can see face-to-face
You know between service we had some fellowship, and I've been able to talk to some of you
We can have a conversation we can talk about different topics. You know and we can show interest one toward another
You know I understand what it means to have of course fellowship and friendship and communication amongst other people
But sometimes when I think about my prayer life to the Lord and maybe you can associate yourself with this
it's hard because we don't see the Lord and
Sometimes when you don't see the person that you're trying to communicate with
It's easy to fall into this pattern of maybe just praying and saying the same words
Or you kind of feel like well, I mean I'm kind of speaking out
I know the Lord hears me
But I'm kind of just speaking to the air and and that kind of I don't know if you feel this way sometimes
I feel this way
the communication is is
Somewhat broken you know in a conversation with a human being you have the two-way
Interaction or you're praying to the Lord it's all one way and then to hear from the Lord
You've got to open the word and hear what God has to say to you in return
And so it's a different form of communication
And yet the Lord does want our fellowship the Lord does want us to go to him and ask of him
And you know we are to treat the Lord as though he's our friend. He's our father
I mean if my children came to me and just
Had this repetition
Repetitious way to talk to me without meaning without purpose it kind of break my heart a little bit to think oh my children
Do you not want to have a relationship with me?
Do you know what you don't care about our interaction and so just thinking about my prayer life
And I know this is easy in the in the prayer life of others for it to be kind of this
You know this sort of thing that if I do what I do and if I forget I forget it doesn't really matter the Lord
Knows what I need, but I want to understand that the Lord wants our fellowship
He wants to hear from us, and so I hope I give you some pointers
I've got eight pointers this afternoon of how we can enrich our prayer life
We will come back to Ephesians 6
but come with me to James chapter 4 come with me to James chapter 4 come with me to James chapter 4 and
So as I said I've got eight points as to how you can enrich your prayer life
You see the first thing that you need to do when you go before the Lord is just remind yourself of
Who you're speaking to you're speaking of the creator of all things
You're speaking of the one who knitted you in your mother's womb
You're speaking to the one that gives you the very breath that you can breathe today
You're speaking to the one that has placed you on the earth and at this time to live your life
You're speaking to the one who if not for his great love
You know has the right to cast you into hellfire for all eternity his justice and his judgment is righteous
He's a holy God, and we are not holy. You know we are we are sinful creatures
We have a sinful nature, and it's important to remind yourself as you come to pray who are you dealing with exactly?
Who are you speaking to is the God of all things is the creator of all things and is the one that has given you
Everlasting life and so the first point that I have for your brethren is that you need to humble yourself
Remind yourself of who you are and look there's this sort of um
What's the word I'm looking for there's this sort of thought that you need to understand yes?
I I am coming to speak to my Lord God
But at the same time I'm a saved child of God. You know you're not just a piece of trash
You're not just a sinner
And God does not care for you of course he cared for you so much
That he's given you everlasting life, and he's made you part of his family and in Christ Jesus
He sees you for the righteousness of Christ, and so you are someone important
I'm not trying to remove that importance away from you. You are a child of God. You're saved. You're part of his family
He's your father you can call him our father
And you come running to him like a child come running to your parents to share their concerns you can do those things
But at the same time don't lose sight that you're dealing with the God of the universe
Don't lose sight that you're dealing with an almighty being you know a
Someone who is far superior from us when it comes to our nature, and so it's important that you come and just humble yourself
You know and and who am I saying? I'm speaking to the Lord God
I'm speaking to the one that can change a supernaturally change the events of tomorrow or even the events of today
You know simply by you know listening to my request and and doing things according to his will and
Look at James chapter 4 verse number 8 James chapter 4 verse number 8
The Bible says draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. I really love that
I don't know about you, but when I feel that I'm in sin. I'm far from the Lord
I'm just don't want to go in the presence of the Lord because I feel like Lord. I'm so ashamed
I don't want to oh man Lord. It's the same sin that I've struggled with for the past ten years
Potentially and I still can't have victory and I and there might be this shameful feeling to come before the Lord
But you know when you as soon as you make the decision, I'm gonna go to the Lord
I don't care. I'm gonna draw nigh to him
He draws nigh to you like every step that you take is actually really two steps because the Lord has drawn close to you as
Well, it says look at this cleanse your hands ye sinners and
Purify your hearts ye double-minded
and this is the situation we find ourselves in I
Wish we could maintain a cleanly life
Every minute of every day and then I can just come before God
Boldly well, we should come over because we're his children, but I can come before him without
The
Shame the shame of being a sin a sinner, but we're instructed here to cleanse your hands you sinners
You know, we ought to go before the Lord and say Lord. I'm sorry
Lord I've sinned against you as well again, you know and and that's that requires humility
You know to come before God broken and contrite
Purify your hearts ye double-minded look at verse number nine be afflicted and mourn and weep
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and I love that part and he shall lift you up. I
Don't know why I don't know if it's just my nature maybe you guys don't have a problem this problem
I don't know, but I know when I'm when I've sinned against the Lord. I almost don't even want to open my mouth to him
because
Done it again Lord. You've given me victory. You've given me your Holy Spirit
You've given me your word
You've made me a pastor and I meant to teach God's people and yet I still fail Lord
And I'd almost don't want to go to and I just thought you know, I just think about oh man
How can I come to the Lord? It's pride. Of course, it's pride. It's the ego. It's it's all that you know
Lowering yourself humbling yourself. It's not an easy thing to do
But the Lord says that if we do this if we are come
Afflicted if we come and more and we weep before him if we'd let our laughter be turned to morning your joy to heaviness
Humble yourselves in the soul Lord and he shall lift you up
See the Lord wants you to come to him humbly when it comes time to pray remind yourself again
Who am I speaking to? He's a holy God. He cannot have darkness, you know, he's he's a god of light
There's no darkness in him at all. And I know the darkness that's in my heart and the Lord knows the darkness that's in my heart
Slowing yourself humbling yourself
Because the Lord's gonna be lift you up when he sees that he will lift you up
