Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Pavel Goia
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000278
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00:30 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and welcome again to
00:33 Issues and Answers. We're so glad that you've joined 00:35 us today. You're going to be glad that you've joined us today 00:39 if you're interested in prayer. You know, if you ever want to 00:43 get a pulse on your spiritual life, put your finger on the 00:47 pulse of your spiritual life figure out how much time you're 00:50 spending in the Word and how much time you're spending in 00:53 prayer. Let me share a scripture with you. It comes from 1 John 00:57 5. I'm going to read verses 14 and 15 from the Amplified 01:02 Version. It says: This is the confidence which we have in him 01:06 (in Christ) that if we ask anything according to his will, 01:10 he listens, he hears us, and if we know that he listens to us in 01:16 whatever we ask, we also know that we have the request that 01:21 we have made of him. I am so excited to welcome back 01:26 to 3ABN Pastor Pavel Goia. Pastor, thank you so much for 01:31 coming back to 3ABN. Thank you for inviting me. 01:34 Now this is you first time on Issues and Answers but I had 01:38 the privilege of interviewing you on a Today program. 01:41 We talked about prayer and you do a lot of seminars on prayer 01:45 don't you? Yes. I am glad that you've come back because when 01:49 we were talking before we didn't get to cover everything that we 01:53 wanted to and I really felt like the Lord has led you on an 01:57 incredible prayer journey. So for our viewers who've never had 02:01 the opportunity to meet you before, please share a little 02:05 bit of the story of how you came to be a pastor. 02:11 It's a two-fold story. First part when I was about 5-6 years 02:18 old right before going to school there was a pastor in Romania 02:25 that came from the Union to visit our church and he talked 02:31 on Jeremiah 29:11: I know the plans I have for you. He said 02:37 God has designed a specific plan for each one's life and we 02:42 should search for that plan so God could use us for his glory 02:47 and we should have a purpose that God created for us. I went 02:52 home and I went to my Dad and said do you think he has a plan 02:57 for kids too? And my father said he has a plan for anybody. 03:01 Some people feel that they may be sick or poor or not have 03:05 enough training God doesn't have a plan for them. What if they 03:10 are too young like you, but my father said God has a plan for 03:14 everybody because he said it's not you for feeling the plan, it 03:20 is God's power in you. I said, Okay, okay, how do I get a plan? 03:25 And my father said, you must pray. I said, Oh easy. I went 03:30 into my room. I said, please show me the plan, then went to 03:34 my dad and said, he didn't, he didn't show me anything. 03:37 My father said, you don't just pray and leave. People do that. 03:43 But after you pray you study. What you study. He said the word 03:47 I said, but I don't know how to read. So I took the Bible and I 03:52 will never forget that moment. I opened it. I said, would you 03:56 read here for me. It was Jeremiah chapter 1, that very 04:01 verse, don't say I am a child because I chose you and I'm 04:04 going to send you and you will speak for me and so on and so 04:09 forth. Don't be afraid to speak for me. I closed the Bible. 04:13 I said, God wants me to be a pastor. 04:15 How old were you? About 5. Five years old. 04:18 So that was the message. I said I know God wants me to be a 04:22 pastor. That always stayed in my mind. That's the very first part 04:27 of my decision to actually serve God. 04:31 Then now Pavel, if I remember correctly, as you grew older you 04:35 left the church for a while didn't you? 04:37 Yes. I didn't literally leave the church but I left God. 04:42 Boy! What an excellent point because there are people who are 04:47 going to church as a cultural thing. It's something that's 04:51 a habitual thing. They do it as habit but they don't have that 04:56 intimate personal relationship with the Lord. That's what 04:58 you're saying isn't it? 05:00 Yeah, even more. I kind of doubted in my mind if there is 05:05 any God anywhere. Wow! So I was a teenager spending too much 05:11 time with my friends from school and I first stopped praying. 05:16 and then slowly going down without even realizing it. 05:20 I remember I would go to church because I didn't want to hurt my 05:25 father; I loved him too much. But I didn't care much for 05:30 church. They started first to say very bad jokes. Then they 05:35 started to more you know drink and smoke and go a lot deeper 05:40 into bad things you know. I was not a part of it. I never used 05:46 alcohol or... I was not part of it but I was with them there. 