Hello, and welcome
to The Missing Peace.
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My name is Jason Bradley.
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Our primary
host for this program
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is Dr. Nadine Joseph Collins.
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Dr. Nadine hails from
the Island of St. Lucia.
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She holds a Ph.D in
Educational Administration
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from the Adventist
International Institute
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of Advanced
Studies in the Philippines
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but has dedicated
herself to full time ministry.
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She has been empowering
the prayer lives of others
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in the Caribbean,
Asia, Canada, the UK,
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and right here in the
US as a presenter on prayer
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for women's ministry weekends
and women's days of prayer.
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She is committed to
making your prayer life go wow.
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Dr. Nadine is an
author and presenter,
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but most importantly a worshiper
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of the most high God.
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Grab a pen and some
paper because you probably want
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to take notes on what
you're about to learn.
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I'm excited to hear
about how you're gonna make
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our prayer lives go wow?
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What are we gonna learn today?
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So today we're gonna talk about
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prayer as communication with God
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or communicating with God
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because it's one
of the fundamentals
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of building blocks
and actually making
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our prayer life go wow.
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It's that little missing
peace sometimes that we have,
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you know.
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So we'll like to
talk to them so seriously.
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Other than crazy
people, I don't know.
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You see the thing is sometimes,
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you know, I believe nobody likes
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to have
conversations with themselves
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like full
conversations, you know,
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like questions and
answers, rational and defenses,
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and you said like
crazy people, right?
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But one time when I
worked at the Bank of St. Lucia,
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one of my
coworkers said it was okay
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to talk to yourself
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because she was like
the banquette industry
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is really stressful.
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Just don't respond to yourself.
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But the truth is I
talk to myself quite a bit.
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Do you respond to
yourself is the question?
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The thing is I don't, right,
'cause I remember her advice
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but many people
view prayer as just that.
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They see prayer as...
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As talking to themselves?
Just talking to themselves.
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But not
responding to themselves.
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Yeah, that's the thing.
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So this is like,
you're on your knees
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or you're lying there
and talking to somebody
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that you cannot
see or you cannot hear.
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So one of the questions
that I frequently ask people
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is praying easy.
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No, it's not.
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It's not something
that comes naturally.
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I mean, I feel like I'm
talking to myself sometimes.
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Like I used to
feel like that a lot,
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but sometimes having a
prayer journal helps that
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because you can write
down your prayer request,
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what you're praying about.
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I mean you're jumping
ahead like episodes ahead of us.
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Oh, really? Yes.
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Look at that...
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So the thing is praying
to most people is not easy.
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Most people will
actually say it's not easy
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because it's like we
spoke about a while ago,
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you cannot answer
yourself, or they're saying
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you cannot hear
God answering you.
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But the view that
we have of prayers
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is what makes it a bit difficult
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because our view of
communicating with God
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is usually one
way communication.
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It's us just going
and talking to him.
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So break it down
how it's two way?
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So we're gonna get
there, we're gonna get there.
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Oh, I'm rushing
it, I'm rushing it?
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Yes, you see the
thing is you see,
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we have that one
way approach to prayer.
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Where we go to God
and ask for our needs.
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Or we go to lay out the
things that we actually want.
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We sort of have an ATM approach
type communication with him.
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So we go to the ATM and
we probably just try to get
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something out of there.
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Or we go to the
supermarket to shop.
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So our prayer
lives are usually about
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just going and
just talking to God.
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So we have that
one way kind of thing.
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Now a while ago you mentioned
about it not being natural.
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And the truth is many people
believe that prayer is natural.
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It's probably not innate.
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But I would like to
think it probably is innate
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because the one thing that
we do a lot in life is talking,
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and prayer is
simply talking to God,
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communicating with Him.
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Now you see on an
average psychologists have said
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that women use
about 20,000 words a day,
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and men use about 7.
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That sounds about right
'cause at the end of my day,
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I don't feel like
talking to anybody.
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So the thing is, I
tell women all the time,
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we don't have to
feel bad about the fact
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that we use 20,000 words a day.
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We don't have to be
embarrassed about it.
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Because the mere fact
that we like to talk so much,
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it mean we know how to pray.
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So that's a good thing.
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Ellen White in the book
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Privilege of
Prayer in Chapter 11,
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she actually spoke about
prayer as talking to God.
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She says, "It's a way for us
to pour out our heart to Him,
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that we should meditate
on His works," and so on.
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But she said in order
for us to commune with God,
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we must first have
something to say to Him
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concerning our lives.
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Now think about
your friendships.
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When you are
talking to your friends,
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you are talking to them about
things pertaining to your life.
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Absolutely.
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That's we call
that communication.
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Prayer is really that approach
that God wants us to have
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where we see prayer as
communicating with God,
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talking to God about our lives,
pouring our hearts to Him.
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I'm sure if you may have
been hurt about something
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or something
exciting happens in your life,
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you'd go and say to
a good friend of yours.
