Hearing and Praying [Part 1]

Pastor mother and Bible teacher Alan Wright the first thing that happens when you're a Christian is a Holy Spirit start speaking to your heart is saying you're a child of God and then as you grow up in the Lord. What happens is it is continually explaining to you who you are as a child of God giving you direction, instruction, and informing you and directing you and empowering how it is to pray when you don't know how to pray every Christian can hear from God. That's pastor Helen Wright welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life for a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt excited for you to hear today's message in the series called praying with power as presented with an older church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright ministry as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org that's Pastor Alan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program but right now let's get started with today's teaching in the series praying with our here is Alan Wright. I think the spiritual prayer takes several different forms, one of which might be the gift of prayer language of the gift of tongues which we believe is a good gift. And Paul says that I wish that her body had the gift of tongues was a good thing to ask for except one way of praying in the spirit. But there are other ways of praying in the spirit and which we been speaking and I suggested to you that if you pray the word of God that God's word is filled with God's spirit. All Scripture is God breathed so as you can learn to pray the Scripture your learning to pray in a sense, in the spirit spiritual prayer and I did last week had us in Luke chapter 1 where I want to return this week, briefly, to Mary's prayer and here we are in Luke chapter 1, the angel Gabriel comes and announces an incredible news to her. Luke chapter 1, the angel said to do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most time the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever and his kingdom will never in no Mary's mind is perplexed by this is our minds always are perplexed by supernatural occurrences. How will this be Mary asked the angel since I'm a virgin and the angel answered the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow use of the holy one to be born will be called the son of God. Now note here that what we said is that Mary's mind wanted a rational explanation on understanding so that her mind could make sense of this revelation that had been brought to her through the angel, but isn't it kind of funny that when the angel responds not with the rebuke, but indeed with a response. The response is that well I'll tell you how it will happen. The Holy Spirit will come upon you will what is at me with the power the most high will overshadow what in the world's at me and then it just top it off, the holy one to be born anew just to clarify, is going to be the son of God.

Now do you think her mind was satisfied with that response. It just brought a suit more supernatural. Here, rational, transcendent revelation to an already confused mind and so there's something inside of Mary product probably part of the reason the guy was drawn to her in the first place that she very quickly, instead of saying I want to try to figure this all out with my limited mortal understanding.

Instead, she simply yields and says I am the Lord's servant, the person who can really become effective in their prayer life is a person is to be yielded to the Holy Spirit. I am yours. And then this is the prayer that I think the wonderful model you could build build your prayer life on May it be to me as you have said the literal rendering, let it be unto me according to your word. In other words you have said things that are so precious, so powerful, so transcendent and glorious. I could not have asked imagine or thought them up on my own, but now that you've set it I receive it, and I make it my own and I ask you Lord to let it be just like you've said you are the God who is able to do abundantly above and beyond anything I can ask think or imagine. But now that you have set it even though I could not have conceived of it, I receive it in my spirit I lay claim to it, and I ask you to let it be just like you said, that's a good way to pray and what you can do is you can learn to pray all of the Scriptures that way.

And so we learning about us about spiritual prayer and the form of praying God's word. I want to just notice something important in Mary's story here is that the bulk of this first encounter is the revelation that is spoken by the angel and Mary's prayer is one phrase. B in recording your work is one little sentence. In other words, the, the inclination and Mary was to listen to God that's going to speak to you about for these few moments is the listening side of prayer that if you would connect yourself to the listening to God. It will totally radically transform how you pray because now you are praying according to Revelation, and the spirit of God is informing you and illuminating to you what it is that your to pray about and it just changes everything. I member and early earliest times of anion are ship and she was fresh into understanding more deep things of the Holy Spirit and I was sure babe and starting understanding who God is still speaking at work today and I remember occasion where Anna had told me. I think we were we were dating a time when you said that you can wake up in the middle of night with a tremendous burden to pray for a neighbor that you barely knew a man that was somewhere in the neighborhood but not something you would seeming some reason you just got from MMU mentioned that.

And then we learn just not long after that man died that night.

What was God using this one young woman's prayer for was it to bring peace to him as he was going home to be with his Lord was it that God was reaching his heart and he was getting born again before he went was it that he just needed strength in his body what what what I don't know, but see God would wake up I young woman and this put on her heart out all that God really requires for something like that is my that's available and you can just imagine though how much your prayer life would be changed if you're more hooked into what God is saying to here is a marvelous quote from one of the great prayer warriors of of history. It would go towards Mueller.

He's talking about is devotional life and listen to this in the first thing I do, after having asked in a few words the Lord's blessing upon his precious Word is to begin to meditate on the word of God, searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it for the sake of obtaining food for my soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication, so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation and had turned almost immediately more or less into prayer that this this is powerful. The link between the meditation of the revelation of God and prayer is inextricable.

