Hi, I'm Pastor Floyd Bresee 00:00:30.42\00:00:33.32 and I've been thinking, it seems to me 00:00:34.17\00:00:36.68 there would be a lot more Christians, 00:00:36.69\00:00:38.73 if Christians were a lot more Christ like. 00:00:39.40\00:00:42.03 Let's pray about it. 00:00:42.71\00:00:43.94 Loving Father, please teach us 00:00:45.52\00:00:50.07 something today that will help us become 00:00:50.33\00:00:54.21 more Christ like Christians, 00:00:54.22\00:00:56.64 in Jesus name, Amen. 00:00:57.48\00:01:00.04 Our emphasis, our focus today 00:01:02.17\00:01:04.18 will be on prayer, what really is prayer, 00:01:04.19\00:01:08.78 and what is praying all about. 00:01:08.79\00:01:11.02 Let's leave our Bibles open to Psalm 103 and I 00:01:11.68\00:01:15.07 will be using the new international version. 00:01:15.08\00:01:18.52 I must confess that I don't totally 00:01:20.29\00:01:23.04 understand prayer, it's been a somewhat 00:01:23.05\00:01:26.89 puzzling subject to me and I'm not alone. 00:01:26.90\00:01:30.00 On a website poll of 678 responded and only 00:01:31.50\00:01:35.82 23 replied that they were satisfied with 00:01:35.83\00:01:39.40 the time that they spend in prayer. 00:01:39.41\00:01:41.46 In a gallop poll 3 out of 4 say that they 00:01:42.04\00:01:44.49 pray everyday and yet they see prayer 00:01:44.50\00:01:47.82 quite often as more a burden than a blessing 00:01:48.52\00:01:52.01 and a pleasure, they feel it's 00:01:52.02\00:01:54.09 important but they feel guilty because 00:01:54.10\00:01:56.53 they neglect prayer. Why do we neglect 00:01:56.54\00:02:02.39 prayer? Let me suggest three reasons, 00:02:02.40\00:02:05.31 first of all I think one reason is because 00:02:06.13\00:02:09.19 of advances in science and technology. 00:02:09.20\00:02:12.30 In drought, the farmer used to lift his face 00:02:13.42\00:02:16.52 toward heaven and pray for rain, 00:02:16.53\00:02:19.51 now he programs this computer so that the 00:02:20.30\00:02:24.06 irrigation system will automatically come on. 00:02:24.07\00:02:27.33 I think another reason that we neglect 00:02:28.47\00:02:30.55 prayer is because of prosperity, 00:02:30.56\00:02:34.04 it's pretty hard to pray in sincerity, 00:02:34.92\00:02:39.07 give us this day our daily bread when we 00:02:39.08\00:02:41.84 already have a month supply in the pantry. 00:02:41.85\00:02:45.53 The third reason why I think we neglect 00:02:46.94\00:02:49.11 prayer is because we've become disillusioned 00:02:49.12\00:02:53.04 with prayer and the fact that so many 00:02:53.05\00:02:55.08 of our prayers seem to go unanswered. 00:02:55.09\00:02:58.07 My wife's first husband was diagnosed with a 00:02:59.94\00:03:03.95 brain tumor and my first wife was 00:03:03.96\00:03:09.19 diagnosed with breast cancer. 00:03:09.20\00:03:11.95 And when the doctor came out of surgery 00:03:13.26\00:03:15.98 and told me that the cancer had 00:03:15.99\00:03:18.53 metastasized. I confess, I went into 00:03:18.54\00:03:25.21 the back area in the hospital 00:03:25.22\00:03:28.64 where they were doing some remodeling 00:03:28.65\00:03:30.70 and there was nobody there and I 00:03:30.71\00:03:32.16 slipped in behind the, the plastic sheet 00:03:32.17\00:03:35.11 covering the door and I paced back 00:03:35.12\00:03:36.95 and forth and I cried. Why? It wasn't fair, 00:03:36.96\00:03:43.58 she was such a good person. 00:03:43.59\00:03:45.47 Both of our friends, my present wife 00:03:48.95\00:03:51.82 and my friends, they prayed. 