You can go for that time of prayer and you've come with heaviness and sorrow and now you're lifted up
Okay, again the pride can sometimes get in the way
Okay, because you kind of the pride means you're trying to lift yourself up. You're trying to well, I
You know, I surely are you know, I'm not that bad or surely I don't need to go to the Lord about this situation
But we need to and he will lift you up
the Lord loves it when you come humbly before him and Psalm 51 17 says the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a
Broken and a contrite heart Oh God thou will not despise
See God will despise a prideful heart
God will despise a heart that doesn't want to go to him when we know we need to go to him
And so requires humility and humility is not easy. It's it's so contrary to it again
Maybe some of you like it that's easy for me pastor. That's not actually being humble, by the way
But it's not easy for me. It's I don't think it's easy for anybody
Okay, because we like to be in the right
It's hard to bring yourself and and break yourself and and turn to morning say Lord, please help. It's hard
It's actually a hard thing to do. You know, we're kind of self-made we think of ourselves as self-made people, you know
We've done this for ourselves or we've done that and and again this, you know here in Australia
anyway
healing such my clothes the reason so many people are not receptive to the Lord is because they think of themselves as as
self, you know
Being self-made
Self-made they don't need the Lord. They don't need to be broken
They don't need to consider the sinful states in the sight of a holy God, but you know brethren to enrich your prayer life
I want you to walk out of your I don't want you to just say a prayer
I said my prayer and then like there's there's no change in you. There's there's nothing there's no benefit
There's no value, you know
If we come humbly God promises that he's going to lift us up if we come broken the Lord promises
He's going to elevate us. He's going to make us feel victorious
He's going to give us that clean that clean feeling in our hearts
Even if it's just for a period of time that we know we're right with God at this very moment
And I can go forth in my life and do things for him and serve him
You're in James can we meet to James chapter 1 James chapter 1 and verse number 5
James chapter 1 verse number 5
Between service we're talking to
know
Brother Jordan's got a lot of questions right about life and you know
You tend to we all have questions and we all have decisions to make in life. Don't we we all have decisions to make and
It's nice to be able to go to you know, men in the church and ask questions and to you know
You know, maybe fill it's like gaps certain gaps in that you might have in your knowledge
But the next thing that I have for you brethren when you go to pray or to enrich your life is to ask God for
Wisdom ask God for wisdom ask God, you know, the Lord knows you the Lord knows your heart
The Lord knows your future the Lord knows the the decisions that we need to make in life
But we need to go to him for wisdom and
As much as I appreciate
the growth that I've had in the Lord over the years and grew up in a Christian home and and being able to have the
Profession where I can open God's Word and study it. I realize I still don't have the wisdom
You know, there's never an end to wisdom. There's never an end to new situations. There's never an end to
New problems or new issues you can't get to the end of it
You'll never get to the point where I've you know, yeah, I know every decision. I'll always make the best, you know decision in life
it's not always that case and
What I love about James chapter 1 verse number 5 it says if any of you lack wisdom
Let him ask of God and you know, this reminds me of
King Solomon
Remember when David gave King Solomon
You know, he's going to take the kingdom from from his father David and I love King Solomon heart at the very beginning
He goes before God and says God. I'm just a child
I'm a child. We're talking about that right with 23 or whatever 25. We're like we're still children
Someone's like, you know this job to take to lead this entire nation. It's too great for me
He says I'm just a child in your sight and he he asked God for wisdom and God is so pleased that he's not
Not only gives him wisdom, but he gives him the riches and the power and all the you know
He gives him everything that Solomon could ever desire in a kingdom
And we need to go to ask the Lord for wisdom, you know, sometimes they're like Lord. I've got this situation
I've got options. I I don't know the best move forward
I don't have the information that I need to make this this decision
So the Bible says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God
And look there's nothing wrong with asking your pastor there's nothing wrong with asking people in the church
There is wisdom here. There is experience here, but don't let it replace the wisdom that you ask from God
Because God's wisdom is always correct
Like my experience is just my experience
It might not be the best answer
My advice is just my advice. It might not be the best advice
You see God's wisdom is always the best if any of you like wisdom
And I love it that giveth to all men
Liberally that's freely and
Upbraideth nots meaning that he's not gonna get upset with you when you ask for wisdom and it shall be given him
He's not gonna get upset with you. He's not gonna hold back the wisdom you say Lord. I'm in this situation
I need wisdom the Lord says thank you for asking. I'm so proud. I'm so glad that you've asked of me here
It is freely. You don't need to even pay for it. Here it is
I
Often think about how much?
Has God
Like because God knows what we need before we ask of him
How many times does God have our answer in his hand might be wisdom in this situation and it's right there in his hand
And we're like we're going through life
Struggling don't know what to do. What does the future hold?
What's the best decision and the Lord's like just holding it there? It's like why don't you just ask it's there
I've got for you and
I
Know by my own experience that when I've lacked wisdom, and I've gone Lord give me wisdom
He gives it to you like he really does he finds a way
You know either it's it's in my own time of studying God's Word
How many times do I hear from people you know even from this church past?
I was just thinking about that topic this week, and then you preached on it on Sunday, and he gave me the answer
How many times do I hear that from you guys is it because I know your thought life
Is it because I'm answering I don't know anything
Well, I've been in church, and I've been thinking about certain issue, and then my pastor preaches on that issue
It's not a coincidence
You know what the Lord wants to give you wisdom
the Lord wants to give you guidance ask of it ask the Lord for wisdom and
And
He'll give it to you and let verse number six says, but let him ask in faith
Nothing wavering for here that waiver is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and toss
You know that means when you ask for wisdom have the faith that he's going to give you the wisdom
Don't be like I don't know Lord. You know I've got this situation
I don't think maybe you have the answer or even if you do have the answer Lord
I don't think you're gonna give it to me the Lord will give it to you
But if you're wavering you're not going to receive it
Wisdom I'll read to you quickly from Proverbs 4 7 it says wisdom is the principal thing
Therefore get wisdom and we've all thy get in get understanding
That's Proverbs 4 7. What is the principal thing what the principal means the primary thing the first thing?
