The Prayer that God Answers, (Part 1)

Dr. Michael used to 11 friends.

Let me tell you we miss the best when we miss God's purpose in prayer will represent the very purpose and that is the purpose of all members is welcome to leading the way with Dr. Michael used to celebrating within 30 years of using media teach the world for Jesus in recent months many prayers have been screamed toward heaven, some seemingly felt unheard as so many families experience tragedy. Upon tragedy, and yet God did hear God did answer I hope you're able to stay connected to leading the way in the coming days. Dr. USF teaches a very timely series.

It's called the prayer that God answers to the words found in the pages of the Bible I think you lean into the comfort and the power of prayer for the days in which we live, and for the circumstances that are part of your home and your life. Listen with me now as Dr. Michael Yousef begins today's message. There is no time when the enemy is more active in your life, then annual proton.

Satan is always on the move is always plotting, screaming, planning, looking for opportunities in which you can weaken you in order to attack you for opportunities in which he can deceive you so he can defeat you. But when it comes to the prime of prayer Satan moves like lightning whenever he sees you on your knees whenever he sees you in the moment of prayer. Many people erroneously think that prayer time is a time when Satan leaves you alone. The opposite is true whenever you are getting ready to prior you go to discover that the phone will ring the doorbell ring.

Something that you have forgotten long time ago.

All of a sudden remember you have to do some is going to interrupt you. You might even fall asleep at the clock in the morning and that is nothing that would please Satan more than to come between you and the Lord in this sacred hour of intimacy and prayer. Why, because Satan knows that prayer is the secret of your power. Satan knows that prayer is the secret of your strength and your victory over him and if he can cut your power at the source is going to do it and he would have succeeded in weakening the spiritual.

Now the problem with most evangelical Christians today is that they pray like sailors use the pumps only when the ship is leaking and yet the gospel tells us that Jesus habitually rose early in the morning before dawn time before daylight break and he went out to commune with the father and if the son of the living God, so that the view that importance how much more we are to realize prayer and commune with his father is like the air that he breezes. In fact, he told the disciples in John four is that I have food to what you know that he was talking about that time that spiritual feeling that he received in communion with the father to priority is to experience the height. The height of what the kids would say hanging out with God to pry is to continuously open the floodgates of heaven of blessing to priority is to have power in your life and to have power in high places in heaven to bride established virtually breathing and if you're spiritually breathing your spiritual life. The problem is this. So many of us are taught bad habits about prayer wrong ideas about prayer and we fall back into these bad habits and wrong ideas. The purpose of prayer is not to inform God. The purpose of prayer is not to persuade God. The purpose of prayer is not to manipulate God.

The purpose of prayer is not to cajole God that is not the purpose of prayer in the Christian faith. But prayer is surrender before God. Prayer is obedience to the living God. Prayer is sincerity before the living God who sees our heart. Someone will so you know if God knows everything. Why then should we pry good? God wants to hear us play.

And God wants to commune with us more than we want to commune with him.

Why, because he allows us far more than we ever be able to love him because he loves us so dearly.

He wants to hear us in prayer. So to pray rightly is to prior was pure motive to pray rightly is to pray for God to manifest his glory, to manifest his power to pray rightly is to give God an opportunity to be manifested in your life and in my life. That's what prayer is all about, and that Jesus told the Pharisees that thoughtless, repetitious prayer will get nowhere. Now there are some people who go out unlike the candle believing that as long as that candle is lit as long as this candle is burning their petitions are coming in the presence of God. How mechanical house, thoughtless. When you understand that prayer is primarily a joyous intimate fellowship with God himself.

You can understand how candle lighting and repetitious recycling of memorized prayer is to go. Can you imagine two people in love with each other and they were only talk to each other if they need something, imagine that.

Can you imagine a relationship that can grow and develop. Only when a person gets on the phone and I make a request and then hang up. Can you imagine can you imagine a husband and wife are only talk to each other five minutes a day but that's exactly how much most evangelical Christians spend in prayer in a given day, five minutes.

I am not standing here resizing anybody.

And what I'm telling you is coming out of my own struggles out of my own knowledge out of my own experience, and I'm not telling you anything that I'm not working on myself when the heart is right when a channel of communication between you and the Lord asked clear. You will not only know how to pray, but want to pry is not just the how but what and I looked at these examples of how God answered the prayers of these men and women in the Scripture and I saw how when Abraham's servant Eliezer prayed.

Rebecca came up and I saw how when Jacob wrestled in prayer.

Ingersoll flipped his mind from 20 years of planning revenge to warmth and forgiveness. I saw how, when Moses prayed powerful, like was struck I saw how when Joshua prayed the sun stood still in its orbit.

