A Beginner's Guide To Prayer with Rick Warren

good morning Saddleback if you'll take out your message notes welcome to 40 days of Prayer week 2 if you missed first week you want to go back and watch it online I have to admit to you confess to you that prayer is such a giant subject I was actually a little baffled on how to start this series because it has so many different facets I typed the word prayer into amazon.com it brought up a hundred and thirty six thousand books on prayer so we have a few weeks to talk about this then I typed prayer into Google it brought up a hundred and thirty six million web pages about prayer including four million videos on prayer 4 million books on prayer and six million news articles on prayer now I have been a pastor for about 40 years and I've learned a lot about prayer and some of the things I've observed is this number one I've learned we are wired to pray we're wired for prayer your Creator designed you in a way that prayer seems natural everybody in the world prays everybody does Buddhist pray Hindus pray Muslims pray Jews pray Christians pray secular people pray even an atheist pray if you heard him maybe hit him in the stomach Oh God he doesn't say Oh me well Maivia sir he always calls out to God or Jesus everybody prays it's in every culture now who they pray to what they pray to differs but what I'm saying is that there is an internal desire in every human being to pray in fact it's what makes you human it's what makes you different from animals animals don't pray cows don't pray birds don't pray dogs don't pray worms don't pray because they're not made in the image of God we're all made in God's image and that means we have the ability God wired in you in your DNA you are genetically encoded to be able to talk to God and to desire to talk to God sometimes the Bible says this up here on the screen in cleese yeah Steve chapter 3 it says God has planted eternity in the human heart that means you have an eternal soul you're gonna last longer than just here and now and it also means that you have a natural desire and drive in you that thinks there's got to be more to life than just this just here now right now today to them to them to them to them no there must be more there's got to be an eternity there's got to be a God God wired us to look for him and God wired us to talk with him it human beings are naturally wired to pray it is a universal trait every body prays at some point in their life but the second thing I've learned is that we're not very good at it and we know it we're not very good at prayer in fact everybody I talked to feels inadequate about it I don't really know what to pray I don't know how to pray I don't know how to say it I don't feel real confident in fact many of you feel very unconfident about praying publicly in fact if I were to ask you to come up on here on the stage right now and lead us in prayer you'd faint I couldn't do that I wouldn't know what to say and you feel so insecure and inadequate about your prayer life you won't even pray in front of other people at a meal God doesn't want you to feel that way inadequate like your prayers your second class or they're not as good as somebody else's prayers I mean everybody feels inadequate you know I a couple weeks ago before we started this series I took survey and I asked you to write down the word that best describes how you feel about prayer and in that survey what came back were some things like frustrated I feel inept awkward I feel unsatisfied I feel confused I don't understand prayer I don't understand how it works it's a mystery I want it to be better and I need help now the fact is and all the people I've met in my life I've never met anybody who thought that they were outstanding at prayer I've never had anybody say I'm a PhD in prayer I'm a world-class prayer I'm a professional prayer I'm a pro at prayer you know everybody know how long how long you've known the Lord everybody knows they could be better now this is pretty common the greatest Christian who ever lived next to Jesus himself was st. Paul and here's what st. Paul said look up here on the screen Romans 8:26 he said we don't even know what we should pray for nor how we should pray that's in the Bible friends that's the guy who wrote half the New Testament and he said we don't even know what we should pray for and we don't even know how to pray so we're all in the school of prayer we all need to learn if Paul said that it's okay for you to admit I need to get better at this I need to know how to talk to God I need to learn the language of Prayer even the disciples the 12 guys that Jesus hand-picked to follow him for his entire ministry they didn't know how to pray in fact they said this look up from the screen in Luke chapter 11 verse 1 one day Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he had finished one of his disciples said to Lord teach us to pray now that's an amazing thing they watched Jesus pray and they say teach us to pray now here's an amazing thing about this these twelve guys got to watch Jesus do everything he did while he was here on earth they do some do all kinds of miracles heal people raise the dead turn water into wine walked on water do miracles cast out demons all kinds of bizarre and amazing supernatural things never once did the disciples say Lord teach us to do miracles not one time and then they heard Jesus teach the greatest teacher in history the greatest preacher on the planet the great masterpiece messages and stories that Jesus told that have been studied for 2,000 years never wants to disciple say Lord teach us how to how to teach teach us how to preach instead they said teach us how to pray why because watching the master they knew that all the power behind his miracles and his teaching and his preaching was through prayer Jesus prayed constantly he talked to God the Father in the morning in the afternoon in the evenings in secret in front of other people in all different ways in fact later in this 40-day campaign we're gonna look at some of the prayer life of Jesus as our model because he's our pattern and he's our model but as they looked at him they realized that all of the power and all of the blessings that came in his life came through his connection to God the Father that's where it came and so they said teach us to pray so if Paul says we don't know what to pray and don't know how to pray and the disciples go teach us to pray it's okay for us to feel a little inadequate about our prayers that's why I titled this introduction a beginner's guide to prayer you see God doesn't want you feeling lousy about your prayer life feeling guilty about your prayer life God doesn't want talking to him to be so difficult and it's not as difficult as you might think it is now a