Wisdom we need wisdom we need understanding we need knowledge I
Feel like I'm I'm never gonna get to the end of knowing things
I'm never gonna get to the end of getting the wisdom of God
It's not it's not gonna get to that point
And I hope you don't feel like I've learnt all I can learn in life
Nothing good nothing's gonna. Take me by surprise because it will
Things will take you by surprise
And you say I don't know what to do
Am I
Stupid I'm inferior. I don't know what to do in this situation am I just stupid no
That's the time for you to go Lord. Please give me your wisdom and have the faith that you're going to give it to me
That's how you enrich your prayer life
And I'm giving you these things to think about because maybe there are areas in your life that you can fix in your prayer life
Sometimes I look back at my prayer life and like I
Just don't know if I've been praying properly like I've been going to God I've been opening my mouth
But again, it's like am I just going for a process am I just am I speaking to my Lord as though
He's a because he is a real being
You know if I if my kids came to me and spoke to me the way that I speak to the Lord would I
Enjoy this interaction. That's how I kind of think about it sometimes
Our
prayers can get repetitive can't they
And look oh, I'm gonna. I'm skipping ahead of my notes of course when we come to church. We're praying publicly
You know we're praying for the service of course
That's going to be repetition because we're going through the same way. We're singing praises. We want the Lord to be
Praised we want him to be worshipped. There's gonna be some level of repetition. You know church usually we do things
There's a way of doing things. You know things have to be done decently and in order okay the Bible instructs us
And so there's going to be that kind of repetitive nature of church, and that's okay
But when you have your personal time with the Lord
You know just think about is the Lord pleased with my prayer life does he enjoy my company
Because look if you're talking to somebody and you've got no interest in what they're saying to you
And you can you can tell they're not interested in you don't you kind of like want to walk away from that conversation
And I'm not saying that's what the Lord would do to you
But I don't want him to have
that
That emotion toward my prayer to him where it's just you're just going through the motion
You don't really love me. You don't really want to spend time with me
You don't want to fellowship with me, but you're just doing it to tick the box
You're doing it because you know you need to pray
You know you know I want to make sure as I'm going through this myself that I want to improve my prayer life
I want to make sure that I'm asking for the right things and
That I'm prioritizing the right things, and then I'm thinking of my Lord as a real being not just that I'm speaking in the air
This is why we need the faith into the faith that the Lord will hear us the Lord will answer us and the Lord will
Liberately freely give us the wisdom he'll give us the direction in life
Sometimes you oh man life can give you so many options, and you're like. I don't know what to do then two weeks later
I don't know what to do six months later. I don't know what to do a year later
I don't know what to do
But did I go to God?
Did I ask him maybe I haven't?
Again the pride you think you're you're smart enough to figure things out, but you're not brethren. I'm not
Lord give me wisdom
Second point that I have for you is ask for wisdom point number one was humble yourself point number two is ask for wisdom
Can you come with me to Psalm 30 Psalm 86 please Psalm 86 Psalm 86?
Psalm 86
There are many Psalms that we could turn to this this this kind of phrase appears many times in the in the Psalms
And by the way if you struggle to pray
I'll give you my tip. I've shared it before because I've had times where I struggle to pray and
what I've done is I've just opened the Psalms and
I've read the Psalm
And I said Lord what that Psalm says is what I want to say to you, but I just don't have the words for it
I don't know how to communicate what I'm trying to say to you Lord. I'll find a Psalm that touches me and go yep
That's actually how I'm feeling. That's what what those are the words that I want to say to you Lord
Don't forget the Psalms is a song book
You know what's good about opening the hymn books and we can sing to the Lord there are beautiful words
Beautiful words that won't come naturally from me
But I want to say them to the Lord and the song helps me communicate that to the Lord the Psalm
That's what the Psalms is for it helps us
Communicates learn how to communicate to the Lord and and how to express oneself
when maybe naturally you might be more of an introverted person even in your prayer life, and you need a bit of help in that
regard and
Some of my sweetest prayers have been just that Lord. I've read this Psalm
That's what I want for me. That's the situation that I find myself in
That's those are the words that I want to say to you, but I just don't know how to do it in my own ability
And so Lord these words of this Psalm. That's my prayer to you
But the thing that I want to say here in Psalm 86 look at verse number 3 Psalm 86 verse number 3
Be merciful unto me. Oh Lord for I cry unto thee daily
For every in order to enrich your prayer life you need to pray daily you need to pray every day
You know pray every day. I'm not talking about just Lord. Thank you for the food
You know I'm not saying Lord. Just I helped me in the start of the day
You know as I get up in the morning or Lord. You know. Thank you for the day
You've given me as you hit your pillow and Lord help me to have a good sleep tonight
And and you know restful sleep. I'm talking about your your communication
Do you have a time brethren where you just spend with the Lord every day?
I'm not talking about a sweet hour of prayer necessarily though if you can have a sweet hour of prayer go for it
I find an hour of prayer very hard
Okay, but I'm just talking about do you have a moment of your day where you just open your heart to the Lord?
And say Lord. This is my situation
Pray every day. It says here be merciful unto me the Psalmist is having some issues
Psalmist is having
He's got some sin that he needs to confess the Psalmist feels far from the Lord
You know the Psalmist knows that the Lord's hand of chastisement should be upon him
So it says be merciful to me if I cry unto thee daily
See the good thing about daily. There's both pros and cons when you do something repetitive on a regular basis again
It can become you know just a checkbox. Yep. I prayed yep
You know went to church whatever it is that you do, but the good thing about doing things daily
Is that you develop that habits it becomes part of your life. You know I need to spend time with my Lord
Okay, I need just 10 minutes
Maybe 15 minutes where I open his word
And I hear some great truth from my Lord and now I can express my needs to him
The Lord loves your fellowship. Why did he save you yes to bring you to heaven?
You know and we know that we're gonna see Christ. We're gonna see the Lord actually at the Father face to face
When we're with him why does he want us to be face to face to him?