These these are this is two sides of the coin say because you going to pray out of what it is that God is doing in you and speaking in your I just noticed this about Mary Mary was a woman who heard God a people that hear from God are people who have learned not to rush past the moments in which God is speaking, just look at a few instances of Mary. She's already listened to the Lord and said, let it be according to your word and then you remember when the shepherds come in chapter 2 now of Luke and after they have far found Mary and Joseph and they have shared what they had seen and experienced. We come to verse 19 and you get the sense of Mary being could quite contemplative about this and it says Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. It literally means she took this revelation.

She tossed it about in her heart. That's what the word means she locked it up as if in a treasure chest and then took it and tossed it about that.

This is this is really what you do with the revelation you see other instances this when when Jesus begins to grow and he's at the temple for three days in Mary's and Joseph were wondering where he is now in chapter 2. Add to verse 46 and after three days they found him in the temple courts sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers and look at verse 48 when his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, son, why do you treat they were. They were just morally. Mary was there. Once again Marvin, what is this talent right will have more teaching moment. Today's important series prayer as a Christian you know it's important and you want to make it a priority. If you're like most your prayer life can slip so easily into routine fervor and passion need your wondering what is the key to praying with real power in Ephesians chapter 6. The apostle Paul has a clear answer, praying in the spirit what is in the pray in the spirit someone say that Paul is referring to the spiritual gift and a supernatural prayer language Megan Allen writes unique series, praying with power Pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying and spirit. Discover how praying God's word is praying in spirit. Learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray, come to see Jesus as your prayer partner. It's practical. It's powerful to pastor our nights praying with power.

Discover the power of praying in the spirit change your prayer life and you change the world.

You need to get talent right ministry said I will send you pastor outlines messages through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you get today. We will send you a special offer. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from our night ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor. Our in.work. Today's teaching now continues here once again is writing to come down to verse 51 is says he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them to look at this again. His mother treasured all these things in her heart and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature favor with God and with men was saying is that the person who has a sensitivity to what the Spirit is saying is someone who is going to not rush past in daily life moments of listening for God is so prayer is not us coming and just barraging heaven with our many word and fight our prayer life would become altogether more powerful if it were less about God hearing our words and more about us hearing God's word when a transforming if you ever had that experience you feel like you I'm just I don't feel like these prayers are connecting maybe is because we we have not been profoundly inspired by what it is that God has on his heart that he wants us to be praying about about this is imperative.

Every Christian can hear from God. Every Christian can hear from God.

This was told in so many prophetic instances. I love this from Isaiah 50 the sovereign Lord has given me an instructive tongue to know the word that sustains the weary. He went this be a good one to write on a postcard and claim every morning what he awakens me morning by morning awakens my ear to listen like one being taught the sovereign Lord has open my ears and I have not been rebellious. I have not drawn back. It was always in God's heart to fully restore that part of us have been shut off from God and make us spiritually alive so that we could discern the things of God is what Paul said to the Corinthians.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except a man spirit within him in the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us the man and there's a typo without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God for their foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. In other words, when you become a Christian. Your spirit is born anew and you are alive unto God.

And I want you to understand. You can therefore have communion and communication with the Holy Spirit. The first thing that happens when you're a Christian is a Holy Spirit start speaking to your heart is saying you're a child of God and then as you grow up in the Lord. What happens is that he's continually explaining to you who you are as a child of God giving you direction, instruction, and informing you and directing you and empowering how it is to pray when you don't know how to pray every Christian can hear from God.

This is the truth that Jesus said when he said the man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate from and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he is brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them in his sheep follow him because they know his voice but I never follow a stranger if I don't run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Every Christian, every sheep in God's full can you hear and recognize the voice of the shepherd. In fact, Jesus promised this of the Holy Spirit. He said when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you all that belongs to the father is mine. That's why said the spirit will take from what is mine and make it known unto you. Every Christian can hear from God. And so, let's cultivate our ability to hear what God is saying to our heart, so that our prayer life is linked up to what God is saying to me just tell you, you know what you get from this is give you some of the benefits that you receive from this you know the first thing that you get if you hook up to listening to God.

The first thing that you will get. And it may be the most important thing is you get faith because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith doesn't come by you trying real hard to believe a lot of people think the faith comes out just like I gotta get this mental certainty. I got to sit here that is going to gotta get enough faith and I just got it.

It was like I've tried that didn't work, you can stand over that sick person that loved one what we want to pray for and you're just like I don't really believe I will try real hard to believe in you to is not faith in a done work. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. So here's what happens here is what faith gets quick and inside of you is where you get convinced that there's something in the heart of God that he wants to do because of who he is and when you're convinced of that. It changes everything that's in it.