third thing that I've learned is a pastor as I've watched people pray and talk about prayer is this you might write this one down our frustrations with prayer are caused by our misconceptions about prayer our frustrations about prayer I just don't feel satisfied with it are caused by our misconceptions about prayer and there are a lot of misconceptions out there there's a lot of phony-baloney ideas there's a lot of lies myths misunderstandings legends misconceptions there's a lot of false information it's simply not true and it probably leaves you feeling guilty guilt God doesn't want you to be driven by guilt he wants you to be drawn by grace prayer is not something you're supposed to feel guilty about it's just a conversation and so we're gonna in the 40 days of prayer explode some of these myths and misconceptions that you've been building your prayer life on there's simply flat out wrong maybe you're taught it as a kid or you watch them on TV or whatever let me just give you four of them we're gonna cover more in in the day set but here four really common myths about prayer are misconceptions number one I wrote them there on your outline prayer is not a magic wand it's not like that little stick Harry Potter has that you know he waves it and all of a sudden all the circumstance has changed prayer is not a one where you go poom and and all of a sudden everything changes in your life it's not a magic one it's not a it's not a genie in a bottle where you have this little magical bottle called prayer and you rub it and all of a sudden God comes out and he says your wish is my command God is not your genie God is not your servant you are God's servant you got that role reversal it's all wrong and so you don't God is not your genie it is not prayer is not some secret word some secret and can't incantation or chant or spell that if you know the right words and you say those special words then you get your own way all the time you look at your husband and you say in prayer abracadabra you're a great husband that doesn't work or focus focus I got the promotion by the way do you know where that term hocus-pocus came from it's actually a perversion of the Latin in the Catholic Mass when the priest holds up the host and he says hawk s corpus Naomi Hocus corpus male he's saying this is the body of Christ in Latin that's where hocus-pocus comes from some Joker on the back row couldn't hear correctly anything as bungees an up there hocus-pocus I guess I'm turning this bread into Jesus so I'm gonna go out say okay dog you're now cat hocus-pocus that's where it came from okay it prayer is not some ritual words that you just say and all of a sudden things change mysteriously or magically another myth is poor is not a fire extinguisher and this is like hanging on the wall and it as the sign says break glass only in case of emergency and yet a lot of people treat prayer like that they don't pray on the good days the only time they praise when they're in pain when there's an emergency break in case of emergency pull it out and you get a crisis in your life and you pull out the fire hose of prayer and you start spraying prayer all over hurricanes coming let's pray got cancer let's pray my husband's about to walk out on me let's pray and and you only use it in emergencies in fact the terminology as often well all we can do now is pray and the people going like it has it come to that is it that bad but all we could do now straight like prayer is the last resort when you've tried everything else then the prayer is not meant to be last resort in your life it's meant to be your first choice before you buy that car pray before you go looking for a job pray before you accept that date pray before you eat that food pray you should make it the first choice not the last resort in every area of your life prayer is not a fire extinguisher number three another misconceptions prayer is not a tug of war with God and a lot of people think that God really doesn't want to answer your prayers they're not there with nothing you want to listen and that you kind of have to where God down until he just finally gives in and you keep badgering him and pestering him and and and you know praying God God please and until finally goes okay all right already I give in you can have it and it's like a tug of war with God no no that's not at all the way the Bible teaches God wants to answer your prayers but in the tug of war idea you beg or you bribe or your bargain you beg oh please God please please please please pretty please please pretty please with sugar on it oh please please please like if I say it 92 times then maybe he'll say yes that's a tug of war mentality or two to bargain with God God if you'll do this for me I'll do this for you and you will be a lucky God because I'm gonna do this for you God and I know you really need me to do this guy's going on huh you don't bargain with God you don't bribe him with some kind of sales pitch where you keep pestering and and until finally God gives in you know Jesus told the story and that stories of Jesus are called parables Jesus told a story that teaches the exact opposite of this idea about prayer in some of the stories some of the parables Jesus says he says here's the story and then he says God's like that and in some stories he tells the story he says God's not like that and in one story tells about a judge who widow needs justice and she keeps coming back just the the judge for justice he won't give it to her till finally this was okay if you just stop yapping I'll give it to you and he gives it and the point of the story is God is not like that he's not like that we'll actually study that story in your small groups during during 40 days of prayer a fourth idea that's wrong is prayer is not a ritual to relieve guilt now some of you grew up with this where you were taught if you sin and if it's a really big sin then you have to go to say a certain number of prayers that's not in the Bible friends I'm sorry it's not it might be traditional but it's not in the Bible in fact Jesus taught the exact opposite prayer is not punishment for your sin prayer is not penance for your sin prayer is a privilege not a duty it is a joy not you know some responsibility you got to pay back because you did something wrong that that puts prayer in a whole wrong light is not a ritual to relieve guilt in fact Jesus repeatedly said don't pray prayers that you say the same thing over and over and over and over and over it says it multiple times let me just show you an example here on the screen the Bible says in Matthew chapter 6 this is a Sermon on the Mount Jesus is talking and he says this when you pray when you pray do not do not use meaningless repetitions where you say the same thing over and over and over and