What do you think just to look at our face the Lord knows what our face looks like he wants to spend time with us
He wants to be in fellowship with us
You know God in his nature is social. That's why he's father son Holy Spirit
God is not one person God is three persons and God wants your time. He wants your fellowship. He wants your your love and appreciation
toward him
Pray daily get into that habit because look if I if I was ringing you up every day
And we had a sweet phone call not that I'm gonna do that. Sorry. I don't have time
But if I did wouldn't that enrich our relationship
You know and it wasn't just a phone call where we're just repeating the same words over and over again, but it's meaningful
You know I'm hearing from you. You're hearing from me
You know I'm sharing my faults toward you and and I pray for me brother. Well. You know we need to go to the Lord every day
Ask for his mercy every day because we sin every day. You know and cry unto the Lord every day because every day we have needs
Every day we have something that we need the Lord's come through for us with
Pray every day
In the Bible says in Luke 18 1 and he speak a parable unto them to this end that men are
Always to pray and not to faint
To pray always not to faint
Have you gone through days where you've not prayed?
The day this week that you've not prayed yep, that was me because he fainted you gave up
He said not today Lord. I don't have time for you
and
To enrich your prayer life again pray daily to develop that habit is what I'm trying to say not to check the box
I've done the prayer because that's not going to please the Lord you just check the box
You know again our hearts need to be there. I want to be with the Lord
and
Even if my flesh doesn't want to be with my Lord
I know the new man within me wants to be with the Lord and it's time for me to crucify that old man
Okay, put on the new man because that is the new man
That is the man that loves the Lord that is the man that loves to be in fellowship with my Lord
Pray daily can you find time can you find 10 minutes 15 minutes?
Because you know you spend more time on social media than that time that you spend with the Lord
You know you spend more time watching the TV than you spend time with the Lord
Okay, you know you spend more time in your relationships and your friendships than you spend in the Lord
Can you just find 10 minutes 15 minutes sweet hour of prayer sometimes with the Lord to be with him?
Speak to him love him
Show him that you appreciate him. He's done so much for us
Come with me to Ephesians chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 6
This is where we had the breeding from of course
Ephesians
6 and
By the way all of these points are areas in my life that I need to fix
Sometimes you know like my sometimes my sermons are like okay
I want to preach these things to my church a lot of my sermons believe it or not. I like
What do I need to fix in my Christian life? I'll just preach about it
Because if I have to fix it probably someone else has to fix it I
Like all these points are things that I'm trying to fix in my prayer life
Okay, so then as I go through them. You're like. Oh the past is struggling in that area
Yeah, then pray for me as well, and I'll pray for you as well that we can improve our prayer life, but Ephesians 6 18
Praying always that's like pray every day. We've all prayer all prayer
Praying always before prayer
Okay, so obviously when we say praying we often talk about case speak to the Lord, but don't forget praying means ask
Asking that's what actually means I pray thee I'm asking of thee okay praying always we've all prayer
so in other words
Everything that you need to ask for
Take it to the Lord
everything
everything that you need
look all prayer and supplication in the spirits and
watching thereunto with all perseverance of this and
supplication for all saints
You know what you're when you're done praying for all the things you need now think about everyone in church
what do they need and
Bring all those supplications of all the Saints if you know anyone else outside of our church as a believer
Bring their request before the Lord as well. I don't know that's gonna take longer than 30 seconds dear Lord
Thank you for this day. Help me today. Give my needs. You know what I need Lord. Amen
That's gonna take some time
You're gonna need a good 10 minutes 15 minutes
You're gonna need that sweet hour of prayer to bring all your requests
Isn't it strange how often we don't bring our requests before the Lord
And I don't I don't know what this is
Again, say it's a flesh. It's pride. It's all that it probably is but
Like I know that my God answers prayers
I know that he hears my prayers
and I know he's answered so many times in and he's answered it even better than I've wanted in my life and
Yet I have a need I have a requirement from the Lord and I just refuse to go to the Lord about it
And I don't really understand that
I don't know. Can you relate to that?
But what we learn here and I guess maybe the Lord knows that about me or knows that about you
And this is why he's just given us a clear direction. Just bring all your prayers bring all your needs to me
Even though it might seem so insignificant
It might look so little or you might think I've got a handle or don't worry about I've got other needs
I don't think I can handle I'll give them to you. But here are other things that I know I can handle
So don't worry about Lord. I'm not gonna bring those in prayer to you
No, I think I've learned the lesson even the things that I think I can handle
There still needs the still requirements. I still need to take that to the Lord
still and
Then all the needs of our church members, by the way, if you can make the midweek service
If you don't if you haven't come we do ask for prayer requests and look if anyone brings up prayer requests
Like we had one this morning. Keep that in mind during the week. Please pray about those things
You know our brethren each one of us have needs and requires. It's not just us
We all have something and you know, Wednesday nights is a good time because after the sermon we ask of any prayer require prayer requests
Any needs sometimes praise points and I don't record that
I don't put that on YouTube because I don't want the whole world to know about everyone's issues
Because obviously there are some things that you're willing to share amongst your church members
But not necessarily to the whole world so we don't put that on on the live stream
but if you're able to make a midweek service and and come and pray and hear the needs of others, I
Remember because I the reason I do this is because one of my churches that in Sydney victory Baptist Church
They will do this on Wednesdays and I realized wow
people have needs
Wow, and actually I didn't realize like you got a Sunday and you know
We put in our Sunday best and God bless you brother. See you next week
But then when I went on Wednesday, and then I heard the prayer requests and I got I had no idea. I
Really hadn't it's not that I didn't love them. I'm not that I didn't think God they needed God for certain areas, but
it really opened my
Understanding of how many needs people have and
Then it helps you not to be so focused on your own needs
Because you're like I seem to be handling all right
Man, he's in bad state a bad state. I
Didn't realize how bad this person's sickness was I didn't realize this person had has cancer
I didn't realize this person is struggling financially. I didn't realize this person
You know you start to all these things. I didn't realize this person didn't have a mom and dad
You know I didn't realize this person marriage is falling apart. I didn't realize their kids hate them
And it just you know all of a sudden. It's like well my people in church. They're real people
they're real struggles and
Lord you've given me the honor
It's not just bring my requests before you, but then to hear the needs of others and bring their requests before you
So point point for Brevin is bring all your needs even the things that you don't think you need God's help with just bring it
and the needs of others
But again that requires thought doesn't it it requires time and many times. We're not willing to give the Lord that time
Because I gotta get to work
Gotta get busy gotta go and eat
Gotta go and check Facebook whatever it is, and we forget to give God the time the thought
What am I going to talk to him about?
