- This week, I saw posted on
my Facebook site this note, "Nothing in my life seems
to be working right now, "I'm lonely, I'm broke, I'm out of work, "I'm a minority and every door knock on "seems to close before me. "Pastor Rick I feel like I've
been headed down a blind alley "and I've reached a dead-end "in my work and with my girlfriend. "Can you help me? "Does God even care? "I really need a breakthrough". It was that last phrase
that caught my attention and actually helped me decide what I was gonna teach on this weekend. I really need a breakthrough. Now what is a breakthrough? Well according to the dictionary, a breakthrough is sudden, dramatic and important advance. A sudden, dramatic and important advance. Science has breakthroughs, technology has breakthroughs, medicine has breakthroughs, a important, sudden, dramatic important advance. Diplomacy as I said has breakthroughs, you could have a breakthrough
in your marriage. You can have a breakthrough
in a relationship, you can have a breakthrough
in your career. Now the opposite of a breakthrough is a setback, and if you're not moving forward then you are either stalled and that could be the
opposite of a breakthrough, you're at an impasse, you're at a dead end, you're at a deadlock, you're stalemated, you say, I'm not making
any progress in my life, I'm not making any
progress in my marriage, I'm not making any progress in my career, I need a breakthrough. Or you could have had a setback and you say, I need to move forward. Now we can have personal and
spiritual breakthroughs too. I've had many in my life. I've had moments of clarity in my life when all of a sudden I go, aha, and God worked in my life and I took a whole new direction. I remember the very first one as a teenager working as a
lifeguard at a Christian camp, when my life was headed this direction and all of a sudden it
took a whole new direction, in life because I had
that breakthrough moment, that moment of clarity. Now I don't know if you've
figured this out or not, but God often uses pain
to get our attention. C.S. Lewis said, "God
whispers to us in our pleasure "but he shouts to us in our pain". He's going, "Hello? "Do you think I just made you "to live for yourself, huh? "You think that the whole
purpose of your life "is for you to just live for you? "No, no, no, no, "you're made for so much more". And God often uses pain
to get our attention and God often uses pain to
prepare us for a breakthrough. So if you're in pain right now, congratulations. You may me getting ready
for a breakthrough. Now look on the screen, the Bible say this in Proverbs 20:30. Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways. Anybody agree with that? Yeah, we've all had experiences with them. We don't change when we see the light, we change we feel the heat. And when things get bad, you never change in life until the fear of change
is exceeded by your pain. And when your pain gets worse than your fear, then you change. That's human behavior. And so God often allows upsets and shake-ups and pain in our lives. I mean, you may be getting ready for a breakthrough right now because you're going through
a period of confusion, and you go, "I don't
have the foggiest idea "what I'm supposed to
do next with my life. "I, I don't even know "and I'm just kind of in a, "in a ball of confusion, "I don't know what to do". Or you may be feeling overwhelmed, and you think, there's just too much to get done and I can't get it all done and I'm overwhelmed by life. Some of you probably feel that way, overwhelmed by life. You need a breakthrough. Some of you may be feel outnumbered. You say, "I feel like in the minority here "and I feel like the
majority's coming against me "and I don't like this "and I'm outnumbered, "and I need a breakthrough". Or you may be thinking, I'm under resourced, I don't have the money I need to do what I need to do with my life. I don't have the funds, I don't have the resources and so I need financial breakthrough. Now when I talk about this, I want you to ask yourself, where do I need a breakthrough? Some of you, I need a breakthrough with your health. It's not good and you've been struggling with it and you need a physical or health breakthrough with your life. Some of you need a
breakthrough in your finances. The truth is you're not making it and you're going the wrong way and you're going deeper and deeper in debt and you go, I need a
financial breakthrough. Some of you need a
relationship breakthrough. Your marriage or your friendship or your boyfriend, your girlfriend, you're at an impasse and your deadlocked and you're at a stalemate and it's not moving forward and it's just kinda stuck. You may need a breakthrough at school. You may need a breakthrough at work. You may need a new idea, a breakthrough idea for your business. You may need a breakthrough with your kids and you go, you know,
it's just not working, they're heading the wrong direction, I can see it. You may need a breakthrough with God and that's what we're gonna do the next 34 days, which we're calling 34
Days of Seeking God, is seeking a breakthrough. Now I have been in
ministry for about 45 years and what I've learned is that breakthroughs happen generally when you seek them. They don't just happen, spontaneously. You get a breakthrough in your life when you seek a breakthrough. I've talked to hundreds
of thousands of people, who were stuck in certain positions and in order to get that breakthrough, they had to do some certain things to actually seek it and that's what we're gonna do in the next 34 days between
now and Christmas Eve, which we're calling 34
Days of Seeking God, because I've discovered that breakthroughs typically happen when you seek them. Look at this verse on the screen. The Bible says in Psalms 72:2, When I was in distress, that's pain, I sought the Lord, I'm seeking a breakthrough, and every night I stretched out my hands to Him in prayer. I'm gonna teach you how
to do that this weekend. How to seek the Lord, how to stretch out your
hands in prayer to Him, when you're in pain, when you're in distress, when you're in confusion, when you're overwhelmed, outnumbered, or under resourced. Now starting on Monday, we're going to have a typical not a 40-day, but a 34-day emphasis on seeking God and we're calling it 30 days
of Seeking God in Prayer and we're actually gonna start with a day of fasting. Where you go without food for a day, because in the Bible that's often a sign to
God that you're serious about not staying in the condition that you're in. Now I don't want you to miss this, I don't want you to miss the breakthrough that God has planned for you, so this weekend we're gonna look at, if you'll take your message notes, praying and fasting for a breakthrough. Praying and fasting for a breakthrough. Now I wanna tell you, that if you're listening
to this right now, whether it's any of the 17 campuses or here at the Lake Forest Campus, or you're listening online, this is not an accident. I've been praying for this
message for some time, and I asked God to bring
just the right people here, so if you are here, hearing me talk about this, I take it pretty seriously, that God wants to do a
breakthrough in your life. They're a lot of people
who won't hear this message 'cause maybe they don't need it, but if you're here, it means God wants to do
something special in your life, in the next 34 days and I want you to
experience the breakthrough. Now in the Bible, any time, anybody, needed any kind of breakthrough, physical, financial, relational, emotional, needed a breakthrough, they always would seek God through prayer and fasting, always. And I'm gonna give you
just a couple of examples, I could give you hundreds of these, I'm gonna give you an
example of two kings. The first one is David. David's probably the most
famous king in the Bible, he was King of Israel at
its pinnacle of power, he had united all of
the 12 tribes together and yet he had a great thing going and always after something good happens, there is always a downside to it. With every mountaintop, there's a valley. After every victory, there's a test. And we looked at Daniel, we saw all of those tests, he'd have a promotion, get another test, promotion, get another test and on and on. David had just got elected
