[thunder crashing] [thunder crashing] ♪♪♪ Dr. David Jeremiah: Are you
feeling powerless, powerless to control
your destiny? The fate of our nation,
your career, financial security, and even your daily life? We are in a spiritual battle
for our hearts and minds, sometimes with little strength
to be victorious. What if I told you
there is one who can empower you to prevail over the emotional,
physical, and spiritual chaos
in your life, one who can give you the power
to be more than a conqueror, more than a winner,
more than a victor, but an overcomer? As an overcomer,
you are no longer defined by your trials
but by your victories. As an overcomer,
you put on God-given armor that both protects you
from the enemy and empowers you to conquer
your greatest obstacles. Dr. Jeremiah:
We're called to be overcomers, men and women. We're called to walk in victory,
and strength, and peace, and love. Sometimes I hear people say when I ask them
how they're doing, "I'm doing okay down
under the circumstances." But we don't belong
under the circumstances, we belong
above the circumstances. We're not undercomers,
we're overcomers, amen? Dr. Jeremiah: Live a life
of unstoppable strength, unmovable faith,
and unbelievable power. Discover how you can be
an overcomer. ♪♪♪ <i> male announcer:
Unstoppable strength,</i> <i> unmovable faith,
unbelievable power,</i> <i> these are the qualities
of an overcomer.</i> <i> Discover the eight steps
to unlocking God's power</i> <i>in your life in David Jeremiah's
book, "Overcomer."</i> <i> Feeling powerless,
hopeless, anxious, tempted?</i> <i> The message in "Overcomer"
can help you</i> <i> start living victoriously.</i> <i> Request "Overcomer" today
when you give a gift</i> <i> of any amount in support
of this program.</i> <i>And if you give a generous gift
to the ministry of $75 or more,</i> <i>you'll receive the comprehensive
"Overcomer" study set,</i> <i> which contains
the "Overcomer" book,</i> <i> Dr. Jeremiah's complete
teaching series on DVD,</i> <i> including his interview
hosted by Sheila Walsh,</i> <i> a correlating study guide,</i> <i> and "The Warrior's Prayer"
bookmark.</i> <i> Plus, with any order of
the "Overcomer" book or set,</i> <i> you will receive the,
"Super 8 Overcomer Cards,"</i> <i> stunning cards highlighting
the God-given powers</i> <i> of an overcomer.</i> <i> Be defined by your victories.</i> <i> Be strong in the power
of God's might.</i> <i> Be an overcomer.</i> <i> Order Dr. Jeremiah's book,
"Overcomer,"</i> <i>or the complete study set today.</i> ♪♪♪ <i> female announcer: Thank you
for watching "Overcomer"</i> <i> here on "Turning Point."</i> <i> In appreciation
of your viewership,</i> <i> Dr. Jeremiah would like
to send you</i> <i>"The Warrior's Prayer" bookmark
absolutely free.</i> <i> Contact "Turning Point" today.</i> <i> And now, here is Dr. Jeremiah
with his message,</i> <i> "Overcoming Everything
with Prayer."</i> ♪♪♪ Dr. Jeremiah: I heard a story
once about a mother who got a call from school saying
that her young daughter was ill. She hurried to pick up her child
and then she called the doctor, but the doctor's schedule was
already overbooked that day. He could see the child
the following morning and in the meantime he recommended
an over-the-counter medicine to ease her symptoms. So, the mother tucked
her little girl in bed and drove to the pharmacy,
bought the medicine, hurried back to the car
only to realize, she had left her keys
in the ignition and locked herself out. When she called her to daughter
to explain why it was gonna take more time to get home,
the little girl told her to find a coat hanger. "Mommy," she said,
"I've seen it on TV. You stick this coat hanger
down inside the window, you hook it on the handle
and the doors open." Well, the mother didn't know her
little girl was so streetsmart but she went back into the store
and she got a wire hanger, and she made an attempt to open
the door and she didn't do it. She couldn't figure it out. Finally, she was just frustrated
and she just lifted her racing heart to the heavenly Father
and she said, "Lord God, I don't know what to do. My keys are locked in this car. My little girl's at home sick. I'm here with this
stupid coat hanger. Please send somebody
to help me." She finished her prayer and
this car pulled up at the curb and the passenger got out,
and the man had a rough look. I mean, he didn't look like
somebody God would send, but he was there. He hadn't shaved for days
and it occurred to her that he might be homeless,
but here's God's answer. So, she said, "Sir,
can you help me?" "What's the problem?"