You know sometimes I I meet up with people from church, or you know pastor. Can I talk to you about something?
You know and I'm coming when I do that. I'm coming thinking
This person has something and if I know a little bit
I'm trying to think about bold verses, or you know what I could say to this individual
I'm giving it thoughts as I come to meet with somebody
Okay, but do I do the same thing for my Lord? I don't think so
You say well the Lord knows everything that you need yeah, but you can see here sometimes
He's got it available to us, and we're just refusing to ask
And all it takes is to ask and there it is many times
Bring all your needs and the needs of others. Can you come with me to Philippians chapter 4?
Philippians chapter 4. You know this is one of these are some of my favorite verses. I often preach on these verses
Because it's so true Philippians 4 6 please Philippians 4 6
Philippians 4 6
Bible says be careful for nothing
How is that possible be careful for nothing what that means is don't be full of care
Don't be full of care about nothing
Have no worries
No fears
Go what in the world that's a big thing to ask of me Lord
Be
Careful for nothing so what's the answer, but this is how you're careful enough in but in
Everything look at that everything by prayer and supplication
With Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God
Why do we fear why do we worry now we know why because we don't bring everything to him
I've got a hand with Lord. Don't worry about it
Man how foolish how foolish can we be?
and
Then verse number seven and once you've done that once you've done that this is why you need your sweet hour of prayer
this is why you need your half an hour with the Lord sometimes and
The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus
You want the peace of God in your life where you're not worried about anything
well, you've got to bring everything to the Lord everything and
Leave it with the Lord leave it with the Lord
It says which passeth all understanding no one understand this world cannot understand the peace of God
You have the blessing you can understand the peace of God
And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's never been times where I've been like woohoo
I got I'm full of God's peace. I have no worries
Of course there are moments in life like that
We all have spiritual highs and we have spiritual lows we have highs and lows have highs and lows so they might be a good
Day for that with the Lord tomorrow might be a bad day. You know we all go through those times
Don't get me wrong, but how many times am I?
Neglecting the peace of God because I refuse to bring everything to him. I refuse to bring all my needs to him
Again, why do we do that? I don't if you guys can hear me an answer of the service. Please tell me I
I
Don't understand it because I know like I said I know he answers
I know he hears and I know he loves to hear from me, and he loves to hear from you
So why do we refuse what's that stubbornness?
And so I read about in the Bible the Jews stiff-necked people
And like ah how they do that and then look at my life. I'm like oh yeah, I
Can be stiff-necked you know you can be stiff-necked we can refuse to come before the Lord when we need him the most
Please come with me to first Peter chapter 3 first Peter chapter 3 first Peter chapter 3
For those of you that are married tonight this afternoon I should say
Do you love your spouse?
Like when you think of your wife or you think of your husband
Can you say pastor I love my wife pastor I love my husband
You know we we do we spend time together
You know we can appreciate each other's strengths, and we can kind of put up with each other's weaknesses
We've gotten used to each other even the bad habits. We're just the love overshadows the bad habits
The love overshadows the defects because none of us are perfect
You know
Marriage is for life. Did you know that?
It's for life. You can have a really sad life. We can have a really joyful life and
Man you know if your marriage has struggles
Please fix it. Please you know that's that's the person for the rest of your life
Besides the Lord God we know he comes first, but that person that you married to
They are the most important person on this earth that God has put you with
Okay, and why are you saying this because it says in first Peter chapter 3 verse 7 likewise he husbands
dwell with them according to knowledge
giving honor unto the wife as
Unto the weaker vessel and has been heirs together of the grace of life
That your prayers be not hindered
Can
You see that if we have a
Marriage that's on the rocks if we're not enjoying our partner
I don't like the word partner because that's the if we're not loving our spouse and join our spouse
You're going to hurt your prayer life
That your prayers be not hindered if you're not taking care husbands of your wives if you're not honoring your wife
Your prayers gonna be hindered
That's God's promise to you
So number one the person that I married I want to be happy with her
Because I'm gonna be with her for the rest of my life. I want to enjoy her company
but number two if I don't
You know if we don't appreciate each other my prayers are gonna be hindered
Look how important your spouse is to the Lord God
Because you can't treat the person that I've given you for the rest of your life properly you can't get along
You keep having conflicts
And you don't love each other and you just focus on the problems that everybody in the world has
And you can't appreciate the good things they give to you
Then I refuse to answer your prayers. I
refuse to hear present
It's pretty serious don't you think
But your prayers be not hindered the fifth point that I have for you Brevin is develop a strong marriage
develop a strong
marriage
Except pastor you don't know my wife pastor. You don't know my husband
but we all know because I know
The limitations of my wife. I know she's not always the wife that I want her to be
But then I know I'm not always the husband that she wants me to be
Is that right she wants me to be yeah?
Sorry, but I mean you know and and and the same for you
What do you expect?
Expect a perfect person
See being with your your spouse
It teaches us how to love
You know someone that isn't perfect, and then we can understand how God loved us who are not perfect
We're far from it. We come short of the glory of God and yet with his great
Love he was willing to sacrifice his son to save you
So
Why can't we just get along with our wife? Why can't we just get along with the husband?
You know we want to enrich our prayer life
Then you need to develop a strong marriage
The Bible says their husbands that your wife is a weaker vessel
You know she's weaker physically we know that and she may very well be generally speaking weaker emotionally
Okay, she might be weaker spiritually
Remember it was not Adam that was deceived by the devil, but it was Eve
You say well, then why did Adam eat of that tree he just made the choice he chose wrong
But the woman was deceived and
Husbands you've been given this authority to to what dwell with them according to knowledge know what they're like understand
God is telling you. They are weaker. God is telling you. They're not going to be like one of the boys
They're not going to act and respond like men
Men sometimes we can
Control those emotions more so than our wives, and then when our wives have those emotional responses we get frustrated
Why can't you be more like me because she's a woman?
