- Merry Christmas Saddleback! And I wanna say hi to all of our campuses. I hope they sound as wild
and crazy as Lake Forest did just a second ago. I love singing Christmas carols. You know, normally I
don't prepare a message on this weekend because
I am always this weekend getting ready for the marathon of one zillion Christmas services. Resting my voice, my mind,
preparing anything like that. But we're in this series that we've been in now for about four weeks. Four messages on seeking
God for a breakthrough. And over 22,000 homes in our church. Home and individuals have signed up to be a part of seeking
God for Breakthrough. In which we have committed to pray for five minutes a day, three times a day. Once in the morning,
once in the afternoon, once in the evening. Like Daniel did when we
did that Daniel study. To pray for a breakthrough. In your own life, in the
life of friends and family, in the life of our church, in our nation. And I'm just having so much fun and deeply moved reading the
stories that you're turning in. You can go online and write
your story of your breakthrough. Or you can fill it out on the flap in the bulletin each week. We're collecting all these stories. Some of them are flat out amazing. Maybe one week I'll just read stories because they are amazing. When God's people pray and
are consistent about it, then God just does things that he's never always done before. Now today I want us to look at why must I keep on praying persistently? And the reason why I wanna deal with this is because of all of the
mysteries about prayer. And there are a lot of them. There are a lot of things about prayer I do not understand. I don't always understand how it works with the sovereignty of
God, and the will of man, and when you're praying for other people and they have a free will. I don't understand at all. I know that just God said do it. And he says it over and over and over 20 times in the New Testament. He says ask, I want you to ask. You have not because you ask not. Now since our heavenly Father loves us, we know that. And since we know that he
wants to answer prayer, he's commanded us to ask for prayer, he has given us multiple
promises about prayer, and he says I wanna ask
and I wanna answer quickly. He's eager to meet our needs. The question then is,
then why do I have to pray more than one time? Why do I have to make the same request over and over to God? If I want what I'm asking for in prayer, and if God is clearly loving and as we saw in the last message,
he's never gonna give you something bad, he's never give
you something detrimental, he's never gonna give you
something harmful, or unhelpful. But he will always give you
what's good and what's best. He'll never give you a bad gift. And if God wants to do that, why do I have to ask multiple times? Jesus said, we looked at this last week. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. And that's a mystery to a lot of people. Why can't I just say one
time and then God gives it? And he knows that. The Bible many times talks about being persistent in prayer. One example is there on your outline. Colossians chapter 4:2. "Be persistent in prayer." In other words keep on
asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Don't just pray one time about something. Keep on praying. "Be persistent in prayer,
and keep alert as you pray." In other words don't fall
asleep when you pray. That's a good principle to remember there. I was resting in the Lord, you know? (everyone laughs) "Keep alert as you pray, "always giving thanks to God." Now we've looked four times at prayer. And every time it adds, give
thanks when you're asking. That we ask God of a grateful heart. Gratitude for the past,
we're asking about the future but he says, "Always be grateful for "what God has already given you." So why do I have to ask
over and over and over and over and over? Does God have to be cajoled? Does He have to be pestered? Does God have to be bothered? Do I have to wear God down? Do I have to beg and beg and beg and bribe and plead and cry and bother? Until finally God just goes
"Okay enough already, shut up. "I'm gonna give it to ya." Is that what kind of God we serve? The answer is absolutely not. That is not at all the reason. God says I want you to ask multiple times. It's not for His benefit and it's for our benefit. In fact, we're gonna
look at two stories today that Jesus told that teaches the exact opposite of that idea. That I have to wear God down. That I have to keep
pestering, and bargaining, and bribing, and finally God
just goes, okay I give in. You can have this. In fact, Jesus told two parables that teach the exact opposite thing. Now by the way, what is a parable? You've heard this word, parable. A parable is simply a story with a point. A parable is not just a story, it's a story with a lesson. It's a story with an insight. It's a story with a truth that God wants you to get. And the Bible tells us that Jesus never taught without using parables. He was the master story teller. And these stories still
relate to us 2,000 years later 'cause he was such a master story teller. And he would just deal
with slices of life. Now, there are two kinds of
parables you need to understand. There are comparing parables and there are contrasting parables. Let me explain this. In a comparing parable,
Jesus tells a story and he's saying, this compares to God. God is like this. Like the loving father in the
story of the prodigal son. God is like that. And when Jesus tells a
story where he's saying, "This is what God is like." That's a comparing parable. But sometimes He says,
"God is not like this." That's a contrasting parable. It's a contrasting parable. No way the people of
the world are like this, but God's not like this. The two stories we're gonna look at today, they're very brief. Actually are contrasting. And God is saying "I am not at all "like the people in this story." And he's getting rid of the idea that you have to beg and