05:51 I would go home and I would not have peace. I could not sleep 05:55 because when they would say a bad joke I was laughing too. 06:01 So I was part of it like Saul when they killed Stephen. He was 06:06 part of it. He was involved somehow. So I would lay in my 06:10 bed and I would say, that's not good. But then I said who cares? 06:16 It's fun. You know the Bible says that 06:19 bad company corrupts good morals and when you're talking about 06:23 being part of it, it reminds me of Romans 1:32 where Paul said 06:27 we not only show our approval for these things and then we 06:32 do it ourselves. So even though you did not drink or smoke by 06:36 continuing to associate with them, laughing at their jokes, 06:40 it was like you were approving of what they were doing even 06:44 though you knew it was against God's will. 06:46 Absolutely. So I could not sleep and I would say there is no God. 06:51 But what if there is a God? I remember after a few months 06:56 of coming 1, 2, 3 a. m. at home. They would meet in a park and 07:00 spend the whole night there. And I would get home and I would 07:04 give my father... It was an apartment that you would walk 07:09 from room to room and he was still praying and I knew he was 07:14 praying for me. He would come to me and he would get his hand 07:19 around my shoulder and he said I am praying for you. I wished 07:24 he'd pick a fight with me because I would just leave home, 07:27 but he didn't. I wished that during that time because I was 07:32 very stubborn. Right now I am happy he didn't. I remember one 07:39 night those young men, they started to plan some very bad 07:45 stuff. I felt that I should not be there. So I decided that 07:49 night that I am going to leave earlier. I left and after that 07:54 they stopped a girl who was coming from work and they abused 07:58 her. All of them went to prison for many years except me that 08:02 I was not there. So glory to God. I believe that 08:05 was the Holy Spirit leading you wasn't he? 08:08 The next day when I found out I was convinced that God prevented 08:13 me from being there because he had a plan for me. It came back 08:18 in my mind Jeremiah chapter 1. So I got home and I was crying 08:24 and I was wondering if God would be able to forgive me and to 08:30 restore me and to give back my plan that I lost on the way. 08:37 My father noticed that the light was still on and it was 2 or 3 08:42 a. m. So he came and I said is there any hope for me. He talked 08:48 about King David. God didn't just forgive him but restored 08:52 him. My father said our God is a wonderful, wonderful God. 08:58 His mercy is infinite. He is longsuffering. So he said let 09:04 me pray for you. And he had a prayer for me and then he left. 09:08 He said now it's your turn to pray, to discover God, to learn 09:14 how God is. So I prayed until 5 or 6 in the morning. I said if 09:18 you forgive me and if you show me today that you restore me 09:22 I'm going to change. I don't know if I will be able but I 09:27 know you can help me. Around morning I started to study the 09:31 Bible because I remember when I was 5 he told me you don't just 09:35 pray and leave but you give God a chance to talk to you. So I 09:39 opened the Bible and it was Isaiah 54. For a moment I'm 09:44 translating from the Romanian Bible in my mind but you know 09:48 what I am talking about. Isaiah 54, I believe verses 10 and 11, 09:53 For a moment I was angry with you but I receive you back even 09:58 if the mountains move my love will never move from you. 10:02 I cried and I said thank you. So that was my second how to call 10:11 it time when I knew that God wants me to serve him. 10:15 Amen. Jeremiah 31 verse 3 that he has loved you with an 10:20 everlasting love and underneath are his everlasting arms he 10:24 tells us in Deuteronomy 32:37 I think. Glory to God that you had 10:31 a praying father. A father, as Isaiah says in chapter 50 verse 10:36 4: A father with the tongue of an instructed disciple. He knew 10:41 and was being led by the Holy Spirit. He knew to hold you up 10:46 in prayer, to cover you in prayer and God gave him great 10:50 wisdom how to deal with a rebellious son. So as you then 10:55 accepted the call of God on your life to be a pastor, 10:59 and you are now pastoring 11:00 you're a district pastor in Janesville, Wisconsin. 