Because she's the weaker vessel, but even in that state you are to honor your wife
I'm glad that we got to honor mothers. You know a week ago for Mother's Day
Because women are important so important to the Lord when the Lord gives you your wife
God says look look after her love her
Cherish her and I'll answer your prayers
I'll make sure we have a great prayer life together if you look after this person that I've given you for the rest of your
life
Develop a strong marriage develop a strong marriage come with me to 1st John chapter 5 1st John chapter 5
verse number 14
1st John chapter 5 verse number 14
And it says and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything
According to his will
He heareth us
And if we know that he hear us
Whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that are desired of him
But what is this asking us?
This is saying that we can get to the point
Well, we can ask the Lord of anything
And we know he hears us and is going to grant us those petitions
But what is the criteria the criteria is to ask?
Um
It says that if we ask anything according to his will the point number six for heaven is learn the will of god
Learn the will of god
And this is the process. This is part of growing as a christian, you know growing and understanding the scriptures more the more
You know the scriptures the more you know the will of god
You say pastor, I don't know what god's will for me is open the bible and find out
What
First of all, god is not willing that any should perish
but come uh willing that any should perish but
Should all come to repentance
That's god's will number one
How about we go and preach the gospel?
I don't know what to do with my life
It's all of it's in the bible pick up god's word
You know something that i've found amazing
Answers to prayer
Has been when i've just opened god's word. I know what he promises me what god says to me. That's his will
Not necessarily what I say to god is not necessarily his will but what he says to me and what he instructs me
What he commands of me is his will
There are many times that I just open the bible as I pray and say lord your word says this
Can you please give me that
according to your word
According to your will lord. You've promised this
You've said this you want me to do this. You want me to achieve that?
It's kind of like what I mentioned about when I struggle to pray i've got to the psalms similar approach
I just open god's word and say god. That's what you say. That's your word. That must be your will
Therefore, can you please answer that prayer?
Can you please give me what you've heard in your word?
Can you please fulfill your will and the bible says if we ask according to his will he answers?
I know as a teenager. I prayed for a lot of things
That are just my will
That's why I never got him answered
The more I knew the bible
That's not what god wants from me. That's why he didn't answer
And now I can I ask according to his will for me because it's always the best
Being in god's will is always the best will to be in
Learn the will of god. You got to learn the bible. You got to open god's word and find what he wants for your life
You know, it's not this cryptic. Oh, what's god's will for me?
You know, I don't know and i've just got to you know, you know cry on my knees
What you have to do is just open god's word and read it
And everything all the promises, you know all the things he asks of us, you know, if he asks us to live a holy life
That must be possible
If if we learn that, you know according to the bible that we can have victory over sin
Then that must be god's will for me to have victory over certain sins
And so i'll open that to the lord and say lord, this is what you want for me. This is your will
Can you please answer this prayer?
And when I started doing that i've seen a lot more answers to prayer
And when I started to pray according to his will it seems like every prayer gets answered
Yeah, it's you know
Again, it's not my desires or some special power that i've developed. It's just lord what you want make that happen
I think christ say thy kingdom come thy will be done
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Because in heaven god's will is done
But not necessarily on the earth
So so lord the same, you know the same influence that you have in heaven. I want that influence
in my life
So I can live a life that is according to your will
You know the bible says in psalm 138 verse two, i'll just read it psalm 138 verse two
I will worship toward the whole thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth
And then these famous words for thou has magnified thy word
above all thy name
What is more what is greater what is what's been magnified by the lord more than his own name?
Than his own name his word
Wow
So lord if you've magnified your word above your name
I mean what is higher than your word?
There's nothing higher
So lord
That's what the bible says
Again, I might not know how to ask of you. But lord that's what you say. That's what you promise. That's your will in my life
Can you make it happen?
I'm, not asking my own selfish desires here lord. This is what you're saying to me. This is what you want from me
You know, can you please fulfill that for me lord
So learn the will of god
And I don't think god minds you're challenging him with his own word
It's his word
You know, I often think about prayer like
Like an arm wrestle sort of thing
not that you're
it's not it's
What you're looking for with the lord is this?
This mutually agreeable outcome
You know what the lord wants and that's going to be best for me. I often think of that about um
Jacob
You know when jacob all night long wrestled with jesus christ
That story
Okay, and and and it's it's christ because he gets identified as god he gets identified as a man
The only god man is jesus christ
And that's a it's an appearance of christ in the old testament and jacob's wrestling all night with him
And the lord says hey, you know it, you know, the sun's coming up and you know, i'm just paraphrasing, you know
Let go of me. Okay, we're done and and jacob goes well i'm not letting you go until I receive a blessing
And then the lord says well then, you know, your name will be israel because you're a prince
You have you have power over you have power over with god and with men
You know prayer gives you power
When you go to the lord and just give a bit of a wrestle
And say lord your word says this and I need it right now lord if this is your will as it says according to your word
You're going to lord you're challenging him as it is as it were in in a wrestling match, you know and say lord
Please answer please bless me. Please. Give me the answer lord. Please come through with your power
Prayer is such a powerful tool
Such a powerful tool
You know and so I want you to enrich your prayer life, you know, I want you to
Walk away knowing that god has heard me. God will fulfill god will answer these prayers
And i'm not just going for the motions, you know in this interaction with god
He has seen that i've truly loved him and boy i've enjoyed his presence too boy
Boy I enjoy the time that I spent with my lord and now I can get through the day without worries without fears
Because I know the lord has heard me. I know that i've spoken to him according to his will
Come with me to mark nine mark nine
Mark nine
Verse 24 mark 9 24
Mark 9 24
and straightway
The father of the child cried out and said with tears
lord, I believe
Help thou mine unbelief
See his son had an evil spirit within him. He says lord. I know you can heal him
I believe
Help thou my unbelief in other words like I believe but there are doubts
I I believe but I don't think I really believe I don't know. I think I believe lord, but if
Whatever unbelief I have. Can you help me lord?