bargain and bribe God to have an answer to prayer. So let's look at these two stories and then we'll kind of unpack them. The first one is in Luke chapter 11. And it's the story of a persistent friend. Look up here on the screen. And here's what this story is all about. "Once when Jesus had been out praying, "His disciples asked
"Lord teach us to pray." We talked about this last week. And by the way, when he
said, teach us to pray, He taught them what is now
known as the Lord's Prayer. And He taught them the model prayer. He says, "Okay, here's how you start it. "Our Father." Remember we talked about that last week. It all starts with the right relationship. God is not some force in the sky. He is not a force, He's your Father. And He's not like any human Father who is inconsistent, and
uncaring, and distant, and distracted, and sometimes demeaning. This God, this Father is caring, He's consistent, He is a competent, He's capable, and He is always with you. He's close. And so He says, "Our
Father who art in heaven "hallowed be your name. "Your kingdom come, your will be done, "on earth as it is in heaven. "Give us this day our daily bread "and forgive us our debts, our trespasses, "as we forgive those who
have sinned against us. "And lead us not into temptation "but deliver us from evil. "For yours is the kingdom and the power "and the glory forever, amen." Now at the end of next year, we're actually gonna go through this prayer again for over 12
weeks and look at each phrase. Because every one of these phrases deal with one of the main causes of hopelessness in our society. Every single one of them deals with a cause of hopelessness. We've covered the Lord's prayer before. We did it about eight years ago. And at the end of next year we're gonna look at it in detail. But after Jesus taught
them the Lord's prayer, He then told them this story. Here's what He says. "But then He said, "Suppose you went to your
neighbor's house at midnight "and knocked on his door." Double hmmm. "And said, "An out of town guest "has just arrived at my place. "He's hungry and I've
got nothing to feed him, "so I need to borrow
three loaves of bread." Would you do that with your neighbor? Wake 'em up at midnight. This is the persistent neighbor. "Now your neighbor would probably whisper "from the inside of his house, "Don't bother me! "The door is already
locked for the night." And he's saying this from the bedroom. Maybe out the window. "The door is already locked for the night, "we're all in bed! "I can't wake up everybody
just to help you." Now he says, "But even though he would not "help you out of friendship,"
at that particular moment. "If you keep persistently
knocking at his door (knocking), "He's gonna get up and he's
gonna give you what you need "because of your persistence." All right already. He says you just keep on knocking. "So," Jesus says. "I tell you this." This is a parable by contrast. "Keep on asking and you'll get it. "Keep on seeking and you'll find. "and keep on knocking and
the door will be open to you. "For everyone who asks, receive, "and everyone who seeks, will find. "And if you keep on knocking, "the door will be opened to you." Now just in case we
didn't get that message, he says I'm not like that guy who's not gonna give it to
you out of friendship. He's just giving it to you to get you out of his hair. He says, the principle there is, you should keep on knocking. Keep on asking, keep on seeking. And Jesus wants you so badly to understand why you should pray about
something more than once. That He doesn't just give you one story, He gives us two. And let's look at the second parable. And in this He wants to emphasize that you should never never never give up praying for something
that you're asking for until you've got it. Now here's the second story. And it's in chapter 18 of Luke. And it's the first eight verses. This is called the Story
of the Persistent Widow. Similar theme. It's "One day," it's a different day. "Jesus told His disciples another story "to illustrate that they should always "keep on praying and never give up." Now before we take that verse down, I want you to notice something. He says "You should always keep on praying "and never give up." In your life, you are always
doing one or the other. If you're not praying, you're giving up. And if you're giving up, if you're discouraged this weekend, it's because you're not praying. Jesus said, "We should
always pray and not give up." What is the opposite of discouragement? Persistent prayer. What is the opposite of
not praying persistently? Discouragement. So you can go through
life either discouraged or diligent. You can be pressured into
feeling bad about it, or you can be persistent in praying. And He says, throughout life, you're always doing one or the other. Anytime you get discouraged
you should ask yourself, have I stopped praying persistently? That's why you're discouraged. 'Cause you've gotten your eyes off of God and onto yourself. On the otherhand, if you're
praying persistently, it eliminates discouragement in your life. You're gonna pray or you're gonna give up. Now, then he says this. Here's the story. "There once was a big
city judge," Jesus says. "Who didn't care at all
about God or people. "But there was an elderly widow who kept "coming to this judge over and over, "pleading for the judge
to protect her rights "and do something about a
man who had cheated her." I want justice, I have my rights. She keeps coming back to
the judge over and over. Judge you gotta help me. He doesn't care less about
her, he says or even God. Now it says, "For a long time, this judge "just ignored her pleas." He couldn't care less about this widow. He has no interest in her, no interest in helping her get justice
or protect her rights. "The judge just ignored
her please for help, "but eventually, he had had enough. "So he thought to himself, "Even though I don't care at all "about what God or what this woman think, "I'm tired of her pestering. "I'm tired of her pestering requests, "so I'm going to see that she gets justice "just to get her to shut up. "Just to get her to be quiet "and stop bothering me!" Note the same theme as the other story. "Then the Lord said, "Now learn a lesson "from this uncaring judge." He says, okay guys, get the point here. "Even if that corrupt, uncaring." This guy has no compassion at all. He doesn't care about you or anybody else. "Even if that corrupt, uncaring judge "eventually gave in to
