Pursuiyt, Hungry for More. "Prayer 101

``It's what it was at the very beginning. Think about the garden. When God created mankind, he created Adam and Eve, and it says that Adam and Eve walked with god in the cool of the day. There was a relationship. There was conversation. Adam and Eve were working alongside god to bring about his will upon the earth. That is how it all started. And that is God's perfect design is that we walk in relationship with him and that we do his will on this earth. And so that is where prayer begins. As pastor Bo said last week, it's an invitation into relationship. [00:45:17] (41 seconds)  #WalkWithGod

And g the name of Jesus, we have authority over even the demonic. Think about when Jesus walked on the scene. There was a a man who was filled with a legion of demons. He would break every single chain that they bound him with. Yet when Jesus comes on the scene, he's powerless. He's powerless, and the demons have to leave. And so we have to understand that we when we do spiritual warfare and we under when we understand there's a demonic influence that at the name of Jesus, those things have to go. [00:58:54] (34 seconds)  #JesusOverDemons

So in general, the general model, we pray to the father, we pray in Jesus' name, and we pray in the power of the holy spirit. But here's the thing, god's not legalistic. K? God's not gonna sit here and say, oh, well, you actually prayed to Jesus or you were talking to the holy spirit. They're all god. It's the trinity. Okay? It's it's the trinity. And we have also instances in scripture where people also call out to Jesus. Okay? So so don't think that if you don't pray in that model that God's not gonna hear you. The reality is that he is God, and he just loves it when his children come in faith and in humility to be in relationship with him. And that's the part I want you to really understand. Okay? [01:03:31] (43 seconds)  #PrayInFaithNotLegalism

So when we pray in our heart and our desire should be to pray according to god's will. Right? It's not like, lord, give me a Ferrari. In in Jesus name, amen. Okay? We're not we're not just trying to get the things that our selfish desires want. Our heart is to pray according to the word of god, to pray according to his will, and we know that all of the promises in god's word are fulfilled to us in Christ. So that is why we say in Jesus name, amen. In Jesus name, let it be so. God, we're gonna come to you with faith. We're gonna pray according to your word. We're gonna pray for the salvation of our friends. We're gonna pray for the salvation of our lost family members, and we're gonna pray, Jesus, in your name, and we're gonna say amen because we desire to let it be so according to your will, according to your word. [01:05:08] (45 seconds)  #PrayAccordingToHisWill

Your next point this morning is this, as we look at prayer one zero one. God answers prayers four ways. Yes, no, wait, and if you will, I will. In other words, God answers every prayer, but it's not always in the way that we want it, and it's not always in our timing. And that's hard for us. We love it when it's the yes. Right? We've had times we prayed for people, and we immediately see a change whether it's physically, spiritually, emotionally. God God, yeah, sets them free from something. But there's also times that we might pray, and God may say in his sovereignty and in his wisdom, he may say no. [01:09:03] (43 seconds)  #GodAnswersFourWays

realizing that God cares, but but we had to go and do something about it. Right? We we we didn't just pray, and then the person got feet and came to our house. We had to go do something about the prayers. And many times, we we pray for people to get saved that that we know. We pray for our neighbors. We pray for certain situations, and then we just think, well, God, you're just gonna now do it. And sometimes he does. But sometimes God says, yes, I I want your neighbor to get saved, but guess what? You need to go over there and talk to them. You need to go over there and and share your faith with them. You need to go over there and love them, and you need to serve them, and you need to be the light in the darkness. And it's through your obedience and through your prayers that you're gonna see those things answered. And so sometimes God says, if you're gonna go, I will anoint you, I will empower you, and I will work through you, but I need you not just to pray. I need you to put action to the prayer. [01:12:41] (54 seconds)  #PrayThenAct

But here's the different kinds of prayers that we can come before God. And each of these is just a simple conversation. I don't want you to make it seem like it's this big crazy thing. It's just talking with the Lord. So one is thanksgiving and adoration. And that's simply coming to God with praise, with thanksgiving, thanking him for what he's done, praising him for who he is. Okay? And and God loves it when we do that. We could do that in our songs. We can also do that in our words. The next one is casting down our burdens. God wants us to take our burdens and bring them to him. We were not meant to carry our burdens and our weights and our own strength. We were meant to bring those before the Lord and and walk in his strength. [01:14:10] (41 seconds)  #PraiseAndCastYourCares

Right? And that's what repentance is. Repentance is a change in our mind that leads to a change in our actions. So confession and repentance really go hand in hand, and it's played out in the prodigal son. The prodigal son lived in the father's home. He lived in the father's blessing. He decided, I'm gonna go my own way. I'm gonna take what what he believed was his, and he spent everything he had, all the money he had, the bible says, on wild living. He he had nothing left. He had sinned before God. He had sinned before his father, and he was feeding the pigs. And he was so hungry that the food that the pigs had looked good to him. And he said he came to his senses and he said, you know what? If I just go back home if I just go back home, maybe my father will let me be a servant in his house. At least I'll have food, at least I'll have drink, at least I'll have a shelter. And so he comes back home, his father sees and him from a distance, and his father is not, oh my gosh. That son of mine, I can't stand him. He he sinned against me because the father ran to him and embraced him. K? Embraced him, and he restored him. God's heart when we confess our sins and when we repent of our sins is not just to forgive us but he also wants to restore us. And so when you think of repentance, I want you to think it it means coming back home. Coming back home to the father that loves you. [01:15:33] (84 seconds)  #ComeHomeToTheFather