Because I know I need to go and pray in faith. I know I need to pray without doubting
I know when I pray I can't be tossed to and throw
Verse number 25 when jesus saw that the people came running together. He rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him
Thou dumb and deaf spirit I charge thee come out of him and enter no more into him
And the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him
And he was as one dead in so much that many said he is dead
But jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose
And when he was coming to the house, his disciples asked him privately. Why could not we cast him out?
And he said unto them this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting
The seventh point that I have for you brethren is mix your prayer with fasting
Mix your prayer with i'm not saying every day because you need food, okay
But we need to develop this habit
And we haven't done it in a while as a church. We've done it maybe
in the five years five or so years that we've been as a church we may have
for maybe four times we've had a time of
church fast
And say you know guys we have these needs we have these requirements, you know
It seems like we're praying for the same things or and uh, we don't just seem to be finding an answer to this
You know, we believe but maybe help thou my unbelief and and uh, and look maybe we need to mix fasting, you know
Can we have a night of fasting and and look we do that as a church the whole?
But you need to learn as well there are there are things that you're asking of the lord seemingly
restricted seemingly doesn't seem to
Be answered the way that you know, it needs to be answered you see
It's it's a world that cannot be seen by our physical eyes, but there is a spiritual world out there
Okay, there there are devils out there
There's there's satan and I know the devil would want nothing more than to hinder this church and to hinder your life
Okay, and sometimes without realizing the disciples didn't realize the lord obviously jesus knew sometimes we don't realize
That we're being hindered or prevented by some foul spirit
by some evil spirit
Okay
It's hard it's hard to wrap your head around that because we don't see it
It's an unseen world, but it's true according to god's word. It's out there
And sometimes our prayers are not being enriched they're not being answered the way we think or they're just it just seems like
All right, why isn't this coming through?
When I know it's god's will
It might be that you need a bit of fasting a bit of fasting come with me to acts 13 come with me to acts 13
mixed prayer with fasting
Because again, you know
We're seeking god's will
when we pray
And we know that within us we have the dual nature
the flesh
And the spirit, you know, and these are things contrary one to another
And we want the spiritual man to win and that's the one that prays properly and gets received things from the lord
And uh, where am I going with that? Oh, yeah because of our flesh
We know that our flesh has needs and you know, these needs are not wrong and sinful of themselves. We need to eat
Yeah, we need to eat but when you fast
What you're doing what you're demonstrating what you're what you're telling your flesh is i'm not giving you what you want
I know you want to eat right now. I know you're hungry right now
But i'm not going to give you what you want flesh i'm i'm seeking to be in the spiritual man
I'm seeking the lord to be pleased and to look down and see my humility
And see my brokenness and see that these things are on that are they're heavy upon my heart
And so for a brief period you you ugly flesh you're going to stand aside while I spend my time with my lord in spirit
And so fasting is powerful as well mixing prayer with fasting
somehow unlocks
You know spiritual doors that can be hindered by the enemy
But not only is fast needed when you find yourself kind of being restricted in certain areas
You know, you know my favorite
Let me share with you my favorite story of fasting and it's right here at new life at this church
And I think it's the first time that we fast as a church
To me, it's so clear as day where we went we would go soul winning
I think two or three months
And we were just it was just dry
Nobody was getting saved
We were barely getting the gospel out to people. We're barely able to plant seeds
And I I just kind of thought man the sunshine coast
What a dry place and it is a bit dry place, but you know, I just thought man well lord
Why did you bring me here? I mean this place is so unreceptive and
I don't think it was my idea. I think someone shared it with me. Why don't we pray and fast?
So we did we had a wednesday night prayer and fasting
Okay, I hope you know, I think i'm not sure if everyone did but several of us, you know refrained from eating that day
We came before the lord and we just prayed and our big the big burden on our hearts was lord
We just don't seem to be winning people to the lord. What's going on?
And it's amazing the next weekend
I think it was two salvations
And it was like weekend after weekend after weekend
Just every week every week for the next. I don't know how long there was always a salvation
And look we've been praying for people to get saved
But when we mix the fasting
Something changed
And I can't even give you the full answer to that, but I know it works
You want to enrich your prayer life mix some fasting acts 13 verse 1 acts 13 verse 1 just quickly
Now they were in the church
That was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called nigah and Lucius of Cyrene and Manan
Which had been brought up with harry the tetrarch in soul
And they ministered to the lord and fasted
You see they're just serving the lord this church decided look, let's have a church fast. They fasted together here
um
the holy ghost said
Separate me Barnabas and soul for the work whereunto I have called them and when they had fasted and prayed
They laid their hands on them. They
And laid their hands on them. They sent them away
You see fasting is also good to further the ministry of our church
Maybe there are certain
Challenges that were that we're dealing with as a church. We maybe the lord wants certain ministries
Like I think of blessed up after church that was a ministry of our church to begin with it is now its own church
But that was you know the work and sometimes god wants a greater output from our church
But we need to mix the fasting
You know in this situation the holy spirit made it very clear that Barnabas and soul should be sent out as missionaries
Going out to the gentile nations starting churches winning lost, you know souls to the lord, etc. Etc
So brethren, we need to mix prayer with fasting. Please don't neglect fasting. I'm not saying necessarily do it every day
I'm not saying necessarily do it every week
But you know every day and again when you just say you know what there is something
Withholding us or something withholding me. There's some block that I can't really comprehend
Mix some fasting and see what god can do for you
Come with me to Matthew chapter 6. I've got my last point now Matthew chapter 6
And it's kind of with what I what I started with as I started this sermon, but Matthew 6
verse 7 Matthew 6 verse 7
Matthew 6 verse 7
Jesus these are the words of Christ it says but when you pray use not vain repetitions
As
The heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking
You know, you can do much speaking much praying, but if it's just vain repetition, it doesn't please the Lord
So I was kind of saying to you earlier
You know, we often think about like say the Roman Catholics in fact
I don't know if it was my wife because she was a Roman Catholic when I met her
I don't know if it was my wife or someone else said to me once they were surprised with how we pray
Because they're used to having some type of prayer book
Okay
Say that prayer and say that prayer and you need forgiveness of sins say 10 hail Mary's hail Mary hail Mary hail Mary hail
Say 10 our fathers our father our father our father our father, but now you're right with God
Christ says don't use vain repetitions
And I can't if it was my wife or some friend that was Roman Catholic some they were kind of surprised
Oh, you just talk to God like don't you have the the ritual don't you have the you know?