that woman's request, "won't God who loves you deeply." He's saying this guy is not like me. "Won't God who loves you deeply "surely give you what is right, "if you keep crying out
to him day and night?" Jesus tells two stories to teach the exact same truth. Anytime Jesus tells two
stories to teach one truth, it's that important. Why you should never give
up in praying for something. Not to go well I prayed
and nothing happened so I just gave up on it. Now here's the contrast. He says, "God listens to you, "God cares, and God wants to answer "even if people don't." Even if your neighbor doesn't. They think you're being rude, here in the middle of the night. Or even if some unjust, uncaring, unsympathetic judge says "Forget it, I have no time for you." He said God is not like either of them. He listens, He cares. And the point is this. That God is eager to answer your prayers. So, why then doesn't God just answer it the first time I ask? Why does He want me, and it says it over and over in scripture, to keep on praying, keep on seeking, keep on asking, keep on knocking. Why does God want me to be persistent? Number one, because it keeps my attention focused on God. When you pray about something
over and over and over, where's your attention? It's focused on God. Now I've told you this many times. Attention is the greatest
gift you can give somebody. Guys, the greatest
gift, if you're married, the greatest gift you can give your wife is your attention. The greatest gift you can give
your kids is your attention. Why, because your attention is your time, and your time is your life. You're never gonna get that back. You can always give people money, but you can always get more money. But you can't always get more time back. You've got the same amount of time as everybody else, 168 hours a week. And when you give your
attention to somebody, when you look someone in the eye, you're saying, you matter to me. You're valuable, you're
worth part of my life. It's the highest gift you can give. People crave attention. God wants your attention. The Bible says God is
constantly thinking about you. How about if you thought about somebody all the time and they
never thought about you? Well that probably was true when you were in junior high school. 'Cause there's somebody you
thought about all the time and they were totally oblivious to you. And you know how painful that was that they did not even notice you when all you could do
was think about them. Because you were in love in
your mind with that person. God says, I want your attention. And so when you pray about something over and over and over, you give God your attention. God loves to have your attention because He's always thinking about you. One of the reasons God loved king David in the Old Testament of the Bible is because David gave God
his attention all the time. Look at these two verses. Psalm 25:15 David says, "My eyes are continually "looking to the Lord." That's another word for being persistent. "I'm continually looking
to the Lord for help. "And He alone can rescue
me from all the traps." It's supposed to be plural. "All the traps." You know what, you're
gonna have a lot of traps in your life this next week. He's the only one who
knows them in advance. Have you ever gone up a mountain road and you're behind a truck and they're slow and you'd like to pass them but you can't see around the curve? And how great it would
be if you could call in like a helicopter and they could say yeah it's clear around the corner. 'Cause they could see what you can't see. God could see what you can't see. He could see the traps you're gonna have this next week, this
next month, this next year. He says focus on me continually and I'll show you how to be rescued from all of the traps. Psalm 105 verse four. "Look to the Lord for His strength. "Seek His face," how often? (audience responds) Yeah, constantly. Circle that. So it keeps my attention focused on God. God wants you to keep asking because it keeps your attention focused on Him. Question, do you talk to God more when you need something? Of course you do. If you never needed anything would you talk to God as often? No. When do you talk to God the most? When you're in deep pain. So it keeps me focused on God continually. There's a second reason, and it's because having to wait teaches me about myself. Having to wait teaches me about myself. You're gonna learn some things while you're praying for an answer that you won't learn any other way. This is gonna be a mind opening message for some of you. Because you learn, not just about God. You learn about yourself when you don't get everything
you want instantly. When you pray and God says, "Well let's just see about how long it's "gonna take before that
prayer gets answered." Some prayers are answered immediately, but some take time. Weeks, months. Two of the most important
prayers I've ever prayed, one of 'em took 13 years. And one of them took almost 25 years but God answered it. And they were the most important prayers in my life at that time. Why did it take so long? Because while I was working on the prayer God was working on me. And there are a number of tests that happen when you pray about something over and over and over
that reveal more about you. Notice this verse. Zechariah says in Zechariah 13:9. God says, "I will test and purify them." That's you and me. "I'll test and purify them as
silver is purified by fire." Never wonder when you're
going through the fire when you're going through it. It's for testing and for purification. "I will test them as gold is tested." How do you test gold? You put in a big vat and you heat it up until it gets so hot that all
the impurities are burned off. And how do you know when
gold and silver is pure? Because the silversmith can
see his reflection in it. And God can see his reflection in you when all the impurities are
