Hello, and welcome to
Marriage in God's Hand,
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where Mike and Gayle Tucker
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from Faith for Today television,
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the host of Lifestyle
magazine and Mad About Marriage.
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And by the way, if you would
like to watch those programs
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you can go to lifestyle.org
or madaboutmarriage.com.
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You can also find
Lifestyle magazine on Roku,
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we have a Lifestyle
magazine channel there.
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We've been honored to present
a series of programs here
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on Marriage on God's Hand
on marriage in the family.
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And this is our
last in the series.
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And where we are,
last time we talked about
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how to pray for your spouse
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and we're gonna
do that again today,
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about praying for each other
especially in times of crisis.
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You know, we talked about
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how prayer can
bring you together,
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it can help you feel connected,
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it can help you feel
more committed to one another,
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it can also help you
pray for one another.
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To pray for the
blessing that your spouse needs,
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to pray that God will give him
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or her everything that
is needed in their life.
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But what about
these times of crisis?
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Because there are
times in every couple's life
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when they face crisis.
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That's right.
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And I think we know
that we need prayer.
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If our faith for today
prayer line is any indication,
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people know that.
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Because many,
many of the requests
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that we get are about family.
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They say, "You know,
my marriage is a mess,
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pray to God for me that
He will help my marriage,
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that He will
bless our marriage."
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"My son is going to
prison, I don't know what to do,
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I'm so destroyed, I'm so
sad, I'm so worried about him."
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"There's illness in our family.
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I'm getting
ready to have surgery.
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My husband has cancer.
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Bless us Lord."
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You know, so many
things that they ask for,
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for prayers for,
and sometimes it's just
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I think Satan is
attacking our family.
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Yes, he is.
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And they know, that
prayer is what they need.
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We have crisis.
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Some of them are huge,
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and I think it's
important to understand
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and it's comforting to know
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that we can use prayer
in those times of crisis.
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Now we don't
have to just wonder,
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what do I even say?
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You know, because
sometimes it's so big
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that we don't know what to pray,
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we don't know how to pray,
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we don't know
what to ask God for.
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But I think we can
find some help with that,
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in his word.
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We can find some help with that
because crisis is nothing new.
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There have been crisis
through out the dawn of time,
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at least since sin
entered into the world.
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People had lives in crisis.
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And so we have
examples of prayers in crisis
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in scripture.
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One such example comes to us
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from 2 Chronicles 20,
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my Bible, I just noticed
it was opened to 1 Chronicles.
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2 Chronicle 20 is
where we need to look.
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Because the king of Judah,
Jehoshaphat, had one fear,
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and that is that
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surrounding nations
were joined together
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and attacked the
little kingdom of Judah,
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because it was a small kingdom.
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And his fear was that
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these surrounding
nations would attack him,
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and then he got word
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that three of the surrounding
nations were doing just that.
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They abandoned
together, they made a huge army
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and they were coming to get him.
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And the
interesting thing to me is that
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the very first thing he
did is respond with prayer.
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He didn't call
his generals together
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to take council for war
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he didn't take a
look at how many chariots,
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or swords, or
shields, or warriors they had.
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He just said, oh, the very
first thing we're going to do
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is declare day of
fasting and prayer,
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because our very
existence is at stake.
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His Greatest Fear.
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His Greatest Fear that
these nations will come in
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on this small
little land of Judah
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and would overtake it.
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We have great fears
like that, don't we?
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We do.
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We feel that we
will be overtaken.
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And I think it's
important for us to understand
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that in scripture
there is help for us.
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We can look at that and say,
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yeah, I've been
there, I've been there.
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We can identify with
the things in scripture.
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And in our
families, there are times
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when we've been there.
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Yes.
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Things are falling
apart, I don't know what to do,
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my greatest fear
has come upon me.
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Whether it is a
fear of separation,
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a fear of physical
ailment or disease,
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it's a fear of financial ruin.
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What are our greatest fears?
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I fear that our
children will not stay with God.
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Our greatest
fears have come upon us,
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what are we gonna do?
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Right.
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And Jehoshaphat said that
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the thing to do is to go prayer.
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Very first thing.
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And he's got a
beautiful prayer here
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that actually I uses a pattern
whenever there is a crisis.
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And I encourage other
people to do it as well.
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And its not that
there's anything magical
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about the pattern,
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but its comforting to know
that there is a good pattern
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for how to pray in crisis
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because our
minds are so scattered,
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this helps focus our minds
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on the things
that really matter.
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You know, I can
remember times in my life
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when I felt like, this is
the worst moment of my life,
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this is a horrible crisis.
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Someone may be
who is at death door
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or whatever it was,
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and I felt like I
didn't know how to pray,
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like, I couldn't pray.
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And I must needed someone
else to pray for me, yeah,
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because I didn't have the words.
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This gives us words. Yes.
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And it gives us a
pattern and we can come to God
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and say, all right,
I'm gonna pray back to You,
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what You've written to me,
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because I just
don't know on my own.