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And that's really
what praying is about.
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That's what prayer as
communication is about.
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I see a lot of
people they'll say,
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"Well, God knows
everything, He sees everything,
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He knew it was gonna
happen before it happened,
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but He still
likes to hear from us.
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He wants to hear from us."
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He really wants to hear from us
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because He wants to
have a relationship with us.
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If our approach to God
or our approach to prayer
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is simply going to Him
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when we want to
use an ATM machine,
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or we want to go to Him
only when we need to shop.
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There's no relationship there.
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So in other words,
people trying to use God like
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He is a genie very much.
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Yes, and that's not
what He's really after.
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He wants that relationships.
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And as we continue to develop
that relationship with Him
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through prayer,
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where we are talking
to Him all of the time,
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that is where our
prayer lives will improve.
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That is how, we're
trying to get it to go wow.
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Right? Yes, yes.
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So we want to make it effective
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and that's what prayer
as communication is about.
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Or communicating
with God through prayer,
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and so I remember when
I went to Asia to school.
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My dad, I never knew that
he was a tech savvy person.
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All I knew is
that we used to speak
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to each other on the phone,
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but by the time I got
over to the Philippines,
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my dad downloaded
ooVoo, he had Skype,
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he was on
Facebook, he joined Linkedin.
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He had everything to the
extent that I didn't even know
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when Skype
introduced video recordings
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until I got my first
video recording call from him.
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Wow, and he was, he
used, he wasn't savvy.
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He wasn't savvy before that.
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Then when Facebook
introduced audio calling,
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I didn't know about it
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until I got my
first call from him.
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So the thing is when
are interested in someone
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or when we love
someone or we want to continue
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to establish a
good relationship,
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we will do anything
and go out of our way
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to ensure that we do
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whatever it takes to
maintain that relationship.
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So we're interested in somebody,
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we follow them on
Facebook, we download any app
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that we can use
that would help us
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to be able to text like
WhatsApp anything at all.
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We will get their phone numbers,
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we will do whatever it takes
to have their email address
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anything just to
ensure that we maintain
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constant
communication with that person
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because we are
interested in them.
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And we carve out
time from our day
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no matter what's going on,
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we can make time
when we're interested.
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Exactly, and we
are gonna get there.
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The thing about it is
that prayer is that avenue
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that we have with God,
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where we could
actually talk to Him anytime.
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We don't need to
download any app,
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we don't need a WiFi signal,
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we don't need
internet connection,
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we don't need an email.
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We need nothing but
it's the relationship
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that we usually give less time.
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Because we are
viewing communicating with Him
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differently to
how we communicate
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with other people.
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Not recognizing that
even though God is who He is,
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He still wants a
personal relationship with us.
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He still wants
us to talk to Him.
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He still wants us to come to Him
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and pour out our hearts to Him.
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He still wants
us to come to say,
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"Lord, I need
this, or I need that,
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or I need Your protection
or whatever the case may be
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because the focus of prayer
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is not always about
asking God for things.
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Yes. And we will get to that.
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So how can we take advantage
of the avenue of prayer
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as I like to say
two way communication?
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Well, one other things
that I mentioned earlier
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with praying and
keeping the journal
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on your prayers,
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so you see how God's
been answering your prayers.
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And sometimes
His no is an answer
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or not getting the
answer that you think
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that you're gonna get as
an answer to your prayer.
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So you're seeing
that, you are taking part
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in that communication process.
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And that's the thing.
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When I did office
procedures in school,
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the definition of
communication that we learned
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was communication
is transferring ideas
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from one person to another,
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to convey information
or to initiate action.
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So it's the
transmission of ideas
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from one person to another.
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So there's a
listener, there's a receiver.
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So in our prayer
life is like this,
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we speak and God listens,
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and that's the usual
approach that we have one way.
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But an effective
prayer life needs two.
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It's God speaks, we listen.
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So many of us are too rushed
to be able to hear Him speak,
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so we go to Him and we
rattle off our prayers,
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we don't pause to wait to
hear what God has to say to us.
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And so any relationship
really that's one sided
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where one person
does all the talking
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is a frustrating relationship.
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Yes, yes, it is.
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It's a frustrating relationship
I think for both parties.
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Now, I am not talking about
somebody who is there for dumb,
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where one person
could actually speak
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and the other cannot
because that way you will do
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whatever it takes
to still communicate.
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But most of us
just want to have that
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one type relationship with Him.
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One of my friends spent an
entire two weeks with a lady
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who spoke Creole,
that's French Creole.
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And she only speaks English.
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And I was saying to her,
"How did you two communicate?"
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because at the
end of her vacation,
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she was like, I
had a really good time.
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I was like, "How come?
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What did you all
say to each other?"