Everything downright exactly, you know, these are things that we've heard from Christian forefathers in the past
These are the right prayers to pray and you just speak to God openly, but I like that about our faith
I don't want the vain repetition. Do you want do you want our conversation every Sunday to be the exact same conversation?
No, do you think God wants the same conversation every day that you spend time with him?
So yeah, we often think about the Roman Catholics and they either the way that he didn't have any petition
You know the Baptist can have vain repetition
We can just go the Lord think it's a thank you for the food and Jesus name of Ray. Amen
Thanks a lot of tick box done every day every day every day. That's the vain repetitions. It means nothing
It doesn't enrich your relationship your fellowship with God
Let's backtrack a little bit in that same chapter look at verse number five
Christ says when thou prayest and when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are
For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets
That they may be seen of men
Verily I sound to you they have their reward
Let's never be a church like this. I know our prayers can be a bit repetitive again because of the nature of church
Okay, but we don't want to be yeah, just you know pray
You know just just using you know elaborate words and putting on the holiness and it's like
Look God's a real person like talk to him like he's real
But people sometimes put on the show look at me. I'm a great prayer and person. I'm such a holy man
They have the reward the praise of men is that reward the reward is not the answer prayer the reward is the praise of men
Wow look at that man. Go look how he prays. He must be a holy man
That does that
Does nothing to satisfy your needs?
But look at verse number six, but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet
And when there has shut thy door pray to the to thy father
Which is in secret and thy father which see if in secret shall reward thee openly
You need this time you do this. This is what Christ is asking of you go and find some secret time with the Lord
Go to your bedroom close the door you say pastor my house is full of family kids like mine all right go out
There's a lot of empty places here on the Sunshine Coast a lot of nice beaches that are empty a lot of nice little parks
That are empty go find a place of secrets
You know if you and I are talking about personal matters sharing things, and we're amongst
Not that our churches wicked people, but we're just amongst other people isn't that going to limit
How much we share one to another because we don't want everyone to hear unnecessarily
But if you and I are having a private conversation
Just two of us
Don't you think a lot more is going to come out in that conversation?
It's going to be a lot more personable a lot more meaning
You need to find that time of Christ that that that secret time with the Lord
You know just find it for everything you have to this is an instruction from Christ
Okay, it's great to pray in church, but we're not saying don't pray in church. We're not saying don't pray publicly
That's also something that we do in you know that that is the Lord asks of us
but let's not think that we can go through life and not have a
private time a secret time with the Lord, and I'm telling you when you
Remove the distractions you remove everybody else and you come humbly and you apply these principles that I've covered
This afternoon you will find your prayer life enriched you will find yourself enjoying your time with the Lord
You'll find that secret time where you're going to reveal things to the Lord deep down in your heart that you never thought
We're there to begin with because you're now focused upon him
Your life your prayer life has meaning. It's not just some ritual. It's not just a vain repetition
It's not just a tick the box moments
it means something and
You'll find not only your prayer life improved, but you'll find your fellowship you'll find your love for God your
appreciation for God will grow
So brethren the title for the sermon this afternoon was how to enrich your prayer life number one
Humble yourself number two ask for wisdom number three pray daily number four bring all your needs and the needs of others
Number five develop a strong marriage number six learn the will of God number seven mix prayer and fasting and number eight
I didn't give it to you, but anyway. It's a conversation
Not a ritual number eight is it's a conversation with the Lord not a ritual okay. Let's pray
Heavenly Father Lord we want to thank you for the opportunity to come before you in prayer Lord
Yes, we do pray together as a church and Lord it once again. We just pray that you'd be
Thankful and that you'd be blessed Lord by by the services today
Lord but help us to also find time with you Lord if we don't pray the way that we ought to
I'm sure that would be the majority of us
Please forgive us Lord if there's any points here that we need to improve in our prayer life
Please bring them to our remembrance this week
Lord help us not to go through tomorrow and forget what we've heard help us to apply the changes this very day
That we can be in closer fellowship with you and Lord that we can always seek your will in our life
And not our own will Lord. We love you. Thank you for being a God that answers prayers
Thank you for being an amazing God. You've given us a great power. Help us not to
Take it for granted. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen
Okay, please take your hymnals
Please take your hymnals
Let's sing 361
three hundred and three six one three hundred and sixty-one
Did you think to pray 361 did you think to pray
You
Okay
All right, no intro so let's just get straight into it and the last one we can do acapella if we don't have a verse
for it
You left your room this morning
Did you think to pray in the name of Christ our Savior
Savior
Did you sue for love in favor as a shield today. Oh
How prayin' rest so weary
Prayer will change the night today
So in sorrow and in gladness
Don't forget to pray
Oh
When you met with great temptation
Did you think to pray
By his dying love and merit
Did you came the Holy Spirit
As your guidance day
Oh how prayin' rest so weary
Prayer will change the night today
So in sorrow and in gladness
Don't forget to pray
When your heart was filled with anger
Did you think to pray
Did you plead for grace my brother
That you might forgive another
Who had crossed your way
Oh how prayin' rest so weary
Prayer will change the night today
So in sorrow and in gladness
Don't forget to pray
When your heart was filled with anger
Did you came the Holy Spirit
As your guidance day
Oh how prayin' rest so weary
Prayer will change the night today
So in sorrow and in gladness
Don't forget to pray
When sore trials came upon you
Did you think to pray
When your soul was bowed in sorrow
Bum of Gilead did you borrow
At the gates of day
Oh how prayin' rest so weary
Prayer will change the night today
So in sorrow and in gladness
Don't forget to pray