How To Pray For Healing & Restoration- RickWarren

well welcome to 40 days of prayer and if you'll take out your message notes you know guys we're living in very unusual days that the economy is going really good but nothing else is I mean the stock market's at record levels more people there and work right now that in decades the economy's coming along but I think we are experiencing material prosperity and moral poverty because every week there's another shooting another scandal a conflict or bigotry or opioid addiction epidemic the news isn't very good I was reading an article the other day and and one of the columnists said America needs a national healing I agree with that now of course Saddleback is a multinational church and we have members in Argentina and Germany and we have them in you know the Philippines and in China so we care about all of those nations too because we have family there but we do need healing in our nation and we need healing in the world but we need more than that we need healing in our schools we need healing in our businesses we need healing in our government we need healing in our neighborhoods and our communities we need healing in our families we need healing in our lives in our minds in our hearts in our bodies and I just thought and felt led by the Lord to this week for us in the 40 days of Prayer to be looking at how do you pray for healing and restoration well I'm talking about physical healing but I'm talking about more than that two healings of mainz healings of relationships healings of finances and so many different areas where there needs to be a restoration there needs to be a healing what I want to do is I want to quickly explain how to pray for healing something you need to know and then we're gonna pray for each other about 3,000 years ago God made a promise to King Solomon and that promise still stands today because it's a promise made to all his people if you look at your message notes at the top of the outline 2nd chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 one of the very most important and well-known promises in the entire Bible second Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray seek my face turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land I want you to circle that word heal I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sins I will heal their land now I want to point out a couple things before we actually tear this verse apart today in our and our study together the first thing I want to point out is that this is not a promise for everybody this is not God didn't make this promise to everybody but he says this if my people is my people this is a promise for the people of God who are the people of God well look up here on the screen one day somebody asked Jesus that and the Bible says in Matthew 12 when Jesus was teaching the crowd his mother and his brothers waited nearby to speak to him by the way some people don't realize Jesus had brothers and sisters he was just the oldest now they were all half-brothers and sisters because Joseph was the dad but and you know God was the dad of Jesus but it's very clear we even have the names of Jesus brothers and sisters so Mary had children it's grille clear there in the Bible in fact one of Jesus half-brothers named James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem and wrote a book in the Bible and it's called James hmm his half-brother so Mary certainly had kids it's in Scripture now let's go back to that while Jesus was teaching the crowd his mother and brothers waited nearby to speak to him so they're standing at the edge of the crowd somebody told Jesus your family wants to talk to you Jesus asked who's my family he always turns everything into a teaching his incident then pointing to his followers he said these people are my family anybody who bathes my father in heaven and does his will does the Father's will is my brother and my sister and my mother so question have you done what the father said and the father said was to receive his son if you accepted Christ into your life if you have followed him if you've become his follower his disciple guess what you're in the family you're in the family so this verse is a promise for you if my people you're his people if you know the Lord you're his people it's not a promise for everybody but it is for God's people now the second thing with you knows he says if my people who were called by my name I wonder if you're ever embarrassed to identify yourself as a disciple wonder if you're ever embarrassed to say I'm a Christian I'm a follower of Jesus I'm a disciple of Christ if my people who are called by my name you know everybody else is bold about their beliefs today but a lot of Christians don't let they don'ts they don't say a word at the office nobody knows look back up here on the screen the Bible says this and Mark if anyone Jesus is talking if anybody is ashamed of me and my words and thus unfaithful and immoral generation I'll be ashamed of him when I return in glory with all my angels I don't want that for you I don't want that for anybody in our church the you were ashamed of Christ be called by his name in this day and age and jesus said I'll be I'll be ashamed of you if you're ashamed of me now the third thing I want you to notice we're just getting started it says it's my people who are called by my name and then he gives four conditions and he says if you humble yourself and you pray and you seek my face and turn from your wicked ways then I'll hear from heaven then I'll forgive your sins and then I'll heal you I'll heal your land the point here is that with every promise