Steps to Christ in Song

The Privilege Of Prayer

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Mike Lemon (Host)

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Series Code: SCS

Program Code: SCS000011


00:33 Chapter 11: The Privilege of Prayer.
00:38 Hello and Welcome to Steps to Christ in song.
00:40 Today, we're gonna be looking at the privilege
00:42 of prayer. Let me tell you a little personal secret
00:45 I used to be afraid to pray, I grew up in the
00:48 Anglican Church and there was a Reverend Blackstock.
00:52 They used to wear these big robes and he would
00:55 pray in a very formal way to God and so I thought
00:59 if I can't pray to God that way then he is probably
01:02 not interested in my prayers and there were
01:04 other people in the church, adults,
01:05 who would pray like that and so that's where
01:07 I formed this idea. So, as I came to different
01:13 situations, where I would have to pray always
01:15 be terrified. And so there was a situation
01:18 where I was asked to pray in public and I was so
01:22 terrified I refused and afterwards the person
01:25 who ask me to pray came to me and said
01:26 why are you so afraid to pray in public
01:30 and I told him that I was afraid not to use the
01:33 right language and that I couldn't pray like that.
01:35 And so he said to me something that I
01:37 would never forget, he said prayer is the opening
01:41 of the heart to God as to a friend and when I heard
01:44 that it made me feel warm and comfortable inside
01:47 like I could talk to God about my worries,
01:50 my fears whether I was happy or sad
01:53 and he'd be very interested, and so today
01:56 we're gonna talk about prayer and before we get
02:00 too far into it, I'm gonna ask Jennifer
02:02 if she will lead us in a word of prayer.
02:04 Could you do that Jennifer? Sure. Let's pray.
02:09 Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for the
02:11 privilege we have to communicate with you.
02:14 I ask this in your Holy Spirit to mend our hearts
02:17 as we learn more about our need for you,
02:22 thank you in your name, amen.
02:25 Understanding what I do about God's love and power,
02:29 I sometimes wonder why we don't talk to him
02:31 more often about our problems.
02:33 I mean talking to God should be like talking to a
02:36 friend, the difference is that this friend has all
02:39 the answers to all our problems.
02:42 Jesus says in Matthew 7:9 through 11 what man
02:46 is there among you who, if the son asks for bread,
02:49 will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish,
02:53 will he give him a serpent. If you then being evil,
02:56 know how to give good gifts to your children
02:59 how much more will your Father who is in heaven
03:01 give good things to those who ask him. God is on your
03:05 side and he wants you to be happy,
03:07 so why not ask him to help you find that
03:09 true happiness which nothing can take away.
03:16 My Jesus Knows When I'm Lonely
03:20 He Knows Each Pain, He Sees Each Tear
03:26 He Understands Each Lonely Heartache
03:30 He Understands Because He Cares
03:35 My Jesus Knows Just What I Need
03:40 Oh, Yes He Knows Just What I Need
03:45 He Satisfies And Every Need's Supplied
03:49 Yes, He Knows Just What I Need
03:54 When Other Friend Seem To Forget Me
03:59 When Skies Are Dark Can Hope Scenes Gone
04:04 By Faith I Feel He Surrounds Around Me
04:08 And Hear Him Say You're Not Alone
04:13 My Jesus Knows Just What I Need
04:18 Oh, Yes He Knows Just What I Need
04:23 He Satisfies And Every Need's Supplied
04:27 Yes, He Knows Just What I Need
04:32 Yes, He Knows Just What I Need.
04:43 In James 4:2, it says we have not because we ask not.
04:47 And even though Jesus knows what we need
04:48 before we ask him, he still wants us to ask.
04:52 Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to come boldly
04:55 before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
04:58 and find help in time of need. But Rebecca what about
05:01 little children, does that apply to little children.
05:03 I think it does, when I was little me and my sister
05:06 really wanted a playhouse and so we prayed
05:09 and asked God to give us a playhouse,
05:11 but not just any playhouse. We wanted a playhouse
05:14 that had a deck, two windows and a door with
05:17 the handles, so we could open it and like
05:18 walk-in it. Specific details, yes, okay.