He said. "Well, I've locked my keys
in this car and I've got this coat hanger, but I don't
know what to do with it." He said, "Lady, let me have
your coat hanger." After bending the hanger
and inserting it down inside the window glass,
he opened the car door. Pretty scary thing
that people can do that. The mother was so overwhelmed
that she threw her arms around this scuffy old guy and gave
him a hug and she said to him, "You're such a good man. You're such a good man." He said, "Lady, I'm no good man. I just got out of prison
this morning." As he walked away the mother
lifted her hands up to heaven and said, "Thank you, Lord,
you sent me a professional." You know, sometimes God
answers prayer-- sometimes God answers prayer
in unexpected ways, doesn't he? In fact, overcomers in our
warfare against Satan always deal with the issue of prayer. The passage we've explored
throughout this book, Paul tells us to put on
the armor of the Lord and then at the end he says,
"Take the sword of the Spirit," which is
the Word of God. We learned those are
the sayings of the Lord. And then he says,
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this
and with all perseverance and supplication
for all the saints." Now, that's a mouthful,
but prayer is our line of communication, our secret
lifeline that connects us to our leader. It gives us his strength
and direction every day. We don't get that without prayer
and this is Paul devoted this little place at the end
of this critical passage to discuss the importance
of prayer. Paul slowed down, gave us
a robust doctrine of prayer in 24 words, 24 words in that
verse and we have probably the most important passage
in prayer in all the Bible. Let's begin by looking
at the persistence of the overcomers prayer. Notice what it says,
"praying always." Now, what does that mean? I mean, the Bible says,
"Man ought always to pray and not lose heart." Do we walk around like zombies
oblivious to our surroundings, mumbling mantras under
our breath praying always? No, it means we're always
in contact with God. It means like soldiers
on the battlefield connected to their commando with the
radio, we're in touch with God. This is how we maintain our
connection and learn to live in fellowship with him. If we live this way, we won't
have to begin each prayer like this, "O God, we come
into your presence." No, if you're in his presence, you can't come
into his presence. "Lord, we come
into your presence." If we live with
an attitude of prayer, we're always in his presence. A vivid example of praying
always is in the character of Tevye, the struggling Jewish
milkman in the classic stage play and film,
"Fiddler On The Roof." As he works and interacts
with his family and neighbors, he carries on a running
conversation with God. He's chatting with him
like a friend. He talks about
whatever comes into his head. His daughter's getting married,
his lame horse, his poverty, his dreams. He pauses to carry on business
and take care of needs, but the moment
those things are done, he's back talking to God again. It's as if his life is his
prayer and the everyday things he must do are just islands
in the stream that flows continually
from his heart to God. Praying always means
always be in touch with God. You know, sometimes you don't
have time to get ready to pray. If you see a car coming at you
through the intersection, you say, "God help." Well, you better be in good
fellowship with God when that happens 'cause you don't
have time to confess your sin and get things right when
the car's coming at you, right? So, always being
in fellowship with God. But it also means
to pray persistently. God wants to teach us
the persistence of prayer. God doesn't work
on our time schedule. Did you know that for God,
everything is in the eternal present,
so God isn't waiting. It's all in the present. And at the right time,
in the right place, for the right reason,
God will answer. One of my professors
in seminary was a man by the name of Howard Hendrix. He was an incredible man known
by all of the Dallas Seminary graduates as one of the
great teachers of all time. My wife actually
was his secretary while we were in seminary. One day Dr. Hendrix came
into our class and he said, "You know, my father's
not a Christian." And he said, "I have prayed
for him every single day for 40 years." And I was in class when he came
in and told me that his father was very, very ill,
probably gonna die soon, but that he accepted
Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Forty years he prayed
for his dad. It's always too soon to quit,
you guys. Don't quit just because
it looks discouraging. "Oh, he won't
even listen the us. He doesn't want
anything to do with us." Just keep praying. Keep knocking on the door.