there's a promise there are conditions and their conditions here he says I'll I'll do this but here are the conditions here the premises before the promise and there are four conditions of healing and restoration now I don't know what you need restored in your life maybe you need your marriage restored maybe you need your dream restored maybe you need your body restored maybe you need your health restored or your finances restored I don't know what needs healing in your life but the principles in this passage apply to every area of healing and restoration so if you'll do what he says to do here and you fully understand it you can expect God says if you do this I will do that so let's get right into it okay number one here's the first condition for healing and restoration in any area of your life number one I admit I'm not in control I admit that I'm not in control and what does that call that's called humility saying God is God and I'm not God is God and I am NOT the first condition for healing for restoration in your life if my people will humble themselves humility is the first step to healing what's he saying here so you know I don't approach God arrogant I don't come to God proudly or I don't come to God flippantly I don't come to God disrespectfully hey man how's it going a man upstairs Big Daddy I know I don't make demands in prayer God you have to do this God is not your Genie God is not my genie we've talked about this many times I don't come arguing demanding being arrogant it says I come humbly if my people who are calm I my name will humble themselves by the way did you know that in the scripture never are you ever commanded to pray for humility so you don't ever need to pray for it the Bible doesn't ever tell you Scott please humble me really you don't want to ask him to do that it's humiliating you are never to pray God humble me why because humility is a choice humility is something you do to yourself God doesn't do it to you you do it to yourself humility is a choice and so instead of saying pray for humility just says humble yourself it's something you do and over and over in Scripture it says instead of pray for humility it says humble yourself humble yourself humble yourself humble yourself it says that over and over and over in the Old Testament and in the New Testament humility is a choice you say okay well if that's the first condition for something to be restored in my life or something to be healed in my life I want to know three things what is humility what does it look like how do i how do I develop it well how do I show God my my humility how do I do that well I'm glad you asked because I made a list this is gonna surprise you what is humility and how do you show it let me get I'm gonna just read you don't try to write all these down if you if you'd like this list write me pastor Rick Saddleback calm I'll mail them to you this week here's 12 ways to show you Millett II real humility every single day number one confess your sin to God the moment realize it so you're sitting there and you say something wrong you're angry prideful jealous or whatever you god that was wrong I'm sorry that's um that's humble that's humility when you when you keep short accounts of God you don't wait until the end of the week to have a pile of garbage that say Lord I got to take out the garbage now no you take it out the moment you do it God that wasn't right I'm sorry and you just say it to God you confess your sin the moment you realize that number two humility is forgiving quickly if you don't know how to forgive quickly that's prideful if you if you carry grudges that's prideful humility is forgiving quickly you never hold on to a grudge humble people are forgiving quickly number three when you're treated unfairly be quiet and patient and don't retaliate that's real humility you are most like Christ I am most like Christ when I refuse to defend myself against false accusation when people attack you when people say mean things about you when people say stuff that's untrue about you and use you don't say a word the Bible says that Jesus did this he was perfect and yet he was maligned he was amiss misled he was accused of all kinds of stuff to put him on a cross for stuff that wasn't true when the Bible says when they stood before the governor Pilate and others it says he spake not a word unto them I am most like Christ when I absorb the attacks you're most like Christ when you absorb the tech that's humility number four when you look for ways to serve others instead of expecting to be served that's humility when you accept criticism and correction graciously that shows God your humility when you don't fight to get the best seat or the best table in the best parking spot that's humility intentionally being friends befriending people who have no status or who can't help you or who overlooked by society that's humility where you intentionally build relationships and build friendships with people who don't can't won't serve you maybe the the unpopular person in the office or at school but you do that that is a mark of humility humility is being respectful to the authorities in your life even the bad ones this stuff's not easy is it I'm not giving an easy list humility is when you pick up the trash wherever you find it humility is when you leave a public restroom cleaner than when you found it the little things the stuff that nobody else will see God sees that that's humility when you admit your weaknesses and your sins to a few safe people you don't have to tell everybody but revealing your feelings the beginning of healing we've talked about that many times when you're