11:03 You pastor three churches. Did you immediately from this 11:08 experience, did you move into this realm of prayer that you're 11:15 now enjoying or did you find that you got caught up in 11:19 churchy things, I mean, in the studies and all that? How long 11:23 did it take you and when did you really establish that intimate 11:27 one on one relationship with the Lord? 11:30 It was an up and down road. At that time I started to wake up 11:37 early in the morning. In fact, I didn't decide I'll wake up at 11:43 6. I started to pray that God would wake me up whenever he 11:48 knows that I need to pray. Sometimes he would wake me up at 11:52 5. Sometimes he would wake me up at 2 a. m. and I said isn't it 11:57 too early. But I knew God was calling me to pray. In fact even 12:02 during the army service I remember God would wake me up. 12:06 They took us because there were floods in Romania in that time 12:11 and they took us to one site to help with that catastrophe and I 12:16 remember we were working and soldiers were very tired and 12:20 could not wake up in the morning. I would be the first 12:23 one to be up and the lieutenant would say how do you manage to 12:27 wake up so early and I would say well God wakes me up. He would 12:31 smile and he would say, how could God wake somebody up? 12:35 He would say listen I would like you tomorrow morning at 6 12:38 o'clock to wake everybody up. So I would pray and I would say 12:41 God you know when I need to wake up for prayer and study. 12:45 Wake me up so I have enough time to spend with you. And God 12:49 would wake me up like 4 a. m. to study and pray and spend time 12:52 with God and then around 6 I would go and hey it's time to 12:55 wake up and they would be amazed I remember one morning when God 13:01 woke me up around 1:30. I said God I'm tired. I worked 13:05 yesterday so hard and I said do I really need to be up so early? 13:11 I was kind of arguing with God you know. But God is patient, 13:16 God is good. He didn't get upset with me. So I felt that I do 13:22 need to pray. So I prayed. My wife, at that time my girlfriend 13:28 used to send me Bible verses and quotations on small letters 13:34 because you are not allowed to have Bibles. So I got the 13:38 letters and read them after I prayed and then I spent time 13:43 again with God contemplating what I read and letting him 13:48 impress me. As soon as I finished I got dressed and it 13:53 was about, I don't remember, 3 or 4 a. m. when we had a drill. 13:57 Like it was a false attack, you know. So when the trumpet 14:03 started to sound everybody was supposed to get up and within 3 14:08 minutes to be ready for war. I mean have all your equipment; 14:13 that takes forever. We used to get dressed by the light of a 14:17 match. You light it and you've got to be dressed until the 14:22 flame is off you know. None of them were ready so they got 14:27 punished except me. That's because God got you up 14:30 early and had you prepared. It's so amazing though now; 14:34 you said it was an up and down thing. First of all you were 14:38 very blessed. It took me a long time and when I go out and teach 14:42 on prayer I always teach that God intends prayer to be a two 14:47 way communication. So many people rush into the presence of 14:51 the Lord. They lay out their requests and they leave and 14:56 they don't know that they can make the word... God speaks to 14:59 us primarily through the word. They don't know to make the 15:03 word a part of their prayer time How blessed you were that your 15:07 father taught you this at an early age. Yet at the same time 15:11 as I'm listening to you it has to be encouraging to people 15:16 who have been Christians for a long time who have known this 15:20 great one on one intimacy in prayer and then find themselves 15:24 kind of dipping down occasionally only to come back. 15:28 You know sometimes we think... and I know I pray Lord I believe 15:33 what you're trying to teach me is consistency. I had a prayer 15:37 time with the Lord for seven years. I'd get up and pray two 15:42 or three hours every morning early. Now I'm struggling to 15:46 keep that and I think what's wrong with me. But that's what 15:50 we're going to be talking about is how prayer is something that 15:56 is a progressive, sanctifying process of learning and redoing 16:02 and just coming to know God. Your focus when you were praying 16:07 what I'm hearing you say Pavel, your focus wasn't rushing before 16:12 the Lord and saying Lord here's what I want you to do. 16:17 Your focus was coming to the Lord to know him, to really 16:21 speak to him as your heavenly Father and intimate friend. 16:26 How is that different that people who just come before him 16:31 and say, here it is, here's my request? Explain that a little 16:36 bit. It is amazing to see how things 16:41 change when we don't place ourselves in the center, but we 16:47 realize that God is the center. It took me a long time to 16:53 realize that though theoretically I knew it. 16:55 I want to give a few examples. This is a funny example but I 17:03 love it. No offense, I'm not talking about Chrysler or Dodge. 