00:11:08.46\00:11:10.73
They would touch
things, point at things,
00:11:10.77\00:11:13.34
they would give
some gesticulations,
00:11:13.37\00:11:15.90
actions and so on,
00:11:15.94\00:11:17.27
and they were
able to communicate
00:11:17.31\00:11:18.67
effectively for two
weeks when neither of them
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spoke the language of the other.
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So when we are
communicating two way,
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we will do whatever it
takes to speak to that person
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and pause and wait to hear
what that person has to say.
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So any relationship at all
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where we just go
to one person talking,
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and I've heard people
over and over again talk about,
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you know, texting somebody
and then you wait hours,
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sometimes days, no response.
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It's a frustrating relationship.
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Yes.
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You're the only one
expressing your feelings
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and everything like
that, it's frustrating.
00:11:48.47\00:11:50.34
You want to hear something
back from the other person.
00:11:50.37\00:11:53.07
In our prayer lives,
00:11:53.11\00:11:54.44
we need to look at
it as talking to God
00:11:54.48\00:11:57.38
and as God talking back to us.
00:11:57.41\00:12:00.18
And I think one of the stories
I'd really highlight the fact
00:12:00.22\00:12:03.35
that God wants to
really talk back to us
00:12:03.39\00:12:05.25
is the story of Job.
00:12:05.29\00:12:07.56
Remember when Job
had lost everything.
00:12:07.59\00:12:11.66
His friends came to him,
and his friends said to him,
00:12:11.69\00:12:13.86
you know, you
should curse God and die,
00:12:13.90\00:12:15.90
and they began to
accuse Job of sinning.
00:12:15.93\00:12:19.90
You must have done something
wrong in your life for God
00:12:19.93\00:12:23.04
to actually allow
this to happen to you.
00:12:23.07\00:12:25.11
And Job is
saying to his friends,
00:12:25.14\00:12:26.54
"Guys, I didn't do anything,
I've been faithful to God,"
00:12:26.57\00:12:29.28
and they're
saying, "No, it's not,
00:12:29.31\00:12:30.65
that cannot be the case,
why would you lose everything?"
00:12:30.68\00:12:34.88
And God, and as
I read the story,
00:12:34.92\00:12:36.99
it really like, it
really shook me a bit.
00:12:37.02\00:12:39.89
God stood there silently
for 35 chapters in Job's story.
00:12:39.92\00:12:44.89
He didn't say
anything that Job's friends
00:12:44.93\00:12:46.80
would believe that,
00:12:46.83\00:12:48.16
"Hey, Job really
didn't do anything."
00:12:48.20\00:12:49.96
He didn't speak for Job,
He didn't speak against Job,
00:12:50.00\00:12:52.97
35 chapters.
00:12:53.00\00:12:55.00
And in chapter 38
of the Book of Job,
00:12:55.04\00:12:57.44
God came out and
began to lash out
00:12:57.47\00:13:00.08
in a sense at both
Job and his friends,
00:13:00.11\00:13:02.64
asking them a bunch of questions
00:13:02.68\00:13:05.81
and it highlights the
fact that God actually wants
00:13:05.85\00:13:09.25
to have something
to say now a story,
00:13:09.28\00:13:11.12
and sometimes when we are going
00:13:11.15\00:13:12.62
through things
like Job went through
00:13:12.65\00:13:13.99
and we are not
hearing Him and He's silent,
00:13:14.02\00:13:15.82
we believe that He's not there.
00:13:15.86\00:13:17.53
But He actually
has something to say
00:13:17.56\00:13:19.16
because after 35
chapters with Job,
00:13:19.19\00:13:21.40
He came out and
He began to tell Job,
00:13:21.43\00:13:24.47
"Where were you when I did this
00:13:24.50\00:13:25.90
and where were
you when I did that."
00:13:25.93\00:13:27.54
At the end of the
day, God wants to have
00:13:27.57\00:13:29.30
something to say
in our experience.
00:13:29.34\00:13:31.91
And if we examined
the Bible in general
00:13:31.94\00:13:35.08
and the idea of prayer
as two way communication,
00:13:35.11\00:13:37.41
we will see that
between God and man
00:13:37.45\00:13:40.52
there is clear evidence
00:13:40.55\00:13:41.88
that God wants
us to hear from Him.
00:13:41.92\00:13:43.82
Absolutely.
00:13:43.85\00:13:45.19
Now, with the story of Job,
00:13:45.22\00:13:47.42
and with any
trial and tribulation
00:13:47.46\00:13:49.49
that we're going through,
00:13:49.52\00:13:51.13
we have to sit down
and think and ask God,
00:13:51.16\00:13:55.16
"What lesson are
You trying to teach me?
00:13:55.20\00:13:57.10
What would you have me learn
00:13:57.13\00:13:58.50
from this trial
and tribulation?"
00:13:58.53\00:13:59.90
Because oftentimes
there is a blessing
00:13:59.93\00:14:01.67
at the end of the trial.
00:14:01.70\00:14:04.41
It refines our character.
00:14:04.44\00:14:05.91
We go through things
for a purpose, for a reason.