able to say you know I'm not good at this I'm weak at this and this is my sin and here's where I'm struggling and this is my temptation if there was more confession of temptation in small groups there'd be less need for confession of sin it would get stopped sooner that's humility when you could admit what you're struggling with in a small group or with a close friend when you always speak well of others you never use put-down so you never use put-downs you never stoop to the level of people who put you down that's humility when number 12 you pray for your enemies are you kidding me jesus said it those people you really don't like the people you vote against the people who you walk the other way when you see them pray for your enemies bless those who eat you that's 12 marks of real humility now why would anybody live like that it's hard humility is not thinking less of yourself it's thinking of yourself less humility is you're so busy focused on God and helping other people he doesn't think about yourself if I go into a party and I walk in and I start thinking how do I look to everybody who my folks are me that's pride when I walk into a party and I go in here and go who needs encouragement who could probably use a word of encouragement today that's humility humility is not thinking you're less of yourself I'm bad I'm no good I'm nothing I'm zero I'm zip no that's false humility humility is you're so busy focused on God and other people you don't even think about yourself you're natural you're normal because you're focused on everybody else now that's a hard way to live why would anybody do it because of what God does when you do that and God says if you humble yourself there are many many many many promises in Scripture God I just say it this way humility is a big deal to God it's a lot bigger deal and you realize humility humility is not false I'm nothing I'm zero you meet confident and humble at the same time you're just not focused on you but God loves humble people let me give you five things God will do in your life if you work on this write these down if I'm humble God will guide me if I'm humble God will guide you ever going I don't know what to do I don't know what step I should take I don't know whether I should get in or get out I don't want that hold on or let go when you don't know which way to turn and you're confused get humble if I'm humble God will guide me so I'm 25 9 god leads the humble in the right way and he teaches them his will you want to know God will God's will God's will is not given to prideful people arrogant people self-sufficient people the humbler you are the more God will guide you the fewer mistakes you'll make in that's the benefit let me give you a second benefit if I'm humble got a lot only guide me he'll bless me he's promised us all through scripture I just gave you one verse right there Isaiah 66 verse two I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts God doesn't bless ego tripperz God doesn't bless prideful people God doesn't bless people who are you know secretly think they're better than everybody else no he says I'll bless those who have humble and contrite hearts number three if I'm humble God will give me the power to change if I'm humble God will give me the power to change you know what the power to change is it's one word it's called grace grace is the power to change you need grace to make changes in your life and there's stuff in your life you'd like to change but you can't you've tried you won't the only way you're gonna get changed is with the grace of God well how do you get the grace of God in your life the power you need for change well he says James 4:6 God opposes the proud but God gives grace to the humble the more humble you are the more grace God gives you the more proudful you are the more on the opposite side you are and you're going to lose that battle because your arms are too short to box with God God opposes the proud every time I'm prideful I'm on the opposite side of God I don't want to be there you don't want to be there but every time I'm humble God gives me the grace that I need and what's that it's the power to change he says I'll guide you I'll bless you I'll give you grace number four if I'm humble God will God says I will relieve your stress when I went when I am humble my stress goes down when I'm prideful my stress goes up true Jesus says in Matthew 11:29 take the yoke that I give you and learn from me for I am gentle and I'm humbled see Jesus is humble and he says and I will restore the deep rest for your soul the deep rest for your soul wouldn't you like that the deep rest for your soul how do you get deep rest for your soul when you think I'm all dried up I got nothing to give I've got nothing left in me the faucet I'm tapped out it's it's gone I'm at the end of my rope I'm ready to throw in the towel all those expressions how do you how do you get the deep rest you need humility look at that take my yoke learn from me cuz I'm humble and it says if you learn from me he said then it will restore deep rest in your soul so humility begins with admitting I'm not in control God your God and I'm not the second key is ask God for help if you need something in your life or stored if you need something in your life healed first admit I'm not in control come on myself I can't do it on my own and second I ask God for help if how do you do that if my people will pray if my people will pray I ask God for help and when I asked God for help I realize I'm not waiting on God he's been waiting on me you know whatever you've wanted restored in your life have you been praying about it have you been asking