over and I'm not saying this Jesus is saying it when you pray this is Sermon on the Mount do not use meaningless repetitions you should not pray the prayer where you say the same thing over and over and over do not use meaningless repetitions thinking that you will be heard for your many words now if you don't believe Jesus who you gonna believe he says when you pray you're not supposed to say something over and over and over and over and over and over and over don't use meaningless repetitions repeating cliches over and over now during the 40 days of prayer we're gonna explode a bunch of other misconceptions that you have that have puts you under enormous guilt and made you feel like prayer was boring and prayer was a duty and we're gonna cover all of those with the truth of God what I want to do today is cover what I call the basics the foundations the pillar principles of prayer on which everything else is covered and therefore of them there's a Ledge about Vince Lombardi the great football coach at beginning of every season he'd bring all the team players in and he'd started the first session by holding up a football and say gentlemen this is a football in other words you can't start any more basic than that what I want to do today and I'm gonna show you some video on this is teach you about this is what prayer really is it'll set you up for the rest of your life let's talk about what I call the four pillars of Prayer these are the fundamental truths on which everything else you believe about prayer rests if you don't get these you're gonna see prayer as a duty not as a delight you're gonna see it as a burden not as a blessing so here they are number one first thing the Bible teaches is that God loves for me to talk to him God loves for me to talk to him and I would quickly add about anything God loves for me to talk to him about anything it doesn't have to be something spiritual it doesn't have to be something religious it just has to be whatever I'm interested in if you're interested in something God is interested in it too he said how is that possible well I know that whatever you're interested in God is interested in - he wants you to talk to him about it for three reasons number one he loves you God loves you you wouldn't exist if God hadn't wanted to love you and create you to love you that's the reason you're alive when you love somebody you're interested in what they're interested in there are a lot of things I've become interested in because my wife is interested in them and I love my wife and so what she's interested in I'm interested in knowing about - so God loves you second thing where do you think you got those interests you got them from God every you know all the things that you consider to be your hobbies or your favorite sports or the things you like to do where in the world did you get those desires you got them from your Creator he wired you with them he put them in you and he gave every one of us different desires because we all like to do different things that way everything in the world gets done but your desires just didn't come out of thin air the reason you like to do what you like to do is God made you to like to do those things and if God put that interest in you he actually knows what you're interested in more than you do he knows what you like better than you do in fact he knows the things you wouldn't like that you haven't even experienced because he knows everything about you he loves you and he gave you your interest and the third reason he's interested in whatever you're interested in is he enjoys talking with his children he is your father the Bible calls him our Father who is in heaven and and parents are interested in what their kids are interested in so when you come to God in prayer if you're born in prayer it's because you're talking about stuff to God that you think you ought to talk about not what you're interested in and God is interested in what you are interested in let me show you some verses Psalm 103 verse 13 the Lord is like a father to his children tender and compassionate to those who reverence him that means they spend time with him God is the father whose tender compassion he's intimately interested in everything you were interested in those of you our parents when you start having babies did you wait until your kids could talk in order to start loving them not course not when we had our three kids I loved them from the moment they were born even when all they could do is jerk and poop and spit they couldn't even smile when they're first born they had no emotion they had no means of communication but I loved them deeply why I'm their daddy I'm their father and whether they could talk or not I had a deep deep love for them and let me just say this about you whether you ever talk to God or not whether you ever pray or not God deeply deeply loves you whether you won't talk to him you don't talk to him or you can't talk to him he still loves you deeply just like a parent loves a child who can't communicate but as my kids began one of the deepest desires of my life was for the day that I could have a conversation with him I longed for that conversation with my own kids I wanted them to be able to communicate to me and I wanted them to understand how I was communicating to them today my kids are grown up I have incredible conversations with my kids and they're very meaningful I love conversations with my kids I love listening to whatever they're interested in why I love them and I'm interested in whatever they're interested in because they're my kids and so that's the way God is with you he loves you whether you communicate with him or not whether you pray to him or not but God longs for the day that you talk to him talk to him about the stuff that's important to you not the stuff that's important to him but the stuff that's important to you parents long for that day they can have the conversation and he wants God wants you to grow up so that you learn how to talk to him that's called prayer now learning how to pray is really like learning a language it's just another language whether you learn English or French or Spanish or Arabic or Farsi or Korean or any any language whatever language use you have to do certain things learning prayer is a language it's a spiritual language you got and you have to learn it so how do you learn to pray well how do how do you learn a language well first listen to other people praying you listen to other people that's how babies learn language they listen to others they start by imitating but then they learn on their own and they start practicing and they start practicing they get better and all sudden the word comes out and then few words and then words become sentences now let me ask you did your first sentence make