I don't understand.
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Why did this
have to happen to me?
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I feel like I just
can't make sense of things.
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I need answers.
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Where is God?
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One of the most powerful men
of prayer in modern day history
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was a man by the
name of George Mueller.
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Back in the
1800s, he ran orphanages.
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And many times, they would run
desperately low on resources.
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He would pray to God
and God would answer him.
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At the end of his life,
he had seen the equivalent
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of over 75 million
pounds in financial miracles
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as a direct
result of those prayers.
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Hi. Welcome. My
name is Mark Paden.
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Welcome to Raw
Questions Relevant Answers,
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where we are
seeking biblical answers
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to the very deepest questions
that we as young people face.
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I'm joined by my co-hosts
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Michele
Doucoumes and Dee Casper,
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and we are so thankful
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that you have
joined us here today.
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Our topic today is prayer.
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How can we pray like
George Mueller prayed?
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Or even better
yet, how can we pray
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like Jesus Himself prayed?
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Today, we're gonna go ahead
and dive in again to questions
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that people, young
people around the globe
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have send us on
our Facebook page.
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So this first question
that we're gonna do is,
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"Why does it feel like
when I pray God won't answer?
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My prayers just
seem to hit the ceiling?"
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This is from a female, age
16, in the state of Michigan.
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Well, I'll give
one of the principles
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regarding when prayer
seems to go unanswered.
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This is from a book
called Steps to Christ,
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great, great book on
just practical Christianity.
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It says, "If we regard
iniquity in our hearts,
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if we cling to any known
sin, the Lord will not hear us.
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But the prayer of the
penitent contrite soul
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is always accepted.
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When all known
wrongs are righted,
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we may believe that God
will answer our petitions.
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Our own merit
will never commend us
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to the favor of God.
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It is the worthiness of
Jesus that will save us,
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His blood that will cleanse us.
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But yet, we have a
work to do in complying
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with the
conditions of acceptance."
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And the principle of this verse,
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this quote comes from
is from Isaiah 59:1, 2.
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It says,
"Behold, the Lord's hand
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is not shortened
that it cannot save,
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nor His ear heavy
that it cannot hear,
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but your
iniquities have separated you
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from your God,
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and your sins have
hidden His face from you
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so that He will not hear."
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It deprives God of
being able to hear actively
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and respond to
us as He would want.
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It says one category, right?
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If there's known share of
sin, but sometimes, God just...
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The answer is no
because he sees things
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that we don't in
these situations, right?
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The only things that
God would ask for us to do
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with the things
that we ourselves
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would choose to do
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if we knew what He knew, right?
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We would accept
what he's wanting
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if we knew all of what
He saw in those moments.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, I like some
of those principles.
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Some of it reminds me
of James Chapter four.
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We are told in verse three,
"You ask and do not receive
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because you ask amiss
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that you may spend
it on your pleasures."
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And so what are we asking for?
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Maybe sometimes
they are not hearing
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because those things are
not according to God's will,
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they are not in line
with what they should be.
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Other times
though, maybe they are.
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I think of Daniel,
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he was praying for
some very good things.
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He was praying
for the deliverance
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of his people
that were in captivity,
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something that didn't
already prophesied, right?
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And so Daniel
Chapter 9, he prays.
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He doesn't seem to get
an answer for a good while.
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Finally, in Daniel Chapter 10,
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an angel comes to
give him an answer.
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But he says
something interesting.
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Verse 13, he
says, "But the prince
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of the kingdom of
Persia withstood me 21 days."
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There was a
spiritual battle going on
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where this angel
could not get through,
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and then finally he could,
and he came with an answer.
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He was sent at the
beginning of Daniel's prayer,
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but there were some
bigger picture things
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that Daniel couldn't
see that made it a wait
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instead of a now.
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So maybe
sometimes there is a wait,
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and we give up pretty easily.
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Yeah.
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You know, one of
the principles too
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that I want to bring in
here is found in Hebrews 11:6.