God for that kind of of help he says I'll give it to you and he says I'll give you the kind of help that that you need now the truth is for many people healing asking God for healing god I need healing in my body I need healing in my mind I need healing in my marriage healing is a scary thing to a lot of people so how do you do it how do you pray for healing let me just give you a couple tips to write these down let me give you four or five tips right here on how do I say lord I need you how do I say that well you're first gonna need some confidence to do this so look at this verse John chapter 16 Jesus says this verse 23 24 Jesus I tell you the truth my father will give you anything you ask my father will give you anything you ask for in my name now until now Jesus says you haven't asked for anything in my name ask I want you to ask you know over 20 times the New Testament you are commanded by God to ask in prayer he says it over asking you'll be given seeking you'll find ask anything ask everything ask and you'll receive so that your joy will be the fullest joy possible now that verse gives us the first two tips and how to pray for healing I hope you're writing this down okay here's the first thing you do when you want to pray for you the first thing is remember Jesus wants me to ask that'll give you confidence whatever you've got going on in your life you know I you know well I don't know if I should pray for this Jesus has asked and look he says there he says ask anything ask anything in my name he says remember that I want you to ask it's his idea have you ever thought about this we've been talking about prayer for over a month now why does God want you to ask for stuff in prayer why does he do that the reason God wants you to ask for stuff in prayer is that's the only way you're gonna learn how to trust him it's like with a parent a child how's the child learn to trust a parent the child has a need then the child expresses the need usually through crying the parent here's the need the parent meets the need the child trusts the parent and that's done thousands and thousands of time growing up that's how a child learns to trust a parent I have a need I admit a need i express the need parent here's the need parent meets the need trust repeat again the same is true with your heavenly father if you're not asking God for anything you're not learning how to trust him if you're not asking God for anything you're not if you're not saying lord I need you I need this you're not asking him you're not trusting him so in this verse he says first Jesus wants me to ask and second thing here's the second tip ask in Jesus name he says ask in my name in other words on the basis of what Jesus paid for on the cross Jesus paid for everything you need on the cross it's like if you were to walk into a fancy restaurant and you'd had no way of getting in there and you didn't know anybody but you knew the owner and the owner said just flash my name when you walk in they say I come in the name of Bob oh come right in I come in the name of Bob there are some places you could use my name it'll get you in there some places you use my name you get kicked out but when you come in the name of Jesus to the Father you got instant access so I realized Jesus wants me to ask and I realize so I don't need to be reticent or hesitant to pray for healing of my body or anything else he says I want you to ask ask anything in my name I know what somebody's saying you got an objective excuse me Rick I don't get everything I pray for what's wrong with this verse all right let's just take it one step at a time first you said I don't get everything I pray for what's up ok look closely at that verse right now do you see the word everything in that verse no you see the word anything not that that what that verse says is you can ask for anything it doesn't say I'll give you everything big difference between anything and everything's that makes sense Jesus says you know I don't want you worrying about is this ok to pray for or not he says you can pray for anything I'll figure out whether it's legit or not so if you trust guys that God you told me to pray for anything ok here's what I'm gonna pray for this God will figure out whether that's best for you at this time it part of his plan for this time he doesn't say I'll give you everything he says you can ask anything I'll figure out which of these are legit which of these should be done right now or not so go ahead and ask he says he'll sort it out of his plan and the next verse there on your outline gives us two more tips James 5 he says is any one of you in trouble he should pray is anyone happy let him sing songs of praise they were doing that earlier is anyone of you sick he should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well and the Lord will raise him up and if he sinned he'll be forgiven all right now here's a third tip about how to pray for healing based on that verse write this down I'm sorry I didn't give you a lot of room this week third tip in praying for healing get other people to pray with you that's important now it doesn't have to be elders here it's using elders but anybody and our church could pray for you any believer could pray for you for your healing now and by the ways what you know we covered this when we covered a he anoints my head with oil but there's no healing power in oil but it is a beautiful symbol of the Holy Spirit so it's fine if you want to know it some of the oil and anointing with oil that's a symbol of God's presence and spirit there's nothing magical about it you don't have to have an elder just get somebody to be with