17:09 But if somebody has a Dodge and they hear this story, I hope 17:15 they're okay. I use to have a Dodge Grand Caravan. Great 17:21 comfort. TV, VCR, wood around the doors and I mean luxury. 17:29 However, the transmission broke and I struggled. I found a 17:36 transmission in a junk yard. I found somebody who knew how to 17:41 fix it, install the transmission paid for it and finally the van 17:47 was good again. I drove it for three months and the 17:51 transmission broke again. Oh it was so frustrating. So I prayed 17:57 and I found another transmission in the junk yard and I paid 18:01 again for the labor and he installed the transmission and 18:06 I decided not to drive the van anymore but to put it for sale. 18:12 So I put it in the newspaper and I put a nice paper on the wind 18:17 shield FOR SALE you know enumerating how many qualities 18:22 that van has. Nobody called. And I was praying God please 18:27 you know that I cannot afford to fix this van again. Please 18:32 help me to sell the van. About three months, no phone call. 18:36 I dropped the price several times. It was like people didn't 18:40 even care. It's like people knew the transmission is going to 18:43 break again. So I was driving from one church to another 18:48 church in my district and I was thinking about the prayer 18:53 seminar. Here I am and I say to myself it's like God was talking 18:57 in my mind. You teach people to make God the focus of their 19:02 prayers and you make your van the focus of your 19:05 prayer. Big difference. And I said God please forgive me. 19:09 What is this van? And I said if you want me to keep the van let 19:16 me use it for you as long as it goes. If it breaks, it breaks. 19:21 If it goes, it goes, as long as you want it used and if you want 19:26 the van sold you sell it to whoever you want for the price 19:30 you want and maybe just for your work, because this is what is 19:35 what is important. Your plan, not mine. So I said use it for 19:39 your glory for your plan because you are the center. It is more 19:43 important what you think about the van than what I think about 19:47 it. I finished that prayer. Within seconds I got the phone 19:51 call on my cell phone. It was a church member and she says 19:56 Pastor, do you still have that van? Now that was after the van 19:59 was for several months in the newspaper. It was not sold and 20:03 and it was not in the newspaper anymore and the paper FOR SALE 20:07 was not on the wind shield any more. I said yes I still have 20:12 the van. Do you still want to sell it. Yes I do, but I said I 20:16 need to warn you, I had transmission problems. She says 20:20 well you forgot that my brother fixed it for you. And she said, 20:24 my brother is a mechanic and he has transmission as a reserve if 20:29 he needs one. She said, I was thinking about our school and 20:32 I know there are children who want to come to our school and 20:36 don't have transportation and they need a van and I would like 20:39 to serve God transporting the children who have no 20:42 transportation to the school. So God inspired me to call you. 20:46 How much do you want for the van. I said, you know what, 20:49 whatever you can afford. And she said that's the price then, that 20:54 price is good. She was happy. I was happy. It just changed my 20:59 paradigm. I said what a change when you don't put yourself in 21:04 the center, but you worry about God. 21:07 Amen. This is a paradigm shift that so many people need 21:12 because what we find is that most people are bringing their 21:16 problems to God, they're focusing on the problem rather 21:20 than on the Problem Solver. They are the center and I mean this 21:23 is something that I prayed that way many, many years. I would 21:27 bring my problems to God and my focus was on self rather than on 21:32 the Lord. But as we look at what John had to say in 1 John 5:14 21:36 This is the confidence that we have in prayer, if we're asking 21:40 according to his will, it will be done and that's what you did 21:45 Tell the rest of the story. After you sold the van were you 21:50 without good transportation? 21:51 No not at all. In fact she is still using the van today and 21:55 the van never broke again. 21:57 How about you? Did the Lord provide for your transportation? 