Breaking the Cycle: The Transformative Power of Prayer

1) "If God put that in your heart, it is worth it. Because you're able to reach people that we could never reach at church. There are people that you reach. You say, hey, come to church. Come visit with me. And they come. They give their heart to the Lord. It's amazing how God uses. So I want to specifically pray for you. Second of all this morning, after this, I want to pray for those of you that have an idea. And I'll talk about that in a minute. But I know there's some of you that have had an idea for a business or to start something. And you haven't done it because of fear, the economy, whatever else. But I want to pray specifically because I really felt that today. And I have a word for you also." [35:19] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "What if you're a key to what God wants you to do? What does he want us to do to make our community a better place? What if you're a key to be able to raise money for the expansion of the kingdom of God? What if you're a key that God's going to make you a lighthouse to the people that you work with? I have a lot of business. I think, what, Nate owns like 65 businesses, something like that. And he meets with them every morning. And he goes over. Somebody tell me, he goes over every day because he cares for his guys and he prays for them and his girls that he prays for." [38:01] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "I think we've all been there one time or another. You ever been in a hopeless situation? It just seems like that you're in a vicious cycle. Vicious cycle. I mean, like the washing machine breaks, the dryer breaks, the car breaks, something else breaks, and you're trying to tithe and give. It just seems like you're in that circle that it's just like never ending. Or maybe it's just something in your own personal life. It's just that cycle that, you know, things come into your life and you yield to things that you know that you shouldn't yield to. And you feel the conviction, the drawing of the Holy Spirit. You cry out to God. God, forgive me. God, help me. God comes along, sends somebody or helps you, lifts you up. And all of a sudden now, man, you're back up here and you're doing good. Then again, you get drifted and you go back the same cycle, away from God, back to God." [43:13] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "But here's what I know. When we bring our hopeless situation and circumstances to God, he can bring us hope. Now, that doesn't mean that circumstances immediately change, but it does mean that God does care. So today we want to jump into this passage and we want to study about Daniel and this prayer that he prayed that changed a nation, that broke the cycle of bondage. So first of all, I want to look that he was compelled to pray, compelled to pray. And I just felt like this morning I was compelled to pray for businesses. I was compelled to pray for new ideas." [45:44] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "I think we have to learn to follow the word of God without hesitation. Read that with me. Follow the word of God without hesitation. Say without hesitation. Without That means I don't just mill around. But if I get a word from God, I'm going to act on that word of God. A lot of people get a word from God and then they want an alternative word. I know it says not to shack up. Yes, I hear heaven calling. give me a second opinion. Isn't that where we're at? I know we're not legally married and we live together. But we love each other. So I think God understands that. I think God understands that. Look, it's not looking at an alternative opinion. But if God gives you a scripture, then I'm going to live and without hesitation obey that scripture." [52:24] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "You see, the word of God is found in the word of God. Isn't that brilliant? People say, I need a word of God. Good. Here's the whole book. No, no, you give me a word. No, you get a word. You see, that's what I'm saying today. Every one of you, you that are business owners, get a word that God promised. Hold to that word. Those of you that have an idea, get a word and hold to that. So Daniel chapter 9, beginning at verse 1. Daniel is in his morning Bible study. He's in his morning Bible study. And so he reads and he's reading. We'll start at verse 2. In the year of the rain. I should start with one. That messes you up." [53:11] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "You see, we can't look at God through our circumstances, but we need to look at our circumstances through the lens of God. So that's what Daniel's doing. So he said, I began to pray. I set my face to pray in fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He said, I made confession and I prayed. Read this with me. Oh, Lord, great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and mercy with others. He said, you are great. The word is gadol in Hebrew, which is magnifying more than anything else. And you're awesome. You know, I read a thing this week of most overused words. And would you believe that one of the most overused words is the word awesome and another is the word great?" [56:35] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "The prayer that God accepts. Is the prayer that God directs. And he directs that from his word. I love what 1 John chapter 5 says. Now this is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask some things according to his will. Whoa, is that not what it says? If we ask what? If we ask what? Does anything mean anything? Look at your neighbor and say, anything means anything. But read the legal clause. The legal clause is if you ask anything according to his will, he hears us. You say, well, how do I know his will? I'm glad you asked. His will is in his word. So you see, when I pray his word back to him, I'm praying his will. And I've got confidence in that." [59:58] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "Remember God's track record of faithfulness. In verses 13 through 15, Daniel goes all the way back now to Moses. And he said, Lord, I remember when the people of Israel rebelled and they were taken into captivity in Egypt. But you also set them forth and you parted the Red Sea and they came forward. So I remember your track record. So when I'm facing a crisis, I stop and say to myself, have I ever been here before? Yeah, I've been here. But it's been even worse than that. Was it easy? No. But what did God do? God brought me through. He brought me out. So when I see situations and I don't know, I'm going to look to the word." [01:10:25] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10) "God is always drawn to our weakness. It's not an accident that you're here today, but he wants to bring forgiveness to your life. History must be viewed through the lens of God. we start destroying our history. And trying to rewrite our history. We are doomed to repeat the same failures. Our history, I don't diminish the fact that history, there's stories in history that many people are hurt because of things that were bad. But yet, in the midst of that, God is a deliverer. And he cares. Verse 19. Look at this. I love this verse. The Lord reminded me of this a minute ago when I was sitting over there. I didn't say this in the second service, first service. Verse 19." [01:11:08] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)