you and pray with you after this service are gonna be people out on the patio praying individually and anointing with oil we did this about a year ago and the lines were long and they went for about an hour and thousands of people got prayed for and anointed with oil we're gonna do it again every service this weekend I don't know where you need restoration I don't know where you need healing but this is the time to take advantage of somebody praying for you and anointing with oil I'm gonna do it after this service and every other service they say do I have to have some you have to have a pastor no have to have like ten people no you could do it with one look at this verse up here on the screen jesus said I tell you if just two of you on earth agree together about anything there's that word again anything yes Troy didn't say everything says anything you want to ask for agree on it it will be done for you by my father in heaven he says only only need two you don't have to have like fifty people praying for you fine get 50 people praying for you he says you could have have two people just one other person now in that verse that we just read we're in James where he says and the prayer of faith will make the sick person well that's the fourth tip believe and expect an answer if you want to pray for healing for somebody this is how you do it remember Jesus wants me to ask ask in Jesus name get other people to pray with you and believe and expect an answer he says the prayer of faith offered in faith will make the sick person well then there's one other tip and it's in this next verse Ephesians 5:16 or 5:18 it says there pray in the spirit at all times with all kinds of Prayer asking for all that you need to do this you must always be ready never give up always pray for all God's people are you seeing all the all's in this verse although you might Circle them all all the alls and all the always pray all the time all kinds of Prayer for all you need all be always be ready always pray for all God's people Circle the all's in the always that's tenacity and that's the fifth fifth key to praying for someone's healing keep on praying till God tells you to stop you don't like to pray one time and they say well forget that you just keep praying and you keep praying keep praying because God's timing is perfect you don't know when it is sometimes God does a restoration instantly sometimes he does it in an hour or a day or a week sometimes he takes years God God is responsible for the answer we're responsible to ask all right so if you need healing in area of your life you need restoration first I admit I'm not in control and I and I evidence my humility in all those different ways we talked about and then I asked God for help and I'm not I'm not worried about it I'm bold because Jesus tells me to ask and I just say lord I need you then we come to the third premise for the promise if my people will humble themselves to pray and number three seek my face write this down third key seek God not a miracle I seek god I seek God's face not a miracle it's okay to want a miracle that's fine it's okay to want healing and restoration but that's not what you seek if my people will humble themselves pray seek my face not seek a miracle not seek a sign not seek healing not seek prosperity not seek a thousand other gifts of God stop seeking the gift and just go God I want you I want you I want to know you and when you seek God you get everything else but God is not a vending machine and there are unfortunately many millions of Christians today who spent all their time seeking what God has to give them and nothing and seeking God himself if my people will seek my face seek him not merely the blessing if my people will seek my face Lord what does that mean it means Lord whether I get the answer that I want or not I want to know you whether I get the healing that I want or not whether I get the restoration I want or not well I get the answer I wanted I am seeking you and as I come to you if I don't get what I think is best for me I'm gonna be satisfied with what you think is best for me and out of this whole ordeal coming out of my pain in the divorce coming out of my pain in the loss of a child coming out of the miscarriage coming out of the being laid off or whatever I'm seeking you not the blessing not the gift not the miracle I'm seeking you I want to know you God proverbs 8:17 God says I love those who love me and those who seek me they find me Hebrews 11:6 God rewards those who earnestly seek Him Circle the word earnestly this is not some casual pastime it's not like I'm gonna seek you in my spare moments after three TV shows I'll seek you after the after I do my social media I'll seek you like you're the low priority now this is a serious pursuit who earnestly seek you it's the primary focus of I like God I got to know you because you made me to know you you know you don't become an Olympic athlete in your spare time you got to seek it you got to earnestly seek it years ago my brother played golf so I played golf cuz he played it I hate golf it's the only game you can play your entire life and never get any better at it why would I do that game huh people say you play golf well I played at it a big difference he said why why did you plant because I wasn't willing to invest the time it's real simple I just wasn't willing to invest the time and to be a pro at anything requires intensity you want to be a pro at prayer you got to invest the time you want to be a pro and knowing God you got to invest the time I got to Ernest Lee seek him what does God want from me more than anything else what does God want