00:14:05.94\00:14:09.14
That's true.
00:14:09.18\00:14:10.51
And in our prayer
lives, part of the reason
00:14:10.55\00:14:13.08
why sometime God allows us
00:14:13.11\00:14:15.28
to go through things
is that in the silence
00:14:15.32\00:14:17.65
we still learn that He's there.
00:14:17.69\00:14:21.02
Now, if two way
communication wasn't important,
00:14:21.06\00:14:24.69
you can imagine
the story of Noah.
00:14:24.73\00:14:27.10
He and his entire
family would have drowned
00:14:27.13\00:14:29.00
because he would not
have gotten the instructions
00:14:29.03\00:14:30.77
that God gave in Genesis 6:13.
00:14:30.80\00:14:33.74
Then if we look at
the story of Abraham,
00:14:33.77\00:14:35.60
he would have killed Isaac
if he was not tuned to hearing
00:14:35.64\00:14:38.84
from God in Genesis 12:1-3.
00:14:38.87\00:14:42.11
Then if we look at the
story of Moses in Exodus 3:2,
00:14:42.14\00:14:46.15
he would have
gotten his feet wet
00:14:46.18\00:14:48.12
and maybe he and the entire clan
00:14:48.15\00:14:49.75
of the children of
Israel would have been killed
00:14:49.78\00:14:53.72
because he would not have
been able to hear from God.
00:14:53.76\00:14:58.03
And then we look at Elijah
when he was stuck in the cave,
00:14:58.06\00:15:00.46
that's in 1 Kings 17:2-3.
00:15:00.50\00:15:03.97
Elijah would
have died in that cave
00:15:04.00\00:15:05.77
if he wasn't tune to knowing
what the voice of God was like
00:15:05.80\00:15:08.57
'cause remember
God visited him there.
00:15:08.60\00:15:10.74
And we have
different stories in the Bible,
00:15:10.77\00:15:12.67
even Paul's story in Acts 9:4-6.
00:15:12.71\00:15:17.85
Even though it
was said at the time
00:15:17.88\00:15:20.08
that Paul was a persecutor
of the children of God.
00:15:20.12\00:15:23.49
When God spoke
to Paul, Paul heard,
00:15:23.52\00:15:26.82
and that is how Paul
was able to be converted
00:15:26.86\00:15:29.96
and became the person
00:15:29.99\00:15:31.66
who formally
established Christianity.
00:15:31.69\00:15:33.83
So let me ask you this
question because you are naming
00:15:33.86\00:15:35.73
a bunch of people
that heard from God,
00:15:35.76\00:15:37.63
that recognized His voice.
00:15:37.67\00:15:39.77
How do you get
to know God's voice?
00:15:39.80\00:15:42.10
How do you know what
you're listening for?
00:15:42.14\00:15:45.04
You see the thing is in
order to hear God's voice,
00:15:45.07\00:15:47.54
we need to be in
frequent communication with Him.
00:15:47.58\00:15:51.35
Because just
imagine when we met,
00:15:51.38\00:15:53.45
I gave you my phone
number, you gave me yours
00:15:53.48\00:15:55.58
and either of us
called the other.
00:15:55.62\00:15:57.69
At first when I called you,
00:15:57.72\00:15:59.25
maybe I'll have
to identify myself.
00:15:59.29\00:16:00.72
Let's say forgetting
caller id, I'd have to say,
00:16:00.76\00:16:03.19
"Hey, Jason, this is Nadine."
00:16:03.22\00:16:05.16
But if we continue
speaking for a few months,
00:16:05.19\00:16:07.20
a few years and so on,
00:16:07.23\00:16:08.80
after a while when I call
00:16:08.83\00:16:10.23
even though you
don't have caller id
00:16:10.27\00:16:12.23
or have my number saved,
00:16:12.27\00:16:14.04
when I call,
you'll recognize my voice.
00:16:14.07\00:16:17.01
And so, big part of
communicating with God
00:16:17.04\00:16:19.97
is having that
frequent communication.
00:16:20.01\00:16:23.01
That is the only way
00:16:23.04\00:16:24.78
you can know the
voice of somebody,
00:16:24.81\00:16:26.41
if you speak to them very often.
00:16:26.45\00:16:28.85
And with God it's the same thing
00:16:28.88\00:16:30.75
because the truth is
there are many noises in life.
00:16:30.79\00:16:33.99
There are many other voices
00:16:34.02\00:16:35.49
that will tend to
want to speak to us.
00:16:35.52\00:16:37.86
But if we want to be able to be,
00:16:37.89\00:16:40.76
you know, decipher that voice.
00:16:40.80\00:16:42.36
Be able to know the
difference between God's voice
00:16:42.40\00:16:44.43
and the voice of anybody else
00:16:44.47\00:16:46.20
or anything else
we will need to be
00:16:46.23\00:16:48.50
in constant
communication with God,
00:16:48.54\00:16:50.87
and that brings us
to a text I really love.