burned out of your life. You've been through the fire. He says, "Then after I've tested them, "after I've purified them, then they will "pray to me, and I will answer." Notice that the prayer is answered comes after the test. Does that sound vaguely familiar? We spent 10 weeks on Daniel. Looking at 10 tests of Daniel and I said before every
blessing there is a testing. And God tests you with stress before He trusts you with success. That principle in Daniel's life is one of the principles
of persistent prayer. God is gonna test you
before He blesses you. And he says I'm gonna test you. And in this test you're gonna learn a lot about yourself. If you give up praying, you're never gonna learn these lessons. You say, "Well what do I learn?" What do I specifically learn about myself when I have to pray
specifically and persistently? Well let me just mention four areas. Four areas that God wants me to grow and wants you to grow. Write these down. The first would be this. Praying persistently tests my desires. Praying persistently tests my desires. And what that means is I ask the question what do I really want? When you start praying, and many of you are
praying for a breakthrough. You're gonna find that
actually your prayer changes. It evolves, it grows, it develops. Because you're gonna say
"Well that's not really "what I wanna want. "What I really want is this or that." And praying persistently tests my desires. What I really want. Now everybody has desires. The reason you have desires is because God put them in you. Now a desire can be
misused, it can be abused, it can be perverted. The desire for a sexual relationship, that's a normal human desire. Can it be abused, in a perverted, misused, of course it can. All of God's gifts are good. But they can be misused. Fire is good in the fireplace, but fire in the wrong place
will burn a house down. Water is good in a bathtub, but water in a flood, too
much of it can drown you. Any of God's gifts can be perverted, misused, and abused by Satan. The reason why God has
certain parameters for sex is not because it's dirty. It's not, it's holy. In fact, sex is more
important than you think. It's also less important than you think. I'll do a whole message
on that some other time. But here's the point. I just peaked your interest on that one. (audience laughs) There are good desires in your life and there are bad desires in your life. There are appropriate desires in your life and there are inappropriate
desires in your life. There are helpful desires in your life and there are harmful
desires in your life. There are righteous desires in your life. There are unrighteous
desires in your life. There are constructive
desires in your life and there are destructive desires. When you pray persistently, those start to filter out. And you begin to realize
this is a good desire or this is not a good desire. Persistent praying shows the difference between a whim and a deep desire. If you ask God for something and you only ask about it one time, that's not a deep desire. It's just whim. And God is not in the business of fulfilling every whim you've got. God is in the business
as your heavenly Father of taking care of your deepest desires. God doesn't give you every little whim. You might watch something
on a shopping channel, go "I really like that." And three minutes later
you've already forgotten it. It's a whim. If you're not willing
to pray about something more than once it's not a deep desire. It's just a whim. And God doesn't promise
to meet all your whims. It's Christmas time. When my kids were little
and they used to come to me I'd take them to the mall
and we'd go to stores and they'd say 100
things that they wanted. "I like that daddy, I like that daddy. "Can I get this dad? "How about that daddy?" 100 different things. I know most of them are just whims. But when they go, "Daddy,
I really, really, really, "really, really, really, really. "Daddy, I really, really,
really want this." Now I know we're not talking about a whim. We're talking about a deep desire. But they had to say 18
really's to convince me. (audience laughs) And sometimes when you've got a prayer God goes "You just asking for that?" You wanna get married, you want a husband? You want a wife? How serious are you
willing to pray about it? Every day? Would you like a job? Whatever you want, are you willing to pray about it three times a day? Like we're doing right now and bring it before God? It kinda sifts out. Eh that's not that important to me. So the first thing that
praying persistently does is it tests my desires. By the way, have you ever wondered where your deepest desires come from? They come from God, the come from God. They're part of your God given shape. There's some things that
attract your interests, some things you couldn't care less about. Some things really turn you on, some things bore you to tears. Some things really wind your crank. Some things just give a big yawn. And all of us have different desires, different needs, different interests. That's part of your God given shape. They came from God. And God put that desire in you and then He wants you to ask and then He wants to provide for it. That builds the relationship. That builds the connection. When you have a need and then you recognize that need, and then you verbalize that need to God, and then God meets that need, what's the end result of that? You trust God more. And every time you get an answer to prayer you trust God more. That's why God wants you to pray. That's why God wants you to ask and keep on asking. But He says I want first to know what you really want in your heart. Praying tests my desires. Did you know that God wants to give you your deepest desires? He does. He just wants to make sure that He's in the first place. That He's your first desire and then everything else is second. There is almost nothing that God won't do for the woman or the man who puts God first in
every area of his life. Almost nothing. Look at this next verse. It's an amazing verse. Psalm 37:4 great promise. "Take delight in the Lord." That's a desire thing. "And He will give you," read it with me. "The desires of your heart." Holy moly. You need to write that one on a card and put it on your visor or on your refrigerator or on