sense I doubt it I doubt you came out of the womb saying four score and seven years ago our forefathers married our foremothers and had four babies no no when you said when you said your first words you could barely say them correctly but your parents were smart enough to interpret what you were saying God's smart enough to interpret what you're saying to him even when you can't say it correctly even when you can't say it well why he loves you and your first sentence in prayer might not make a whole lot of sense that doesn't matter God loves you he cares about you you don't he's not waiting for you to get mature before he starts loving you he loves you to every stage of your life it's like when my kids would bring me pictures at one years old and three years old and ten years old and I'd say that's perfect well it was I saying that's the best picture in the world don't say it's perfect for your stage in life God doesn't wait for you to get to a certain level to start loving you and and when he wants you to learn to pray he wants you to learn to talk to him because God loves for you to talk to him he loves it he loves he's not bored by it he's not you know busy by it he's not gone oh no you're here again no he is waiting to talk to you and he wants to talk to and he wants you to talk to him literally about anything and the fact is when you talk to God there's nothing off-limits some people think they should only pray about spiritual things you know like world peace and stuff like that no you can't if you got an upset stomach you can talk to God about that if your hearts been broken by some girlfriend or boyfriend who just dumped you you didn't talk to God about that you can talk about mosquitos you can talk to God about anything he's interested in anything you're interested in he loves it he loves it when you talk to him because he's your father and just like a parent loves it when a child talks to him first John chapter 5 verse 14 15 says this we can be confident approaching God knowing that he listens to us whenever we ask him for anything according to his will and since we know that he hears us when we make our request then we can be sure that he will answer us now I want you to notice a couple things you might Circle this in these verses twice in that verse it says we know that he listens to us and we know that he hears us that's that's it for sure God always hears you no matter how you say it when you said how loud you say it or if you think it in your mind God knows he listens to you and he hears you and because of that he says we can be confident in approaching God we can be sure that he will answer we have confidence that means that when you pray God says you can pray with no shame you can pray with no fear you can pray with no hesitation you can pray with no embarrassment there's nothing you can say that will make God stop loving you there's nothing that will embarrass you there's nothing that will cause shame or fear because God loves it when you talk to him now I want you to write down a couple I gave you some misconceptions about prayer let me give you a couple of truths about prayer write these down prayer is a conversation not a ceremony prayer is a conversation not a ceremony what's the ceremony is something with a bunch of rules or restrictions and regulations you have to do it in a certain way or it doesn't work years ago when I was a young man I lived in Japan I taught English I helped planted a church in North in Nagasaki Japan and one day they took me to a tea ceremony this is like a five-hour thing that is full of ritual about how you said how you turn what you do how they pour the tea how they strain the tea it's incredibly elaborate and you can actually spend years learning how to do a tea ceremony properly that's the ceremony you have to do it just right or doesn't count there is no just right way to pray prayer is not a ceremony prayer is a conversation now in a conversation it means you talk but you also listen and one of the reasons you're bored with prayers because you do all the talking and you never listen if you just do a monologue to the sky in the dark and you don't get any answer and you don't hear or any impressions well of course it's going to be boring but you got take the time to be quiet and to just listen and to say things like God is there anything you want to say to me I do this every day in my quiet time God is there anything you want to say to me right now I read the word sometimes there's an impression from the word sometimes he puts an impression in my mind sometimes nothing nah everything is fine till percent okay okay let's go let's get started with the day but you're open to whatever God wants to say to you prayer is a conversation and during 40 days of prayer I'm going to teach you not only how to talk to God I'm gonna teach you how to listen to God because that's the conversation it's not a monologue it's not a speech it's not a poem it's not an essay those things are boring it's talking and listening to God it's conversation number two write this down prayer is a relationship not a ritual prayer is a relationship not a ritual it's all about getting close to God it's all about talking to God and becoming acquainted with God and getting to know God and letting you learn more about him if prayer is boring for you it's because you don't understand the point of it let me say it again if you're bored by prayer it's because you don't understand the point and you're talking about all the wrong things you talk about things you think you ought to talk about and it becomes a duty it becomes a drudgery and then it comes I should pray I have to pray I ought to pray and friends once you get in that trap you're not gonna want to pray because guilt motivation only lasts about as long as the guilt does God doesn't want you feeling guilty about prayer he loves to talk to you he loves to listen to you talk to him and that guilt has nothing to do with it it's not a duty it's a privilege I get to talk to the creator of the universe and he wants to listen what an amazing truth that is and not only is it amazing that he wants to listen but he is interested in everything that I'm interested in so I can talk to him anything God had a bad day today at work this is damp but not I really like this team I really wanted to win but you're probably not gonna win but I can talk to you about it anyway you can talk to God about anything nothing is off-limits because God loves that when you talk to him about anything that's the first law of Prayer the first parable on our principle or pillar of prayer number two here's the second foundational truth God listens to prayers that are sincere and simple God listens to the prayers that are sincere and simple you don't have to use flowery