Five Directions of Prayer: Adore, Reflect, Confess, Petition, Submit

What if my converse think about this. What if my conversations with my wife were just focused on my needs and nothing else? I only told her what I wanted. Would we have a good relationship? I don't think so. They start this prayer with adoration. God's the creator, he's the sustainer of the universe. They look up in adoration first. Jesus' model prayer starts with, Our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. This way of praying, it is focused on worship. It lifts our eyes first in our prayer to a God who can actually fix our problems. [00:54:04] (31 seconds)  #AdorationFirst

The fact is we often long for the blessings that are only found in prayer, and we look everywhere besides prayer for those blessings. It's the true buried treasure of the Christian life that scripture tells us to search for as for hidden treasures. What what if there was power for your life, for the thing you're facing, for that lost loved one? What if there was strength for that trial? What if there was life change possible on the other side of prayer? Jesus told us that that was true. He told his disciples, ask and seek and knock. He said, you don't have because you don't ask. [00:45:18] (40 seconds)  #PrayerIsTreasure

Have you ever noticed when a small child is hurting when it's when your kid gets hurt, they run to They always do the same thing. They run to the nearest person they believe can solve the problem, and most often, that's mom and dad. Let's be honest, it's mostly mom. But they're seeking comfort from the one place they know, they can or they believe most likely, everything can be made right. And that's usually mom and sometimes dad. You know, I get hurt bad enough, wanna call my mom. Now, it does help that she's a nurse practitioner, but but is it all that surprising then that we do the same thing with god sometimes? I've heard it said that a person in pain is often a person in prayer. [00:39:51] (46 seconds)  #RunToGodLikeAChild

In times of suffering, when we're struggling, when we can't see the way out, and when we're in pain, we're drawn to god for help and for comfort. It's not only true of individuals though, it's true of churches. It's true of families. It's even true in our text of nations. CS Lewis put it this way. He said, god whispers to us in our pleasures and shouts to us in our pain. Pain is god's mega megaphone to rouse a deaf world. I wish that wasn't true. I wish it that I was always as attentive to god as I need to be but isn't it true that when things are going well, we tend to forget the things we should do? [00:40:38] (36 seconds)  #PainDrawsUsToGod