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"But without faith, it
is impossible to please Him,
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for He who comes to God
must believe that He is,
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and that He is a rewarder
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of those who
diligently seek Him."
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You see, many
times in the gospels
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when people came to Christ
asking for certain things,
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they didn't believe it.
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And so it didn't happen.
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Or in many cases,
Christ reproved their unbelief
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and then they fell in
penitence on Christ saying,
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"Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief."
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So another principle of
prayer in the sense is that
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we need to believe,
first of all, that God is,
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that God is who He says He
is, that He is almighty God,
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and that He has the ability.
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And also, that He
is a rewarder of them,
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the diligently seeking.
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So if we seek God,
He will be found of us.
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And we're also promised
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that if we pray
according to the will of God,
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we will receive an answer 1000%
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and we're
guaranteed of that in scripture
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that if we're praying in
accordance with God's will.
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So one of the things...
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And it's not just like we say
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in Jesus' name at
the end of a prayer,
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so we should just say
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and Your will be done
at the end of the prayer,
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like we should, it
should mean something to us
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when we say that.
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Another really
important premise in prayer
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is the soil of the heart, right?
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Not just what the
words of the mouth are
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but the actual
soil of the heart.
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So if we say, "Oh God,
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you know, I'll
do whatever you want
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or you know, I'll
go wherever you want."
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But then in your heart
you say, "But oh, not yet."
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God has to answer
the prayer of the heart
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over the prayer of the mouth.
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And sometimes
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there is a
contradiction internally, right?
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There is internal inconsistency
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that what we say with
our mouth is not in harmony
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with where our heart
is at that point in time,
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whether what we
want or how we're living
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or what we believe.
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You know, to
another part of this is,
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sometimes we may
ask for something
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that isn't against God's will
00:06:03.43\00:06:07.03
but it isn't necessarily
promised in scripture, right?
00:06:07.06\00:06:09.76
You know, we have times
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where maybe
we've lost something,
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maybe we were...
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There's a loved one
that is getting really sick,
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and in those times,
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it can often be
really quite a struggle
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to know how to feel in our minds
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because we want to believe.
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But at the same time,
will God actually do it?
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You know one thing I
think in those situations
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is to trust the heart of God.
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Wow. Yes.
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To know that God will do
the very best thing for us
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and to leave it in His hands.
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And in those moments where
it's just mentally painful,
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and we've all been there,
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it's that
process of saying, "Lord,
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I'm putting this in Your hands."
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And continually
surrendering it to Him
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and looking up to
remember His promises,
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and not to trust,
"Okay, He is going to do this,"
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but to say,
"Lord, Your will be done.
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I'm resting in You for it."
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And then trust him
because He's faithful.
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I think it's an
important point that if we have
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a true conception of who God is,
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we're going to give Him
the benefit of the doubt
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in those things
that we don't understand.
00:07:07.29\00:07:08.72
Yeah.
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Because we know He
would never leave me somewhere
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that I would want to
go if I knew or He knew.
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Yeah, yeah. It's a great point.
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Hundred percent. Okay.
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So here's the second question.
And this is quite practical.
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"How do I pray when
I always get distracted
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or fall asleep when I try?"
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Oh, man.
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I will start that off
because I have been there,
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I feel that.
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You know, for a long part
of my Christian experience,
00:07:31.78\00:07:35.12
prayer was like this much,
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and then studying the Bible
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or things was a
much larger portion
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primarily because I had
a difficult time praying.
00:07:40.79\00:07:44.33
I mean, I would pray,
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but then a little bit through
my mind would be over here
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and what I had to do
and then the other things
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and then I fall asleep.
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I feel their pain.
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There are
different things that help.
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Some people really enjoy
praying out loud, you know?
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That can be a big thing.
00:08:01.18\00:08:02.91
Just go somewhere
where you can pray out loud.
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Don't pray in
your bed lying down.
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Right. That's a good...
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I've noticed that one.
