The Pillar of Prayer

[00:00:00] Many of you that are part of our church, you know, that it's our usual practice to preach through a book of the Bible or a large section of the Bible. But to begin 2025, we've kind of taken a little exception from that. We're actually taking a little time to talk about something we're calling the pillars of community church.

It really is built on this idea that as elders, we really believe that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. You know, it's not our opinion about what we should do. Our job is to listen to Jesus Christ. Just look at the Bible. And then to seek to be faithful and leading in the way that he's called us to lead.

A number of years ago, we got together, we studied the word, we wrote a mission statement. We believe that kind of summing up everything that God calls us to as a church is this, we call to know Christ, his life changing power, and to make him known. Uh, but we also wanted to kind of go deeper and we, we developed a list of core values that, that really explain in some depth about, you know, what are the things that God has called us to?

We seek to use those to hold ourselves accountable to them. But we also realize that while we talk about [00:01:00] those as elders a lot, we wanted to share those ideas with you. So we've taken those and we've, we've condensed them down to seven things that we're calling the pillars of community church. You heard them a moment ago in the, in the, um, in the video, the seven pillars are we worship, we pray, we fellowship, we testify, we disciple, we forgive, and that we serve.

And so each week throughout this series, we're looking at one of these, we're looking at a scripture that talks about What God calls us to, why this should be a pillar. And so this morning we're talking about the pillar of prayer as a church. We believe that prayer is essential to everything that we do.

And that's even one of the reasons why every year, early in the year, we have a week of prayer. We challenge people to do that. We put emphasis on it because we realize we can have all our, you know, all our effort, all the great strategies. And if God doesn't bless it, it comes to nothing. We're in a spiritual work and we pray for God to do the work that only he can do.

And prayer is a way that we remember that we pray for God's blessing. And so this morning, we're going to be [00:02:00] looking at Jesus teaching about prayer in Luke chapter 11, verses five through 13. And, uh, and as we often do, I want to start by reading the passage we're going to look at this morning. And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within do not bother me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot give up get up and give you anything I tell you though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his imprudence He will rise and give him whatever he needs And I tell you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who Seeks finds so the one who knocks it will be open What father amongst you, if his son asked for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a serpent?

Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [00:03:00] If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? May God bless the reading of his word. Let me pray. Father, I thank you for the privilege that we have to come together this morning.

Father, to again, to dive into your word. Thank you for the things that are here for the way that you continue to challenge and teach me. And father, I pray that your spirit would now speak that this would be not my ideas, my message, but somehow through me, you would communicate your message, your truth.

And help us to have hearts that are open to hear and to respond to what you would have for each one of us this morning. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Now, for those that were with us in the fall, we spent, uh, several months looking at the Lord's prayer and, uh, in Matthew chapter six. And, but the Lord's prayer is also recorded in, in, uh, Luke chapter 11.

And in Luke's account, we're told that Jesus gives us the Lord's prayer in response to a request from one of his disciples where they asked him, teach us to pray. Look at Luke [00:04:00] 111, when Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.

And so they're with them all the time, they see him pray, they hear him pray, and they realize, okay, we've been taught to pray, but you pray differently than we do. We don't have what you have. Lord, teach us to pray like you do. And he starts by teaching them about the content of how we're to pray. That's the Lord's Prayer.

You know, he's not giving us these words to recite as in a sense a formula. But it's a model for the prayer. It's an outline in a sense that, that we're to use the structure and say, okay, this is the outline and how we're to come to God. So we see in Matthew six, as we looked at this several months ago, it starts our father in heaven.

How would be your name? Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. It is in heaven. It starts by the foundation. You know, when you pray, come to the father. And then when we pray, our beginning request should be vertical. Instead of saying, God, this is [00:05:00] what I want. No, God, I want to be centered on your glory, on your will, on, on your name, on your kingdom.

And then we're called to pray for ourselves, for our provision, for our protection, for our needs. Give us this day, our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil And again, this is powerful and i've learned to use the lord's prayer far more in my own prayer life Because it's an outline that should help us understand how to approach god, but yet in spite of that content There's still some questions Okay, that's the content, but what about the mindset?

What about the attitude? And so if we go to Luke 11, what we find is that immediately after teaching the Lord's prayer, he gives, he continues to answer the question about, okay, this is now not only what you're to say, but how you're to say it, the attitude in which we approach God. And he tells them a couple stories.