your mirror in your bathroom. Delight yourself in the Lord. "Take delight in the
Lord and He will give you "the desires of your heart." God is not stingy. He's waiting on you. Delight yourself in the Lord. Pay attention to God. And when I pay attention to God it tests my desires. What do I really want? Here's the second thing
it tests, number two. Praying persistently tests my priorities. It tests my priorities. And when I have to pray for
something more than once, it's not like I'm convincing God to do it. He already is waiting to give it. He just wants to know what's
really important to me. That's the question. What's most important in my life? And so, when you pray about something it tends to clarify
what's important to you. If you don't pray about it
it's obviously not important. If you do pray about it
it obviously is important. Now if it's not worth
praying about repeatedly then it isn't a priority. By the way, do you know how to know what's important to you? What's really important to you? I don't even know what's important to me? I'll tell you what. You know what's important to you? What you worry about most. Worry tells you what's
important in your life. If you worry about it, it's important. If you don't worry about it, it's not that important to you 'cause you've given it up to God,
you've trusted Him for it, or it's not even that important to you. Worry tells you what's important to you. But every time you worry
you're acting like an atheist. Worry is practical atheism. I've said that many times. It's acting like you don't
have a heavenly Father who has promised multiple
times in this book, I will take care of
every one of your needs. When you worry you're acting like I don't have a God and I don't have a God that loves me, and I don't have a God who's promised to take
care of all my needs. So if it's to be it's up to me. I've got to take care of it myself. I've got to worry about it. Worry is an ineffective way of trying to control. Worrying about the past
won't change the past. Worrying about the future
won't change the future. Worry just messes up today. It's stewing without doing. It's a waste of time. If it's worth worrying about
it's worth praying about. And if you prayed about everything you worried about you'd have
a lot less to worry about. Worry all you want and
it won't change anything. Pray about all you want,
that will change everything. So every time you start to worry, you should stop and turn
the worry into a prayer. Does that make sense? Every time you start to
worry about anything, you stop and you turn
that worry into a prayer. Worry without, just worrying is as I said, acting like you're an unbeliever. In fact, Jesus gets right to the point in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:32 and 33. He says, "Why be like unbelievers "who worry about everything?" 'Cause they don't have any God, heavenly Father who loves
them and take care of them. Why worry? "Why be like an unbeliever
who worry about everything? "Your heavenly Father already knows." Circle that, already knows all your needs. You're not convincing God. You're not even notifying God when you have a need in prayer. "Your Father, heavenly Father
already knows your needs. "And He'll give you all you need "if your first concern is
to live for His kingdom." First concern, what is that? That is called a priority. Praying persistently tests my priorities. Now, when your priorities
are right, listen. When your priorities are right, God's answer is yes. It's yes. And when my priorities are not right, God might have another answer. And there are multiple
ones he can have for that. I'll share them with you in a minute. But when you're priorities
are right God says, He already knows your concern. He'll give you all you need if your first concern is to live for His kingdom. So really, you know. You say well I'm waiting on
God to answer this prayer. Are you waiting on God
or is God waiting on you? Maybe He wants to test is a desire. And maybe He wants to
test your priorities. What's really important to me? Look at this next verse. Psalm 84:11. This is an amazing promise. "No good thing will the Lord withhold "from those who do what is right." Wow. God says, "You know what,
your priorities are right, "you're living for me,
you're attention is with me, "you're staying connected with me, "my kingdom is your number one priority. "Guess what, anything you ask. "No good thing will I withhold from "those who walk uprightly." That's why I said earlier, there's nothing, almost nothing, God will not give the man who's totally committed to Jesus Christ. There's almost nothing God will not give to the woman who's totally
committed to Jesus Christ. He says, "No good thing
will the Lord withhold "from those who do what is right." So that leaves me to ask the question, "What's out of order in my life?" Are your priorities
out of whack right now? Is right now your job taking number one? Is right now television taking number one? Are your priorities out of order? Are you spending more time on social media than in the word of God? That's called out of order priority. He says, "No good thing will God withhold "from those who do what is right." Here's the third test. What it shows me about myself. Persistent praying tests my maturity. This is the big one. When God doesn't give
something to you immediately He is testing your maturity. He is testing your character. He's testing your responsibility. He's testing whether
you've grown up or not. It's a gut check. And I told you it last week. God is not a vending machine. He's not a genie. Just pop in the prayer like a coin and you instantly get it. He wants to reveal your character. He wants you to show you the areas where you need to grow. Persistent praying. When I ask for something
over and over and over it actually shows my maturity rather than my immaturity. What did you mean by that? If you tell a toddler you can have it in a little while, do they get that? No. Well if you tell a toddler, not yet. In a little while. If you tell a toddler
