Rhythms of Grace: Prayer, Fasting, and Delight in God

Prayer is coming to realize that we are not in control. God is. Every time we pray, we're saying, God, we come under your authority. You alone have authority over our lives. You alone have the final say over us. God is the one we come under authority. Now as we come under his authority, he then makes us and allows us to flow in his authority. Isn't that powerful? [00:41:48] (29 seconds)  #UnderGodsAuthority

He says, I am your shield, your very great reward. The greatest reward we could possibly have here on planet earth is knowing him, is building our life on him. And so delighting in him, I read an article about how, you know, he is the telos. Jesus is the end target. That is what prayer is about. So, as we grow in prayer, he makes us aware that our delight ought to be in him. [00:47:53] (32 seconds)  #GodOurGreatReward

entering into prayer, there are times when God will give us words. You know, a word, a scripture, sometimes an image that is so random, like an egg yolk or something. I mean, I've I've had really strange ones, but knowing that it did not originate from me, I choose to write it down. Because when we steward the little that we hear, know, and even do not understand, When we steward that, he gives us more. [00:51:02] (28 seconds)  #StewardTheLittleWords

So, whatever we hear, it's important to take it back to God and ask him, how do I do it God? Show me how do I do this? I don't know how to make time. If my life is too busy, my brain is too captivated by this, that, and the other. I don't know how to. So, I had to keep going back to God to ship to make this doable for me. God can make it doable. You keep coming back. [00:48:47] (27 seconds)  #AskGodToMakeItDoable

Again, this is key because just when you're sitting to pray, how many of you know this? Your mind will flood with all the things you are meant to do. And the person you forgot to text and the person you forgot to email, everything happens just at that time. So it comes in handy to have notes, a notepad ready to just write things down in bullet points. Don't write stories, just one line because otherwise it gets tiresome. Again, making it doable. [00:50:17] (28 seconds)  #BulletPointPrayerNotes

You cannot expect him to sustain if you do not cast. So therefore, he calls us and invites us into casting down our anxieties in prayer. It happens in the coming over and over again. Keep coming to him. And in the casting down of that, he plucks out lies from our mind. Again, something that happens over a period of time. Because see the devil so deceitful, he will sow seeds very subtly, [00:46:08] (29 seconds)  #KeepCastingDown

very subtly say things to you that are so untrue and warp our understanding of the world around us and about ourselves. But the more we keep coming back, the more those lies keep falling off. So casting down of lies. And the next thing, the last thing, we're looking at is the delight in him. And this is where it all leads to. Because see initially, like I said, when when I was growing up and and watching how prayer produces results, [00:46:38] (32 seconds)  #LiesFallAwayDelightRemains

Don't try to sit and search your own life to figure out what is going on because the devil has a way of accusing us and spiraling us downwards into sin. You sinner, you don't deserve this and so on. So therefore, asking the holy spirit to reveal and and confessing those things is key. The the next thing where was I? Yep. So the asking and the confessing and the next thing is and this is I find this the most beautiful part of prayer for me, [00:59:21] (32 seconds)  #AskAndConfess