05:20 And so we prayed every night and asked God
05:22 and mom and dad, they prayed too but they're
05:25 kind of little bit skeptical because we had a lot,
05:27 we wanted specifics and, but we trusted that
05:30 God would, you know, listen and answer our prayer
05:32 and so we prayed and prayed and.
05:34 One night my mom and dad were looking through
05:36 the newspaper and they saw an ad for a playhouse
05:38 and we read about it, but we weren't quite sure
05:41 if there was and so we want to go and look at it.
05:43 And we went and my sister and I saw it,
05:46 we were so excited because it had exactly
05:48 what we prayed for. Wow, it is a little playhouse
05:51 and had a deck, had two windows,
05:53 the windows opened, had a door with the handle
05:56 and then when you walked in there is a rainbow
05:59 inside and then up on the roof there is blue sky with
06:03 clouds and it was like absolutely amazing
06:05 and I don't know it was just a real blessing
06:09 because you know even though we were so little
06:11 we had that faith, yeah, and you know faith is the
06:16 key in the hand of, prayer is the key in the hand of
06:19 faith to open heaven's door house. And we had that
06:23 and God answered our prayer and
06:24 I just think that's what we need.
06:26 That's a good promise, prayer is a key in the
06:29 hand of faith to unlock heaven's door house.
06:32 That's true and I've experienced the same type
06:34 of thing. I've prayed for people in different
06:36 situations I remember one time with the elder
06:38 of our church, we went and prayed for a little baby,
06:42 who had had a number of operations on her.
06:44 She was, she had so many operations that she was
06:47 afraid of anyone wearing a white coat
06:49 because these doctors used to wear white you know
06:52 when they would come in and so we went to pray for her.
06:55 They, the doctors had given up and they said the next
06:57 day she would die and we just heard about this at
06:59 our church and so we went and prayed for her
07:01 and she was completely healed,
07:03 they didn't have to do anymore operations
07:05 and her parents came to us and they were just crying
07:07 and they said thank you praying for this little baby
07:10 and it wasn't us it was God who healed her
07:13 and just yesterday, I had an answered prayer.
07:16 I mean we had many answered prayer
07:18 that I could talk about, but this was yesterday
07:21 I was feeling this kind of an abdominal pain,
07:23 it was really a strange sort of pain, it was all
07:26 morning, it was going on for hours and then finally
07:28 I had to teach a class it was social studies nine
07:31 and before class I went to the cafeteria you were
07:36 there Rebecca and I looked for some charcoal
07:38 tablets to take away maybe or something I ate
07:41 or something inside, so I took these tablets
07:43 and about two or three minutes later
07:45 I was back in the class and I was in so much pain
07:48 I couldn't even kneel down to pray and before class
07:50 we always pray and I asked Benjamin to pray
07:53 and Benjamin prayed for the rest of the class
07:55 and then he prayed for me that I would be healed
07:58 and when I got up off my knees I was healed,
08:01 it was gone, it was completely gone.
08:03 Yesterday you know and it was an immediate
08:06 answer to prayer. Have any of you had lately an
08:11 answer to prayer to see how God was leading in
08:13 your life. Oh actually I have something I really
08:18 like to share do you don't mind I share it real quick?
08:20 Sure go ahead, Leighton. Well, okay being on the
08:23 Steps to Christ Filming Crew has been a big
08:26 blessing for me and just lately like
08:30 when we've been filming these Bible studies,
08:32 we had so many answers to prayer like the first day,
08:36 we were out here at the river, I remember that,
08:39 and yeah the wind was blowing and okay it would
08:43 not stop, we were just waiting for it to stop
08:47 and so we decided okay let's pray.
08:50 So we stopped and we prayed and like while
08:55 we were praying the wind stopped,
08:57 wow and I was like wow, you know,
08:59 and that was such an answer to prayer
09:02 and it was great, the second day we were filming,
09:07 we were going up to a lake and so we're driving in the
09:11 van and we're going up this hill and all of a sudden
09:15 the van just stutters to a stop. Yes, that's true,
09:18 I was driving that van, yeah, it wouldn't go,
09:20 it sputtered and then it just cut out completely.
