Embracing Prayer: A Child's Confidence in God

Now we don’t realize how shocking that statement was because up to this time in history nobody called God Father they called him a lot of other things but Jesus said "I’m here to tell you that when you pray you are to call God father." And he says 'If you understand this it's going to change the way you pray you're going to pray much more confidently you're not going to worry you're not going to be so insecure about it what Jesus is saying is prayer is not about words listen to me it doesn't matter what words you say you don't have to be eloquent. [00:88:08]

Prayer is not about your words it's about a relationship and it's a very special kind of relationship like a father to a child it's to be intimate it's to be loving it's to be casual uh it's to be no barriers a little child doesn't walk into the presence of her father and wonder about how do I say this a little child just walks in and says it in the best language they've got at that particular age and stage of life and God is saying here prayer is not about words it's about a relationship. [00:140:00]

God is not some impersonal force may the force be with you, god is not some psychological or philosophical term the the unmoved mover the the ground of all of our beings all of these phrases the omnipotent omnisient unfeilling power impersonal force no he says to pray you got to realize God is your father now if you're going to be confident in your prayer listen to me you got to use the name that God has chosen for himself and God chose the name father. [00:184:40]

God is a caring father he will never stop loving you he doesn't have bad days or good days he is unconditionally loving toward you god is a caring father god is a is a a close father some of you had distant dads and you didn't see him very God is with you all the time he's paying attention to you all the time he has the ability to watch every move in your life he knows every hair on your head the Bible says they're numbered by God he's caring he's close he's He's consistent he's consistent he's always the same he's not one way this way and another way another he is capable. [00:432:24]

Ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you this is a promise now by the way uh the verbs there ask seek and knock they're actually present participles jesus is actually saying there keep on asking keep on seeking keep on knocking don't just knock one time if if I told you go over to that house and knock on the door and when you open it up uh when the door opens they're going to give you a million dollars you wouldn't walk up and go and walk away no if you knew a million dollars behind that you'd start knocking and you'd keep knocking and you'd keep knocking until the door opened so God says "Keep on asking keep on seeking keep on knocking be persistent in your prayer for anyone who asks will receive that's a promise anyone who seeks will find and everyone who knocks the door will be opened. [00:540:839]

God will never give me anything that's unhelpful now this is going to help you build confidence because you don't often know what to pray you go I don't know if this is good for me or not god will never give me anything that's unhelpful he will not give you everything you want because not everything you want would be helpful and in verse n he says "If your child remember this a father daughter father-son relationship if your child asked you for some bread to eat would any of you fathers give her a stone instead?" The obvious is of course not of course God would not do that to you and you wouldn't do it to your child. [00:980:48]

God will never give me anything that could harm me now he's taking it a deeper step not just something that's unhelpful but God says "I'm not I would never give you anything that would harm you or hurt you." As I said if I I pray you know can I drink this poison no the parents say "No no you can't." In verse 10 he says,"If your child asked for some fish hey dad can I have some fish sticks can I get a McDonald's fish sandwich would you put a snake on their plate that's humor that's exaggeration there." And no parent no loving parent would do that what's he saying here a snake's a little different than a rock a snake can be dangerous in fact sometimes a snake could be deadly sometimes you might ask for something that's actually dangerous in your life or you might ask for something that would actually be deadly and incredibly destructive in your life god says "It doesn't matter just go ahead and ask because I will never give you anything that's deadly or destructive i'll figure it out i'll sort it out i'll I'll sort it out you don't have to worry i I will take care of it i'm never going to give you anything that hurt you." [00:1200:48]

God will only give me what's best for me he says that in the next verse God will only give me what's best for me that gives me a lot of confidence when I pray and in verse 11 he says this um now since even you as a sinful imperfect parent know how to give good gifts to your children how much more does your perfect good and perfect father in heaven give only gifts that are good to those who ask him now this gives me a lot of confidence in praying too in the first place you need to understand God is not a slot machine where you put in the prayer and you pull the lever and you get whatever the slot slot machine gives you a slot machine gives you can give you bad stuff or a vending machine even better illustration you put money in a vending machine pull the lever and and you're going to get stuff that has carcinogens in it and stuff that could harm you god is not a vending machine. [00:1280:52]

God is not your genie god is not your vending machine god is not your servant you are God's servant he said "Well well then why should I even ask?" Because he is your father he's not your vending machine but he is your father and he loves you more than you even love yourself and God says "I am your loving heavenly father and I'm waiting to answer your prayers and I'm wanting to answer your prayers." So why are you all nervous about praying he's just your father in heaven you don't have to say fancy words god I need this that's a good enough prayer and God will will sort it all out and I will never give you he says "What's what's not best for you?" [00:1395:039]

God wants me to give to others what I want to get god wants me to give to others what I want to get myself now this is the golden rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you and many people know that golden rule but they don't realize it's actually connected to prayer verse 12 so in every situation always do to others what you would want them to do for you this sums up all the commands and all the teachings in the Bible now what that doesn't sound like it has anything to do with prayer but it does why have you ever had been asked by somebody would you pray for me probably and you go okay they asked me to pray for them what do I pray i have no idea what to pray when somebody comes up to me and I get asked all the time "Pastor Rick will you pray for me?" I'm going "I don't know what to pray for them." What do you pray for somebody when they ask you to pray for them here's what you do you pray whatever you would like people to pray for you that's it that's it would you like to have safety and security and success in your life yes then pray for safety and security and success in other people's life. [00:1477:44]

God says the way I treat you as my loving child I'm your heavenly father that's the way I expect you to treat everybody else god wants you to treat other people the way he treats you and when you pray for other people what do you pray you pray what you'd like to have prayed for you then you know instantly what to pray for people what would I like to have in that situation guy says to you "My wife just walked out on me what would you want people to pray for you?" Well you pray that for others see how simple this is and and and and God wants you to treat others the way he treats you when you pray now why is this important because God doesn't want you to be selfish. [00:1582:08]