from you he just wants you to seek Him god I really want to get to know you look up here the screen the Lord Psalm 1 14 mm on the entire human race and it looks to see if there's even one with real understanding was just one who seeks for God what is he saying about that verse he's saying you know the fact is most of my children really don't even seek me it's really rare to find somebody who's earnest about seeking God we want just enough of God to bless us but not you know to change us Deuteronomy the Bible says this in chapter 4 if you seek the Lord your God you'll find him if you look for him with all your heart that's the key and with all your soul and when you are in distress and these things have happened to you you will return to the Lord your God and you'll obey Him for he's a merciful God and he will not abandon or destroy you if you're stuck in a cycle and year after year after year you feel like I'm not getting any better I'm just kind of stuck I'm in neutral and I wasn't any better last year I'm not sure I'm gonna be any better this next year same situation relationship still stinks and my my habit still are not the way I wanted to be you're stuck in that cycle it's cause you're not seriously seeking God you got a seek him with all your heart now you know what if you'll do that it's kind of like humility God loves the humble but God goes overboard for people who seek Him he will bless your socks off I'll go next verse seek first his kingdom his righteousness and all these other things will be given to you as well there's there's almost nothing God won't do for the woman or the man that are genuinely seeking God first almost nothing everything else is I'm gonna take care of it says I it's so rare to find somebody who's truly seeking me other people are seeking blessings from me miracles from me signs from me but these people actually just want to know me I said well how do I do that well go back listen to the message last week where I talked about how to pray throughout your day using the seven phrases of the Lord's Prayer that's a way to seek God and listen to it online again review those notes shows you how throughout the day how to seek God throughout the day if my people are will humble themselves and pray and seek my face then he gives us the fourth premise for the promise and turn from their wicked ways now what in the world does that mean so I'll heal you but you got a number four turn from my wicked ways write this down turn my attention write this down turn my attention from the world to the word I turn my attention from the world to the word now I need to define two terms here the word turn and the word wicked because I think we've got a lot of misunderstandings about this he says the fourth premise for the promise is turn from their wicked ways okay first let's start with wicked ways wicked this hmm what do you think when I say the word wicked think of the Broadway play don't want to be popular wicked what do you think of what most people think of when that when we say the word wicked they think of evil really bad and evil stuff that other people do assassinations that's evil that's wicked sexual rape and abuse that's wicked genocide that's wicked extortion that's wicked murder torture that's wicked let me give you a little bit different definition of wicked what does the Bible say you might write this down definition wickedness is forgetting God wickedness is just forgetting God anytime I forget God that's wicked because you were made to be in fellowship with God he loves you he wants you to love him back he knows you he wants you to know him wickedness is not all those other things it's forgetting God and when we forget God we do all kinds of other stuff and when a society forgets God society does all kinds of other wicked stuff but it's really about forgetting God look up here on the screen I say in 17 verse 10 you have forgotten you've forgotten the God who saves you and you have not remembered that God is your place of safety what's your place of safety what has been your place safety God says I'm your place of safety but you've just forgotten that and some of you you think your place safety is your bank account and some of you think it's your boyfriend and some of you think it's something else whatever but God says I'm your I'm your place of safety I'm gonna protect you you're my child you're my son you're my daughter and and what you've done is you've forgotten I've got a message I've been holding on I was gonna do it a couple weeks ago on prayer and memory and I studied all through the Scriptures from Genesis revelation every verse on forgetting and remembering and there are a lot of things God says I want you to forget but there are a lot of things God says I want you to remember and one of the things he says when you've forgotten me that's wicked okay now what about turn turn from my forgetting God well the turn that word they're in in Hebrew the Old Testament literally means return it means bring back it means repent it's the word for repent he says you don't just turn away from the bad stuff you turn to the good stuff and in the in the Bible in the New Testament it's the Greek word Metanoia meta means to turn and Noah is the Greek word for news which means you're mine it means to flip your mind to change your mind repentance that's the word Metanoia in the in the in the Bible repentance simply means change your mind I used to think about God this way now I think about God that way that's repentance I used to think about I thought that was good now I think this is good I used to value that now I value this that's repentance I used to think