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Well, let's take a
look at this pattern.
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The first part of the stories
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told in verses 1-4
of 2 Chronicles 20,
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but then the
pattern starts in verse 5,
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"Then Jehoshaphat stood
in the assembly of Judah
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and Jerusalem, in
the house of the Lord,
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before the new
court, and he said, verse 6.
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O God the God of our fathers,
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are You not God in
heaven, and are You not ruler
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over all the
kingdoms of the nations,
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power and might
are in your hands
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so that no one can
stand against You?"
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He recognized who
he is speaking to.
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Yeah.
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The very first thing
he praises about is God.
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He doesn't pray
about his problem.
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He reminds
himself of who God is.
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He turns his eyes in the
eyes of Judah all upon God
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because God is
bigger than their problem.
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He recognized the
fact, I love this,
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"are you not God
in heaven," you know.
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Are you not my God?
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So I have, in a way he's saying,
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I have a right to be here,
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simply because
You've told me that I can,
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You are the God of heaven
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and You are the
ruler of everything
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and the ruler over me.
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I think one of the
things that we learnt from this
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is that when we are
in pain we become myopic.
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All we can see is
the source of that pain.
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We see the problem itself
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and the longer you
look at the problem
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the bigger the problem becomes.
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It may just be a molehill
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but suddenly it
looks like Everest.
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Yeah.
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You know, it's huge.
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Well, Jehoshaphat reminds
us, when you face that Everest,
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it's time to get
your eyes off Everest
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and get in on to God.
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Because when you look at God
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you realize that
He is much bigger
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than the problem.
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You are looking way up
here and saying Everest
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but when you look
to God, way above that.
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He's above Everest.
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He is above it, He is
bigger, He is all powerful,
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so then you're looking at
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where the power really
lies instead of, at the problem.
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We are not helpless.
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We are not without hope,
we are not without strength
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because we have at our disposal
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the strength of the
God of the universe,
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the creator God of the universe,
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the one who made Everest.
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That's right.
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And He holds the universe
in the palm of His hand.
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So the very first
part of this payer is
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he turns the
attention of the worshippers
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and his own attention
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away from the
problem to the solution,
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and the solution is always God.
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And not only that, not only
is he bigger and have power,
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but it says "You rule
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over all the
kingdoms of the nations."
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He says You have
control over these people
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that are after us.
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You are the one that
has control over my enemies,
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You are the one who
has control over disease,
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You are the one who
has control over Evil.
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Whatever it is that's
coming in on our family
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at this moment Lord,
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You have control
over it, You rule it.
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That's right.
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You are more powerful.
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The next thing that he
does is he reminds himself
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and all of Judah of how God
has led in their past history.
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So he praise about
God's past blessings.
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Why don't you
read verse 7 for us.
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It says, "Did you
not our God drive out
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the inhabitants of this
land before your people Israel
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and give it
forever to the descendants
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of Abraham your friend?
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And they have lived in it
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and have built for you in
it a sanctuary for your name,"
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All right.
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He drove them out.
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You drove them, you gave
this to in the first place,
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you gave this to us.
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Who was it that said,
our only fear for the future
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is that we forget Gods
leading in our past history.
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I believe that strongly.
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We have nothing to
fear for the future.
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And if you ever start to
be afraid for the future,
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just look back into
past, how has God blessed us.
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Is He directing, has
He directed in your past?
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You know, isn't He the one
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who put this
together to begin with?
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Yes He is.
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Has He not given us
a love for one another?
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Yes.
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Has He not provided us the home?
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Has He not given us
friends and family who have us?
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Has He not given us food to eat?
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Has He not given us
children in our home?
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Over and over and
over, and, you know,
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any person can
look back and say,
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wow, when I look at my
history I can see the landmarks,
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I can see the
things that God has done,
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and I think this is
where age also comes into play
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and helps us.
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Because when we
get a little bit older
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we can look back and we can say,
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you know what, I can see now
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things that I
couldn't see before.
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He led, He has done,
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He has blessed us
all along the way,
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why would He not bless us now?
00:10:00.20\00:10:03.16
We tend to look
in times of crisis
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at what we don't have,
and we wish we had more.
00:10:05.93\00:10:10.34
But we forget
that we have already
00:10:10.37\00:10:12.87
an embarrassment of riches.
00:10:12.91\00:10:14.68
God has promised
that He will love you,
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accept you, and forgive you,
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and give you home
in the kingdom forever.
00:10:18.68\00:10:21.88
That's what He's promised.
00:10:21.92\00:10:23.25
If you have
anything more than that
00:10:23.28\00:10:25.35
you have an
embarrassment of riches,
00:10:25.39\00:10:27.52
you have more
than what He promised.
00:10:27.56\00:10:29.09
If you have a
house to live in...
00:10:29.12\00:10:31.63
even if it, may be a small
one, and old, and falling apart,
00:10:31.66\00:10:35.76
you have more
than what He promised.