you can have it later, they typically will
throw a temper tantrum. Why? That's called immaturity. Why? Toddlers don't know how to wait. Immature humans don't know how to wait. Immature humans want it now and I want it yesterday! And I want it even
though I can't afford it. And I'll put it on a credit card and I'll buy things I don't need with money I don't have. And then I'll be in debt. And I'll be in debt for a long long time. Why? The number of one cause of most of your problems in life is the inability to delay gratification. You don't know how to wait. We're in a society that says, "I gotta have it and I gotta have it now. "Even if I can't afford
it, I'll put it on credit." Et cetera et cetera. Praying persistently
tests my maturity, why? Because toddlers don't know how to wait. They don't know the difference between no and not yet. Do you? When God doesn't give
you a prayer instantly do you just grab your blanket and your ball and go to the corner? I'm gonna go pout because
God hasn't given me. I've been praying for that for weeks, or months, or maybe even years. Don't you think your heavenly Father knows what you need more than you do? Knows when you need it,
knows why you need it, knows the best way to need it, is working behind the scenes. While you're whining God has been working. And while you're waiting God
is working on the answer. Sometimes He has to get
certain things into place. I prayed for 13 years
for land for this church. And in about 12 of those years the piece of land that we set on in the Lake Forest campus
wasn't even around. Wasn't even available,
wasn't even charted. There was no Rancho Santa Margarita City. There was no Foothill Ranch City. There was no Lake Forest in this area. The roads weren't even in. It was just cow pasture. It wasn't even available. But before God even put in my mind to come and start Saddleback, He already knew where the
first campus would be. It was just a matter of time. The domino's were falling over. And so patience is a mark of maturity. And when it comes to prayer, if God doesn't give it to you immediately do you just give up and say well I'm not gonna pray about that anymore 'cause He didn't give it to me in a month, or a year, or whatever. And just give up on it. Maturity means you know the difference between a delay and a denial. A delay is not a denial. Now a baby doesn't understand that. No and not yet mean the same thing. But when you grow up, maturity means I learned the difference between a delay and a denial. God hasn't said no to your request. But it's gonna come in His timing. Now let me just say this. God wants to meet your deepest needs. Physical, spiritual, emotional, financial, relational,
all of your deepest needs. And He's promised to meet those needs. But He's far more interested
in your character development. You've heard me say many times, God's more interested in your character than your comfort. 'Cause you're not taking all your clothes, and China, and cash to heaven. You are taking your character. In heaven, there will be no problems. This is the get ready stage. You shouldn't expect things
to be perfect on this earth. Everything is broken on this planet. God wants to meet your needs but He's more interested in growing you to become more like Christ. And one of the characteristics
of Christ is patience. The Bible says patience is
the fruit of the spirit. And how do you learn patience? Waiting. Department of Motor Vehicles. (everyone laughs) Sitting in a traffic jam, waiting in a doctor's office,
and the waiting rooms of life. And you also learn patience
by praying persistently even when you don't see any results. God is testing your character. He's testing your heart. He's testing your maturity. He's testing your patience and
all these different things. Those of you who are moms, do you remember how you felt the first time you let your first child cry themselves to sleep? "I'm such a bad mom right now." You could hear that baby
in the other room cry. And previously every time they cry you were there instantly. You're there instantly. And eventually you
learn you can't be there instantly every time they cry. And the first time you as a mother, or as a parent, as a dad, and you let that baby cry itself to sleep, question. Was that important to
that babies development? Hello? If you think somebody's gonna come wipe your nose every time
you have a problem in life, you're gonna be severely
disappointed in life. Everybody owes me everything 'cause I'm the center of attention. It's all about me. No, of course. Let me ask you another question. Those of you who are parents. Do you remember the first time you thought your child was old enough and responsible enough to leave them alone at
home while you went out? And how nervous you were the first time you did that? And you left them alone! You bad parent you. (audience laughs) And you bad bad parent! You left them alone. You thought I think they're old enough to be left alone. I think their maturity is to the level they're not gonna tear the house up, they're responsible, they're
not gonna do something stupid. And so I think they're responsible enough to leave them alone. Question. Was that incident, no matter
how painful it was to you, important to their
development and maturity? Of course it was. Of course it was. Okay, I want you to get this. When God thinks you're mature enough, He's gonna let you go to a period where you feel alone. And you don't feel His presence. And the question is am I gonna depend on my feelings or am
I gonna depend on God? It's part of your development. Your spiritual growth. You're building muscle. God doesn't want you being
living by your moods. He wants you being living
by your commitments and by your trust in His word. And when God thinks you're mature enough He's gonna leave you alone for a while and it's a character test. Some of you are in it right now. Congratulations. I haven't felt God in a long time. I feel like it's a brass ceiling there. My prayers are bouncing off. And when God leaves you alone He's actually testing a couple of things. Will you do the right
