Prayer Without Ceasing: Hearing the Holy Spirit

If god were to speak to you today, what are you gonna do with it? Would you write it down? Well, then keep a journal close by because I'm expecting him to speak to you today. Keep some notes handy and a pen ready because you just heard this message. Will God use something to speak to your hearts, every last one of you? That's right. Every one of you. Our kids included. Will you share it with others? Will you then take that bold step and say, you know, I saw this the other day. I was thinking of god. Pastor Tim's sermon, and and, you know, what do you think? This seems too simple or it seems too complex or whatever it is. Let's test it together. [01:08:43] (53 seconds)  #HearGodToday

But better yet, when I'm at the store shopping and I know she wants ice cream and I wasn't intending it to buy, I need to remember that I am married. Right? And pick up the ice cream for my wife or whatever it might be. And so what I'm asking you to do is not remember the event of your baptism, though that might be part of your memories today. Instead, what I'm asking you to do is to remember that Jesus Christ is in you, living through you, abiding in you, and sanctifying you day by day in his grace. [00:31:19] (32 seconds)  #ChristWithin

No. It's god's power within us that grows the fruit in us. We don't focus on producing fruit. We don't focus on being more self controlled. That's one of the fruits of the spirit around being kinder. We focus on god And through our focus on God, he makes us kinder. He makes us have more self control. Something that we couldn't muster up in ourselves. And then may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless. [00:46:55] (30 seconds)  #SpiritProducesFruit

Do you pray without ceasing? Do you pray and never stop? Well, it depends on what you think praying is. It depends on what you think it means to pray. What does it look like to pray? What what does a prayer look like? Right? We we know a couple elements you have to have. Right? Head bowed, eyes closed. Right? We we think that is a requirement of a prayer. [00:48:47] (28 seconds)  #RedefinePrayer

Had I told you one time, he said he was praying and he was having trouble hearing clarity for what god wanted for his life in a very complex situation that was gonna be more than just a word or two. And he asked him, he said, God, can you speak louder? And he said, no. Can you get quiet? God wants our undivided attention. I I know for me when I'm in a group and and there's something I have to offer and I I start talking and somebody interrupts me and there's two or three other conversations going on. I don't keep talking. Not because I'm offended that they would dare do such a thing, but why bother No one's listening to me. [01:00:50] (40 seconds)  #QuietToHearGod

I know that with Stacy, I can text her at any time and I have an audience. She knows that she can text me at any time and we can communicate even if we're busy and other stuff that that that message will get through. In the same way, god is asking us to have a conversation open with him all day, every day. So most of the time when I pray, I don't say in Jesus name, amen, because I got no intention to stop. You know, the only time I say that, when I'm praying with somebody else so that they know that the portion of the prayer that I'm gonna speak is done. [00:59:35] (38 seconds)  #PrayAllDay

If you've been paying attention and you haven't got distracted by a million things, perhaps your heart is more focused on what God would say right now than in any other time of the week. And so I would encourage you rather than moving on to the next step of your day to take a moment right now, steal your heart, quit quit the questions, the people sitting around you, and where are we doing what and all this, and just focus on God and say, okay, Lord. I've got a pen or I'm writing it on my phone or something. Share with me something. Point to a scripture you want me to look at. Share with my heart something that you have for me so that I can get in this habit of listening to your voice each and every day. [01:10:31] (41 seconds)  #JournalGodsVoice

A lot of times we think it will never happen. It can't happen. That we can't get better. That we're just destined to live with this ailment in our flesh, whatever it might be. The propensity towards sin in different ways. And we think that there can be nothing done about it. But if we believe that god is faith, then we believe he's the one doing the work and that he will continue even when we don't see the work being done. [00:47:49] (29 seconds)  #FaithOverSight