chosen King of Israel, this is a big deal. The moment he gets chosen as king, all hell breaks loose and that often happens in your life. When something really good happens, you get a promotion or something, right after that somebody doesn't like it and it starts to crumble. So let me show you this first example. Here on the screen, 1 Chronicles, chapter 14 says this. When the Philistines learned that David had been made King of Israel, now the Philistines are the enemy and they've got a big, big army, bigger than Israel's, they mobilized all of
their forces against him, against David, to attack and enslave him. Now, you may have felt this in your life, you maybe felt like the forces were mobilizing against you and that you're under attack and it's something, or someone or some habit is trying to enslave you and so he's being mobilized, they're being mobilized
to come against David. But David heard the news and he moved to his fortified place. Now that's a good thing. You oughta have a fortified place. Do you have one? When you're under attack, when times are tough, when you don't know which way to turn, when you feel like
everything's against you, what's your fortified place? If you remember Saddleback, this is it. This is your fortified place, our Church family is a fortified place, we will pray for you, we will back you up, we will support you, we will be there, that's what small groups are about. A small group is a fortified place. If you don't have a fortified place when the enemy comes after you, you're gonna get killed. And so David pulls back
to his fortified place, the Church, the Family of God, is a fortified place. Now it says this, then the Philistine army moved in and spread out across the entire valley. So they're pretty much encircling him, they're trying to get him so he has no escape. So what does David do? So David sought the Lord in prayer, that's what we're gonna
do for the next 34 days, we're gonna seek the Lord in prayer for a breakthrough in your life. And not only are you gonna
be praying for your life, you're gonna be praying for other people and all of the Church is
gonna be praying for you. How do you like to have this entire Church praying for you for the next 34 days? You think that might help? Probably would. As a Church family, we're going to pray for
each other for 34 days. Can you imagine how your
life might be different if you have thousands of brothers and sisters in this family praying for you? And so it says there, let's go back, so David sought the Lord in prayer and he asked, "Should I go
fight these Philistines? "Will you give them over to me"? Now here's an important lesson to life. Never fight a battle
without asking God first. A legal battle, a financial battle, a relational battle, a battle at work, never ever fight a battle
without asking God first. If you don't ask God, you're on your own, good luck. But if you do what David did, he sought the Lord in prayer, he said, "Should I even make
an issue of this at work, "should I make an issue
of this with my wife, "or my husband, should I"? Never fight a battle
without asking God first and he'll tell you. Now it says here's what God said. The Lord replied, "Yes, go ahead. "You can certainly count on
me to give you the victory". So David went out and he defeated them, he defeats the enemy. And then David said, this is great. "I watched the Lord breakthrough, "I watched the Lord
breakthrough my enemies "like a mighty flood". So he named the place, The Lord Broke Through. That's what I want to happen in your life, between now and Christmas Eve. I want you to name a place the Lord Broke Through. My finances, the Lord broke through, my impasse in this relationship, the Lord broke through. My schooling, the Lord broke through. You need a breakthrough in your life. But you gotta do the
things that David did. Now, let me give you a second example. This is another king in Israel, he's got a more weird name, he's not named David, his name is Jehoshaphat. How'd you like to be named that? Jehoshaphat. Probably at school he was
called Fatty for short, (congregation laughing) okay? Hey Fatty, how you doin'? Okay? And this is guy is facing
overwhelming opposition too. In fact, he's just had a spiritual revival in his nation. Everything's going great and then all it says, it says that three enemy nations came against this King Jehoshaphat. And in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, it says this, look up here on the screen. After this, after what? After they'd had this
big spiritual victory. You can always count on it, when things are going good, behind every mountaintop is a valley. After this, all the good things that happened in chapter 19, three enemies joined forces against Judah. That's another name for the
northern part of Israel. And their enemies, the Bible actually tells
us it was the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Menuites. Now, they may have had the Slagtites, and Slagmites and the Outtasites and the Uptites, but I don't know. (congregation laughing) I do know that there were at least three that were there coming against him. And so he's clearly out-manned, outmaneuvered, outnumbered and maybe you've felt like that in life. He says after this, the enemies joined forces against Judah, and some men told the king a vast army is coming against you. Now that's a reason to worry and it says alarmed and afraid, that's a natural first reaction when you are under attack. Alarmed and afraid, King Jehoshaphat resolved
to seek the Lord. Now we're gonna come back to this, but notice, he doesn't stay afraid. Instead he switches from
being focused on his worries to focusing on the Lord. It's a resolution, it's a choice and I'm gonna teach you how to do this, how you can break the habit
of worry in your life. Alarmed and afraid, he doesn't stay focused
on what he doesn't like, he immediately switches his mind to seek the Lord. He takes his vision off the bad things and he puts his vision on God, alright? And then it says this, He resolved to seek the Lord, then he proclaimed a fast for everyone. We're going to do this on Monday. Our whole Church is gonna do a fast together. That's going without food for a day. We already have over 12,000 families, have already signed up for this and if you haven't, I hope you'll sign up today. And he proclaimed a fast for everyone. Why? Because a fast says God
we're serious about this. You gotta our attention. It's just a way of saying we're serious, we mean business on this prayer. So all of the people came together, came together, to seek out from the Lord and they came from everywhere to seek God. Now, this guy, Jehoshaphat, does four things right and it's the four things you gotta do if you wanna have a
breakthrough in your life, in any area, relational, physical,
mental, spiritual, whatever. First thing, instead of worrying, he refocuses on God, a second, it says he resolved, that means he made a choice, to say, "I'm gonna focus and seek God, "I'm gonna found what God wants me to do "with my life. "I wanna know God's will". He resolved to seek the Lord. Third, he fasted. He actually called for a National fast 'cause the whole Nation was under attack. So the whole nation said, we're gonna go with out food. It's saying, God we're serious about this, we mean business, we want your input on this, and then it says, all of the people, joined together to seek
God through prayer. And the result was a miraculous victory. I'm not gonna tell you the whole story, you can go read 2 Chronicles 20, it's one of my favorite story's, but the bottom line is when these three enemy armies came together, God says, "You won't have
to fight in this battle, "just watch, I'm gonna confuse 'em". And He confuses the three enemies, they start fightin' each other, they kill each other off, they all die and Israel walks into the valley and they get to pick up
all the spoils of war. It took 'em about three days to take off all the spoils of war and so they named the place, the Valley of Blessing. What had been a valley of battle, became a valley of blessing. Now in your life, you've got some battles going on. Maybe with your parents, maybe with your spouse, maybe with a child, maybe it's somebody at work. God wants to turn the valley of battles into a valley of blessing, but the key is to do the four things that Jehoshaphat did and that David did. And they say, "Well how 'bout me? "How do I do that? "How do I do these same four things "that these two kings did long ago"? Well Paul tells how to do it in the book of Philippians and in Philippians 4:6-8, Paul says, under the inspiration of God, there are four things you need to do if you're gonna have a breakthrough. Let me read you that passage, okay? Put it on screen. Here's what Philippians 4:6-8 says, "Don't worry about anything, "but pray instead in everything, "by prayer and petition, "with thanksgiving, "present your requests to God". So he says, "Don't worry", but instead he saying,"Pray". And he says, "You do