thing without supervision? Like you had to test your child. Will you keep praying when the answer isn't immediate, isn't
quick, isn't instant, isn't immediate and all of a sudden there? Will you throw a temper tantrum and say God you're not fair? And God you made all these promises and you're not keeping them? Let me show you an example of this. 2nd Chronicles 32:31. "God left Hezekiah." He was a king, a very good king. "God left Hezekiah on
his own for a while." Whoa, "To see what he would do. "God wanted to test his heart." And before God answers your
prayer for a breakthrough, He's gonna test your heart. I'm telling you this as your friend. God is gonna test your heart before the breakthrough happens. And He wants to know are you
ready to handle the blessing? We talked about that with Daniel. Before every blessing is a testing. Do you know that God once did
this for an entire nation? It's called the nation of Israel. He had a blessing for them
called the Promised Land. But before he let them
go in the Promised Land He wanted to test them if
they were mature enough, if they were ready enough,
they were responsible enough they were committed enough to handle the blessing of the Promised Land. And so He kept them out in
the desert in the wilderness. They could've gone from Egypt to Israel in a matter of weeks or months. And it took them 40 years. What were they doing? Walking around the desert for 40 years. It's just not that long. You can get across that in several months. Certainly shouldn't have taken a year. And it took 'em 40 years. Well they're getting tested. Now here's the cool thing about God. When God tests you He
wants you to succeed. And because He wants you to succeed He'll let you retake the test. And in 40 years God gave 'em
seven different attempts. You can retry for the bar exam. You can test again. And God wants you to
keep retaking the test until you pass it. Now here's what the Bible says. Deuteronomy 8:2. "The Lord led you through the wilderness "for 40 years, "humbling and testing you." Circle testing. "Humbling and testing you
to prove your character." Remember I said when God
is delaying an answer He's testing your desires,
he's testing your priorities, and he's testing your maturity. He wants to prove your character. "And to find out whether or not you would "really obey His commands." Now let's just get real honest here. When you're in pain, when I'm in pain, and we cry out to God. Either emotional pain or physical pain, or even when you're not in pain. You're just uncomfortable or you're bored. And when things aren't right in your life, what we want is we want God to remove the symptom. The painful symptom when God
wants to remove the cause. That takes a little bit more time. Let me say that again. When things are not
going good in your life you want God to just make it all happy. Put a bandaid on it, soothe it, take away the pain. Not clear up the relationship. Not deepen your character. Not change you. We want God to change the symptoms. Change the circumstance. Not change our character. We want a quick answer and God wants to cut out the cancer! We wanna feel the ease in our prayer. God wants us to heal the disease. The thing that's causing that
problem in your relationship. That's causing that
problem in your marriage. That's causing that
problem in your finances. We want God to just get us out of debt. God says, how about if we work on what caused you to get in
it in the first place? 'Cause if we get you out of debt and we don't work on the cause, you'll be back there in another year. We want to feel the ease and God wants to heal the disease. It's a whole different level. So here's the big question. When I'm praying for God to
do a breakthrough in my life, I wanna get married, I wanna get a job, I wanna see my dream come true. God wants all these things. If they're a desire that
He's put in your life and all these things are being met, God wants these things to
be true in your life too. But the first question
you have to ask yourself, am I willing to let God change me instead of changing the circumstance? Hmmm? That's a whole different issue. Am I willing to let God change me instead of God changing the
circumstance that I don't like? This is friend what's called
the point of surrender. And the point of surrender happens in every breakthrough prayer before the breakthrough happens. And if you don't get through this point you're not gonna get
through the breakthrough. Am I willing to let God change me and my attitude, and my heart, and my character, and grow me up, and change me, and make
me more like Christ? Why in the world am I
praying for this promotion or whatever else? This is the point of surrender. Look up here on the screen. Romans 6:13 says this. "Give yourself completely to God "to be used in the hands of God "for His good purposes. "Give yourself completely to God "to be used in the hands
of God for His purposes." That's the point of surrender. That's the point where you go God, this is what I want. But really more than anything else I wanna be in the center of your will. And if I need to change, go ahead, change me, I surrender finally. You know what else this does? When you're waiting, when
you keep praying and praying and the answer hasn't come and
you keep praying and praying. This is a test. It is testing persistent praying. Test my faith. And that's the most precious
thing of all, your faith. And the real issue, the question here is do I trust my feelings or my Father? I know what God has said. I hear you, I'm gonna meet your need. I will meet your need,
the answer is on it's way. Do I trust my feelings, or do I trust my Father? It is a mistake to trust your feelings. Now in our last message I said, "God will never give
you, your heavenly Father "will never give you anything
unhelpful or harmful. "He'll never give you anything
detrimental or deadly. "He'll only give you what is good." God made you. He knows you better than you know you. He knows what'll make you