21:59 Absolutely. So what would you tell to people 22:04 who are focused on the problem rather than on the promises 22:10 of God? It happens that people go to 22:17 prayer struggling, or they go to church struggling and they leave 22:23 prayer still struggling regardless they may pray one 22:28 hour, one day or one year. Things don't change much. 22:33 I know people who have prayed for a problem for many years or 22:36 have been going to church for many years. They say things 22:40 don't change much. I notice that when they put God in the center 22:44 beside that we order the way that he knows that is best. 22:49 We have peace, we have joy and I believe that instead of focusing 22:57 on the problems and getting depressed, the more you 23:00 contemplate problems the more discouraged we are. We should 23:04 rather focus on God and his greatness and his love and his 23:09 will and his plans. We have an amazing God. We don't give him 23:14 a chance to show who he is. 23:15 This is something that I'll never forget. I was claiming 23:19 the promise of Isaiah 26 verse 3 that God says that he is 23:24 righteous and he promises to keep us in perfect peace if we 23:27 will keep our mind steadfastly fixed on him trusting in him. 23:32 As I was praying this, Pavel, about an hour later after my 23:37 prayer, I got a troubling phone call. It was terrible and I was 23:41 wringing my hands for about an hour I was wringing my hands and 23:44 focusing on the problem and suddenly the still small voice 23:48 of the Lord impressed this thought upon my mind: Where are 23:51 your eyes focused, on the problem or on the problem 23:52 solver. I had totally lost my peace but as soon as I returned 23:58 my focus to God saying Lord you knew this was going to happen 24:02 before it happened. You're the one that's got the solution. 24:06 And I trusted in him. He restored that perfect peace, the 24:10 peace that transcends all understanding and within 24 24:14 hours he had worked everything out. Amen. 24:17 Studying a little some Bible prayers God impressed me that 24:25 they have some common characteristics, some common 24:29 points and this is what got my attention. This is one of them. 24:34 For instance instead of focusing so much on needs and problems 24:39 while it is actually okay to go with our problems before God 24:43 and present them. But instead of keeping our eyes on the problems 24:48 we should rather switch and put God in the center and fix our 24:53 eyes on God's glory. I would use a Bible example. For instance, 24:59 Moses. After they made the golden calf, Moses goes to God 25:03 and he says instead of please, please forgive them, please let 25:07 them live, please let them go to the promised land, Moses said 25:11 Yes they sinned and they deserve to die but what are the nations 25:14 going to say about you? What happens to your name and your 25:18 glory? Think about your name. So he put God right in the 25:22 center, not people. Excellent point. Now I know 25:26 you've got a lot of answers to prayer. Tell us a quick one in 25:29 the time we have left. 25:31 I remember when I was in the university, they wanted to 25:37 expel me for not going Saturdays to school. 25:40 Because of the Sabbath and your religious convictions. 25:42 Yes. And the dean told me that I would be expelled without any 25:47 right to ever register in any school for the rest of my life. 25:52 So I prayed hard for a long time that God would help me because 25:56 I wanted to have an education. I remember that Thursday the 26:01 secretary of the school said give up God. There is nobody who 26:05 can save you. Come to school this Saturday. And I said God 26:09 can help me if he wants. So I prayed different. I said God 26:13 I'm not going to pray until I prayed until now for me but I'm 26:17 going to pray for you. That Friday the president of the 26:20 the country, Coscescue, gave a law that from that Friday on 26:24 there would be no school Saturdays to save power and heat 26:29 So I remember the secretary being pale and saying wow it has 26:33 never happened in the history of the country. Who do you know 26:37 in the government. They changed the law for you. I said well I 26:41 don't know anybody in the government but I know that God 26:44 can change nations and can do great things. 26:47 Amen! And it reminds me of what James wrote when he said that 26:53 the earnest prayers, the effective, fervent prayers of a 26:57 righteous man availeth much. When you were praying instead 27:02 of Lord fix my problem, Lord let your name be glorified. 27:06 God moved heaven and earth not only to see that you stayed in 27:12 school and had his plan for your life fulfilled but it gave glory 27:18 to his name because this woman saw that your God was bigger 27:23 than the government. What an amazing story! Thank you, 27:27 Pavel, for joining us today. You will come back and share 27:30 some more that the Lord has taught you about prayer won't 27:33 you? Thank you for inviting me. 27:35 It will be my privilege to come. 27:36 Praise God! For those of you at home remember to make God the 27:41 focus of your prayer not your problems. It's okay to present 27:45 your problems to God but let him be the focus and ask for 27:49 the glory of his name. Now may he multiply his mercy, love and 27:53 grace to you. Thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17