language you don't have to use fancy phrases you don't have to sound spiritual you don't have to use religious cliches you just talk to God the only condition is that it is sincere that means it comes from the heart and it's simple it's authentic it's real it's gutsy it's honest you pray about what you feel like praying about not what you think you ought to pray about and it's just simple and it is sincere and you don't get up in the start addressing God oh thou great potentate of the universe thou who is dust wonderfully bestow on us all manners of beseeched blessings and gods gone huh first why are you talking to me in 200 year old English I'm not from England God is not from England you don't have to sound like Shakespeare okay God understands every language he understands lingo slang he knows that all he invented it all and so you just come to God hey God it's me sometimes that the simplest prayer is the most powerful prayer you know when you're hungry you know we get all these cliches and we get all these rituals we learn from other people then we just use them like that's what we're supposed to say like you sit down to eat your dinner and you say bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to thy service bless the gift and the giver where'd you get that oh you learned it from somebody else it'd be a whole lot better to go god I'm hungry right now and this taco smells really good and my salivary glands are so this is going to be short Lord but thank you for fast food amen God likes that prayer a whole lot better than bless the gift and the giver and bless this food to the nourishment our bodies and our bodies to your service you know the simplest God thank you thank you thank you for in and out amen okay all right just it doesn't have to be super spiritual sounding God hears listens to the prayers that are sincere and simple they're real they're gutsy they're honest and when you don't feel good god I don't feel like talking to you right now that's a prayer God I'm mad at you that's a prayer god I don't get it I prayed for this and it hasn't happened that's a prayer God just wants you to be honest if you don't understand this go read the Psalms one third of the Psalms 550 of the Psalms of the hundred fifty songs are called Psalms of lament their complaints and complaints to God God I've been asking you for this job I hadn't showed up I'm still out of work I need some help here when you say it like that it's honest it's authentic it's real God loves prayers that are sincere and simple not the phony baloney stuff that you encountered all of the religious jargon have you ever heard of course you have people who pray a prayer and they've got one request but then they they take they say it about nine different ways because they think that's strong longer is stronger and you're going man land the plane buddy you know if you're just saying the same thing over and over and over in a fresh way are not even a fresh way in a boring way if somebody out on the patio says I'm going into surgery tomorrow the prayer can simply be Lord my friends going into surgery tomorrow would you help them help the doctors not make any mistakes him a quick recovery have a minimal pain I'm asking you this in Jesus name boom you don't have to go into 20-minute lecture on the value of the hospital and find a bunch of other verses just say what you want to say would you write this down longer is not stronger in prayer simple sincere humble authentic those kind of prayers God's much more interesting those kind of prayers then the long-winded stem winding sermon in a sentence and sermon in a in a prayer where you go on and on and on and on no no you don't need to do that longer is not stronger just get to the point now Jesus had a lot to say about praying sincerely just honestly from your gut and and simply without trying to be sound super spiritual let me just show you one passage we'll come back to this Matthew chapter 6 or 6 date is out of the famous Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is talking about prayer and here's what Jesus says when you pray don't be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen my men in other words for them you know prayer is you know performance it's it's performance art you know watch me pray everybody I'm really gonna impress you with this one okay get ready buckle up I'm gonna pray a good prayer here we go and there there's they're not praying the God they're just showing off he says when you pray don't be like hypocrites who pray just to be seen by men I tell you the truth they have received their reward in full in other words they're not gonna get any more reward than that just the praise they got from somebody who thought they were impressed by it I tell you the truth he says instead when you pray go into your room close the door and pray to your father who is unseen then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you in other words openly and when you pray he says don't keep babbling on and on and on and on and on like the pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words longer is not stronger do not be like them this is Jesus talking for your father knows what you need even before you ask because it's not like you got to convince God he already knows what you need just come to him and simply and as honestly and as humbly as you can say and talk about what you need now that passage right there is literally loaded we could spend about two hours unpacking it but let me just summarize it for you he says three or four things he says first don't use prayer to show off and we've all seen people do that they don't I got a good one watch this it'll blow everybody away who here comes okay you knocked that one out of the park man who don't use prayer to show off to impress other people you don't get any credit for that kind of prayer and God didn't even listen to that kind of prayer he says instead be sincere don't spout off cliches and so I'm going because we're afraid of our prayers being too short we just start adding in filler things you don't need that in filler by the way you know what one of the favorite fillers of Christians today is the word just we use it like ah like Lord we just want to thank you today and we just are here today to praise you because just you're great you're just wonderful and just thank you just God and so just now we praise the Lord I just want to pray just justice it's like going uh-huh uh-uh yeah you can take out all the just out of your prayer you don't need to say just this it's empty filler say God nice day thanks for making this one I'll talk to you in another three seconds you don't have to have a run-on conversation you can just pick it up where you are in another minute keep talking to God later on be sincere don't