it with thanksgiving". And he says, "And the peace of God, "which transcends all understanding "will guard your hearts "and your minds in Christ Jesus". What is the peace that
passes understanding? The peace that passes understanding means, I'm at peace and there's no really
reasonable reason for it. I'm just at peace. I'm in the middle of the storm, everything's fallin' apart around me, but I'm at peace. That's when you have the peace
that passes understanding. There's no logical, rational explanation. It's the peace that comes from God. It's not I'm at peace because of this or that or this or that. It's I'm at peace, the peace that passes understanding. There's no reason why I should be calm. There's no reason why I should
not be stressed by that, but I'm not. Why? Because I didn't worry about anything, but I put my request before God and then he says this, "Then fix your thoughts", that's focus, "fix your thoughts on
things that are true", 'cause there's a lot of lies around, "and honorable and right. "And think about things", this is a mental thing, "think about things that are pure "and lovely and admirable", and then he says, "Then fill your mind", so he says, "Fix your thoughts, "think about things and fill your mind "with thoughts that are excellent "and worthy of praise". That passage, friends, gives you the four habits that'll change your life. It gives you the four habits that will give you a breakthrough and I don't know where
you need a breakthrough, but it doesn't matter to me. If you'll do these four things, you'll have a breakthrough. We're going to do them
together as a Church for the next 34 days. You're gonna have other
people in this Church praying for you, 'cause I'm gonna tell
'em how to pray for you. Now here are the four simple habits, they're simple but they're not easy to do. Number one, first God says, "Don't worry about anything". Write that down. "Don't worry about anything". Philippians 4:6 says that very thing. Don't worry about anything. The Amplified translation says, don't fret, don't fear, don't have any anxiety. That may be the single most difficult command in the Bible to keep. Every one of us have
broken that commandment. You maybe haven't murdered, or maybe you haven't committed adultery, but that one's right there in the Bible along with don't lie, don't steal, don't cheat, don't murder, don't commit adultery. God says, "Don't worry". You break that commandment all the time and it's in our nature to naturally worry. Jesus said it like this, look here on the screen, Matthew 6:34, "Do not worry about tomorrow, "for tomorrow will worry about itself. "Each day has enough trouble of its own". The reason why we mess up today is 'cause we spend most
of our emotional energy regretting the past and worrying about the future and so we mess up today. It's like three crosses and you can crucify yourself on guilt and shame and
regret from the past, or you can crucify yourself on the cross of worry and anxiety and fear about the future and as a result you crucify yourself on the cross today and messin' up today. Worry has never changed anything. Worry is worthless. We often, worry is a form of control. We think if we worry about our kids, that then they'll be safer. Worry has no effect, it's stewing without doing. Worry is worthless. It can't control, it can't change the past, it can't control the future, worry can only mess up today, it can only make you unhappy today. Every moment of your
life you spend worrying, you're wasting that moment. Now as I said, if you prayed as much as you worried, you'd have a whole lot
less to worry about. God's says, "I don't want you worrying "'cause it doesn't work", it's stewing without doing. It's like sitting in a rocking chair, it's a lot of motion and commotion with no forward progress. Now what is worry? You might write this definition down. Worry is focusing on my
fears instead of God. That's what it is. Worry is focusing on my fears instead of God. Worry is practical atheism. When you worry, you're acting like an orphan. You're acting like you don't have a Heavenly Father who's promised to care for your needs. You're acting like if it's to be, it's up to me. That's not in the Bible. That's in self-help books. It's not true. If it's to be, it's up to God. And so when you act, when you worry you're acting like, you're Father in Heaven doesn't care about you. That He hasn't promised over 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 promises to you. So worry is focusing on my fears instead of God. And if you're going to break that habit of worry in your life, you're gonna have to learn how to focus on something else. Fasting can actually help you do that and so can prayer. Now here's what the Bible says, Romans 8:6, Thinking that is controlled
by my sinful nature leads to death, but thinking controlled by the Spirit, leads to life and peace. So you have to choose your focus. If I'm gonna think the
way I normally think, I'm gonna get worried, I'm gonna get fearful, I'm gonna get anxious, I'm gonna have anxiety, 'cause I'm controlled by sinful nature. But when I'm focused on God, and I have God's spirit in me, then I don't worry and that leads to life and peace. So the key to overcoming worry is not to say, "I'm not gonna worry, "I'm not gonna worry", that doesn't work. That's like smoking a cigarette and go, "I need to stop smoking, (loud inhale) "I need to stop smoking, (loud inhale) "I need to stop smoking. (loud inhale) "I need to stop smoking". What are you doin? The whole time you're focusing on what don't want. It's like telling a ball pitcher, "Don't throw a curve ball". Well now what have you
just put in his mind? A curve ball. He's focusing on what doesn't want, instead of what he does want. And so saying, "Don't worry, "I'm not gonna worry", it keeps you focused on your worries. The key is to just change the channel. Don't resist it, refocus. That's how you get rid of worry. You don't resist worry, I'm not gonna worry. You refocus and you put your focus on God. You do that through prayer and fasting. And how do I switch my focus? Write this down. By fasting and prayer. Or by prayer and fasting. When you switch your focus by fasting, you're saying, "God
I'm gonna focus on You" and you when you pray, you're saying, "God I'm
gonna focus on You", you don't have time to worry. Do you remember what Daniel did when he was worried? Anybody remember Daniel? You better. We just spent 10 weeks
on that guy. (snickering) Okay? You better remember Daniel. And remember in chapter nine, the last message, the kingdom's fallin' apart, Babylon's fallin' apart, he's the prisoner of war there but he's grown up now, he's an older man and the Medes and the
Persians are taking over and he's worried. But he didn't stay worried very long, why? He did what Daniel, what David did, what Jehoshaphat did and what Paul tells you to do. Look at this next verse. Daniel 9:3, he says, right here on the screen, "I turned to the Lord", I switch my focus, "I turned to the Lord, "and I pleaded with Him
in prayer and fasting". That's how you stop worry. You get the focus off the problem and you get the focus on God. You know that when
Daniel was there praying and then the King Cyrus said some of the Jews can go back and he started lettin' 'em go back home. Remember they had been promised that after 70 years, God said, "I'm gonna
let you go back home". One of the guys who helped
lead the Jews back to Israel, was a guy named Ezra. He wrote a book in the Bible, it's called Ezra. And in Ezra 8:23, they were all worried
as they're going back home after 70 years and it says this, We fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and He heard our prayer. I want you to circle the word our. He heard our prayer, not my prayer, he said our prayer. They're prayin' together. There is power in group prayer. There is power in seeking God together. There is power in a