00:03:51.83\00:03:55.28 People around the world prayed and yet both 00:03:55.93\00:03:59.58 of our spouses died, it's easy to become 00:03:59.59\00:04:04.65 skeptical when prayers don't seem 00:04:04.66\00:04:07.92 to be answered. Well, why do we pray? 00:04:07.93\00:04:13.51 One of the strongest arguments for prayer 00:04:14.83\00:04:18.07 is simply the fact that Jesus prayed, 00:04:18.08\00:04:21.63 it must be worthwhile even if we don't totally 00:04:22.71\00:04:25.22 understand all about prayer. 00:04:25.23\00:04:27.24 If Jesus prayed then as Christians 00:04:27.25\00:04:30.07 we want to pray too, in fact we're not 00:04:30.08\00:04:32.10 Christ like until we learn to enjoy prayer 00:04:32.11\00:04:35.46 as Jesus did. Maybe we just 00:04:35.47\00:04:40.24 don't understand what prayer really is, 00:04:40.25\00:04:43.50 I want to suggest a definition today 00:04:43.51\00:04:46.00 and there are lots of them but try this. 00:04:47.37\00:04:50.22 Prayer is friendship, ownership and 00:04:50.92\00:04:56.16 partnership. Friendship, ownership and 00:04:56.17\00:05:02.02 partnership. There is a well known 00:05:02.03\00:05:04.76 definition of prayer. Prayer is the opening 00:05:04.77\00:05:07.64 of the heart to God as to a friend. 00:05:07.65\00:05:11.18 Prayer is friendship, but it's, 00:05:12.92\00:05:15.22 friendship with a friend who is vastly 00:05:15.91\00:05:18.88 different from us. We have a God who 00:05:18.89\00:05:25.19 wants to be our friend and yet we have a God 00:05:25.20\00:05:28.63 who is a God of, of such majesty and 00:05:28.64\00:05:32.74 prayer must balance intimacy and majesty. 00:05:32.75\00:05:38.52 At sometimes throughout history, 00:05:40.31\00:05:41.90 emphasis been on the majesty of God, 00:05:41.91\00:05:44.36 emphasis in our society today is on intimacy, 00:05:44.37\00:05:47.02 but in proper prayer we must balance 00:05:47.03\00:05:49.53 majesty and intimacy. Psalm 103 and verse 1. 00:05:49.54\00:05:54.13 Praise the Lord, O my soul; 00:05:54.46\00:05:57.31 all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 00:05:57.94\00:06:02.86 Holy, he is Holy and when I pray I 00:06:03.63\00:06:06.85 come into presence of a Holy God. 00:06:06.86\00:06:09.27 Now, I know is verse 19 and Psalm 103: 00:06:09.28\00:06:12.13 The Lord has established his throne in heaven, 00:06:12.14\00:06:15.57 and his kingdom rules over all. 00:06:15.58\00:06:19.69 Our verse says that we have a God 00:06:21.28\00:06:23.91 who is a holy God, his throne is in heaven, 00:06:23.92\00:06:28.01 he rules over all. He's the creator 00:06:28.02\00:06:32.11 and the sustainer of the universe, 00:06:32.12\00:06:34.46 we have a majestic God. 00:06:34.47\00:06:36.38 But we have also an intimate God. 00:06:37.75\00:06:39.95 Notice Psalm 103 and verse 11: 00:06:40.75\00:06:44.27 For as high as the heavens are 00:06:44.28\00:06:46.70 above the earth, so great is his love 00:06:46.71\00:06:50.68 for those who fear him. His love is just as 00:06:50.69\00:06:54.68 deep as the heaven is high, 00:06:54.69\00:06:57.48 in fact the whole reason why our great 00:06:58.16\00:07:01.37 God bothered to create and sustain 00:07:01.38\00:07:04.57 mankind is intimacy, he longs to be close 00:07:04.58\00:07:09.57 to his children. He created us because 00:07:09.58\00:07:12.80 he needed someone to love and someone 00:07:12.81\00:07:15.58 to love him. Jesus taught the 00:07:15.59\00:07:19.00 intimacy of prayer, he called God, Abba, 00:07:19.01\00:07:23.97 which his intimate father it, 00:07:25.15\00:07:28.53 it's kind of daddy. Nobody in the Old 00:07:28.54\00:07:32.14 Testament called God father, 00:07:32.15\00:07:34.69 but Jesus did a hundred and seventy times. 