God was this now I think God as I changed my mind about life I changed my mind about success I changed my mind about what matters I changed my mind about the past my past I changed my man about the future I changed my mind about love I changed my mind about what matters most that is repentance I am turning my attention now most people they think of the word repents they didn't have a negative word when you say the word repent you think of like a guy on the sidewalk with a street sign he's got long scraggly hair and a beard and says turn or burn you're gonna die and fry while we go to the sky no no that's not repentance repentance is not a negative term repentance is the most positive term in history when I repented I turned from guilt to forgiveness how's a good deal when I repented I turned from darkness to light I turned from no purpose to purpose I turned from hopeless despair to hope for eternity I turned from bitterness to love it was the most positive change in my life if I had known how positive it is to repent I would have done it years earlier it's not like somebody's trying to give me cancer I wish I had known it and understood it sooner to turn from darkness to light from meaninglessness to meaningfulness from a life that is shallow to a life that is significant that's repentance it's the most positive change you can make to turn away from Hell to heaven from Satan to God no love to the love of the Father that will never ever end so when he says turn from their wicked ways saying I want you to turn away from that to turn over here change your attention change your attention metanoia I mean wrap it up look up here The Scream acts 3:19 the Bible says repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out anybody like that I like that part and so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord I bet you probably need some times of refreshing in your life you may need some times of refreshing in your career our nation needs a time of refreshing how do we get it repent and turn to God so your sins may be wiped out times the refreshing come from the Lord last two verses proverbs 28 if you hide your sins you're not gonna succeed but if you confess them and you reject them you're gonna receive mercy what are you pretending isn't a problem in your life what are you pretending isn't a sin anything we've learned from politicians and not we haven't learned much we have learned that cover-up is worse than the sin doesn't makes it worse it just makes it worse if you hide your sins you will not succeed but if you confess and object them you better see mercy therefore James 5:16 confess your sins to each other pray for each other so that you may be what Circle that word healed it all starts with confession you might write down there I need others to help me change that's why we have support groups that's why we have recovery groups that's why we have small groups it's why we have every kind of possible group you could imagine because you need other people to help you change confess your sins to each other pray for each other and you will be healed if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn repentance from their evil ways their wicked ways I've stopped forgetting God then three things I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land let's bow our heads folks this isn't rocket science it's pretty easy to understand god just lays it all out it's just the real issue is will we do it will you take these steps right now in your mind in your heart will you start if my people will humble themselves would you say God I want to admit I'm not in control I've acted like it but I'm not I've tried to run the shots and call the call the shots and it just isn't working very well and the harder I try to control things the more out of control everything gets and so today I humble myself and then I'm asking you to guide me and bless me and give me the power to change and relieve my stress and all of those things that come if I walk humbly before you that list of humble actions doesn't look very easy to do so down I'm asking you to help me to be quiet in the face of criticism to pray for my enemies immediately confess my sin to you and all those other things and you said Lord if my people will pray I'm asking for help thank you for thinking up the idea of prayer Thank You V I don't even have to worry about is this a good prayer or not you just said ask anything and you'll you'll sort it out I thank you that you don't put me down for saying stupid prayers you just want me to talk to you teach me to pray all the time all kinds of prayer asking all that I need to always be ready to always pray for all God's people to be tenacious and lord I want to seek you if my people will seek my face forgive me for the times I have not sought your face I've just sought your blessing you've said that those who seek you will find you I want to find you and in this next year I want to be closer to you than ever before help me to turn my attention away from the world to the word and as I do these things I ask you to hear my prayer from heaven I ask you to forgive my sins and I ask you to heal me my heart my body my mind my relationships my fears my bad habits I've bad attitudes my bitterness heal my anger heal my impatience I want to be like you Lord your humble and I humbly ask this because Jesus already paid for it when I pray it in his name Amen

Channel: Saddleback Church Hong Kong

Views: 16,434

Rating: 4.6290321 out of 5

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Id: HRKwItsZiO4

Length: 51min 7sec (3067 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 03 2017