Church praying together, world, Church-wide, or fasting Church-wide and we're gonna do this for the next 34 days. I've asked you to pick three times a day, that you're gonna have a conversation with God for five minutes. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening. Just pick a time, from 6:00-6:05, or 12:00-12:05. We're all gonna be praying together. There's power in that. Everybody else in this Church gonna be praying for your breakthrough, while you're praying for the breakthrough for everybody else. There's power in that. And we're gonna expect and see God do some really neat things. And I don't want you to miss out on this. So later, if you haven't signed up, inside your program, there's a flap, you can rip it off, it say's I need a breakthrough and sign up. As I told you, already over 12,000 families have signed on to do this for the next 34 days. How'd you like to have 34,000
people praying for you? Now I'm gonna send you
some information on this. Every single day between
now and Thanksgiving, you can, and we're actually gonna begin with a fast on Monday. Why do we do a fast? A fast is just one way of saying to God, God, we're serious. Practically every religion, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, everybody understands the power of fasting and I will send you a guide, I'm gonna send it to you Sunday afternoon, so you can know how to do a fast. And you can do a sunset to sunset, which means on Sunday night, you wouldn't eat dinner and then you'd miss breakfast and lunch and then start with dinner Monday night. Or you can do a sunrise to sunset. Sunrise to sunrise I mean. And on Monday go breakfast, lunch and dinner, you know, without food. You can do this. And it's just one way to say to God, "God, I'm serious. "I need a breakthrough, "I wanna be a part of this, "I wanna see some miracles in my life, "I wanna learn Your will, "I wanna get close to You". So that's the first habit. And the Bible says this, in Ecclesiastes 3:1, There's a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under Heaven. Now you guys remember the Bob Dylan song, Turn, Turn, Turn, you know which came from this passage and Judy Collins and The Birds, a lot of people called
covered that Dylan song, which is just the passage
of Ecclesiastes 3. It says there's a time to be born, there's a time to die, there's a time to plant, there's a time to harvest, there's a time to weep, there's a time to rejoice, there's a time to dance, there's a time to mourn. Life is full of opposites and it says there's a right
time to do everything. And there is a time to feast and there is a time to fast. This next week, we're gonna do both. Okay? On Monday we're gonna fast and on Thursday what are we gonna do? - [All] Feast. - That's right. On Thanksgiving and so we're gonna do both on the same time, Monday and Thursday. Joel chapter 1, look at on the screen here, verse 14, schedule a time to fast, well we did, it's gonna be Monday. Call for an assembly, another words gather everyone together and cry out to the Lord for help. There is power in group prayer and our Church is gonna
prayer for our family, for breakthroughs for everybody together for 34 days. Now that's the first habit. Worry about nothing, don't worry about anything. Here's the second habit, write this down. Pray about everything. Pray about everything. There's nothing too small to pray about, there's nothing too big to pray about. If it's worth worrying about, it's worth praying about. If it's worth worrying about, then it's worth praying about. You mean I can pray about I don't have money to
pay for my kids braces. Yes, you can pray about that. My face is broken out, can I pray about, you can pray about that. My back is out, you can pray about that. There is nothing too small or too, there are no big requests to God and there are no small requests to God. God says you can pray about anything and this is the second part of the verse. Philippians 4:6, part b, Don't worry about anything, instead, pray about everything and just tell God what you need. Now look at this next verse. 1 Peter 5:7 says, Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you. Now, what is that verse saying? Either you can carry all your worries or you can let God carry 'em. It's up to you. If you wanna carry all your worries, you can live under the stress. God says, "Why are you
carrying those worries? "I'd happily carry them for you. "Let Me carry your worries, "let Me carry your cares, "let Me carry your anxieties, "because I care for you". So in the second step, instead of worrying, you pray. And you go, "God I'm not gonna worry, "I'm gonna let You carry the worries "and I'm just gonna
talk to You about them". Now I wanna teach you a simple way to pray and you can remember this, you can actually memorize this by using your hands. Notice this next verse. Psalms 88:9 say, Lord, every
day I lift my hands to You in prayer and I call to You, I lift my hands in prayer to You, okay. Everybody put your pencil
down for just a minute. Okay? And put your hands like this, like your prayin', okay I'm gonna teach you what each of these fingers stand for. Okay, put like there. So, this is lifting your
hands in prayer to God. Okay, this is also lifting your hands in prayer to God. But this is lifting your hands to pray. By the way, if you do this you know, it makes a heart. (congregation laughing) So that's the heart of prayer right there. Okay, so I'm gonna teach you the five fingers on your left hand represent who to pray for and the five fingers on your right hand represent what you should pray. If you remember these, then you're gonna remember 'em, you can do this three times a day in like five-minutes, it would be real easy, you'll fill up. You say I can't pray for five-minutes. If you know what this is, you'll remember it. Now, notice as you hold
your hands like this, what's closest to your heart? Your thumbs, you see that? See how your thumbs are
closest to your heart? Okay, remember that cause we're gonna come back to it in just a minute. Alright? Pick up your pen again. (laughing) (congregation laughing) Let's go for the left hand, the left hand teaches us who to pray for and here's how it goes. Watch this. The thumb is closest to me, okay, that's the thing's
closest to my heart, you pray for family and friends. Your thumb represents
your family and friends, 'cause when you're prayin', your thumb is closest to your heart and the people closest to your heart, are your family and your friends. So you pray first for your family and your friends. Alright? That's the closest to you. Now, the next, see this finger right here? Look up here, see that's the index finger, okay? That points the way, it points the way. And you're like there, there, where do you go? You go that way. This represents teachers and leaders. Teachers in your life and leaders in your life point the way. They say, that's the way you need to go. These are the guides in your life and the Bible says you need to pray for the teachers in your life and the leaders in your life, because they point the way in your life. By the way, they also, this can also mean, you need to not do that. (soft chuckle) So, this finger's also
used to correct you, you know, remember when your mom as a kid go, now don't do that? So it's not only pointing the way, but it's also for correction and teachers and leaders help correct you and tell you which way, no, you're hittin' the wrong way, that's the wrong way, don't go that way, go that way, okay? So, I pray for the people
closest to my heart, family and friends, and I pray for teachers and leaders who help lead me, direct me, point the way. Okay, the third finger, this is the tallest finger you have, okay? And who are, the people or the tallest here, these are the people who
stand out in society, these are the influencers. So write down the word influencers. The Bible says we're to we're to pray for the people
who influence the world, 'cause we want people
influencing for good, not for bad. And if we get the wrong influence, society goes down. We get the right influence, we get the society goes up. But these people, they stand out in a crowd, they're tall. Who are the influencers
in our society today? Athletes, movie stars, musicians, artists, you know sports heroes, we need to pray, are you pray for those celebrities? Do you pray for prominent
people in the world? The Bible says you should so that you can have an easier life. And the Bible says we're to
pray for those stand out, those who are in authority, and those who influence, 'cause it gives us an
easier life, alright? So, my family and friends, my teachers and my leaders, the people who influence the world and who make life either better or worse. Now the fourth finger, I don't know if you've