00:07:35.28\00:07:39.18 And so unfortunately our selfishness 00:07:40.25\00:07:45.57 turns the relational, the intimacy that 00:07:45.58\00:07:48.56 God longs for, turns the relational 00:07:48.57\00:07:51.63 into transactional. You go to the clerk and, 00:07:51.64\00:07:58.38 and give the clerk some money and the 00:07:58.39\00:08:01.24 clerk gives you groceries. 00:08:01.25\00:08:04.19 We go to God and we give our lives 00:08:04.83\00:08:09.17 to him and we expect him then to give us 00:08:09.18\00:08:12.30 whatever we ask for. Please understand, 00:08:12.31\00:08:16.77 we need God himself a whole lot more than 00:08:17.33\00:08:20.76 we need anything that he could 00:08:20.77\00:08:23.11 possibly give us. Our God rejoices 00:08:23.12\00:08:28.87 over every intimacy that we express to Him, 00:08:29.63\00:08:35.15 it's like a, a loving parent, 00:08:35.82\00:08:39.28 here's the little baby in the crib. 00:08:39.29\00:08:42.55 Oh how it thrills the parents heart when 00:08:43.99\00:08:47.68 the baby reaches out his arms to 00:08:48.10\00:08:50.83 mamma or daddy. And the baby lies 00:08:51.67\00:08:57.22 there and just cueing or what are absolutely 00:08:57.23\00:09:00.35 nonsensical words, oh how it thrills 00:09:00.36\00:09:05.25 the parent, that's the way God is. 00:09:05.26\00:09:07.71 Prayer is reaching out to God and although 00:09:08.32\00:09:12.84 what we say in our prayers may seem 00:09:13.31\00:09:16.26 really to be nonsensical cueing, 00:09:16.27\00:09:18.74 our reaching out and out approaching 00:09:18.75\00:09:21.43 God with a longing for intimacy 00:09:21.44\00:09:24.09 is pleasing to our heavenly Father. 00:09:24.57\00:09:27.87 Now friendship requires dialogue 00:09:29.06\00:09:31.64 not monologue, Mother Teresa was 00:09:31.65\00:09:34.92 well known for her prayers and she said, 00:09:34.93\00:09:38.72 here's the way it works, she was asked, 00:09:39.26\00:09:41.50 what the secret of your prayer power? 00:09:41.51\00:09:44.52 She said it's simple, he speaks and we listen, 00:09:44.53\00:09:47.90 we speak and he listens. 00:09:48.74\00:09:51.18 When I go on a trip with my wife, 00:09:52.37\00:09:55.80 I normally call her at least once everyday 00:09:55.81\00:10:00.22 and I tell her about my day and she tells 00:10:00.23\00:10:03.82 me about her day. Intimacy requires 00:10:03.83\00:10:10.64 dialogue and if we don't listen there isn't 00:10:10.65\00:10:14.81 going to be any intimacy, you may have notice 00:10:14.82\00:10:17.30 that people who are not very good listeners 00:10:17.31\00:10:19.59 don't get very close to other people. 00:10:19.60\00:10:21.33 Because intimacy requires dialogue 00:10:21.34\00:10:24.66 and the friendship with God includes intimacy. 00:10:24.67\00:10:28.43 Morning prayer's an excellent tim 00:10:29.02\00:10:31.50 to commit our day to God, evening prayers, 00:10:31.51\00:10:33.88 a wonderful time to review the day with God, 00:10:33.89\00:10:36.04 how did we do there, thank you for that one, 00:10:36.05\00:10:39.33 forgive me for what I did under 00:10:39.34\00:10:41.44 this circumstance. How can I do 00:10:41.45\00:10:43.17 better tomorrow. So, prayer is friendship, 00:10:43.18\00:10:47.81 it's a balancing of majesty and intimacy 00:10:48.45\00:10:53.04 and prayer is dialogue. So, that's our first 00:10:53.05\00:10:58.28 word, prayer is friendship, 00:10:58.29\00:11:00.29 now our second word, prayer is ownership. 