The first parable is about this man who's asleep in bed and it's midnight and again this is, [00:06:00] uh, before there's electricity, so midnight really was in the middle of the night. People were asleep. And he's in a one room house, his kids are literally in, on bed with him and, and, uh, and suddenly the neighbor comes, a friend comes and pounds on his door and he says, okay, I had somebody come and visit.

I need bread. Will you give me bread? In the middle of the night. He wakes everyone up. Now Jesus said that the man who is knocking gets he at what he asked for. Why? Because of his imprudence. Literally, it says in verse, um, in verse 8, you know, then because of his imprudence. And it's actually a hard word to translate.

It has could be boldness, his rudeness, his shamelessness, his persistence. And here's what's incredible. When we look at this, Jesus is somehow teaching That this is an example for how we would approach God with imprudence, with boldness, with rudeness, with shamelessness. You know, in fact, the word bother is even in this.

In verse seven, you know, the man says, don't bother me. And are we supposed [00:07:00] to bother God? Is that the way that we're called to pray? And I've heard people even teach the idea that, you know, that, well, if you just bother God, if you just pray enough, if you just, it's like, you know, putting coins in the bank and if you get enough coins in the bank, then sooner or later, God will give it to you.

Is that what God is teaching us? Now, let me ask you to think of that question from an earthly perspective. Think about our role as parents. Is this what we teach our children? Is it considered loving and good parenting? If we teach our children, you know, if you just beg us long enough, if you, you know, if you whine long enough, sooner or later, you'll wear me down and I'll give you what you want.

Is that good parenting? No. I mean, let me show you even a picture of what that parenting looks like. Yeah. I think about the classic movie, um, you know, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, when one of the kids who ends up getting a ticket is a v uh, Veronica, or I can't even say her last name. There's a little girl, and she's the ultimate spoiled brat.

And, um, and she just continues to [00:08:00] just hound her parents, and basically if she hounds them enough, they give in. And you see that in this scene. I want you to be the first to find a golden ticket, Daddy!

I know, Angel! We're doing the best we can! I've got every girl on the bleeding staff hunting for ya! Alright! Where is it? Why haven't they found it? Veruca! Sweetheart, I'm not a magician! Give me time! I want it now! What's the matter with those twerps down there? For five days now, the entire flipping factory's been on the job!

They haven't shelled a peanut in there since Monday! They've been shelling flaming chocolate bars from dawn to dusk! Make them work nights! Come along! Come along, you girls! Put a jerk in it, or you'll be out in your ears, every one of you! But listen to this! The first girl that finds a golden ticket gets a 1 bonus in her paypacking!

What do you think of that? They're not even [00:09:00] trying! They don't want to find it. They're jealous of me. Sweetheart, I can't push them no harder. 19, 000 bars an hour they're shelling. 760, 000 they've done so far. You promised, Daddy. You promised I'd have it the very first day. You're going to be very unpopular around here, Henry, if you don't deliver soon.

That breaks my heart, Henrietta. I hate to see her unhappy. I won't talk to you ever again. You're a rotten, mean father. You never give me anything I want. And I won't go to school till I have it.

You know, if we just pester God enough with our prayers, sooner or later, you know, he wants us to be able to Veruca's and he's going to give us what we want. And then we sit there and say, no. So then what is Jesus teaching us? Well, let's back up and back up. We need to see the context of everything that he teaches about prayer is that we need to see the relational foundation of prayer.

Go back to the beginning of his teaching about the content of the [00:10:00] Lord's prayer. Where does he begin? The very first thing that he teaches us to pray is to come and pray our father, because what we believe about who we're praying to will define how we pray. We'll understand our understanding of prayer, how we approach prayer.

And so he begins by telling us when you pray, pray like this, our father in heaven. Remember, we approach God as a father. And then at the whole end of the whole section, if you go to Luke 11, how does it end? Look at verse 13, at verse 13, he comes back. How much more where the heavenly father give the Holy spirit to those who seek him.

And so he's bookending all the teaching on here saying that the foundation is coming to God as father. We come to him as a child, would talk to the dad and it's not only the confidence of the relationship, but also in a sense of humility and surrender. Now, a lot of people get this wrong. And in fact, let me give you some, some different ideas.