00:16:50.91\00:16:53.44
And what's that?
00:16:53.48\00:16:54.81
John 10:27, where it
says, "My sheep hear my voice,
00:16:54.84\00:17:00.38
I know them and they follow me."
00:17:00.42\00:17:03.85
You see the thing
is in past times...
00:17:03.89\00:17:06.12
I want to touch on that too.
00:17:06.15\00:17:07.49
Before you go on, I
got something for that.
00:17:07.52\00:17:10.03
I saw a video, I
think it was on Facebook
00:17:10.06\00:17:13.60
of they had a shepherd
00:17:13.63\00:17:15.83
and they had some of his friends
00:17:15.86\00:17:17.50
that came over,
00:17:17.53\00:17:18.87
and the friends
started calling the sheep.
00:17:18.90\00:17:20.97
No response.
00:17:21.00\00:17:22.34
The other friend
called the sheep.
00:17:22.37\00:17:24.11
No response.
00:17:24.14\00:17:25.47
But then the
shepherd called the sheep,
00:17:25.51\00:17:27.58
and all other
sheep started going crazy
00:17:27.61\00:17:29.94
and running to the shepherd.
00:17:29.98\00:17:31.71
Yes. That is amazing.
00:17:31.75\00:17:33.88
And I like where
you're going with that.
00:17:33.92\00:17:36.22
You see the thing is,
you see in times past let...
00:17:36.25\00:17:39.79
There was
something called a sheepfold.
00:17:39.82\00:17:43.36
So it would be a set of stones
stacked on top of the other
00:17:43.39\00:17:48.26
making somewhat
like a rectangular shape
00:17:48.30\00:17:50.13
and it had an opening.
00:17:50.17\00:17:52.50
That opening would be
00:17:52.53\00:17:53.97
where a shepherd
would stay at night.
00:17:54.00\00:17:57.71
So that
illustration that you just gave.
00:17:57.74\00:18:00.34
These shepherds,
let's say 10 shepherds
00:18:00.38\00:18:02.48
would bring in a
hundred sheep every night.
00:18:02.51\00:18:05.68
One of these
shepherds would stay
00:18:05.71\00:18:07.05
and lie in that door all night.
00:18:07.08\00:18:09.62
So if the wolf or
any other wild animal
00:18:09.65\00:18:12.35
or stranger
wanted to get in there,
00:18:12.39\00:18:14.42
they would have to
cross over that shepherd.
00:18:14.46\00:18:17.49
In the morning
time, the other shepherds
00:18:17.53\00:18:20.20
would come for their sheep.
00:18:20.23\00:18:22.06
That shepherd who
was guarding the door,
00:18:22.10\00:18:24.00
the porter, would led them
in, and they would go in there
00:18:24.03\00:18:28.20
and call out to their sheep.
00:18:28.24\00:18:29.57
So out of 1,000 sheep, a
shepherd will go in there
00:18:29.60\00:18:32.64
and his 100 will follow him
00:18:32.67\00:18:35.94
because these 100 sheep know
the voice of their shepherd.
00:18:35.98\00:18:39.68
Wow!
00:18:39.71\00:18:41.05
And they would have only known
the voice of their shepherd
00:18:41.08\00:18:43.49
because they
would have spent time
00:18:43.52\00:18:45.12
with their shepherd
over a period of time.
00:18:45.15\00:18:49.09
And so they will
be able to distinguish
00:18:49.12\00:18:50.96
the voice of their shepherd
00:18:50.99\00:18:52.86
versus the other
nine shepherds and so on.
00:18:52.89\00:18:55.86
And so, "My sheep hear My voice,
00:18:55.90\00:18:58.17
I know them and they follow Me."
00:18:58.20\00:19:00.44
This really is
what God wants with us
00:19:00.47\00:19:04.24
when it comes to our
communication with Him.
00:19:04.27\00:19:06.64
He wants to be able to see
that of all of us that My sheep,
00:19:06.68\00:19:09.84
each of us hear My voice,
00:19:09.88\00:19:11.51
I know them and
they want to follow Me
00:19:11.55\00:19:13.15
because in order for us
though to know His voice,
00:19:13.18\00:19:16.79
we need to spend
that time with Him,
00:19:16.82\00:19:19.02
we need to know the
voice of our shepherd.
00:19:19.05\00:19:21.62
We need to be able
to distinguish His voice
00:19:21.66\00:19:23.56
from the voice of a stranger.
00:19:23.59\00:19:25.69
And so that is why the 100 sheep
00:19:25.73\00:19:27.46
could go after their master
because they know his voice.
00:19:27.50\00:19:31.33
They know the
sound of his voice.
00:19:31.37\00:19:32.93
They know the
intonations of his voice,
00:19:32.97\00:19:34.74
and they could distinguish
that from any other voice.