00:11:00.30\00:11:03.29 Prayer is admitting ownership of our need, 00:11:04.31\00:11:07.49 Psalm 103 and verse 4, verse 4 of Psalm 103: 00:11:07.50\00:11:14.53 Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns 00:11:14.54\00:11:19.52 you with love and compassion, 00:11:19.53\00:11:23.07 who redeems your life from the pit. 00:11:23.55\00:11:27.42 Now, if you wanna get out of a pit, 00:11:28.68\00:11:31.75 the first requirement is that you know 00:11:32.39\00:11:34.26 you're in one and the second requirement 00:11:34.27\00:11:36.88 is that you wanna get out off it. We, 00:11:36.89\00:11:39.15 all of us are in a pit of sin and of death, 00:11:39.16\00:11:43.37 unfortunately our short sightedness just 00:11:44.17\00:11:48.41 wants to be entertained in the pit, 00:11:48.42\00:11:50.50 to live luxuriously in the pit. 00:11:50.51\00:11:52.69 God is the only way out, we have no future 00:11:53.99\00:11:57.42 outside him and we must admit our need 00:11:57.43\00:12:00.45 that we're helpless with that, 00:12:00.46\00:12:02.09 we're living in sin and looking forward to 00:12:02.10\00:12:04.30 nothing but death except he helps us 00:12:04.31\00:12:07.94 out of the pit. Now we all of us 00:12:07.95\00:12:10.47 have a second self. My granddaughter 00:12:10.48\00:12:15.01 Katy is the student of the Japanese language 00:12:15.02\00:12:19.68 and the Japanese have two words for self. 00:12:20.66\00:12:23.86 There's the self that we let people see 00:12:24.86\00:12:26.77 and then there's the self that we hide 00:12:26.78\00:12:29.30 hoping they cannot see. And we do that too, 00:12:29.31\00:12:32.29 there's a self that people see and there's 00:12:32.30\00:12:35.17 a self that we hope even God won't see. 00:12:35.18\00:12:37.82 We hide that second self for fear that 00:12:39.10\00:12:41.66 God will be displeased if he finds out what 00:12:41.67\00:12:43.89 we really are like, so in fact the hiding 00:12:43.90\00:12:46.63 maybe the very thing that displeases 00:12:46.64\00:12:49.55 God the most. Prayer maybe hardest for men, 00:12:49.56\00:12:56.41 it breaks the male code of traditional 00:12:58.85\00:13:01.54 masculinity, macho, in control, 00:13:01.55\00:13:04.42 not asking for help. That's what prayer is, 00:13:04.43\00:13:08.06 it's asking for help, in prayer we seek God's 00:13:08.07\00:13:11.03 help in routing out hidden offenses like 00:13:11.04\00:13:14.09 selfishness and pride and pretense and lack 00:13:14.10\00:13:18.07 of compassion. Now, a denial of our need 00:13:18.08\00:13:23.77 can be disastrous, in the presence of the 00:13:23.78\00:13:27.76 great physician, our most appropriate 00:13:27.77\00:13:29.62 contribution maybe our wounds. 00:13:29.63\00:13:33.01 I have or did have a friend who was 00:13:33.02\00:13:35.82 an alcoholic. One night we rushed 00:13:35.83\00:13:38.77 her to the hospital and I stood by her bedside 00:13:38.78\00:13:42.99 as the doctor stood over her and he 00:13:43.00\00:13:46.41 asked her if she had been drinking, 00:13:46.42\00:13:48.57 she denied no, I don't drink. 00:13:48.58\00:13:51.44 She denied the secret of which the physician 00:13:51.45\00:13:55.08 was already aware and my friend died 00:13:55.47\00:14:00.07 of psoriasis of the liver. 00:14:00.08\00:14:02.33 The doctor might have saved her if she had 00:14:03.06\00:14:05.65 just confronted her problem and admitted 00:14:05.66\00:14:08.64 her need and the great physician can 00:14:08.65\00:14:11.84 heal us and save us and gave us eternal life, 00:14:11.85\00:14:15.28 but only if we admit our need, 00:14:15.29\00:14:19.24 so prayer is claiming ownership also 00:14:19.25\00:14:22.78 of God's grace. First of all of our 00:14:22.79\00:14:25.05 need but it doesn't end there, 00:14:25.06\00:14:26.78 it's also claiming ownership 00:14:26.79\00:14:29.11 of God's grace. We pray gratefully 00:14:29.12\00:14:32.31 Psalm 103 and let's pick it up 00:14:32.32\00:14:35.48 with verse 10, verses 10 to 14: 00:14:35.49\00:14:37.66 He does not treat us as our sins deserve 00:14:37.67\00:14:40.96 or repay us according to our iniquities. 