09:24 Yeah and so one of the students that was with us,
09:29 he is like well we should pray, so we are like you
09:31 know that's a good idea. So we prayed and just like
09:36 as soon as we try starting the van again it fired
09:39 right up and just went like normal.
09:40 Yeah, it went straight up the hill, we went out
09:42 and we filmed and we came back,
09:44 there was no problem with the van after that, yeah.
09:46 And so, then the third day I was like wow we've had
09:50 so much answer to prayer and so we're out filming
09:54 actually here on campus and we're filming away
09:58 and everything was just fine and then we hear
10:02 this engine that was all the way across the river
10:04 and it fired out and we're like oh you know yeah
10:08 it was some guy on his motorcycle just winding it
10:11 out and it wasn't that loud, but it is just like
10:15 you know just enough to disturb our filming
10:18 and so we again we prayed and the engine
10:23 it stopped after I don't know it was a few minutes,
10:26 about a couple of minutes and when we were ready
10:28 to film it stopped, it was just totally silent.
10:30 And it's just been such a blessing, it has been,
10:34 filming here on the Steps to Christ.
10:35 So, those are real answers to prayer, yeah,
10:38 and thanks for interrupting the program to tell us
10:41 about that answer to prayer,
10:42 yeah, thanks Leighton.
10:45 God like a wise parent doesn't always give us
10:48 everything we want. He knows what will make us
10:51 happy and what won't. Paul puts it in this way in
10:54 Romans 8:26, the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress.
10:59 For we don't even know what we should pray for,
11:01 nor how we should pray, but the Holy Spirit prays
11:05 for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in
11:07 words. So go ahead and pray knowing that your prayer
11:13 will be answered in a way that will turn out even
11:15 better then you expected, but remember God's first
11:19 priority is to get you into heaven.
11:21 So if you're doing things that you know are wrong
11:24 he makes sure to help you with those things first.
11:27 Trust in God, because he is much wiser and more
11:30 experienced than you are and in the end you'll be
11:33 eternally grateful that you did.
11:38 When we have close friends, we like to communicate
11:40 with them often, in the same way God wants us to
11:44 communicate with him often. So you can talk to him
11:47 anytime, even when you're busy during the day.
11:51 You don't have to say anything because God
11:53 can read your mind. So simply lift up your
11:56 thoughts, concerns, and questions to him
11:58 and he'll understand exactly what you are thinking.
12:01 In this way God can be your constant companion
12:05 and you can have the assurance that he not
12:07 only knows what you're going through,
12:09 but he is with you through it all.
12:13 Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
12:20 Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
12:28 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
12:36 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
12:47 Moment by moment I'm kept in His love;
12:55 Moment by moment I've life from above;
13:03 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
13:11 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
13:23 Never a trial that He is not there,
13:31 Never a burden that He doth not bear,
13:40 Never a sorrow that He doth not share,
13:48 Moment by moment, I'm under His care.
14:00 Moment by moment I'm kept in His love;
14:07 Moment by moment I've life from above;
14:15 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
14:24 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
14:37 Never a weakness that He doth not feel,
14:44 Never a sickness that He cannot heal;
14:52 Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,
15:00 Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.
15:11 Moment by moment I'm kept in His love;
15:19 Moment by moment I've life from above;
15:27 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
15:35 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
15:52 The fact that God knows what I'm going through,
15:55 makes me want to be in his presence more and more.
15:58 The Bible says in Isaiah 53 that Jesus bore our guilt
16:02 and carried our sorrows. He loves us so much
16:05 and he hates to see us in pain or suffering.
16:09 So if we keep our eyes on him and listen to
16:10 what he has to tell us he'll see us
16:13 through any storm that we encounter.
16:15 That's true Robby and there are times though
16:17 when God answers our prayers in very
16:20 unexpected ways. I know that Jennifer told me a
16:22 story about how she was planning for her future,
16:25 where she was gonna go to school and she
16:28 and her parents were praying diligently
16:30 and she got an answer to prayer that was in an
16:33 unexpected way. Jennifer, since you're here,
16:35 can you tell us that experience.