noticed this or not, but this is your weakest finger. You can't hold anything with this finger. It's really pretty weak. This is pray for the weak, it's pray for the sick, when they're sick, you should pray for sick people, you pray for poor people, this is the finger that's
represents children. Pray for children, they're too weak on their own. They need adult guidance. This is pray for elderly people who are too weak, who can't take care of themselves anymore. Maybe they're in a rest home or whatever. This is for people who are handicapped, any kind of weakness. A mental weakness, a physical weakness, a handicap, an emotional weakness, any kind of weakness. So I pray for my family and friends, I pray my teachers and leaders, I pray for the people in the world who influence it for good or bad, we want 'em to influence for good and then I pray for the weak. I pray for the poor. The Bible says to pray for the poor and to pray for the sick and if you have somebody get sick, you pray for them and if you get sick, we should pray for you, okay? Now the last one, the littlest finger, that represents me, myself. I pray for myself last, after I've prayed for everybody else, I pray for myself last. Now it's okay to pray for yourself. I pray for my own needs and you wanna pray for your needs too, but I don't start selfishly. I start thinking about everybody else. And that's who to pray for. Now if you've spent, you know 20 seconds on each of those, that's gonna take up some
time right there, alright? Now, what do you pray? That's your right hand. And each of these fingers represent five things to pray for, okay? So, on your right hand, my thumb again is closest to my heart, so the first thing I wanna pray for, write this down, is my heart. I pray for my heart. The Bible says out of your
heart comes the issues of life. The Bible says guard your heart, it controls your life. Jesus says, "Love God
with all your heart". That's the most important command. The Bible says do everything
with your heart for God. So, he says, "Love God
with all your heart, and love your neighbors as yourself". This is the one all about love. So when I'm praying, what do I pray? I pray for my heart. "God, is my heart right with you? "Is anything in between me and you, "is there any barrier or any bondage, "anything I need to confess"? I can pray for my heart, I can pray for the heart of my wife, you can pray for the
heart of your husband, you can pray for the heart of your kids, you can pray for the heart of your boss, you can pray for the heart of leaders, you can pray for my heart as your pastor, as your spiritual coach, you can pray for the
heart of people around you and so you first off, you start with praying for your heart and for everybody else's heart. Okay now this finger
here is your index finger and I said it points the way, but it also says, you know what's most important? What should do I first? And so this represents, now I pray for my priorities and schedule. That's the second thing to pray for. First you pray for your heart, second you pray for your priorities and your schedule. "God, what should be
first in my life today? "How can I put first things first"? If you're not praying for your schedule, God isn't blessing your schedule. If you're not praying for your priorities, God isn't blessing your priorities. When I get up every morning, one of the first things I do is pray for, Okay God, what do you
want me to do first today? That's one of the first things I pray? God, what do you want me to do first? What should be the number one priority? If I saw your to do list, you probably have a bunch of things on it, 40, 50 things, they're not all of equal value right? Not only should you have a to do list, you should have a don't do list. Things you shouldn't do. Because not everything is worth doing, God doesn't expect you to do everything. He wants you to do the
most important thing. The Bible says seek
first the kingdom of God and all these other things
will be added unto you. And so, first I pray for my heart and I pray for all your hearts and then I pray for my priorities, what's number one? First things first. Don't major on minors, major on majors, what should I do first? I pray for my schedule, what should I do second? Things like that. So, priorities and schedule is the second thing I pray. Then, the third thing I pray, is again you got the tallest finger here and that's the one that stands out, that's the one that
everybody sees the most and this is where you need to pray for your influence. I pray for my influence and I pray for my example, because what are people
gonna see first in me? And so when I'm praying I say, "Lord, I'm gettin' ready
to start a new day. "People are gonna see things in my life, "it's gonna stand out, "it's gonna stand up
above everything else, "and so I wanna be a good influence today. "I don't wanna be a bad influence, "I wanna be a good witness, "I wanna be a good example". So you're praying for your influence. It's okay to pray for God to give you more influence. That's okay. It's okay for God, to pray for God, to help you be an example to other people. That's okay. And so I pray for my heart and then I pray for my
priorities and schedule and then I pray for my influence and my example. "God help me to be a good
example today at work, "that people see Jesus in me". Okay? Then we come to the fourth and you know that's your ring finger, you know you're ring finger, and so the fourth thing you pray for is relationships. You pray for your relationships and you go, "God, my relationship to my friends, "my relationship to my family, "my relationship to my
spouse if I'm married, "my relationship to my small group, "my relationship to
the people I work with, "my relationship to people
I serve in ministry with", you pray for your
relationships around you. And then five, the fifth one, the little finger, you pray for material blessings. Material blessings and you ask God to bless
your life materially. There's nothing wrong with asking God to bless your life materially. In fact, over and over in scripture you're commanded to pray for God, pray to God for material blessing. And the Bible says you have naught because you asked naught. Now God's not supposed to
make everybody a millionaire. He doesn't say that. But just a couple of
verses after this verse he says this, "My God will supply all your needs "according to His riches and glory "by Christ Jesus". All your needs. God'll supply all my needs, not all my greeds, but all my needs. God hasn't said, "Oh, I'm gonna give everybody
a you know, a Mercedes "or a Bentley". No, no, he says, "But it's okay to pray "for material blessing". The Bible says that it's
okay to pray for it. It's just not the most important thing. It's that last thing I pray for. Now the businessman who only prays that his business will succeed, you make a lot of money, has already missed this, and already missed this. It's okay to pray for that, it's just last. It's just in the last place. So that makes sense? So when you pray, okay let's just see if we can remember what we can remember. Okay on my hand on who to pray for, what does the thumb represent? - [Congregation] Family and friends. - Family and friends, people closest to my heart, okay? And then my index finger? Go that way, you point the way or don't you do that, okay? Okay and then the tallest finger pray for? - [Congregation] Influence. - Got it, got it, influencers. The people who stand out in our society. Celebrities and others who influence society for good or bad, we want 'em to influence for good, okay? Then the weakest finger is what? Yeah, people who are sick, people who are poor, the elderly, children, people with special needs, all the people that are
marginalized by society. You know, people who
don't have the advantages, pray for those who are in a period of weakness. And then the smallest finger's what? - [Congregation] Myself. - Myself, yeah. I pray for me and it's perfectly fine
to pray for yourself. I just don't start with me. Okay? And then, on the right hand, they're five things we pray. And the first one is my what? - [Congregation] My heart. - My heart. "God is my heart right with you? "I want my heart to be right with you"? The Bible says the most
important thing in life is to love God with all my heart and love my neighbors as self. It's all about love, okay? And then I pray for the heart of my kids and I pray for the heart of my spouse, or I pray for the heart of my friends, or I pray for the heart
of my co-workers, okay? And then, what's this? - [Congregation] Priorities. - Priorities and? - [Congregation] Schedule.