00:14:41.59\00:14:44.99 For as high as the heavens are 00:14:45.64\00:14:48.43 above the earth, high as the heavens 00:14:48.44\00:14:54.00 are above the earth, so great is his love 00:14:54.01\00:14:57.17 for those who fear him; as far as the east 00:14:57.18\00:15:01.03 is from the west, so far as he removed 00:15:01.04\00:15:03.60 our transgressions from us. 00:15:03.61\00:15:05.14 As a father has compassion 00:15:05.15\00:15:06.74 on his children, so the Lord has 00:15:06.75\00:15:09.13 compassion on those who fear him; 00:15:09.14\00:15:12.11 for he knows how we are formed, 00:15:12.12\00:15:14.77 he remembers that we are dust. 00:15:14.78\00:15:18.74 Possibly the most important purpose of 00:15:19.86\00:15:23.92 prayer is to simply let our true sinful 00:15:23.93\00:15:28.36 selves be loved by God. When we admit what 00:15:28.37\00:15:33.42 we are then God's grace accepts 00:15:33.43\00:15:37.20 us just as we are, but that same grace 00:15:37.21\00:15:41.31 that covers our sins also strengthens us, 00:15:41.32\00:15:44.02 it shows us what we can become. 00:15:44.03\00:15:46.41 Twice I've had the privilege of going 00:15:48.12\00:15:50.18 to Rome, to see the Sistine Chapel. 00:15:50.19\00:15:53.50 And the first time I went and looked 00:15:54.52\00:15:57.23 at that beautiful ceiling, 00:15:57.24\00:15:59.15 the paintings didn't come through very 00:16:00.89\00:16:02.78 well because they were all covered with grime 00:16:02.79\00:16:06.31 and then if you remember your history, 00:16:06.76\00:16:08.61 you will know that they closed the chapel 00:16:08.62\00:16:11.19 down and they got up there and they 00:16:11.20\00:16:12.86 worked and they worked and they worked 00:16:12.87\00:16:14.29 and they worked, it took a whole lot of 00:16:14.30\00:16:16.37 time to finally get rid of that grime 00:16:16.38\00:16:19.05 and the second time that I had the 00:16:19.06\00:16:20.99 privilege of going to the Sistine Chapel, 00:16:21.00\00:16:23.64 it was absolutely beautiful, 00:16:23.99\00:16:26.75 but it took someone to restore it 00:16:26.76\00:16:29.13 and it took time. We need somebody 00:16:29.64\00:16:33.37 to restore us and we should be patient 00:16:33.38\00:16:36.81 if it takes God himself sometime to get 00:16:36.82\00:16:40.92 the job done. Those paintings 00:16:40.93\00:16:43.76 became what they were meant to be 00:16:43.77\00:16:46.14 and though God and his grace we can become 00:16:46.15\00:16:51.00 what we were meant to be. 00:16:51.01\00:16:52.40 Angry honesty I believe is better than 00:16:53.91\00:16:57.01 pious pretense. God's grace is not afraid, 00:16:57.02\00:17:01.75 God is not frightened by your anger, 00:17:01.76\00:17:05.01 I've never preached very much 00:17:06.70\00:17:08.95 from the Psalms, I'll have to confess 00:17:08.96\00:17:12.08 that they frustrate me. When David wrote 00:17:12.09\00:17:16.01 the 23rd Psalm, the Shepherd Psalm, 00:17:16.87\00:17:19.75 or the 103rd Psalm that we're looking at today, 00:17:19.76\00:17:22.30 the song of praise, beautiful but other 00:17:22.73\00:17:26.57 Psalms are angry and whiny and sometimes 00:17:26.58\00:17:29.19 downright vengeful. David was not afraid 00:17:29.20\00:17:32.65 to confront God, but maybe that's 00:17:32.66\00:17:35.03 how he became a man after God's own heart. 