And we've seen these pictures of different ways that people approach God, not as father, child, [00:11:00] but some come to God as a genie. He's been manipulated. This is incredibly common that people wouldn't would never say that's what they're doing, but that's in practice what they do You know, I've seen people it's like well, okay Well, God promises if I pray if I have enough faith if I do this and God is going to do it So therefore I just need to figure out how to pray the right way I need to I need to show God and prove to him that I have enough faith And it's because all I'm doing is I'm trying to figure out how to rub the lamp because if I figure out how to rub God's lamp in the right way, then he promised that he's going to do it And, and if he hasn't done it, it's because I haven't figured out how to rub the lamp.

Now, that's not what God is calling us to do here. He's not the genie to be manipulated, nor is he a servant to be instructed, but many people see this. Again, they would not say it, but that's what they do in practice. And in fact, you want to know how we see this, how person, if, if this is your view of God in prayer, what happens to you when God doesn't answer the prayer?

In the way or the time that you [00:12:00] expect him to you see for many what happens is they pray and then god doesn't answer The prayer in the prayer in the way in time they expect and they get angry with god. They walk away with god Why god isn't trustworthy? I did my part my part was to pray my part was to you know Obey him in some way and then tell him what to do and because when he didn't do the things that I expected in the Way that I did it He let me down.

He's not trustworthy. He, if he's not going to serve me, then why should I serve him? Now that sounds harsh, but the fact of the matter is, is that I know a lot of people, maybe even some here where that's your struggle with God. God didn't do the things that you expected him to do. He didn't, he wasn't the servant.

Then when you told him he didn't respond. And so you're mad because he failed to serve you and respond to your instructions. See, God calls us no to approach him. The only right way is that we come to him as a father to be trusted and depended upon [00:13:00] a father that we can trust will give us the good things that we need, that we can trust in his love and his wisdom.

And so it should be defined by an incredible combination of great confidence and great humility. On the one hand, we have the confidence of a young child who is totally confident on our father's love. But at the same time, with the humility that we recognize that. Our father knows things that we don't.

Now, again, remembering the context is this relationship with God as father. Now let's go back and see what he's teaching in these parables. First of all, that we're to approach God praying with the bold persistence of a child. Again, we saw in verses 10 through five through 10, this bold persistence of a child coming to a father and, and he gives us this parable.

So let me, it's a, it's a picture of this. So let me go ahead and read the parable versus five through, uh, um, five through seven again. Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I [00:14:00] have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within. Don't bother me. The door is shut. My children are in bed with me. I cannot give up and give you anything. As we read the story. One of the things that might stick out is it's like, okay, this is a different culture. I mean, how many of you can relate to the story where this happened to you?

None of us probably, right? Because it's because there's some cultural things that are going on here. Uh, first of all, when you look at that, one of the cultural context is this guy is coming and he's saying, I've got a friend that came, I need three loaves of bread. In that Middle Eastern culture, as is still the case even today, hospitality was seen as a, almost a sacred duty, a moral duty.

And, and because it was a duty, it would have been unthinkable for this guy to have someone come to his house and, and not have anything to give him. You know, he can't just say, you know, I didn't expect you, you're late, you know, I don't have anything for you. Go to bed hungry. I'll try to find something morning.

That would have been an insult. It would have been a moral failure. So when this guy goes to his [00:15:00] friend and pounds on his door, I need three loaves of bread. He's actually got a real need. He's got a moral obligation. He needs help to meet me. But the second part that we need to understand is that in that day, everyone, except the most wealthy people lived in one room houses.

And so they all lived there and they slept on the floor. They had, you know, they had reeds and leaves that would be there and they all would sleep in one, their bed was basically one part of the house. They would all sleep together. And so when this person comes and pounds on the door, he's not just ringing the doorbell to wake up, you know, the dad.

He's, he's waking up the whole family. And so, so this is really bold. But what is the basis of this request to look at verse five? He says, friend, lend me three loaves of bread. And so he's coming not only with this awareness of need, I've got a real need, but I'm coming to you because you're my friend. And, and so because of the friendship, I can make this bold request.

And what Jesus is teaching us here is that if we can go to a friend [00:16:00] who we know is offended by these requests and, and because of our, um, uh, pertinence in a sense that they may go ahead and give us what we ask for. Jesus is saying, no, God wants you to come. Our friend might be offended by that. God is pleased by that kind of boldness, that confidence.

Now think about this again in human relationships, not the Veruca, Veruca, you know, but, but let's say our younger children, the fact is our younger children have more access to us than about anyone else that think of the most powerful person, you know, think of a president Trump. Who has more access to President Trump than anybody else?