- Schedule. "What should I do first today"? You ask God, "Help me to get the most
important thing done today "and not worry about all the stuff "that I was left undone", okay? Then tallest is what? My example and my influence okay? And "Lord help me to be a
good example of you today. "Help me to be a good influence today, "a good witness today". And then the ring finger? - [Congregation] Relationships. - Relationships, alright. And then the, the little finger? - [Congregation] Material blessing. - Material blessing. You got it? Okay now, if you could remember that, if you spent 15 seconds on each one, pretty soon your time's up. And you're going, "I could
never pray five minutes". Yes you can. And just like this, just like this. Now I wanna challenge
you for the next 30 days, and by the way, why are we doing this for 34 days? Because it takes about
30 days to build a habit. You gotta do it every day. I don't want you just doing it every day, for 30 days, I want you to do it the rest of your life. But if you don't this for 30 days, you're certainly not gonna
do it the rest of your life. But if you will build these
four habits into your life, first don't worry about anything, I automatically seek God, I focus on God, not the problem. And then I pray about everything, you're gonna have breakthrough. I want you to do this three times a day for five minutes, morning, afternoon and evening for 34 days. Try it, you'll like it. (congregation laughing) Okay? You can do this, you can do this alright? Now, let me show you a
great thing that Jesus says. Up here in Matthew 6:6, from the Message paraphrase says this. Jesus says, "Here's what I want you to do. "I want you to find a
quiet, secluded place", you know, for these three times a day when you do five-minute
conversation with God, "so you won't be tempted
to role-play before God". In other words, you're not doing this
in front of other people to show off, you're not standing up
in Starbucks saying, "Oh Dear God", you know, "yeah wow that guy's really holy, "look at him over there praying". And then they go, "Wow". No, no, you don't do
this in front of anybody, you do it by yourself. "Here's what I want you to do. "Find a quiet, secluded place", so you're not showing off, "you're not role-playing before God. "Just be there as simply and
honestly as you can manage "and the focus will shift from you to God "and you will begin to sense His grace". And that is what you
need for a breakthrough. You need God's grace in your life. Now here's the third habit. Worry about nothing, pray about everything, third is thank God in all things. Thank God in all things. I said it earlier, gratitude is the breakthrough attitude. The more grateful you are in life, the more breakthroughs
you'll have in life. The more grateful you are in life, the more breakthroughs
you'll have in life. This is the third part of Philippians 4:6. Ask God for whatever you need, but always do it, circle these two words, with thanksgiving. He says, "It's okay to ask, "whatever you need, "just ask God, "but do it with thanksgiving. "Asking Him with a thankful
heart for all He's done". If you're kids came to you all the time, and said, "Hey, daddy, "give me, give me , give me, give me, mommy, give me, give me, give me and they never told you, "I love you", or they never said, "Thank you". You'd begin to wonder, do they even care about me or am I just seen as a vending machine? You know, you pull the lever and you get whatever you need. Whenever you ask God for
something in your life, you should be grateful for all the stuff He's already given you. And he says, "No matter what you ask for, "you need to ask with the
attitude of gratitude. "you need to ask it with thanksgiving". And he says, "Ask God whatever you need, "but do it with thanksgiving, "asking Him with a thankful heart "for all He's done". 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will
for you in Christ Jesus. Now, notice, it says this is God's will. A lot of people go, "I'd like to know God's will for my life, "I don't even know what it is, "I haven't the foggiest idea, "what is God's will for my life"? God's not gonna show step two until you do step one and here's step one. Be grateful. This is God's will. If you're not being grateful, if you're not thanking
God in prayer every day, why is God gonna show you step two? He says, "My will is this. "First be grateful for what "I've already given you. "You're life, your breath, your mind, "your eyes, your ears, your senses, "your freedom, your brain, "the air you breathe, "the food you eat, "everything that you
have is a gift from Me". And he says, "Be grateful in all things". Now circle the word in. Give thanks in all circumstance. It does not say, give thanks for all circumstances. Big difference. There are a lot of things in life, you should not be thankful for. If somebody in your family gets cancer, or you know has leukemia, you should not be thankful for disease. No, that would be masochistic. You should never be thankful for evil. When a woman is abused, or a child is molested, or a baby is killed, or somebody gets raped, you should never be thankful. It doesn't say for all things give thanks. It says in every circumstance, not for, in, why? Because even in bad things, God can bring good out of it. It's not good, there's a lot of bad in the world. War is bad, bigotry is bad, racism is bad, people hurting each other is bad, lying, gossiping, those are bad things. We shouldn't be grateful for those things. But God says, "I am bigger
than even in your sin, "and I can actually bring
good even out of bad". He turns crucifixions into resurrections, He can bring blessings out of buffeting. He can bring promises out of pain. He can bring good out of bad. That's what God does. He transforms the bad things in our lives into good things and he uses them for good. So it doesn't say, you're supposed to be grateful
for bad things that happen. No, that's wrong. You don't have to be that. But in everything, you can be grateful. Why? Because I know, a, God has a plan for my life, b, God can use everything in my life, c, it's not gonna last forever, the pain, four, I'm going to heaven, five, He's gonna use it for my character. I could give you 50 things that I could be thankful for. And instead of saying, "Why
is this happening to me"? I should be asking, "What
do you want me to learn"? When I learn, then I grow more like Christ, that's a good thing. And so he says, "Thank God in all things". And so God wants you to give thanks. We're gonna have Thanksgiving this week, but Thanksgiving for a
Christian is not a holiday. Thanksgiving is a lifestyle. You should be giving thanks every single day of your life. Now it is sad to me, that Thanksgiving is really
not about Thanksgiving to God anymore. Today, on Thursday, there will be very little actual Thanksgiving to God. Maybe there might be a very brief prayer before everybody digs in and start eatin' the food. But today, Thanksgiving in America is primarily about football and food, not about God. And almost, even Christian families, will give that much time on Thanksgiving day in
actual thanksgiving. It will be primarily takin' up by watching football, fixing the meal, eating the meal and cleaning up the meal. So I wanna recommend that you actually set aside some time on Thanksgiving to actually give thanks. The Bible says this, Psalms 16:17, I will offer you