stop the shays keep it simple you know adding words to your prayer doesn't make it any stronger stay humble or you'll stumble or as I always tell pastors remember the lesson of the whale when you get to the top and you're ready to blow that's when they are fooling you now we're gonna come back to this during 40 days of purpose of prayer but during the bottom line is this next verse Hebrews 10:22 let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith okay there are the two qualifications sincerity and simplicity sincere heart and sure faith sincere heart means God I'm not going to talk you about what I'm not interested in I'm going to talked about well the way I really feel you already know the way I feel I just need to spout it out to you I just need to confess it to you and just need to talk about what what I'm feeling right now I'm upset I'm nervous I'm worried I'm afraid I I don't even confused god i you just talked to God about whatever you're feeling sincere heart and then assure faith we come to God with confidence we're not afraid to talk to him we're not embarrassed to talk to him we're not hesitant to talk to him we're not ashamed to talk to why he's a loving father who loves to listen to us talk to him he loves to listen to you more than anybody else in the entire world and so we come to him with a sure faith we come to with confidence all right so those are the first two pillars here's pillar number three first God's love for me God loves for me to talk to him really about anything whatever I'm interested in and God listens to prayers that are simple and sincere sincere and simple number three third pillar God likes to show His grace by answering prayer God is a good God he's a good good father he's a gracious father he's a compassionate and loving father and God loves to answer prayer because he gets to show what he's really like everything in the universe comes from the generosity of God no one is more generous than God and when you pray and you ask for something in prayer you make a request or a petition one of the words it's called it gives God the opportunity to show what he's really like so God loves it when you ask requests over 20 times in the New Testament we are commanded to ask ask and it shall be given seek and you'll find knock and the door will be open you have not because you ask that if you ask anything in my name over 20 times if you were a child of God you're commanded to ask God for things why God gets to show how good he is he gets to show how gracious he is how loving he is how generous he is and with every answer that God gives your prayer it shows that he is a good good god listen regardless of the answer not you don't get an answer yes to every prayer you pray you know that from experience but even when the answer is no even when the answer is not yet God is a good good father question do you know any parent in the entire world that gives a child everything that child asks for of course not they would ruin that child there are dozens and dozens of reasons why parents do not give their children everything they asked for and there are dozens and dozens of good reasons why God doesn't say yes to everything you asked for you may not understand why but you're not God and there are dozens of reasons sometimes God says no for our protection sometimes God says no for our direction to direct the Synod everybody sometimes God says no for our correction to correct this on course sometimes God says no for our perfection to help us grow in our character sometimes God says no for our inspection he looks inside of us it helps us see what we couldn't see before at a child that got everything they asked for would be spoiled rotten God's much more interested in your character than he is your comfort he loves you too much to say yes to everything God is not a vending machine you just put in the prayer and you pull it and you get wet if any machine he'll give you stuff that's bad for you and so God says I don't I don't and I'm then said answer every way you want it but I will answer I mean I people said well God you didn't answer me and God says yes I did I just said no that was an answer no you see when when you pray there are always four possible answers to your prayer always four possible answers to your prayer God always answers every prayer and the for answers he gets are either yes no not yet and you got to be kidding me and you afraid some of those requests their gods going you gotta be kidding me you're asking for that come on a child a baby doesn't know the difference between no and yet not yet maturities when you realize that God's delays are not always God's denials and a lot of times God says oh I have every intention of giving this to you just not yet you're not ready for it and before I can give you the solution you've got to have the growth in character because I'm going to give something far bigger than you're asking for there's a difference we know and not yet and maturity knows the difference but God always answers and he shows his grace he shows his goodness whether the answer is yes or no or not yet Jeremiah 33:3 says this God says call to me and I will answer you and I will show you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own and love that in the message translation never could figure out sometimes God's answer is a bigger perspective sometimes you ask for something and God does you have no idea what you're asking for that's not really what you want I know what you want more than what you what you want you want to be happy that will not make you happy you think it's gonna make you happy but it won't and so I'm gonna give you a bigger perspective call to me and I'll answer you and my answer will not be the yes my answer will be I will show you things you could never figure out on your own and you get a bigger perspective and you're looking back you go oh now I'm so glad as Garth Brooks saying thank God for unanswered prayers some of the prayers if you if you had gotten an answer it would have been a disaster in your life and so God's God doesn't answer it God it will only give you what is good vending machine will give you something bad God will only give you what is good in your life Matthew 7 verse 11 Jesus says if you be an imperfect and sinful parents know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him that's kind of obvious God's a perfect father he's only gonna give you good things but he wants to give you stuff you haven't even imagined and as the next verse says James 4:2 you do not have because you do not ask that's gonna be a theme verse that we're gonna look at for all 40 days in this campaign when you don't pray there are a lot of things you miss out in life when you get to heaven there will be a list of all the things that you