You think, you know, we think of, well, you know, J. D. Vance and the chief of staff and this, you know who else has just about as much access as anybody else? His grandkids. Grandkids come, they go right in the office. They climb in his lap. They've got total access. I think about that even with my kids when, especially when they were younger, my kids had access to me that, that no one else, even my wife didn't have.

I [00:17:00] mean, I could have a four year old, my four year old child come in, in the middle of the night. Daddy, I'm thirsty. You get me something to drink. I'm like, okay, let me get you something to drink. If my wife wakes me up at four in the morning and rolls over and says, Hey, will you go get me something to drink?

I'm like, what's wrong with you? You know, it's like, you know, you can get up, you know, don't follow me. Why are you waking me up? I'm bothered by that. And the fact is, is that kids have incredible access, and he calls us to come with that confidence. See, even if we're missing that, that whole picture, he says, let's make it clear in the next two verses.

Verses eight, nine. I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives, the one who seeks, finds, the one who knocks, it will be open. And he uses strong language, you know, this repetitive, not only ask, but keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

And these have a increasing intensity. So when we ask, we see our need and we, we realize that we need help. We ask for help. But seeking not only means that we ask, but then we, [00:18:00] we look for the answer. There's a sense that we're involved in this and, and knocking involves that we're not only doing those things, but it's persevering.

You think about that. When somebody, you knock on somebody's door, you don't knock once, you know, if somebody comes in, it's like, what is that? Somebody dropped something? I mean, nobody hears that as a knock. What do you have to do? I mean, you have to knock numerous times to even understand it being a knock.

And he says, knock, there's perseverance. And God opens the door, not because our hands are bruised, but through the process of this knocking. He's changing our hearts. Think about how this persistent prayer changes us because prayer is never about changing God. It's always about changing us. It's not about wearing God down.

It's about how he changes us. You know, prayer reveals what we really value. And so say, for example, I could talk about, man, I really am concerned about unsaved family members and. If I don't pray about it, I really, how can I say I'm not concerned? And so it reveals that, but that also has the way of shaping us.

And so [00:19:00] that's why we do things like the week of prayer, where, which tells us, okay, let me make the decision to pray for these things. You know, if I make the decision to pray for unsaved family members on a regular basis, you know what? It's going to actually result in me, it's going to change my heart. It helps us realize our dependence on God.

You know, we think we can do things and we realize that we need help. And sometimes when you come back in that persistence, it's like, God, I cannot do this on my own. And then when God answers, it actually remembers, reminds us that they're a blessing. But beyond this all, it reminds us of God's love. It reminds us that we're called to approach God as a loving father who really cares about everything in our lives.

You know, too often I hear people say something about prayer. You know, I've got this need. Have you prayed? Well, I can't bother God with that. You know, well, no, God is calling us to bother him like a young child. He's, he's, we're, you know, when we think about that, if you have a young child, you want them to tell you the need.[00:20:00]

You want that. I want to tell you there's a time that God really taught this to me. He really confronted me on that You know, we had our oldest was maybe three years old and she had this little Beanie baby that she loved she carried it everywhere and I remember one night She couldn't find her beanie baby, and she's crying She can't go to sleep and and I'm I'm tearing the whole house apart trying to find this little beanie, baby And my mind goes to maybe I should pray about it.

And I thought, no, God doesn't care about a beanie baby. It's just a little, you know, beans in a bag. I mean, it's nothing, it's not worth anything. Why? I can't bother God with that. And God just like whacked me over the head. He's saying, why are you looking for this? Why are you stressed? Well, because my daughter is concerned.

She loves it. She needs it. And it's a dad. I'm concerned about what my daughter is concerned about. And he's like, so do you think you're a better dad than I am? So you're out there looking because you're concerned about what your child is. Don't you think that I'm concerned about what you're concerned [00:21:00] about?

And if you're going to stay up and be so stressed about something, because your kids are worried about that, I love you more than you love your daughter. See, that's what we need to realize is that God calls us to see his love. Now, that being said, if all we saw is this part of it, we might still think that, okay, does he calling us to be like Veruca and demanding?

And well, here he gives us another part and second parable. And he's not only teaching us to come with a bold persistence of a child, but also the trusting surrender of a child. And this is this balance that you need to see these two ideas together. And it totally transforms the way you're going to understand it.