I was talking about mellow Abby last week who you know I want guinea pig and authorize asking for guinea pig over and over and not getting a guinea pig and yet she saw was willing to talk about a guinea pig over and over and so finally she said dad, do you want me to get a guinea pig that said that's a great question to ask because if she knows that it's in my heart for guinea pig then is going to instruct the way that she keeps asking if she becomes convinced that is not in my heart for it to forever get a guinea pig then should just quit asking see this is the way it works is that I would just just the only way I can understand some of the dilemmas that are in our mind about prayer. You know we got all our theology and owner go to seminary and you get about the sovereignty of God, and you get confused about this and how wise it. Why do we need to pray if God's already sovereign and flywheel have that all work in and in many go. Do we want to do anyway if you know and and so forth so bought a lot in your mind never figures out the first place. You can figure out about prayer by thinking about it in terms of processor steps or linear things like that because really the only way you can understand the dynamics of prayers understand relationship is born out of relationship and it's a father child relationship. So I guess I just was thinking little bit about interact with my children out this year. Another little silly illustration but it's it's helping me is actually bringing me breakthroughs in my own prayer life because of of them gain some understanding as to the things and one of the things I've always wondered about is okay 10 God wants us to pray, but if it's already in God's heart why we keep on asking anyone so well. You don't have to do this as at one time but but there's that parable that Jesus tells in which he talks about the persistent neighbor who say I really need some provisions to show hospitality to an unexpected guest and in the Bible says that Jesus said because of his bold persistence. He'll give them what he wants and so the invitation is to keep on praying.

Well I'm confused by that because I like Windows already is hard to do while we desiderata wait on them to do it and you know at MDC I'm saying all these kind of things they can bog you down thinking about this silly thing.

It goes on our house and is always losing is too silly to actually admit but anything for the sake of a good sermon illustration get the point across as well those things which you are like if I tell that movie realize he is not a sufficient dated man of God. I just is just a normal person, but that's who I am and in reality, this goes on in our house every night.

If I'm there at home we made our cousin that there's something that we do find you going to bed and would like to read the kids like me to read something to them. So we've read through all the whole series of Chronicles of Narnia. What we want him were done twice. Sometimes, you know, I would suggest say was the Bible read every night, but it sometimes is not some has been high to count all and I don't know. There's a hyper count all people in here okay have one to the first service. Having to count and we were shocked swapping stories afterwards. But anyway normally is really spiritual but we're reading and so your reading long always made it because I will fine you know, in reality they want to get about no 15 or 20 pages read and I want them to think that I'm alive and alert and full of energy and want to read a lot, but in reality most nights you know I'm just kind of thinking.

You know, can we get about two pages tonight, how about two pages so will want to maybe four pages and their wanting more. What I do is I always like to play a little game right and a really suspenseful moment. You know to be like and Lucy drew back her boat and suddenly she heard a rustle in the darkness and leapt what she never thought would be there. That's a good place to stop and pick up there more and I were advising crazy right there. You know, but I want to be with you looking for to and out sometime. I don't remember this was the Abby was even born when the start I can't be going also along it only meant when it started but for some point maybe was the two of them they started Megan I said please please dad please read don't stop there. Please just one more page please. And so it some point I made the mistake of a trickle of mercy showing up in my heart I let thou I read I said I if I read one more page you promise you jump right about for a sleep number questions as he said yes yes yes okay I read one more page and they seem satisfied enough in the jump in the bed. Well the next night became the same thing on read along and you know and then out of nowhere appeared. That's good place to stop and that there please please please in tonight is a little more force and that you know is like because they like you know you can like this might happen, and so now it was please please please please please please please please please please, look down the sky again this look like that's not enough, pleases, and so they got the message about please please please please please please please as her body was please please please please please please please enough times. I said okay but fall right asleep about read more page you know and okay well this thing has evolved into where the please pleases were a regular part of what were doing and finally I was having some fun with it and so I would not only require the many pleases but I also began to say only if you'll sing.

Please, please, please, to the tune of jingle bells, and so there please please please please please please please please please please add it so you can just imagine now the scene is that when I come that suspenseful moment close that they just look at me and say what to do in your reading and reading prayer as a Christian you know it's important and you want to make it a priority. If you're like most your slip so easily into routine fervor in person. Maybe you're wondering what is the key to praying with rail parlor in Ephesians chapter 6.

The apostle Paul has a clear answer, praying in the spirit. But what does it mean to pray in the spirit.

Some would say that Paul is referring to the spiritual gift of the supernatural prayer language Megan Allen writes unique series, praying with power Pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying and spirit. Discover how praying God's word is praying in spirit. Learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray, come to see Jesus as your prayer partner. It's practical.

It's powerful to pastor our nights praying with power. Discover the power of praying in the spirit change your prayer life and you change the world you make your gift to Alan Wright ministry said I will send you pastor outlines messages through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today. We will send you a special offer. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Alan Knight ministries call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor. Our in.work today's teaching. Allen is hearing and praying. What is so important is we are just hearing their every Christian could hear from God. And this is not just for a few Christians is not just for the super spiritual. It's not just for the prophetic people of all of us are in a relationship with God and we are on a daily basis were being led by God so we can attune ourselves to recognize God's voice and this means that the more that we attune ourselves to hear God's voice.

The more that our prayer life will be lining up with what God is already say in prayer becomes powerful and spirit filled when we are led by the Holy Spirit in our prayer life. Today's good news message is a listener supported production Alan Wright Ministries