00:17:35.04\00:17:38.20 God is not turned off by our doubts, 00:17:39.15\00:17:42.34 Jesus prayed his doubt, "My God, My God, 00:17:43.11\00:17:47.15 why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 00:17:47.51\00:17:49.64 We should pray grateful prayers, 00:17:50.60\00:17:53.06 they're important, repentant prayers, 00:17:53.07\00:17:54.91 they're most important. But maybe sometimes 00:17:54.92\00:17:57.71 it's proper to pray doubting and angry 00:17:58.23\00:18:00.82 and confrontational prayers because 00:18:00.83\00:18:02.98 they're important too. Remember our 00:18:02.99\00:18:06.55 relationship with God requires intimacy 00:18:06.56\00:18:09.28 and intimacy requires the pain 00:18:09.29\00:18:11.86 of confrontation. I know of a husband 00:18:11.87\00:18:15.35 who said we never fight, my wife and I, 00:18:15.36\00:18:17.20 I just put on my hat and walk out. 00:18:17.21\00:18:18.65 It's called avoidance fighting. 00:18:18.66\00:18:20.35 And if we don't confront one and other 00:18:20.36\00:18:22.72 when we have differences, 00:18:22.73\00:18:23.95 when we feel pain we never get very 00:18:23.96\00:18:26.60 close together, that marriage hasn't 00:18:26.61\00:18:28.38 much chance of intimacy. So, prayer is ownership 00:18:28.39\00:18:33.62 of our need and ownership of God's 00:18:34.26\00:18:37.30 grace to answer that need. 00:18:37.31\00:18:39.53 And then our third word, 00:18:40.49\00:18:41.87 prayer is partnership, prayer is not just 00:18:41.88\00:18:46.49 giving assignments to God. 00:18:46.50\00:18:48.76 This really is an awful picture of God, 00:18:49.75\00:18:51.88 a God who cares about other people 00:18:51.89\00:18:54.19 only if we beg him to. Jesus said, 00:18:54.20\00:18:57.74 the Father knows what you need before 00:18:57.75\00:18:59.48 you ask, he already cares, 00:18:59.49\00:19:01.19 he already loves, he's just waiting 00:19:01.20\00:19:03.01 for you to care enough to work with him. 00:19:03.02\00:19:05.28 As matter of fact I think that prayer 00:19:07.44\00:19:08.87 is many times spiritual laziness. 00:19:08.88\00:19:11.11 We pray, bless my family and bless that 00:19:11.54\00:19:13.87 hurting lady down the street and then 00:19:13.88\00:19:15.75 our conscious relaxes because we put 00:19:15.76\00:19:17.78 God to work and we can spend our 00:19:17.79\00:19:19.23 time on ourselves. Oh no, 00:19:19.24\00:19:20.78 prayer is partnering, prayer is partnering 00:19:21.10\00:19:24.18 with God in the assignments that 00:19:24.19\00:19:26.13 he gives us. Psalm 103 and verse 21: 00:19:26.14\00:19:31.25 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, 00:19:31.75\00:19:34.46 you his servants, you his servants, 00:19:34.47\00:19:39.50 who do his will. We are his servants, 00:19:40.03\00:19:43.88 we are not his bosses, we are committed 00:19:43.89\00:19:46.68 not to having him do our will, 00:19:46.69\00:19:48.40 but our doing his will. 00:19:48.41\00:19:50.90 Prayer is partnering with God, 00:19:51.68\00:19:54.06 we trust him to do the right thing, 00:19:54.07\00:19:59.88 prayer is reporting for duty. 00:19:59.89\00:20:02.47 And we ask God how can you and I 00:20:03.44\00:20:06.21 work together to help my family, 00:20:06.22\00:20:08.68 to help that hurting lady down the street. 00:20:08.69\00:20:11.56 Prayer is partnering with God, 00:20:11.57\00:20:13.21 and partnering with God we can trust him 00:20:14.49\00:20:16.82 to give right answers at the right time. 00:20:16.83\00:20:20.42 Now, I hope I don't offend anyone, 00:20:21.97\00:20:26.06 but it sometimes concerns me, 00:20:27.67\00:20:29.89 I think we train our children to 00:20:30.55\00:20:33.16 disbelieve in prayer. The typical children's 00:20:33.17\00:20:38.83 story in Bible school goes 00:20:38.84\00:20:41.73 something like this, little Johnny is, 00:20:41.74\00:20:43.46 is walking and running through the tall grass, 00:20:43.47\00:20:46.27 tossing the key that his folks have 00:20:46.28\00:20:49.18 entrusted him with, tossing it in the air 00:20:49.19\00:20:51.16 and all of a sudden it comes down he doesn't 00:20:51.17\00:20:53.91 catch it and he looks around and he can't 00:20:53.92\00:20:56.26 find it and then he, he kneels and he prays. 