00:08:09.72\00:08:11.29
But also, one thing
that's actually helped me a lot
00:08:11.32\00:08:13.89
is I started writing my prayers.
00:08:13.92\00:08:15.79
I journal a lot.
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And that is a way that I focus.
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And it really started
to transform my prayer life
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and that prayer started to
transform my spiritual life,
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and that's a huge encouragement.
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If you're studying with
prayer, don't give up on it.
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If we think about it, in
the book, Steps to Christ...
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Actually no, it's
in the periodical,
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Signs of the
Times, first of all.
00:08:38.21\00:08:40.22
February 3, 1904, it says,
00:08:40.25\00:08:42.02
"Prayer is the
breath of the soul.
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Jesus lived in
dependence upon God
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and communion with Him."
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And as we pray, it
grows a relationship,
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and that's what
I started to see.
00:08:55.50\00:08:56.83
It's like studying the
scripture is the bread.
00:08:56.87\00:08:59.10
But have you have ever had bread
00:08:59.13\00:09:01.44
and it's kind of dry
and you have no water?
00:09:01.47\00:09:04.01
To me, prayer is like the breath
00:09:04.04\00:09:06.41
or maybe the water
that goes with it in a way,
00:09:06.44\00:09:09.81
and we need those together.
00:09:09.84\00:09:11.81
And so I would encourage you,
if you're struggling with this,
00:09:11.85\00:09:14.15
try some different things,
try speaking your prayers,
00:09:14.18\00:09:17.15
try writing your prayers,
00:09:17.19\00:09:18.75
pray with other
people sometimes,
00:09:18.79\00:09:20.76
some people like a
prayer special closet or a place
00:09:20.79\00:09:24.59
or going outside to pray,
00:09:24.63\00:09:26.66
so maybe switch it up some
to a way that you can focus
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and start to have
that communion with God.
00:09:31.80\00:09:34.10
You know, one other
principle here that I love
00:09:34.14\00:09:35.94
in Psalm 116:1, 2.
00:09:35.97\00:09:38.47
It says, "I love the Lord
because he has heard my voice
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and my suffocations
00:09:42.31\00:09:43.98
because he has
inclined his ear unto me,
00:09:44.01\00:09:46.61
therefore will I call
upon him as long as I live."
00:09:46.65\00:09:49.65
I think one of the
biggest motivators to prayer
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is really an experience
00:09:51.92\00:09:54.52
where we test the promises
of God and He comes through
00:09:54.56\00:09:57.96
because when we...
00:09:57.99\00:09:59.33
Like George Mueller. Yes.
00:09:59.36\00:10:00.70
When he was in need,
doing work for the Lord,
00:10:00.73\00:10:03.06
like that 75 million pounds
00:10:03.10\00:10:05.53
wasn't just for him
to buy a Ferrari, right?
00:10:05.57\00:10:08.67
He was doing Practical
Ministry with that money,
00:10:08.70\00:10:11.61
and when he was a
need, when he was testing
00:10:11.64\00:10:13.81
the promises of
God, God came through.
00:10:13.84\00:10:15.88
And so do you think
00:10:15.91\00:10:17.25
George Miller
struggled with praying
00:10:17.28\00:10:19.28
after all those
times when he had prayed
00:10:19.31\00:10:21.12
and God had
shown Himself faithful?
00:10:21.15\00:10:22.98
I don't think so.
00:10:23.02\00:10:24.35
When we are willing to
test the promises of God
00:10:24.39\00:10:27.36
in that
practical visceral way...
00:10:27.39\00:10:30.09
Yeah.
00:10:30.13\00:10:31.66
For me, one of the
things that was a big help
00:10:31.69\00:10:33.60
was walking and praying.
00:10:33.63\00:10:34.96
So that's generally
what I do every day is
00:10:35.00\00:10:36.33
I'll just take time to
walk and pray, and I will...