16:39 Sure, well, I was home schooled at that time
16:42 and I was in junior high and both my parents had to go
16:45 work. So, I was alone most of the time and I needed to
16:50 find an academy to go to, so I was the age for it
16:53 and I didn't know where yet, so we just prayed about it
16:57 nothing really came up, so I just stayed at home
17:00 and then one day, is this was Sunday and my mom came
17:09 in, I was on the computer. My mom comes in and
17:11 informed me that a man from our church had passed
17:13 away that morning, did you know that man?
17:16 Yeah, I know him pretty well yeah,
17:17 and I was shocked because I just seen him at the church
17:22 the day before and came closer at the time of
17:26 funeral and the day before I got asked to
17:29 play my violin. So I told my word and then after the
17:36 memorial and after the dinner. My mom needed to
17:39 go to the church to do something and so my dad
17:42 and I are waiting for her and while we were waiting
17:45 the daughter of the man that had died came up to me
17:47 and thanked me for playing my violin, and she said
17:51 that her daughter also plays violin and then she
17:55 asked me what grade I was in I told her junior high
17:57 and I was home schooled and so then just out of the blue she,
18:03 she started to tell me about a school that her
18:06 daughter is going to up in Montana and,
18:09 you were interested because you were looking
18:12 for a school to go to, yeah. So, I was in Washington,
18:18 so this was like two states away maybe
18:21 and just this couple ran the school and at the most
18:27 they take 10 students. So, when my parents
18:32 listened and they didn't think much of it
18:35 they just thought it is pretty neat,
18:36 but when we got home I told my dad that this school
18:40 would be kind of, I might be interested in going
18:43 to this school. He looked to me and he was,
18:46 he was like are you serious, I don't think you
18:48 would be because it's too far from home and yeah,
18:52 out in the middle of nowhere, and look why
18:54 can't, I'm not interested. So, we got on the phone
18:57 right away contacted the lady and she told us
19:01 more information and gave us the phone number,
19:03 so we contacted the school and they send some
19:06 information and the more I read about it,
19:09 the more I liked about it, and at the end of that
19:11 month this was in April, I, we drove up to check out
19:17 the school and when we got there and looked at it,
19:23 we're all very impressed with it and I wanted to go
19:26 there, but there is one problem and that was
19:29 they had a waiting line, wailing list,
19:32 but I wasn't the only one in line, there was
19:34 another girl that wanted to go there too.
19:36 And the day that I was gonna come back home the guy,
19:41 the school told us that he would have accepted me
19:44 right on the spot except the had to be fair with the
19:46 other girl they think about it at least for a few more
19:50 days, so they told me that they have let me know in
19:53 one week. So, exactly one week later,
19:56 this was Tuesday night, so just before 8:30
19:59 we got a phone call and my mom picked it up
20:01 and pretty soon I heard her say, oh thank you,
20:05 I'll tell her, I tell the whole world then
20:09 you're right, then I had been accepted.
20:12 That's an answer to prayer, but it was totally unexpected
20:14 the way you had expected. You didn't know this man
20:17 was going to die, you didn't know that you were going to
20:19 meet his daughter and all those other things that happened.
20:22 So God is interested in, and he answers our prayers,
20:25 not exactly the way we expected, but he still answers our
20:28 prayers. Thank you for that experience.
20:33 There is a very important part of prayer
20:35 that's often neglected. When we are in trouble,
20:38 we naturally cry out to God for help,
20:40 but how often do we praise God for his constant
20:42 faithfulness. Prayer is not just about asking
20:46 and receiving, it is just as important to acknowledge
20:50 God for all he has done for us. You see, the main
20:53 purpose of prayer is not to convince God to bless us.
20:57 He already loves us and wants to give us all good
21:00 things. Matthew 6:8 says, your Father knows
21:04 exactly what you need even before you ask him,
21:07 but the purpose of prayer is to make a change in us.
21:11 Prayer helps us recognize how much God loves us
21:14 and does for us, even before you receive the
21:17 answer to your prayer you can thank God
21:20 because you know he is trustworthy and will do
21:23 what's best. So, why not thank God right now as this
21:27 psalmist says for his goodness and for his
21:29 wonderful works to the children of men.
22:01 Thy loving kindness Is better than life
22:22 My lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee
22:34 I will bless thee as long as I live
22:44 O I will bless thee as long as I live,
23:05 My lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee
23:16 I will bless thee as long as I live.