Now look with me again at verses 11 through 13 and we see this balance of ideas that it's we're not just demanding our way, saying, okay, the provoca, I need this, I need this. No, he comes to calls us to come with persistence with you, but to humility of a father who knows better than we do, [00:22:00] who's totally a child who's totally confident in God's love.

But at the same time, with the humility of recognizing that our father knows things that we do not. Look at the picture in verses 11 through 13. What father amongst you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? If he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If then you are evil and know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to ask of him?

He gives this extreme example. You know, almost a Stephen King thing. Which of you, if you have a child, says, you know, Dad, I'm hungry, you know, will you give me a fish to eat? Well, no. Close your eyes. Here, I'm going to give you a poisonous snake. You know, dad, can I have egg for breakfast? Okay, close your eyes.

I'm going to throw you a scorpion that's going to sting you. Of course, a dad wouldn't do that. No worse father in the world wouldn't do that. Why? Because we know how to give good gifts to our children. And he said, okay, if you are sinners, know how to do that. You have a heavenly father who's perfect. And don't you think that he's going to give good gifts to his [00:23:00] children?

Romans 8 32. I love the promise that it tells us in he who did not spare his own son, but gave him us for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things. Jesus Christ, God gave us Jesus Christ who died for us. And now we question whether he would give us something good for us that costs him nothing.

But the problem is we question, is God really trustworthy? Can you rest in his love? There's an implied truth in here as well. It's not only if your child asks for a fish, do you give him a serpent? Well, okay, if he asks for a scorpion, do you give him a scorpion? No. No, it's implied there that the father does what's best.

But sometimes, we as children, we can ask for things that He knows that is dangerous that he knows that is bad for us. And while we may think it's what we need and his love, he says, no, that's not what you need. And the principle we need to remember is that the father will always give you [00:24:00] what you would have asked for.

If you knew everything that he knows, God will not always give us all the things that we asked for. He will not always give us all the things that we think we need, all the things that we want. But that's only because he loves us. It's not because he doesn't love us. It's because he loves us. And he also sees things that we do not see.

So we need to have the confidence of trusting first of all, in God's love. And we need to realize that he calls us to pray with great confidence. And the confidence isn't in our prayers. It isn't, okay, I've said this, right? I'm rubbing the lamp the right way. The confidence is in the character of the one to whom we're praying to.

Again, sometimes people will take this and will, you know, they'll be like, well, if I knock, if I ask, how am I doing it the right way? And no, you come as a child, there's not a right way. The confidence is it I'm coming and I'm bringing my weakness, but I'm coming and praying to one who loves me dearly. And I realized that even as I pray, there is [00:25:00] a confidence and I trust in his love and in his goodness.

You know, the fact is I've got to admit in my own life, as I look in my own life, if I'm honest with myself. A lot of times I come to God and I'm not saying, here's my need. I surrender to the whatever you wanna give me. You know, I, I'm, I'm explaining to God, not only here's the need, but here's how you should answer the need.

And, and I, I'm, I tend to be pretty specific. You know, God, here's my need. Here's the solution. Here's what you need to do to fix it, and, and I'm asking you to do what I want my timetable. And I try to spend my prayer time talking God into my wishes. So let me explain to you why this is a good idea. Let me explain to you why you should do it this way.

And the fact is, if I'm really honest with myself, there's a lot of times that I really don't want to give God the freedom to bless me his own way as he defines it. You know, I'm trying to, you know, I'm Ruka, God, you need to do that. You got to give me the ticket. You got to give me what I [00:26:00] think is best.

You know, there's many of us that were like, man, if I really prayed, God, give me what is best. And he's going to send me to a mission field. He's going to send me to Africa. He's going to do something terrible. I want to, I want to be married. He's never going to let me get married. You know, he's never going to, he's never going to give me the blessings that I want.

And what we're saying is I'm afraid that if I go to God and I say, God, I want lunch, I'm afraid he's going to give me a snake. He's getting me a scorpion. We don't trust him. And we need to learn to have the trust of a young child that trust their mommy and daddy, not only in their love, but also in his wisdom.

And part of that is that we need a humility that trusts in that wisdom, to realize that it's not only that God knows better than we do, but that means that we don't know what's best. It's not only that God is all knowing, but the other part of the battle is recognizing, I'm just a child. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm the toddler who doesn't really know what I'm asking for.[00:27:00]

See, we need to remember that not only is he the father, but we're a child and I think we're the young child. And you think about a four year old who's goes to the parents and their parents are in their 30 mid thirties and, and they asked for something and, and they're like, I really want this. I want this.