00:10:36.36\00:10:39.23
Even when I'm just
praying in my room,
00:10:39.27\00:10:41.10
I'll just pray
just under my breath,
00:10:41.14\00:10:42.90
I'll have to
enunciate, I'll have to speak.
00:10:42.94\00:10:44.44
But it's not loud enough
00:10:44.47\00:10:45.81
for anyone in
the room to hear it,
00:10:45.84\00:10:47.18
and it focuses my mind
00:10:47.21\00:10:48.54
because more than one of
my senses is being engaged,
00:10:48.58\00:10:50.31
but walking has
been a big help too.
00:10:50.35\00:10:52.85
I wanted to give some resources
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that have been
immensely helpful for me
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on the topic of prayer
in some of these categories.
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The first was Roger Morneau.
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He has a book, MORNEAU,
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Roger Morneau, has a book called
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Incredible Answers to
Prayer is what it's called.
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And he would pray in his
car, he did traveling business.
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And so he would
have this massive list
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for people he
would pray for every day.
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And while he was
driving he would pray.
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So just take some time
to turn your radio off,
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turn the other stuff off,
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and just pray to
God, listen to God.
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His book has been
an amazing resource.
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A second resource is
from a friend of ours
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Melody Mason.
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It's called
Daring to Ask for More,
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and it's another great asset
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where it just
kind of walks through
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the whole principles of
prayer, the soil of the heart,
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what lies are you believing,
what are your practices,
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what's your view
of God and yourself?
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It kind of goes
through a lot of it...
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Super practical resources.
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And the third is
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you are going to
search this in Google.
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Pavel Goia, P-A-V-E-L,
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and his last
name is Goia, G-O-I-A,
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and search Vital Prayer.
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There's a whole
series of sermons he does
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that deal with a
lot of other components.
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Those three
together have revolutionized
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my view of prayer, and
I've seen tons of answers,
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huge miraculous answers,
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by implementing
those principles.
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What you mentioned,
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Pavel actually
lists, that he says,
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"It's not safe to ask
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until we've praised
Him enough to trust."
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Yeah.
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And the point was
that when you start
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your prayer
experience in praise,
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you're reminding
yourself that you're speaking
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to a faithful God.
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You are coming into the presence
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of the Almighty
God of the universe
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who's been faithful to you,
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and if that's in the forefront
of your mind, when you ask,
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you're already
believing that He hears
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and He's going to answer
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because you've had
previous experiences with Him.
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You are not
thinking, "God, are you there?
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Do you care? Here it is.
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Hope it works."
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You know whose
presence you're coming into
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and who you are speaking to.
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I think that's a big
thing is sometimes we think
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a prayer is just
going through our list,
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"Please be with
aunt Mary who has cancer,
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or please be
with this and that,"
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but prayer is more than that.
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We see that even
in the Lord's Prayer.
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You know, our Father in
heaven, hallowed is Your name.
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Starting with maybe
praising God for who He is,
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remembering who He is,
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then Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done,
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submitting ourselves to God,
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or maybe praying
through even confessions
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that we need to
make in our own heart.
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Sometimes, there is
stuff that needs to be cleared
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between us and God,
to pray about those.
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And then praying
through the actual requests
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that we have,
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and then
thanking God for things.
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Yeah.
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And so my prayers have become
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a lot more of just my daily
dialogue about life with God
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and not just a list of
things that need to be done.
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Well, I think the
power of that is that
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prayer isn't just something
that we were required to do
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in order to
expiate or make atonement,
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get rid of our sin,
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prayer is something in
which it's a daily experience
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of communion with
God as to a friend,
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opening the heart
to God as to a friend
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whether that's about
where we've messed up,
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or what we're happy
about, or what we need.
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Another big thing too
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is claiming the promises of God.
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There are so many
rich promises in this book
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that if we claim them,
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He's pledged Himself to respond.
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So if you want to pray more,
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I encourage you to
dive into the Word of God,
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really come to God
and make that a priority.
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Thank you so
much for joining us.
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God bless.
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