happy more than you do. He knows what you need more than you do. Why don't you trust your Father? The one who made you. Who you wouldn't take the next breath if it weren't for Him. And God knows what's gonna make you happy. Now you know. I mean if you've been at Saddleback you know what God has said about this and about purpose. This next verse is one of
our most familiar verses. Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know" God says, "the plans I have for you, says the Lord. "They're plans for good and not for evil, "plans to give you a future and a hope." You're gonna trust your feelings or you gonna trust your Father? He says I have these plans but you know what happens with plans? You have to wait on God's timing. Not all plans happen overnight. In fact, the bigger God wants
to do something in your life the longer the runway it takes
to get it off the ground. When God wants to do something really big, a big breakthrough in your life, it doesn't happen boom like this. It happens when you're
going down the runway and you're praying and you're trusting and you're growing in
priorities and maturity and desires and in faith. And God says, "I'm gonna do it, "but you gotta do it in my time." Galatians 6:9. "Let us not get tired "of doing what is right, "for at the right time." Circle that phrase. At the right time, at the proper time. God's timing is perfect. He's never early He's never late. "At the right time we will," not might. "We will reap a harvest of blessing "if we don't get discouraged and give up." Your faith is more
desirable and more important and more precious than anything God could possibly give you. Now knowing this. That God wants you to keep praying. Not because you're
trying to wear Him down. You don't have to convince
God of your desires. He's already said, "Delight
yourself in the Lord "and He will give you the
desires of your heart." He's already said no good
thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. He's already said ask anything in my name and it shall be done. He's already said, "You have
not because you ask not." He's already said, I could
give you 100 scriptures. You're not trying to convince God when you keep praying for it. But in that persistence,
God is changing you. He's changing your desires,
He's purifying your desires, He's testing your character,
He's building your faith, He's strengthening your life. He's doing all of these
things for good in your life. So let me end with how
God answers prayers. Four things. I don't have to explain
this it's self explanatory. Four ways God answers prayers. I told you last week God
always answers prayer. There is no such thing
as unanswered prayer. He doesn't always answer the way you like. But God always answers prayer. And He always answers
prayers one of four ways. Here's what they go. Number one, when my request is not right God says no. Because God's not gonna give you something that's harmful for you, bad for ya, is destructive. I've already said that. He'll only give you
what's good, good for ya. God will not give you
something that's bad for you. When my request is not right, God says no. That's an answer. Number two, when I'm not right, God says grow. Now He's saying, yup I
wanna give this to ya. But you're not ready to stay
at home by yourself yet. You're not ready to
handle the responsibility. I have a blessing that's so big it would blow your mind and your character couldn't handle it. And when your professional life out paces your personal life, that's called stress. And so God says, when you're not right, God says, grow. We got a little growing here to do. In character and in
development and in surrender. Number three, when the timing's not right God says slow. He says slow. It's coming but it's not here yet. And in Habakkuk He says,
"Do not be discouraged "if the vision isn't fulfilled overnight. "Surely it will happen. "It will not be overdue a single day." God says it's coming, it's slow. We're gonna take this slow until you're ready to handle it. Pacing growth. I can give you a big
testimony about that one but I don't have time for it. Number four, "But when my requests "and the timing, and my character, "they're all lined up
right, God says, go." Those are the four ways
God always answers prayer. No, no He says sometimes. Grow He says sometimes. Slow and then He says go. So this is the reason we do what Ephesians 6:18 says. Last verse. "Pray at all times. "Pray at all times, "and on every occasion, "in the power of the Holy Spirit. "Always stay alert and be persistent "in your prayers." Not 'cause you're trying to convince God. But because these other reasons. "Be persistent in your prayers for all "Christians everywhere." I want you to circle all
of those all words okay? Pray all times, circle all. On every occasion. Circle every. Always stay alert, circle always. Be persistent in your
prayers for all Christians. You need to be praying for other people. God healed Job when he
prayed for his friends. Everywhere. Now, what is not included in that verse? Nothing. That's why Paul says,
"Pray without ceasing." Not three times a day. All the time. Let's bow our heads. This could be a
breakthrough moment for you. As I pray this hymn again, will you make it your prayer? Say Lord take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Say take my moments and my days. Let them flow in endless praise. And say God take my voice and let me sing, always only for my king. Take my lips and let them be. Filled with messages from thee. Say God take my hands and let them move at the impulse of your love. And take my intellect and use every thought as you would choose. Say god take my will and make it thine. It shall no longer be mine. Take my heart it is your home. And it shall be your royal throne. Say Father who loves me in heaven, take my love, my Lord I pour at your feet it's treasure store. Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee. Ever only all for thee. Help me to never give up in the prayers you put in my heart. But to keep praying until you say no, or grow, or slow, or go. I pray this in Jesus name. And everybody said? - [Congregation] Amen. - Amen, God bless you.