I saw how when Hannah was so barren prayed, God gave us time when Semel was born when Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed in 12 hours hundred and $85 and the Syrians were decimated when a larger grade for rain. It stopped with three years was a drought and then he prayed again and the rain came because they knew not just how to pray.

But what the pray when you and I are in close fellowship with God.

When you and I intimate with God when you and I have peace with God when you are a walking daily with God not only we will know how to pray. But what, pray not to so many confusion about the whole issue of prayer. I'm hoping by the end of this message of the summer clarify some of these confusions, I heard about a man who would go to prayer meetings all God use me you pray all God use me in some advisory capacity. You know people like that. There will got to use them in some advisory capacity. The problem with our attitude toward prayers.

This all will love to pray. If it is convenient all sure we love to pray if is not going to intervene with our busy lifestyle will love the Prius because we want to pray all is not going to conflict with some of the important things that were doing. You could be doing for God to tell you something I want to put your mind to trust God is not impressed with your activism even for him as much as he is interested in the time you spend with him. God is not impressed by your successes and achievements. As much as he's impressed with your dependence upon him in prayer. God is the one who gives you the very breath go out and achieve and succeed without that breath you'll be dead and that is why God is more interested in your dependence on him in the Declaration of Independence and showing the sign of the dependence than anything else is not impressed by your activism. In fact, your activism is bad without the part of prayer, but I heard about even people who doubt God's answer to prayer. Even after you answer the prayers distilled out and about a small town in Kentucky when there were two churches to congregations and one whiskey distillery. Now the congregation were not very happy about this whiskey distillery so they tried more pardon lobby and they protested and went down the streets and try to shut it down. Can shut down this all is giving the town a bad image in a bad name what to make it worse, the owner of the distillery was atheist, so what they did after like most Christians do, after all of the activism in all of their efforts to work so they decided to pray, as a last resort instead of being the first option so they agreed. Both congregations agreed that on Saturday not going to come together in prayer. I got pray specifically forgot to shut the distillery and Saturday off the side of the little pry all God shut this distillery all God it's bad witness for you.

Well one Saturday night while they were praying, a lightning came struck the distillery and burn it to the ground is a true story well the next morning you can imagine the preachers in both churches pounding preaching on the part of prayer power lines of prayer was a little problem. The insurance adjuster told the owner of the distillery, but he cannot be compensated because this was an act of God and his insurance policy does not call for compensation for active God.

Whereupon the distillery owner sued the members of the two churches claiming that they have conspired with God to burn his distillery, but did all of the church members did they hired a heavyweight lawyer who bluntly denied that his client had anything to do with the burning of the distillery. I want to review of the trial judge said the trial judge said about this case is that this is the most perplexing case I've ever presided over.

He said the plaintiff who was an atheist, professing to believe in the power of prayer and the defendants church members are denying the power of prayer can we become beloved friends with me tell you we miss God's best.

When we missed God's purpose in prayer people going around saying all is not terrible is happening, domination pray for the nation unless we understand not just how to pray about what to pry our prayer are ineffectual. The purpose of all purposes and prayer is for God to be glorified by the down that is the very purpose in the essence of prayer while we get blessed out of our socks when we pray, but we are not the purpose of prayer God is not us. Why because prayer is God's opportunity to reveal his goodness feel his power prayer is God's opportunity to be glorified and magnified.

Listen to what Jesus said to the disciples in John 1413 he said, and whatever you ask in my name that I will do that. The father may be glorified. That's the purpose clause that is the purpose of all purposes, that the father be glorified. Prayer should be for God's glory not just for our needs but when God meets our needs. He gets glory. I will explain some things to for quite some time, Christians have been divided in their understanding of prayer and I think this is really the source of confusion. Robin put my finger on is really the heart of the problem. I will explain to you.

Both views and ongoing explain to you what I think which one of the much. There are some who see prayer simply as lining up with God and what he already foreordained and then nothing they can do other than conform to the will of God. On the other hand, there are some will say no no no no no prayer is asking God to do what he would not and could not do without praying both the wrong and both are right. There was his doubletalk for the clarify things. Well I will.

The Scripture teaches Paul's views those Scripture teaches both not one all the other but both when we are under obligation before God. The whole both views and tension. The Bible teaches that God absolutely without a doubt is sovereign but the Bible also teaches unequivocally that God within his sovereign day response to his people. When pray right, trying to push one side, all the other you miss out on the blessing tried to put God in a theological box and say this is where you work it no other way is wrong. It will be a waste of time and energy and you will lose your joy on the one hand there are some people who are terrified of asking anything of God. This does not consistent with his will. On the other. There are some who treat God like a bellhop who only moves at their command. On the one hand there are people whose prayer is cold and calculated because they believe that it will make no difference. On the other hand there are other people who think that God is finalize without their prayer, both the wrong both of extreme both are extra-biblical when the Bible gives us to opposing view. It seems to us and pleases humans opposing view. We are under obligation before got the whole both of them and pension not to try to force one all the other theologians get into all these exercises but ignore them. We are blessed when we are fully trusting in God's purpose. We are blessed when we refuse to systematize the Bible unorganized. God according to our limited understanding to say more about the fatherhood of God and all want to just give you a simple example to understand what I'm talking about you know when my children were small bills asked for all kinds of things that I give them everything they asked for. Of course not, of course not. I gave them, and to continue to give them only what I believe is the best for them and if I as a fallen man know how to give good gifts to my children how much more is our heavenly daddy God and his magnificence know that he taught us how to pray what to pray.