00:19:34.77\00:19:39.97
The thing about our
prayer life is that the purpose
00:19:40.01\00:19:43.28
or really of talking to
God is to know His voice,
00:19:43.31\00:19:46.18
but it goes deeper than that.
00:19:46.21\00:19:48.28
It's not just to know His voice,
00:19:48.32\00:19:50.02
but it's to know His Spirit.
00:19:50.05\00:19:54.16
And so how does that come about?
00:19:54.19\00:19:55.69
How do you get to
know God's Spirit,
00:19:55.72\00:19:57.33
break that down for us?
00:19:57.36\00:19:58.69
The purpose of
knowing His Spirit
00:19:58.73\00:20:00.06
is really to be obedient.
00:20:00.10\00:20:01.43
The thing is, "My
sheep hear My voice,
00:20:01.46\00:20:04.30
I know them, they follow Me."
00:20:04.33\00:20:06.37
So when we know His voice
00:20:06.40\00:20:08.40
or rather we talk to Him
00:20:08.44\00:20:09.90
to know His voice, we
want to know His voice
00:20:09.94\00:20:12.81
because we want
to know His Spirit
00:20:12.84\00:20:14.41
is because we need to know
00:20:14.44\00:20:15.94
when the Spirit is
speaking so we can follow Him.
00:20:15.98\00:20:19.75
That's why He said, "They know
My voice and they follow Me."
00:20:19.78\00:20:24.02
So the purpose of
knowing the Spirit
00:20:24.05\00:20:25.72
is really to bring us
to that point of obedience.
00:20:25.75\00:20:29.49
So it's not just a
matter of going to Him
00:20:29.52\00:20:31.49
and ask Him
things and He blesses us
00:20:31.53\00:20:33.43
which is part of the
equation of our prayer life,
00:20:33.46\00:20:36.03
but the larger part of it
is to know God's voice so much
00:20:36.06\00:20:39.97
that when the
Spirit of God speaks to us,
00:20:40.00\00:20:41.94
we are able to follow Him,
00:20:41.97\00:20:43.87
which is really obedient
aspect of our prayer lives.
00:20:43.91\00:20:46.98
Okay.
00:20:47.01\00:20:48.34
So this is really
where God want to take us.
00:20:48.38\00:20:50.18
When we follow
Him, we are obeying Him
00:20:50.21\00:20:53.01
or we are obeying to that call.
00:20:53.05\00:20:55.42
So the purpose
of our prayer lives
00:20:55.45\00:20:57.92
in the big picture is
really to be obedient to God.
00:20:57.95\00:21:01.82
Knowing the voice of God,
00:21:01.86\00:21:03.49
being able to
listen to the voice of God,
00:21:03.53\00:21:05.39
and obeying the voice of God.
00:21:05.43\00:21:08.06
Which means we also have
to spend time in God's Word
00:21:08.10\00:21:11.87
and studying His Word.
00:21:11.90\00:21:14.50
And I know that we are gonna
get to this at a later point,
00:21:14.54\00:21:17.77
so I'll just mention it briefly.
00:21:17.81\00:21:21.01
But when we look at Jesus
and we see how much He prayed,
00:21:21.04\00:21:25.75
that just shows how much
more we need to be praying.
00:21:25.78\00:21:29.12
We have a program just for that,
00:21:29.15\00:21:32.02
looking at the life of Jesus
as our primary prayer example.
00:21:32.05\00:21:35.86
You see Paul.
00:21:35.89\00:21:37.23
Paul's story in Acts really
kind of like shakes a bit,
00:21:37.26\00:21:41.03
because Paul
heard the voice of God
00:21:41.06\00:21:45.20
even when it wasn't
clear that he was seeking God,
00:21:45.23\00:21:47.94
but rather
persecuting the people of God.
00:21:47.97\00:21:50.41
But he heard the
voice of God and he obeyed.
00:21:50.44\00:21:54.54
So just imagine, he was
not on the journey seeking God
00:21:54.58\00:21:57.75
but he heard God's
voice speaking to him,
00:21:57.78\00:21:59.85
"Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting Me?"
00:21:59.88\00:22:02.88
And he actually says,
"Lord, mind you, Lord,
00:22:02.92\00:22:07.56
what are you
talking about and so on."
00:22:07.59\00:22:09.32
And God says to him,
"Stop persecuting My people."
00:22:09.36\00:22:12.86
And the Bible
says, "He turned around
00:22:12.89\00:22:15.56
and for the next
three decades or so,
00:22:15.60\00:22:17.73
all Paul did was to travel
to preach about that Jesus,
00:22:17.77\00:22:21.87
that Jesus' voice that he heard
become what his life's mission.
00:22:21.90\00:22:27.14
So even then it
demonstrates again
00:22:27.18\00:22:29.71
the purpose of our prayer life
00:22:29.74\00:22:31.75
really is not
just to hear His voice
00:22:31.78\00:22:34.62
but to actually obey His voice.