23:31 My heart shall make me and I shall be,
23:40 give me understanding that I may obey,
23:50 O, Lord the man blesses because I love thee.
24:02 I will bless thee as long as I live.
24:44 You know we can praise God for his loving
24:46 kindness towards us even at times
24:48 when the road of life that we were traveling
24:49 along seems to take some strange twists and turns.
24:53 I know that Amy's parents had an experience
24:56 when the road that they were,
24:57 literal road they were traveling on didn't seem
25:00 to be exactly straight. Amy, do you wanna tell
25:03 us about that experience? Sure, back in May of 1990
25:07 my parents were going on a road trip to Yellowstone
25:09 National Park and they were from Alberta, CA
25:13 and they went down there in a little town called
25:16 Old Montana. They stopped for gas and when they
25:20 stopped for some gas, I was chatting away with the gas
25:23 attendant and they got the gas and they went on down
25:25 the road, we went to the next town about 175 miles down the
25:29 road and they needed to get more gas and my dad went to pay for
25:32 with the credit card which they needed on the road for
25:35 any little emergency expenses and the gas
25:37 and stuff. And he realized he didn't have his credit
25:40 card anymore. So, he had left it at the other gas
25:43 station 175 miles away, so he's got to go back
25:45 and get his credit card. So they paid with what cash
25:49 they had and then they pulled away from,
25:50 mom is there discussing whether we should go back
25:52 or not, well they prayed about it.
25:54 Mom just kept being impressed, we need to go back,
25:56 we need to go back and so they finally decided to turn
26:00 around and go back to 175 miles and,
26:03 so we went back and like this was late in the
26:05 evening and by the time they got back there is like
26:07 9 in the evening. In small town stores usually close
26:10 around 6 or 7 right and he was still open,
26:12 he was planning on closing two hours before,
26:15 but he got so busy that he just stayed open until 9,
26:19 like when they got back. Praise the Lord,
26:21 that's an answer to prayer. And he
26:24 also been thinking about destroying the card
26:25 and calling the bank and stuff and he decided
26:28 to wait just a few more minutes and my parents
26:30 came along and they were able to get their credit card
26:32 back and actually it was a real blessing
26:35 because a few days later they're in another town
26:37 and the car broke down and like if they hadn't had
26:40 the credit card they would not have been able to
26:43 afford the repairs and get back safely
26:46 and everything. Wow, that seems like a kind of
26:49 not the straight way to go they had to go
26:51 and then they had to go back to get the credit card
26:53 that it was a good thing that God had answered
26:55 their prayer in that situation, thanks Amy
26:58 for that experience. You know we used to have
27:01 this little plant in our kitchen window
27:05 and every morning when I'd wake up it look like
27:07 it was kind of leaning outside towards the window
27:09 and so I would move it around because it look kind
27:12 of awkward and throughout the day it would
27:15 stand up straight, but the next morning guess
27:18 what it was leaning towards the window again.
27:20 Why was it doing that? Because the light that
27:23 was streaming in through the window from the
27:25 sun was attracting this plant and like all good
27:29 little plants it was leaning towards the window
27:32 and to the light, that little plant reminds me
27:35 of Jesus. In Mark chapter 1 verse 35 it tells us
27:40 that very early in the morning while it was still
27:42 dark Jesus would get up and go to a solitary place
27:46 and there he would pray. Now if Jesus the creator
27:50 of you and I needed to pray what about you
27:53 and I as weak sinful mortals. We also need to pray.
27:58 Let's take sometime right now to pray.
28:02 Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege
28:04 of prayer and we pray that you will convict our
28:07 hearts of our great need to be drawn to you
28:10 anytime or anywhere to be in the place of prayer,
28:13 in Jesus name we pray, amen.
28:21 Steps to Christ in Song is a 13 part series.
28:24 Designed to be an easy Non threatening way to
28:27 share the good news about Jesus Christ with friends,
28:31 relatives and co-workers.
28:32 Order your copies now by calling
28:34 1-877-490-4141 or visit us
28:40 online at www.fountainviewproductions.com.
28:45 Steps to Christ in Song is also available at your local
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Revised 2014-12-17