00:20:56.27\00:20:59.22 And he opens one eye sure enough there 00:20:59.23\00:21:02.05 it is, it's found. Well, it does happen, 00:21:02.06\00:21:07.13 it can happen, but as that boy grows older, 00:21:07.14\00:21:10.81 he finds that sure doesn't happen 00:21:10.82\00:21:13.10 very often, there's either 00:21:13.11\00:21:14.28 something wrong with prayer or something 00:21:14.29\00:21:15.79 wrong with God or something wrong 00:21:15.80\00:21:17.34 with me. Now, God works miracles but 00:21:17.35\00:21:21.29 not often to upset human carelessness 00:21:21.30\00:21:24.57 and never to override the human will. 00:21:25.21\00:21:28.86 The God who created natural law is always 00:21:29.92\00:21:33.69 able but sometimes reluctant to suspend 00:21:33.70\00:21:36.34 it in what we call miracles at least 00:21:36.35\00:21:38.40 not unless we have a very good reason. 00:21:39.24\00:21:42.66 So, to put it all together, 00:21:43.99\00:21:46.28 I think we must confess that to totally 00:21:48.15\00:21:50.62 understand prayer we'd have to 00:21:51.00\00:21:53.52 understand God and out brains are just 00:21:53.53\00:21:57.58 simply not big enough to manage that. 00:21:57.59\00:22:01.12 We've learned that prayer is friendship, 00:22:01.67\00:22:04.02 intimacy, requiring dialogue 00:22:04.03\00:22:06.77 we speak to him, he speaks to us. 00:22:06.78\00:22:08.96 Prayer is ownership of our sins; 00:22:09.71\00:22:12.77 ownership of God's grace, 00:22:12.78\00:22:14.98 prayer is partnership, working with God 00:22:14.99\00:22:18.90 to answer our prayers. We have learned to pray, 00:22:18.91\00:22:23.23 when we have learned to trust God 00:22:24.19\00:22:26.13 for the right answers at the right time. 00:22:26.61\00:22:29.47 And I've learned through life that my 00:22:30.88\00:22:32.81 skepticism about unanswered prayer 00:22:32.82\00:22:35.96 has often been the result of simply 00:22:35.97\00:22:38.75 a short memory. Remembering God's 00:22:39.16\00:22:42.88 no's and forgetting God's yes', 00:22:42.89\00:22:47.28 my wife Ellen prayed four basic prayers 00:22:49.09\00:22:56.86 after she was afflicted with cancer. 00:22:57.54\00:23:02.10 Her first prayer was that she might be 00:23:03.49\00:23:06.04 able to finish her ministry with her 00:23:06.05\00:23:08.26 husband we were working together 00:23:08.27\00:23:09.65 at the General Conference of 00:23:09.66\00:23:11.11 the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 00:23:11.12\00:23:12.70 the World Headquarters. 00:23:12.71\00:23:14.05 And we were traveling together and 00:23:16.60\00:23:20.07 I was teaching ministers and she was 00:23:20.79\00:23:23.43 teaching minister's wives and she wanted 00:23:23.44\00:23:26.96 to continue our ministry together 00:23:26.97\00:23:29.49 until our retirement. That was her 00:23:29.94\00:23:33.23 first prayer, God said yes, 00:23:33.24\00:23:35.10 she lived five years beyond retirement, 00:23:35.11\00:23:37.82 second prayer was that she not have 00:23:38.98\00:23:40.65 to die with some unbearable pain 00:23:40.66\00:23:45.39 and she been told that death from cancer 00:23:45.83\00:23:49.48 can be terribly painful it can go to the brain 00:23:49.95\00:23:56.02 or, or to the, the lungs or to the 00:23:56.03\00:23:59.21 bones which can be a very painful death. 