00:22:34.65\00:22:37.09
It's so important
that we obey His voice,
00:22:37.12\00:22:39.25
and it's frustrating
when people ask you for advice
00:22:39.29\00:22:42.22
or ask your opinion on something
00:22:42.26\00:22:44.09
and then they do
the exact opposite.
00:22:44.13\00:22:45.93
And I see sometimes
in people's prayer life
00:22:45.96\00:22:50.17
and my prayer life.
00:22:50.20\00:22:51.53
and other people's
prayer life where we can pray
00:22:51.57\00:22:54.04
and ask God for
His will to be done,
00:22:54.07\00:22:57.74
or Him to reveal His will to us.
00:22:57.77\00:22:59.97
And then He reveals
it to us and we are like,
00:23:00.01\00:23:01.84
"Well, I don't
quite want to do that,
00:23:01.88\00:23:03.91
I think I'm gonna go do this."
00:23:03.95\00:23:05.38
That's frustrating, you know,
00:23:05.41\00:23:07.62
why ask if
you're not gonna do it.
00:23:07.65\00:23:10.42
It's really true, you know.
00:23:10.45\00:23:11.79
This is a serious point
that you've brought up there.
00:23:11.82\00:23:14.39
I have a little spin on
it. I remember for sure.
00:23:14.42\00:23:16.89
One time a friend
of mine calling me,
00:23:16.93\00:23:18.53
asking me to pray for her
00:23:18.56\00:23:21.60
because she
wanted to get a house.
00:23:21.63\00:23:25.23
I ask her, "What was the area
that you wanted to live in."
00:23:25.27\00:23:28.57
She told me the area.
00:23:28.60\00:23:30.47
What was the range of
rent that she wanted to pay,
00:23:30.51\00:23:33.61
and we went
through her specifics.
00:23:33.64\00:23:36.04
I like specificity in praying.
00:23:36.08\00:23:38.88
So we went
through the specifics,
00:23:38.91\00:23:40.78
ask what date you wanted
God to answer your prayer by
00:23:40.82\00:23:43.42
and we had a date.
00:23:43.45\00:23:45.35
Thankfully God answered.
00:23:45.39\00:23:46.96
She sent me a
picture of the house
00:23:46.99\00:23:48.82
in the area and said,
00:23:48.86\00:23:50.19
"None of her friends
could actually believe."
00:23:50.23\00:23:52.09
She got the house in
that area for that price.
00:23:52.13\00:23:56.50
Guess what? She didn't move.
00:23:56.53\00:23:59.63
Wow!
00:23:59.67\00:24:01.00
What was the reason
then for not moving?
00:24:01.04\00:24:02.67
I don't know, maybe she
got cold feet or something
00:24:02.70\00:24:05.04
'cause sometimes
people are like you said,
00:24:05.07\00:24:06.61
asking God for
direction in certain things.
00:24:06.64\00:24:09.31
He answers us, but
we're not willing to obey.
00:24:09.34\00:24:11.71
And that is why prayer
is really the ultimate goal
00:24:11.75\00:24:14.52
of which is really
about obedience to God.
00:24:14.55\00:24:16.58
We had a second
incidence as well.
00:24:16.62\00:24:18.85
God answered that
prayer on more personal thing.
00:24:18.89\00:24:22.42
God answered it
00:24:22.46\00:24:23.79
and she also backed out as well.
00:24:23.83\00:24:25.16
So I remember saying to her,
00:24:25.19\00:24:26.80
"When you are ready
for God to answer prayers,
00:24:26.83\00:24:28.36
then you come and ask
me about praying for you
00:24:28.40\00:24:30.70
because I do not
want to spend time
00:24:30.73\00:24:32.07
and energy doing that
00:24:32.10\00:24:33.97
and then you do
not obey Gods voice."
00:24:34.00\00:24:36.37
Another problem
that we have though
00:24:36.40\00:24:37.87
when it comes to that
obedient aspect of it,
00:24:37.91\00:24:40.78
is that we first of
all do not spend time
00:24:40.81\00:24:43.04
talking to God for ourselves.
00:24:43.08\00:24:46.11
So that's one of the
problems that we have.
00:24:46.15\00:24:47.82
We do not want to invest time
in our relationship with God.
00:24:47.85\00:24:52.19
So instead there is something
I called passing notes.
00:24:52.22\00:24:55.02
We'll just say,
"Hey, can you pray for me?"
00:24:55.06\00:24:58.03
We ask somebody
else, "Can you pray for me?
00:24:58.06\00:24:59.69
Can you pray for me?"
00:24:59.73\00:25:01.06
To me that's
passing notes to God.
00:25:01.10\00:25:02.86
Because I'm sure if
the president of America
00:25:02.90\00:25:07.14
or the Queen of England or
any world leader would say,
00:25:07.17\00:25:11.07
"Hey, I'm opening
my doors every Tuesday,
00:25:11.11\00:25:14.68
you don't need an
appointment to come.
