Bonus #1: Fitness Instructor

This is good Truth Network horses just to inspire you zoom in a relationship with God that empowers others things you never thought possible. Shirley Weaver wants to take you and now yesterday's episode I don't know if you think in terms paying the prayers we just give you this illustration fitness instructor than one who is responsible to encourage us contact concerning physical conditioning, maintaining a strong, healthy body. This instruction will include the correct way to do any process any procedure like an exercise and you know usually when you just begin that process. There is a natural reaction in the body. Any time there's discomfort. Anytime there's more of a demand place that reaction is to pull back to a more comfortable place to find a place.

This is the year to remove the calls of any discomfort and what you want to do when you're under the instruction of a fitness instructor this this is what that person will say to you, you want to counter that built in response to escape discomfort in the words don't pull back. Instead of pulling back to find a release you want to ease forward. Ease forward and even he might say she might say you need to breathe through the demand of this exercise and it will just take you gradually into penetrate that place of discomfort and as you focus that way. You learn how to benefit from the effects of the exercise to build muscle to create strength in the muscle to allow your your body to stretch in ways that you wouldn't normally since this is our physical exercise we unintentionally looking to establish something to accomplish something that is better for us, better health, better straight better stamina and if you apply that same example to prayer you want to. In the same way that you don't want to hang out in the place where you pull back in the place of prayer you don't want to hang out in the place where your emotions rule are in the place where you are overthinking a matter that those things are okay. They had their proper place. You just don't want to build your prayer tent. They are, because if you do, you will never pray big prayers. Your prayers will always be limited to your thinking to your emotions. They'll be a restriction and a boundary around what you're able to express an prayer because you keep getting hung up on the discomfort of where you're going. Basically it challenges your faith, doesn't it, and when you pray big prayers mainly have a big God his capacity to answer prayer is infinite. Then we see we need to move through that hesitation to think this way.

To believe this way so your ability to pray big prayers means that you move beyond where you might be comfortable what you typically think the status quo the expressions you use. We are going to take on the mind of Christ which is the thought life of a cane. So two things, prayer is powerful because God sets up the structure. Here are the two things divine power is available as number one. Divine power is available and number two the one who is praying understands this principle understands God's power and the release of his power that it's available, the one praying knows the source and can think this way like this. That is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever. This is infinite kingdom infinite power infinite glory and the one praying understands that God desires this kind of outcome kingdom outcome and then it's just a matter of time that you stay with what God is saying you don't move off of that focus so that you maintain your determination to pray these big prayers. I think of John the Baptist here Jesus said about John the Baptist. He said to the people. What were you expecting to see and if we read from Matthew 11 we pick up in verse seven Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John what did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind. A man dressed in soft clothing, a prophet, yes, more than a prophet. Behold verse 10 behold, I send my messenger, who will prepare your way before you. So this messenger. John is a prophet. God is sending him to prepare the way before the people he hasn't shaken by the land isn't dressed and self clothing. In other words, he's not lame, not lit up not reluctant. He is this word prophet here gives us the idea of a bold confidence in God believing for that strength of one who is a messenger sent from God, not weak, strong. So if we understand this teaching about John verse 11 helps us, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater then he says that's where you fit. That's where I fit from the womb from our mother's womb. We have this designation. There's no one greater than John the Baptist he's not. He's not reluctant he's not shy about pushing and pressing into the will of God and you and our even greater. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is even greater than John said that's how God sees us. That's how he thinks of us.

Verse 12 from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and violent people are attacking to reclaim to lay hold to to assure the plan of God. That's why we pray kingdom of God come will of God be done so you have confident trust that God develops in a pure confidence you have this kind of trust and the way that you believe God develops even more on a larger scale as your conscience is purified to understand what his will is to believe him that way and to pray these big prayers you and I believe God best when we guard against anything that contaminates our conscience.

In this regard. That means any opposing views that contradict the Bible say instead. This is not hard. It's simple instead we simply believe him. He's big, his power, his desire to answer prayer is infinite. Therefore, we pray big prayers and, as inspiration is drawn from this increasing purity. This place of purity. It is on the inside of us. The opposite of distraction is our result so pure poised confidence concerning the Lord and his word becomes our mindset at all of this is developed because our purity of expression matures even further as we believe him further as we believe him more and more. Okay so let's think back to the example of the fitness instructor. There is a way to do this exercise for optimal results and we want to optimize the way that we pray so that our prayers will be big, expecting big things.

So, let me point out just one or two things here about prayer that I think will help conversational prayer is great fellowship with the Lord. But it doesn't necessarily lead is not conducive to praying big prayers because conversation can be repetitive. Sometimes it's mechanical.

You know, we reuse the same terminology the same spiritual expressions things we've learned it's natural is familiar. But remember, we don't want to set up our tent and a familiar place because that will not build the muscle that will not expand to our infinite reach so conversational prayer where we are going over and reminding ourselves are reminding someone else of reminding our group of a principal stay away from conversational prayer when you're learning to focus on praying big prayers a second thing repetitive prayer takes time. Sometimes conversational prayer is repetitive so repetitive prayer where we say over and over the same things. Pray this morning.

Pray again tomorrow morning. Pray again tonight same thing. Listen, this does not always reflect your faith in the greater way in the greatest way and therefore it doesn't always accomplish the goal so the focus is the concept of what God is saying to us in too many words just honestly, it's a distraction so conversational prayer where we are engaging in a lot of description and explanation repetitive prayer where we say the same prayer again and again and day today. These can be an obstacle to responding to the unction and the prompting that you have from the Lord in the first place. So here's the challenge here's your homework you want to thinking of that fitness can instructor thinking of building that fitness and that stamina in your body you want to reach beyond your normal way of praying the thing this familiar, and that your custom to and you want to ease forward user authority practice think this way, your groundwork is laid.

So now build you can build now instead of laying the same groundwork again and again you think the way God is thinking.

According to the unction that he gave you the prompting he gave you. Typically, usually I find that it is a phrase are an expression are a few words that's what you build that your focus – or main declaration. Again, the one God put in your heart to begin with his suction his prompting.

You want to stay with this is your assignment this is what you want to do this is how you want to build your capacity to not only pray big prayers believe God to respond with being in the same proportion believe God is waiting to do that very thing. My suggestion, try just try to be a maze at the bigness of our God. God bless season, but explicitly if you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this project, please share it with others.

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