00:10:35.80\00:10:37.63
If you have shoes on your feet,
00:10:37.67\00:10:39.20
and people who love
you and care for you,
00:10:39.23\00:10:41.50
if you have food
to put in your belly
00:10:41.54\00:10:43.54
you have more than what
a third of the planet has,
00:10:43.57\00:10:47.18
you have an
embarrassment of riches.
00:10:47.21\00:10:49.61
Has He led you into His kingdom,
00:10:49.64\00:10:51.58
has He given you salvation?
00:10:51.61\00:10:53.62
Wow. That's
everything right there.
00:10:53.65\00:10:56.28
Yes.
00:10:56.32\00:10:57.65
Have you, has He
directed your path in a way
00:10:57.69\00:11:00.16
that has brought you to Him,
00:11:00.19\00:11:01.72
has He brought you to
your knees at this moment,
00:11:01.76\00:11:04.16
to acknowledge that He is
God and to have a place to come
00:11:04.19\00:11:07.40
when you are in crisis.
00:11:07.43\00:11:09.53
He has done so much,
00:11:09.56\00:11:10.97
so I think it's very, very
important for us to not say,
00:11:11.00\00:11:14.84
"God, You deserted me",
00:11:14.87\00:11:16.60
but say, "God, You've
led me, now what's next?"
00:11:16.64\00:11:20.51
What's next?
00:11:20.54\00:11:21.88
How are You gonna
help me in this situation?
00:11:21.91\00:11:23.75
But acknowledging
that He has led all along.
00:11:23.78\00:11:27.12
You know, we see
points in our lives
00:11:27.15\00:11:31.02
where we face things
00:11:31.05\00:11:32.92
that we thought were
terrible at the times,
00:11:32.95\00:11:35.22
and yet those turned
out to be turning points
00:11:35.26\00:11:37.53
where God put us in
a place to do things
00:11:37.56\00:11:39.33
that we never would
have done otherwise.
00:11:39.36\00:11:41.46
At the time, you don't see it.
00:11:41.50\00:11:43.43
But when you look back you
do. So looking back is a gift.
00:11:43.47\00:11:46.70
When I was a young man,
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I had my whole life planned out.
00:11:48.10\00:11:49.44
I knew what I was going to be
00:11:49.47\00:11:50.81
doing at 21, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45.
00:11:50.84\00:11:54.78
I was wrong at every age.
00:11:54.81\00:11:56.18
That's right.
00:11:56.21\00:11:57.55
God, I didn't hit
one of my marker is,
00:11:57.58\00:11:59.51
God had different plan for me.
00:11:59.55\00:12:00.95
But you know, as I look
back I realized He was in charge
00:12:00.98\00:12:03.92
and He was
guiding at every step,
00:12:03.95\00:12:05.39
it didn't go
exactly what I thought,
00:12:05.42\00:12:06.76
I've never dreamed
that I would be doing
00:12:06.79\00:12:08.12
what I'm doing right now.
00:12:08.16\00:12:09.49
That's right.
00:12:09.52\00:12:10.86
I never thought about that
00:12:10.89\00:12:12.23
but God had a
plan and He has led me.
00:12:12.26\00:12:14.66
So this prayer so far
is we remember who God is,
00:12:14.70\00:12:17.70
we look first of all
at God, we pray about God.
00:12:17.73\00:12:21.20
You are God of the
universe, You are the creator,
00:12:21.24\00:12:24.21
You are the one who is
the God of the nations,
00:12:24.24\00:12:27.31
and You are the God
who is in charge of my life
00:12:27.34\00:12:30.41
and my experience today.
00:12:30.45\00:12:31.78
And that's music in His
ears when we pray about Him
00:12:31.81\00:12:34.08
because it
says, you know, his...
00:12:34.12\00:12:35.78
we're connecting here.
00:12:35.82\00:12:37.15
Yes.
00:12:37.19\00:12:38.52
We're acknowledging
who He is and who we are.
00:12:38.55\00:12:40.49
Because you can't pray about
00:12:40.52\00:12:41.86
who He is without
acknowledging who you are.
00:12:41.89\00:12:43.69
That's right.
00:12:43.73\00:12:45.06
And that is, I'm
someone who need,
00:12:45.09\00:12:46.43
and I'm not much
00:12:46.46\00:12:47.80
but You are the
king of the universe.
00:12:47.83\00:12:49.16
And then the second
thing we pray about is
00:12:49.20\00:12:51.30
we remember that You've
always been present with me,
00:12:51.33\00:12:54.07
You've always guided
me, You've always led me,
00:12:54.10\00:12:57.11
and that history
gives me confidence
00:12:57.14\00:12:59.84
for Your leadership tomorrow.
00:12:59.87\00:13:01.21
That's right.
00:13:01.24\00:13:02.58
We're gonna take
a break right now.
00:13:02.61\00:13:03.95
When we come back, we'll
have the rest of the prayer.
00:13:03.98\00:13:06.38
But don't go away,
we will be right back.
00:13:06.41\00:13:08.62