00:25:14.71\00:25:16.75
You can come and
ask any requests.
00:25:16.78\00:25:18.41
I'm here for the public
00:25:18.45\00:25:20.58
and I am going to
go to them for myself."
00:25:20.62\00:25:22.82
Would you give me a
note to give to them,
00:25:22.85\00:25:25.09
or will you go and
make your request yourself.
00:25:25.12\00:25:27.09
What would you do?
00:25:27.12\00:25:28.46
I go and make it myself,
you see, and that's the thing.
00:25:28.49\00:25:31.33
We all have direct access
and we have through Christ
00:25:31.36\00:25:35.90
and we have equal access.
00:25:35.93\00:25:39.10
Yeah. And we need
to utilize it more.
00:25:39.13\00:25:42.90
So most of us don't do that.
00:25:42.94\00:25:44.27
So we prefer to
pass the note to God,
00:25:44.31\00:25:47.91
but we'd not pass
the note to our leader.
00:25:47.94\00:25:50.35
We will not pass the note
00:25:50.38\00:25:51.71
to our
parliamentary representatives
00:25:51.75\00:25:53.55
because we want to be the
ones who bring our case to them.
00:25:53.58\00:25:56.62
But with God we feel
very comfortable doing that,
00:25:56.65\00:25:59.25
and so we pass those
notes to Him through people.
00:25:59.29\00:26:01.36
Now, the problem with that is,
00:26:01.39\00:26:03.83
if you ask five
different people to pray for you
00:26:03.86\00:26:06.36
and each person come
with a different report,
00:26:06.39\00:26:09.06
you do not know
which of these reports
00:26:09.10\00:26:11.77
are really from God
00:26:11.80\00:26:13.13
because you have
not invested time
00:26:13.17\00:26:15.10
getting to know what He
has to say to you for yourself.
00:26:15.14\00:26:17.84
You don't know what the voice
had to say to you for himself.
00:26:17.87\00:26:21.88
So that's why many reports
continue to conclude that,
00:26:21.91\00:26:25.61
you know, poor communication
or lack of communication
00:26:25.65\00:26:28.38
is what really
destroys many relationships.
00:26:28.42\00:26:32.52
And when we look at
our relationship with God,
00:26:32.55\00:26:34.92
poor communication
00:26:34.96\00:26:36.32
or lack of communication
with Him is still the thing
00:26:36.36\00:26:38.86
that continues to
hinder our prayer lives,
00:26:38.89\00:26:41.33
it's still the
thing that continues
00:26:41.36\00:26:42.80
to hinder our growth
sometimes as Christians.
00:26:42.83\00:26:46.10
So what I want us to
really take away today
00:26:46.13\00:26:48.34
is that prayer is talking to God
00:26:48.37\00:26:50.51
as you talk to a friend.
00:26:50.54\00:26:53.34
You do not need
to do all the talking
00:26:53.38\00:26:55.68
because God actually
wants to talk back to you.
00:26:55.71\00:26:58.35
Something we need to remember.
00:26:58.38\00:27:00.22
And a purpose of
knowing God's voice
00:27:00.25\00:27:02.65
is to know His Spirit
and ultimately to obey.
00:27:02.68\00:27:07.12
So I'd like to just say a
prayer with us as we close.
00:27:07.16\00:27:09.19
Okay.
00:27:09.22\00:27:11.03
Father, we thank You
for the access, opportunity,
00:27:11.06\00:27:14.30
and freedom that
You have given us
00:27:14.33\00:27:15.90
to be able to talk to You.
00:27:15.93\00:27:18.03
We thank You for
always being there
00:27:18.07\00:27:19.67
and ready to listen to us,
00:27:19.70\00:27:21.14
to hear our cries
and to answer our calls.
00:27:21.17\00:27:24.11
We thank You
for Your willingness
00:27:24.14\00:27:26.51
to talk to us sinful beings
00:27:26.54\00:27:28.21
and for Your desire to want
00:27:28.24\00:27:29.78
to have a personal
relationship with each of us.
00:27:29.81\00:27:32.85
Give us the desire to respond it
00:27:32.88\00:27:34.95
to Your advances toward us,
00:27:34.98\00:27:37.19
so that our prayer lives
can take a different flight.
00:27:37.22\00:27:40.56
We pray in the name of Jesus.
00:27:40.59\00:27:42.86
Amen. Amen. Amen.
00:27:42.89\00:27:45.76
Thank you so much for that
valuable piece of information.
00:27:45.79\00:27:50.03
You know,
honestly my prayer life
00:27:50.07\00:27:52.17
could stand to get better,
00:27:52.20\00:27:53.64
and I believe that
everybody's prayer life
00:27:53.67\00:27:56.71
can stand to get better.
00:27:56.74\00:27:58.84
Make sure that you take
time to communicate with God
00:27:58.87\00:28:02.51
and make sure you
listen to His will for you.
00:28:02.54\00:28:04.91