missed out on because you never asked for them you have not because you ask not God's not just gonna give it to you he wants you to learn to talk to him he wants you to learn the language of Prayer and he wants you to learn to grow up all right so the foundational pillars about prayer God loves for me to talk to him about anything that's on my mind doesn't have to be spiritual conversation it's not a ceremony it's conversation I listen and I and I and I speak it's a relationship not a ritual and God listens to prayers that is sincere and simple and he loves to show His goodness by answering his prayer now here's the fourth truth and this is the biggest one of all this is huge if you get this you really understand it it's gonna radically change your life and I don't mean just intellectually get it but you actually feel it because when you feel it it's gonna change the way you look about everything money sex time job past present future number four the fourth truth on which all prayers built is this God longs to be close to me God longs to be close to me he desires it he wants it deeply he wants to be close to you he wants you to be close to him you know if you're away from somebody that you love for a long long time you can't wait to talk to them God can't wait for you to talk to him he loves you so so very much he longs to be close to you he's waiting to talk to you he's waiting for you to talk to him and he's not busy he's not like can you hold the phone all circuits are busy can you call back later I'll get back in touch no no he's longing to be close to you it is a privilege to be close to God he's got a 24-hour drop-in system he's never offline you can talk to him any moment of the day any second of the day Isaiah 30 verse 18 as the verse you ought to write down on a little white card put it in your visor and memorize it it says this the Lord waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion did you know that did you know that every day that you go without prayer without reading God's Word without spending time with God God is waiting for you you were made for this you were made to know God you were made for a relationship for a fellowship and he's waiting the Lord waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion it's the whole reason you exist some of you are parents and you know the unique pain of a child they can't talk to you and that's a heartache you love that child deeply but for whatever reason a physical reason a brain reason and emotional reason they can't talk to you and it breaks your heart because you love that child so so very much but they haven't learned the language they can't talk to you you can't have a conversation with them and it hurts as a parent when you love them and they can't talk to you and others of you you've been a parent of a child who they've talked to you but they won't and they don't and they've shut you out of their lives at this point and the ache in your heart is great because you long to talk to them and you long to just listen to them and you long for the phone call and it hurts you because they can talk but they won't and they don't that's the way God feels about you when you don't talk to him when you'd go a day or days or weeks and you haven't spent any time alone with God God just you and me a few minutes here let's check it in here's what's on my heart it's what I'm feeling it's what I need I love you I don't understand this and whatever's on your heart my doubts my fears my gripes my eyes my lows it's like a parent going why won't you talk to me I created you I love you I want a relationship with you and your kid turns around and walks away don't do that to God don't do that to your father in heaven the God had created you you see God designs you for a relationship the only reason you're alive is God made you to love you if God didn't want to love you you wouldn't exist you wouldn't put on this planet to mark things off your to-do list you were put on this planet to be loved by God and to learn to love him back he made you to love you you were chosen to be his child you were formed for his family you were created for companionship he made you to love you the Bible is full of examples of people who had a quote close relationship to God the Bible says Enoch a man amia had a close relationship to God the Bible says Noah had a close relationship to God the Bible says job had a close relationship to God Bible says a guy named Hezekiah who was a who was a king was closer to God than any King that ever lived God wants you to be close he longs to be close to you he longs for you to be close to him listen to the passion in this next verse this is God talking to you I don't want your sacrifices I want your love I don't want your offerings I want you to know me can you feel that passion the longing that God has for you I just want you to know me I know everything about you God says good bad and ugly nothing can make me stop loving you I want you to know me I love you no one will ever love you no man no woman will ever love you like God does no one will ever love you like God this God wants you to learn to love him back he wants you to be able to receive his love he wants to just listen to you talk about what's interesting to you he wants to have a friendship and a companionship and a relationship with you one of the most amazing verses in the Bible is one that I honestly cannot fathom I cannot fully understand it is John 15:15 and in John 15:15 Jesus says this look appear Jesus says I don't call you servants I call you my friends are you kidding me God wants to be your friend God wants you to be his friend Jesus that I call you my friends the creator of the universe the God who died on the cross I want you to be my friend I made you to be my friend are you kidding me that's not about ritual it's not about regulation it's not about rules it's not about religion it's about relationship it's not friendship God says I call you my friends you were formed for a friendship with God and if you miss that you miss the purpose of your existence sorry you just blew your life because you were not put on this planet to make money retire and die you were put on this planet to have a relationship with God that for eternity do not miss the purpose of your existence why are we doing 40 days of prayer because there is nothing more important than your life and your life getting in harmony with God's life and you having the relationship that you were created for that you were designed for a close fellowship with God Jobe says in the prime of my life God was my best friend is God your best friend you got to learn the language you got to learn how to pray he's waiting he's longing he wants to be close God says I love you so much it hurts you're gonna just nonchalantly