Faith, Focus, and the Power of Prayer

I want you to think about what is stressing you out, what is consuming your thoughts, what is frustrating you, or maybe something that God is calling you to that you don't feel ready to do. And I want you to write it on there. Now, I'm gonna preach for long enough for you to think about it and for the Holy Spirit to move, okay? So you got some time. That's why I'm preaching longer. Okay, so when you think, when is he gonna be quiet? I'm giving you time. Some of you are gonna be like, I got it done. Please stop, okay? [00:40:16] (30 seconds)


And we'll talk about that part in a minute. That time is meant to be focused in the presence of God in prayer. And you're gonna pray over whatever it is on this thing. You can take two. There's more back there. If it helps you, take one home and put one on the cross. But you're going to pray over whatever that is. And you can even pray over each other's. If you're in a life group, or you just wanna say, hey, can you pray over mine? We'll pray over yours. We're gonna pray over all the ones on the cross throughout this time. [00:43:04] (32 seconds)


But prayer is the biggest element. In fact, a lot of us, we hesitate to ask God, because we think he can't do it. Now, we just sang a song, right? He's not gonna fail. We sang a couple of them about all the great things God can do. And we're gonna read today about it as well. But in Matthew chapter seven, seven, it says, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you. [00:43:36] (33 seconds)


And the one who listens to the prayers is saying to you, like, just ask me. Just ask me. And I'm not asking you to do that. I will deliver it. Now, of course, like I said, sometimes the answer may be no. Sometimes the answer may be not yet. We're gonna, on the 26th, we're gonna have a special time of prayer. worship, celebration of what God's done. But I'm also going to speak for a few minutes about those who prayed and fasted and did everything you're supposed to do, but haven't got what you asked for. What to do there. We'll talk about that on that Sunday. [00:44:52] (40 seconds)


Some of you are going to give up food. Um, some of you, and that might be all day. That might be from, uh, you know, as long as the sun's up, that might be a three day fast. And then you do something different, or you might fast from Friday to, you know, I don't know what God's calling you to. You'd spend some time reading this document and then pray and see what God's inviting you to do. Now, some of you, um, food's not what has a grip on your life. It's more like this. Okay. Some of you need to give up social media and stop scrolling. So you have time to pray. Now I want to, I want to invite you. I want to challenge you. Don't, don't delete a meal. [00:48:25] (35 seconds)


And it's so easy to get distracted by what I see in the peripheral. Like, there's some, there's some legit things to be afraid of. Like, wind and waves. If you're walking on water, you should be worried. Unless you have your eyes on Jesus. So we have to decide. It says faith is, right? Right? It's, it's most powerful when we believe in things we can't see. And so you have to decide, I'm gonna look at the things I can't see. I'm gonna believe those things in spite of what I can see. Now, Jesus, Peter had the benefit. [01:04:36] (43 seconds)


of like physical jesus right in front of him but every one of you can look back in your life and think of a moment when jesus was undeniably present that is what you need to look at in moments of struggle when you're in terrible trouble learn to depend on jesus in your struggle don't give more attention to your struggle than your savior now i invite you um don't delete the meal and forget to keep your eyes on jesus don't take up a hobby dig [01:05:19] (43 seconds)


us what may have been in play mark 651 the last part and to 52 they were totally they were totally amazed that's when the wind and waves died down for they still didn't understand the significance of the fact that they were willing to take him into the boat and they finally reached their destination their hearts were too hard to take it in some of you aren't ready for this breakthrough because you haven't come to grips with what god has already done in your life just previous to this they saw the miracle of loaves and fish being multiplied to feed 5 000 probably 10 000 with women and children 10 000 people you need to figure out what jesus is already doing in your life to get ready for what he's going to do next and that's why we're going to talk about the miracle of the loaves and fish we get our hearts hardened we're like this is this is how far god gets to go and no further i'm going to do the prayer but not the fasting and those hard hearts keep us from experiencing those big moments that god's inviting us to now what's amazing is everybody in the boat got a breakthrough can you can you stand up we're gonna we're gonna create a moment where you get to come forward. I need our prayer team to come forward. But everybody in the boat, all 12 disciples got a breakthrough that day. [01:08:01] (76 seconds)


Because when Jesus got into the boat, what happened? The wind and waves calmed down and they reached the other side. everybody got a miracle that day. Now, only one of them got out of the boat. Only one of them had a spectacular miracle. I know God will work in your life, even if you just kind of sit there and wait for him, but I'm inviting you to get out of the boat. This may be something new, prayer and fasting, something new for you. I'm inviting you to let God do spectacular things in your life. You may not walk on water, but God may totally transform you, your family, your workplace through what he's going to do in you over the next three weeks. [01:10:45] (46 seconds)