my sacrifice of thanksgiving. God says that when you
express thanks to God, He accepts it as a sacrifice. It's like you're making a sacrifice to God when you express your thanksgiving. So how do you do that? Let me give you a couple of ways. I could give you 10 or 12, I'll just give you two real quick. Here's one way you can
give thanks in all things. Number one, by writing
out a thank you list. You could write out a thank you list and I would encourage you to do that since this is Thanksgiving week, this would be a good week to do it. You might even do it on
your fasting day on Monday. Sit down and make a list of 50 things you're thankful to God for. There's something real about actually writing it out. If you sit there with your eyes closed, you try to think up 50 things, you'll probably go to sleep. (laughing) So don't do that. Keep your eyes open, pull out a piece of paper. Francis Bacon said,
"Reading makes a man broad, "writing makes a man exact". Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific and when you write something down, that's specific. God, I wanna thank you for this, God, I wanna thank you for this, God, I wanna thank you for this. See if you can come up
with a list of 50 things to thank God for and write those down. The Bible says in Psalms 118:1, Tell the Lord how thankful you are. So that's an attitude of gratitude, it is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Here's another way, God tells us to give thanks. By giving God a thanksgiving offering. By giving God a thanksgiving offering. We do a thanksgiving offering
every year at Saddleback. We do it because God says to do it. He said it for thousands of years. "On Thanksgiving", he says, "you give me an offering". Why? Thanks and giving go together, duh. The way we give thanks, and the way we express our thanksgiving is by giving and so it's not a selfish day, it's an unselfish day and we give a portion back
to God as an offering. And we say, "God, you blessed us so much". You know, long before the Pilgrims thought up the idea of Thanksgiving, thousands and thousands of years earlier, God had said, "Once a year, "I want you to have a day of thanksgiving, "I want you to have a feast, "I want you to celebrate, "I want you to eat "and I want you to give me an offering". It's all through the Old Testament. Here's an example. Deuteronomy 16:10, Celebrate the Harvest Festival, that's what Thanksgiving is, all of the harvest, to honor the Lord your God, by bringing Him a thanksgiving offering in proportion to the
blessing He's given you. So this week you know what you need to do? You need to go back and say, "Did God bless me any this year"? And if He did, you give Him an offering of some kind. He said, "In proportion to the blessing". If you were blessed a lot, you give a lot. If you're blessed a little, you give a little. He said, "In proportion to
the blessing He's given you". And I express my thanks by giving. Now, you know, I'm not, don't
have to talk about this, but we've got the
Thanksgiving offering envelope or you can give online and those who are watching online, you can make a Thanksgiving
offering online. The bottom line is that I give my thanks to God
by actually giving, alright? Let's go to the fourth habit. I worry about nothing, I pray about everything, I thank God in all things, I begin to develop these habits and we're gonna develop 'em over 34 days and here's the fourth one. I stayed focused on true things. I stayed focused on true things. And that's what the Bible says in verse chapter four of Philippians verse eight. And this is all about a mental change. A mental fix, a mental switch. Philippians 4:8, Fix your thoughts on things that are true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable and fill your mind with thoughts that are excellent and worthy of praise. Now notice in that verse, you might underline this, fix your thoughts, think about things and fill your mind. This is a mental habit. Fix your thoughts, think about things and fill your mind. Friends, this is the fourth
key to a breakthrough in your life. And it's just as important
as the other three, thanksgiving and praying and fasting. He says, "You gotta stay
focused on true things". Now that fact is, your mind is bombarded with lies every single day. You lie to yourself, in fact you lie to yourself more than you lie to anybody else. And you tell yourself things are good, when they're not as
good as they should be, you tell yourself things are really bad, when they're not as bad
as you think they are. But we lie to ourselves all time. Other people lie to you, but most of all, society lies to you. And you're bombarded every days with lies that simply
aren't true about you. Our society says this, if you're not beautiful, you don't matter. Advertisements, movies, everything around you, tells you, if you're not good lookin', you don't matter. That's a lie. Our society tells you, if you're not wealthy, you don't matter. It's not true, it's a lie. Our society tells you when
you're in school growing up, if you're not good at
academics or athletics, you don't matter. You're the non-entity student, you don't get the rewards. It's a lie, you do matter. The society tells you, if you're not smart, if you don't think a certain way, you don't matter, it's a lie. This world is full of lies about you and you've believed many of them and you have felt bad about yourself and they're just not true. You matter to God, you're His child and that's what makes you important. The fact that if God created you and Christ died for you and the Spirit lives in you, you're not junk. You're of supreme value. But there a lot of things you've been told all through your life, some by your parents, some by your friends, some by teachers and they just weren't true. Some of you were told, you're uncoordinated, some of you, you'll never amount to anything. You've heard things that just aren't true. Now the only way to counter those lies is you've got to fill
your mind with the truth. Jesus said "When you
know the truth", what? "It'll set you free". To be set free means to have a breakthrough. I want you to be set free in the next 34 days. The only possible way you can do that is you gotta be in this book every day, even if it's just for a few minutes. I mean think about this scale. Over here, you're spending hours on social media or internet or Netflix or TV or radio or all the other
sources of media out there and seconds with this book. Well how in the world are you gonna have a healthy mind if you're filling your mind with lies instead of the truth? God will never lie to you, everybody else does. Not everything you hear is true, not everything you tell yourself is true and so you've got in to this book every day. Now where are you gonna get that truth? From the Word of God. That's why, during the next 34 days, Pastor Tom and I have
been working on this, we're going to send you, you're gonna give me your e-mail, I will send you, twice a day, a section of scripture for you to read and think about. I'm talking about somethin' that takes a couple of minutes. It's not a long thing. And every morning for 34 days, you're gonna get the Daily Hope Devotional that I write. And it goes to almost a million people now around the world. And it's a section of scripture and some thoughts about it to fill your mind. You let God talk to you before you talk to Him and then in the evening, we're gonna send you Pastor