walk away well that's nice sorry I gotta go see a movie tonight I'm hungry I'm gonna go out to dinner that's nice that God loves me that much but forget you God really friends what we're talking about there's nothing more important in your life and for you having a fellowship and a friendship and actually having a relationship a lot of people know about God but getting to know God Jesus Christ as my best friend I've walked with him for 50 years I know I'm better than any I know that better than I know any of you and I want you to know he wants you to know him like I know him he wants you to feel his love like I feel it he wants you to be able to hear his voice like I hear God's voice God wants you to know that's why we're doing 40 days you don't miss anything in this you get in a group you don't miss a weekend you read the devotionals you do all the stuff we've been preparing a year to help teach you about this don't just walk away casually say well that's nice to know how do I get closer to God well there's two ways two ways to get closer you desire it you might write this down how do you get close to God desire it and make time for it that's the only way you're gonna get closer to God if you feel far from God guess who moved God didn't move the only way you get close to God is desire desire it and to make time for it and that's the next two verses Psalm 25 verse 14 friendship with God what a phrase would you like friendship of God friendship with God is reserved in other words not everybody gets to be a friend to God friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him they make time for him and with them he shares the secrets of his covenant God shares secrets with you when you make time for him that he doesn't share with everybody else that's friendship of God and James 4:8 you got a desire it draw close to God and God will draw close to you that's a promise now in the days ahead the next 40 days we're gonna learn how to do that how do you draw close to God and God will go on trust you and you're gonna learn all the benefits and I'm gonna go into all the benefits but let me just leave you with one OK just write this down one benefit there's dozens of benefits of getting closer to God but just give you one the closer I am to God the less stressed and more blessed I'll be the closer I am to God the less stressed and the more blessed I'll be now the entire purpose of the next 40 days is the deepen your friendship with God you need that knowing better you need to know him closer he is waiting he is longing for you to get to know him he is waiting for you to talk to him about anything you're interested in and nothing's off-limits now we have prepared all the tools you need you know every year in a campaign it's a combination it's just not the weekend services if you're not in the small group you're gonna miss 90% of everything that's taught in the next 40 days and in the small group your small group host is gonna get a packet like this get a bag of packet and there will be this 40 days of prayer book it's about 260 pages long full colors beautiful we worked on it for about a year it's but the only way you can get it is be part of a small group and so your small group host if you're not in the group you start one just get two or three people say let's start one for six weeks anybody can do this teenager senior citizen anybody did and and you'll go out and you'll get if you're got three people in your group you'll get three books you got five people in your group you get five books you got ten you get ten books and then you're gonna get this little DVD we've made for you called 40 days of Prayer helps for hosts it teaches you how to be nice to people and anybody can be a host you're not a teacher you're not a leader just being nice to people and that and then you're gonna get this all the the Bible studies that I taught at the beach this summer the 40 days of prayer studies they're seven sessions in that and there are other materials in here all kinds of stuff that you're going to get last week tens of thousands of people at Saddleback Church signed up to be a part of 40 days purpose to be in a small group to do the daily devotions and all that if you miss last week you need to pull out this card in your program and fill it out and then a minute drop it in the basket if you're not in a small group if you'll check all help me start a new group will help you start a new group anybody do this last night we had empower rallies which are for all of the small group hosts let me let me show you the one here Lake Forest we read about fiber of our campuses that's last night right here these are the small group hosts of Saddleback Church at Lake Forest this didn't include all the ones that Anaheim and all the other cities that were doing it last night and we're going to have more host rallies there is a host rally at South Bay on Sunday there's one on Monday at Los Angeles Saddleback LA next Wednesday at Newport Mesa Saddleback next Saturday at San Diego Saddleback last night about over 3,000 hosts showed up in Oliver we started 600 new small groups last night last night 600 new if you're not in a group are you gonna just miss this and when you get to heaven one day goes I was at 40 days of prayer and I didn't join really why do you think you're here so you need to fill this out and drop it in the basket those of you who are hosts you can pick this material up all during the week at the Lake Forest campus or any of the other campuses or next weekend at every campus you can't get it today because it's all divided up to all of the empower rally's where all of the different hosts for getting it butts fill this out and drop it in the basket let me pray for you Father I pray a simple prayer and a sincere prayer I want the people that are here to know you better I want them to fall in love with you the way you love them I want them to know you the way I know you and I ask you to take these words to touch their hearts in Jesus name Amen thanks for checking out this week's message on YouTube we would love to get you connected with our online community there's three easy ways to get you involved first learn about belonging to our church family by taking class 101 online second you can join an online small group or a local home group in your area and third check out our Facebook group to engage with our online community throughout the week to take these next steps visit Saddleback comm slash online or shoot me an email at online at Saddleback calm I hope to hear from you soon Oh

Channel: Saddleback Church

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Keywords: saddleback church, rick warren, prayer

Id: Ok6GDtGwwjs

Length: 64min 28sec (3868 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 02 2017