00:23:59.75\00:24:04.14 She asked the Lord if it were necessary 00:24:04.81\00:24:07.78 for her to die could she die without 00:24:07.79\00:24:11.12 unbearable pain. And the cancer 00:24:11.13\00:24:15.79 went to her liver, it was a painless death, 00:24:15.80\00:24:19.21 she was doing her housework just 00:24:19.22\00:24:21.24 eight days before she died. 00:24:21.25\00:24:23.46 God said yes, her third prayer was 00:24:23.88\00:24:27.44 that she be able to die at home with her 00:24:27.45\00:24:29.95 husband by her side. Hospice brought in a 00:24:29.96\00:24:35.62 hospital bed and we set a cot up along 00:24:35.63\00:24:41.18 side her bed. And I slept beside her, 00:24:41.19\00:24:46.06 rubbing her fuzzy head that was just 00:24:46.94\00:24:49.28 recovering from chemotherapy until 00:24:49.94\00:24:55.15 we hours of the morning she quietly 00:24:55.81\00:24:58.66 went to sleep. God said yes, 00:24:59.65\00:25:02.80 and she had a forth prayer and the forth 00:25:04.43\00:25:07.49 prayer was for healing. And God said 00:25:07.50\00:25:12.17 later Ellen, later, how forgetful and how 00:25:13.45\00:25:19.95 ungrateful of me to say that God 00:25:20.52\00:25:22.89 didn't answer prayer. Beside all of that 00:25:22.90\00:25:27.05 by the way, he eventually sent me 00:25:27.06\00:25:29.82 a wonderful dilemma, who loves me 00:25:29.83\00:25:32.87 and whom I love with all my heart. 00:25:33.13\00:25:35.12 You see we learn to pray when we have 00:25:35.85\00:25:39.05 learned to remember the yes', 00:25:39.06\00:25:41.58 when we have learned to trust God for 00:25:42.33\00:25:45.92 the right answers at the right time. 00:25:45.93\00:25:48.88 And may I suggest if you have 00:25:50.04\00:25:54.42 questions about answered prayer, 00:25:54.43\00:25:57.50 if you think that God is all the time 00:25:57.51\00:25:59.86 turning you down. Won't you create 00:25:59.87\00:26:02.92 a book of remembrance; 00:26:02.93\00:26:04.48 write it down if you must, 00:26:04.49\00:26:05.94 put it into your computer. 00:26:05.95\00:26:07.60 Write down the times that God says yes 00:26:08.40\00:26:10.66 and God says yes and God says yes 00:26:10.67\00:26:13.43 and then when it seems like God says no, 00:26:14.09\00:26:16.51 you can open that book and you can look 00:26:16.52\00:26:18.80 at all of the yes'. And having received 00:26:18.81\00:26:22.13 so many yes', you be able to trust 00:26:22.14\00:26:25.63 God with the no's. To give you the 00:26:25.64\00:26:30.54 right answer at the right time, let's pray. 00:26:30.55\00:26:36.52 Father, we pray today as your disciples 00:26:38.51\00:26:44.05 did that you will truly teach us to pray, 00:26:44.06\00:26:49.56 help us to form our own book of remembrance. 00:26:51.10\00:26:55.86 So, that we can remember the yes' 00:26:57.28\00:26:59.88 that will help us trust the no's. 00:26:59.89\00:27:03.00 And may we trust you for the right answer 00:27:03.65\00:27:07.17 at the right time is our prayer, 00:27:08.58\00:27:11.77 in Jesus name, amen. 00:27:12.33\00:27:15.53 Thank you for your time with 00:27:17.03\00:27:19.76 Faith Chapel today, try that book of 00:27:19.77\00:27:23.24 remembrance if you're having serious 00:27:23.25\00:27:25.74 doubts about answered prayer. 00:27:25.75\00:27:29.53 Remember, prayer is friendship with God, 00:27:30.63\00:27:34.67 prayer is ownership both of our needs 00:27:36.00\00:27:40.40 and of God's grace answering those needs 00:27:41.09\00:27:45.17 and prayer is partnership, 00:27:45.55\00:27:48.07 partnership, let as be partners with God. 00:27:48.08\00:27:53.95