Tom's Drivetime Devotion, which is an audio, a couple of three minutes, four minutes, you listen to it and it will encourage you and in fact as a family
you might wanna listen to it as a family, 'cause we're gonna be
talkin' about Christmas and it's all about Advent. The days leading up to Christmas and it'll be real inspirational and that way you're gonna get at least twice a day, a daily shot of God's Word. Now, what's the result if
I do these four things? If I get my focus off my worries and get 'em on God. If I pray about everything, instead of worrying everything. If I thank God in all things, and if I keep my mind on the right thing, what's the result? Well, verse seven, look at this, here's what is says on the screen. If you do this, you will experience God's peace. Hello, I like that. Which is far more wonderful and far more powerful than we can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and emotions at rest as
you trust in Christ Jesus. Wouldn't you like to have that? We're getting ready to go into December. That's the most stressful
month of the year, because of Christmas and all of the expectations on that. And how would you like to have your heart and your mind and your thoughts and your emotion at rest? That's a breakthrough everybody needs. Less stress, more rest. Anybody want that? Less stress, more rest. Yeah, I'd like that one. Well, it says do these four habits that we're gonna do together. Now let me close with a really
powerful promise of God. It's in Job chapter 11. This is gonna blow your mind. This is what God says if you'll do these things. Seek God and the things
we just talked about. Here's what the Bible says, Job chapter 11. Surrender your heart to God, okay? That's, I resolve to seek the Lord, that's what Jehoshaphat did. Surrender your heart to God, stretch out your hands to Him in prayer, we just talked about a
simple way to do that. You can do it like this, you can do it like this. Stretch out your hands to Him in prayer, and give up all your secret sins, then, instead of feeling shame, you'll be confident and fearless. As your pastor, who loves you, I want you to be confident and fearless. I want you to more confident and I want you to be more fearless on Christmas Eve than you are today, 34 days earlier. He says, "If you do those things", and then he says this, here's the rest of the promise. "Your troubles will go away "like water beneath a bridge". I like that. "Your darkest hour will
become as bright as morning". I like that. "You'll feel safe and secure". I like that. "Filled with hope", I like that. "Emptied of worry", I like that, "and you will sleep without fear". You're gonna sleep better. Anybody want that? That's good stuff. This is not Madison Avenue talking, this is God talking. You just gotta do it, God's way. Are you ready for a breakthrough? Are you willing to start practicing these four habits? It's five-minutes a day, three times a day, for 34 days. You can do this. You can do this. Are you willing to show your seriousness by starting on Monday with a day of fasting? You can go without food for a day. Now if you're pregnant, you got diabetes, you can do it, I'm gonna send you a guide to fasting, and they're different ways to do fasts and I'll send it to you. But what you need to do, is everybody take your card, take your bulletin right now, your program and let's rip this off. The little I need a breakthrough. Most of you have already signed up, 12,000 families have already signed up, but if you haven't, I want you to, everybody pull this out right now okay? I need a breakthrough, 'cause I can't help you, if you don't give me your e-mail. I need a breakthrough so from now until Christmas Eve I commit to be a part of our Church-wide 34 days of Seeking God. You're gonna have the whole
Church praying for you and you're gonna be praying for your brothers and
sisters in this Church. The Bible says, when David defeated the
forces coming against him, he said, "God has broken through "my opposition like breakthrough, "like the breakthrough of waters". Okay, here are the two commitments. First I commit to having a five minute conversation with God, three times a day for the next 34 days. To seek God for a breakthrough in my life. You can check that box. I'll let God speak to me, through reading Pastor Rick's Daily Hope e-mail
Devotions in the morning, it's just a couple of minutes and listening to Pastor Tom's audio, Drivetime Devotions in the evening and then I'll talk to God in prayer. The daily times that I'm setting for these three five-minute
conversations are, one in the morning, afternoon, evening. You might say 6 am to 6:05, or 6:25-6:30 and then you know, 4:00-4:05 or 10:35-10:40. You know, we've been tallying all these, we have almost every
single moment of the day covered by our Church now. It's pretty cool. That our entire Church together is gonna be praying, people are gonna be praying for you almost every minute of the day for the next 34 days. That's a big deal. That's what family's do. We pray for each other. And so we'll do that and then the second thing. To show my seriousness to God, I'll start these 34 days by participating in all
Church day of fasting on Monday, November
21, using Pastor Rick's guide to fasting and prayer and I'll send that on Sunday afternoon. Now I need you to fill
out your name and e-mail on the backside, 'cause I don't have that, I can't send you the stuff every day. The stuff to read, God's speaking to you, and the stuff to pray. But if you'll fill that out and then drop it in the basket as we give our offerings, I'll get your note. Let's bow our heads. Father, as we start this 30-day journey, 34-day journey of seeking You, we wanna know Your heart, we need breakthroughs, each of us need breakthroughs in different areas of our lives and I'm asking you in advance to hear the prayers of our Church family as we pray to You, as we pray for ourselves and especially as we pray for each other. I pray God that we'll have story after story after story after story in the next 34 days of things that'll be turning around in lives because we did what You said to do. Now you pray. Say God, I, I need a
breakthrough in my life and I wanna develop these
four habits in my life and I commit to having a five
minute conversation with You, three times a day, for the next 34 days. I wanna listen to You from Your Word and I wanna talk to you in prayer and I wanna lift my hands, knowing who to pray for and what to pray for and I wanna do it just a short time every day. And Lord, to show my seriousness, I'm gonna participate in this all day Church day of fasting on Monday and I want you to know God, I'm serious, that I wanna grow and I don't wanna stay at the same level, I don't wanna be stuck, I don't wanna be in an impasse, I need You to do a breakthrough in my life and You know where I need it and so I'm gonna do what You tell me to do and I'm gonna expect You to
do what You say You'll do. If you've never opened
your life to Jesus Christ, say Jesus Christ, make yourself real to me, say Jesus Christ, I wanna get to know you, I wanna open my life to you, I wanna learn to trust you, thank you for loving me, thank you that you have
a purpose for my life, thank you for dying on the cross for me. As best I know how, I ask you to come into my life, in your name I pray, Amen.