But even so, he knew that often we don't have the wisdom to pray as we ought awful lot.

We all and therefore God commissioned the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity to overrule in our sorry prayers listen to what Paul said they said we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with wrongdoing to deep and that is why in Matthew six, 9 to 15. Jesus gives us a Sing Sing meticulous comprehensive outline of what true prayer should be like the first section deals with God's glory and even in the second section where he talks about our needs is when God meets our needs. He gets glory to the focus our attention toward this upcoming message I want to share with you. Just a few thoughts number one. Jesus does not tell us where to pray except he said to pray consistently that we must give our full attention to our prayer time by going into a place where we going to have concentration where were not going to be disturbed. I love the image of somebody got the television going to read you going to play recorded goings on the phone in his brain. Matthew 661 he said going to your inner room for Jesus sake, just go to a place where you can focus on the Wii not to be distracted as what it means in the second thing he does not suggest a time for prayer. Although Jesus himself got up early in the morning. Why is it the best time and I'm uploading it on you like is a guilt trip on this. Not legalism here that happened to be the best because it's the first think of the day that you offering to God, I'll confess to you if I don't take that first word of the day spent with God. My days miserable. I accomplish nothing.

He said for us to pray everywhere, every available circumstances every opportunity. Prayer is a lifestyle. We pray before meal after meal special circumstances before meetings after meetings are getting into the car getting out of the car, although my passengers pray when they get into my car and get out of my car given Thanksgiving, but the third thing is this, Jesus does not specify a special clothing to wear when you pray, or special posture of prayer, but as God heroes of wood on the of of course he hears her standing up.

Of course the pasta has nothing to do with. We need to understand how to pray and want to pray and that is why Jesus gave them this patent of prayer. Given this model to follow in their prayer, which we called the Lord's prayer is really the disciples prayer, not the Lord's brother) is in John 17. Read it when you go home now. The some people of course what that superstition to the Lord's prayer. They think it so there's a magical benefit if there is try the Lord's prayer. This could not be further from the truth. I want to give you several reasons for that. Jesus said when you pray, pray in this way, meaning along these lines, or in the following manner or in such a packing. Secondly, Matthew 6528 Jesus warning his followers not to pray like the Pharisees, these meaningless, repetitious prayer and therefore it is impossible that he is replacing one meaningless repetitious prayer with another is giving them a patent giving the model fairly don't know where in the New Testament that we find an instance where the Lord's prayer is recited by the disciples of the apostles know where or use the account of a repetitious ritualistic form as some people like to do.

Nowhere in the New Testament is fine to recyclables prayer.

Don't misunderstand, just as he recited a part of the Bible.

It is fine to memorize it just like memorizing Scripture. But if you just rightly belong and you think that you have prayed, you have missed God's purpose in prayer, you really would. What Jesus wants us to learn is to follow the path of praise and adoration and petition the Lord's prayer is a guide for our prayer life not a substitute for the purpose of the Lord's prayer is God. From beginning to end its God when you and I understand that you're going to experience power in prayer like we've never experienced before. Dr. Michael Yousef beginning a new series to point you toward a deeper and more committed life of prayer. This series is called the prayer that God answers you can get in touch with Dr. you Sefton leading the way. When you coalesce. We at 866-626-4356 or visit LTW.org now when you go to that website. I hope that you will take just a moment to check out and sign up to receive some of our free resources. One of the most popular is my Journal monthly magazine that will keep you up-to-date on all of the exciting things happening through leading the way. My Journal contains behind the scenes encouragement from Dr. Yousef specials available in the online store and more pain and that if we beat Dr. Yousef E devotional daily E devotional called my devotional encouraging and biblically sound word straight from God's word to your inbox and insight from Dr. Yousef to make it practical for everyday life. For one or both of these resources when you visit LTW.org that LTW.org and we love getting your letters in the mail to set for those of you who like to write, send your note to leading the way, PO Box 20100 Atlanta, GA 30325. Again, that's PO Box 20100 Atlanta, GA 30325.

That's a broadcast for today. Make plans to listen again next time right here, Dr. Michael UNICEF continues a series called clear God answers right here