And you know, and the father may say, no, why? Because the father sees things that parent doesn't see that, you know, no, you can't have that. It's going to electrocute you. You know, chainsaw. You can't have that at four years old. Bitch. And, and what the four year old hears is that the father may deny or delay the request and the four year old melts down because he thinks that he knows better than the father.

And you know what? When we think about what worry is, worry is basically we're spiritual four year olds trying to insist that we know how life should go and we're fearing that God isn't going to get it right. Bitterness is that we're spiritual four year olds that we insist and we say, God, this is what you got to do.

And. And God isn't doing things our way and our [00:28:00] timetable and God hasn't gotten it right. And we need to understand that we are just these children and, and the gap between a four year old and a 35 year old parent is nothing compared to the gap between us and our loving, oh wise God. I love Proverbs 9, 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

The fear of the Lord is basically, there is a God and I'm not him. And so I come to God with the humility of recognizing that I need him. Now, once we understand this, we realize that when I pray this way, it's not, again, because prayer isn't about changing God. It's about letting God change us. And so praying this way, it's not only with the confidence of a child that's saying, God, this is my heart.

I come and I bring every concern before you, God, I'm persistent, I'm bold. But there's a persistence of saying, God, I'm not going to just tell you how you have to do it. But God, here's my need. And if I'm asking it the wrong way, teach [00:29:00] me. There's a persistence that is combined with the humility that recognizes that God is all knowing and we are not, that we're just young children.

And so we come and we plead before God, but at the same time that we're open to say, God, where, where my mindset is wrong, you know, where what I want is not good for me. God, if the timing isn't right, help me instead of insisting and saying, okay, how can I change you God? How do you want to change me? I love Psalm 37 4 It says delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What an incredible promise You know what it's saying if you delight yourself in the Lord It's not that he's gonna give you all that you want in your heart What it's saying is that if you delight yourself in the Lord, he will give you new desires If you delight yourself in the Lord, and if you do it in such a way that you say, God, here's my heart.

He's going to say, okay, the things that you want that are bad for you, I'm going to take out. And the things, I'm going to give you new desires. And I'm going to [00:30:00] then give you the desires that I want to bless you with. And that is beautiful. That is wonderful. And then I live in the joy and the blessing of God.

But it means that I need to have the humility of saying, God, there may be some things that I desire that aren't right. And you know what? I give you the right to take that. I give you the right to change that because I trust that you are good. I trust that if I really am hungry that you're not going to give me a snake.

You're not going to give me a scorpion. You're always going to give me all the things that I would have asked for if I knew all the things that you know. So we need to remember that the goal of prayer is never to change God's mind. It isn't that if I just wear God out, if I just come to him and beg him enough, that I'm going to somehow change his mind.

The goal of prayer is always to allow God to change our hearts. And it's only if we understand that we're approaching God as father in the context of relationship, it's only then will we fully understand what this means that we'll learn to lean, lean into it and live into [00:31:00] this. My friends, I want to encourage you.

You know, we are in this week of prayer. We're going to be starting this and and in all of us in our own prayer lives How do I go deeper in this and Jesus calls us to go deeper and in boy if you want to even say okay? Here's a little step Let me encourage you to take that step even as a church and you might have a friend or somebody Even a spouse or somebody that you say hey come in and pray with me, but in this God calls us to pray He calls us to pray with, with bold perseverance, with, with almost shamelessness, but with trust.

And, and it's something that's important to us. It's important to us as a church. It's important to us as individuals. And I hope that in your own personal life, that these aren't just ideas that it's, oh, it's good to understand this, but, but how do we lean into this in such a way that we learn to be able to trust in God, rely upon him, to pray to him in a deeper way.

So that we see that we're not just changing his mind, but he's changing our [00:32:00] hearts, that we're delighting in him. And he's giving us new desires. He's giving us our hearts, desires, and things that he wants to give us. I hope that together we can learn that we can encourage each other in that process. If you have a question about the message, community church, or Jesus Christ.

Send us a text to 330 400 3242. You can learn more about our events and community groups at ccpl. life slash connect. There you can also send in a prayer request. We would love to pray for you. Have a blessed Lord's Day and we'll see you on Sunday.