Keep seeking. Keep asking, and God,
God is there. God loves it when his children
come knocking on his door persistently. Then notice the possibility
of the Overcomer's Prayer. Here's what it says,
"Praying always," and then this little phrase,
"with all prayer." It's a little tiny word, but the term has
an expansive meaning. It means everything that can
place in the basket, no limits, no exclusions, the entire gamut,
the whole enchilada, everything with prayer,
all prayer, praying always
with all prayer. Stuart Briscoe said that,
"When our children were small and we were trying to teach them
to pray, we had three kinds of prayer: please prayer, thank you prayer,
and sorry prayer." And those kinds of prayers,
prayers of petition, prayers of thanksgiving,
and prayers of confession, you can fit everything
in your life. Our goal as overcomers is to be
able to reach out in prayer at any moment and immediately be
in touch with God, and our whole life
can be a prayer as we walk day-by-day
with him. Don't sweat the details. Leave those to God. Just pray those please prayer,
those thank you prayers, and those sorry prayers,
and God will hear you. Number three, the petition
of the Overcomer's Prayer. Praying always with all
prayer and supplication. Now, supplication means to ask, that's basically
what the word mean, ask. God tells us that he has wired
this universe to work by prayer and prayer works when we ask. I have to tell you oftentimes
as I stand at the front of our church on occasion and people
come to talk to me, they'll say, "Pastor Jeremiah, I don't know
what to do. Can you tell me?" And then they'll unfold
their story. And then I'll say to them,
"Have you asked God about this?" And they look at me like
I've just asked them a question nobody should ever ask. "And no, pastor,
that's why we're asking you." I said, "Well, why would you ask
me when you haven't asked God? I mean, God's at the top
of the list. I'm way down here somewhere. Ask God, you can go right
to the head of the class. Ask God." And, you know,
it's a simple thing but it's so interesting to me
how many Christians there are who struggle with issues
in their life and it never dawns on them
that they should ask God. The New Testament encourages us
to offer these prayers. When Jesus taught his disciples
the model prayer to pray, he filled it with requests,
not only for ideals like the advancement
of God's kingdom, but for our daily bread
and our personal needs like food, and forgiveness,
and deliverance from evil. The Bible says, "When you pray,
pray for those things." In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus invites us to pray prayers without holding back and
he promises those prayers will be heard and answered. James, who is
the Lord's brother, tells us, "Our failure to place our need
before God explains why we do not have peace
in our lives. You have not
because you do not ask." Charles Spurgeon,
the great British preacher of another generation said,
"Asking is the rule of the kingdom. It is a rule that never will be
changed in anybody's case. If the royal
and divine Son of God cannot be exempted from the rule
of asking, you and I cannot exempt
ourselves from that rule either. God will bless you
when you ask." I remember preaching
on Matthew 7 where it says, "Ask and it shall be given
to you." Seemed like it was sort
of simple, the word "ask." I thought it must be
some English translation of a Greek word that was
much more complicated than that, so I looked up that word
in all of the dictionaries. I looked it up in all of the
translation helps that I had, and you know what I found out
the word "ask" means? It means ask,
that's what it means. It's a simple little word. It's a simple little word that
means if you need something, ask for it. You know what? Our kids don't have
a problem with that. Our grandkids don't have
a problem with that. I heard a story about a little
boy who went to bed one night and his father was home
taking care of the kids, and his father wasn't used
to the bedtime routine that most moms are
pretty familiar with so his father
was downstairs. He thought the children
were in bed and he could enjoy
his television program. Pretty soon he heard
his little boy at the top of the stairs saying, "Daddy, I need a glass
of water." So, he goes up there and
he gets them a glass of water. Few minutes later, guess what. "Daddy, I gotta go
to the bathroom." So, he goes up. And this goes on two
or three times. "Daddy, I need a glass
of water." Finally, the father had had it. He said, "Young man,
you get yourself back in bed. Don't you let me hear
your voice again. The next time I hear you voice,
I'm gonna come up there and give you a lickin'. I'm gonna come up and give you
a spanking." It was real quiet then
he heard his little boy say, "Daddy, when you come up
to give me a spanking, could you bring me
a glass of water?" I mean, you know, that's the way
it is, isn't it? That's the way we are. Our kids can teach us a lot
about being persistent, amen? Amen. [audience applauding] And you know what? They're not embarrassed. They don't have
any embarrassment. God wants us to be to him
as our Father as our children are to us
as their father. Ask for what you need. So, the petition
of the Overcomer's Prayer. Then let's notice
the power of it, the power
of the Overcomer's Prayer is in the next phrase. "Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit." What power drives our prayer? It is the power
of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. The Holy Spirit wrote
the Word of God. And it's the same Holy Spirit
who lives in your heart and lives in my heart and because
he's the one with the Father, because of this, he knows
your intent when you pray. He takes your fumbling prayers
and reshapes them to reveal the deepest needs that are
underneath the surface of your words and
presents them perfectly to the Father in heaven. Isn't that incredible? The Bible says in Romans 8, "The Spirit helps us
in our weaknesses. For we do not know what
we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself
makes intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches
the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
because He makes intercession for the saints according
to the will of God." When you pray,
the Holy Spirit is involved. And here's the beauty of prayer,
who is prayer addressed to? To the Father. Who prays the prayer?
You do. Who's in your heart? The Holy Spirit.
Where does the prayer go next? It goes to the Son of God who is
at the right hand of the Father making intercession
for the believer. Did you notice that
the Holy Trinity is involved every time you pray? The Holy Spirit in you,
Jesus Christ interceding, and the Father on the throne,
hallelujah. [audience applauding] Well, let's talk about
the precision of the Overcomer's Prayer. Here's the next phrase. I'm just teaching this verse
one phrase at a time. "Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end." What does it mean
to be watchful? Well, maybe it means
to be awake. Did you ever fall asleep
when you were praying? Come on now. It's all right to be honest. I'm not telling anybody. Paul transitions from the
describing the Christian's armor to the subject of prayer. Notice how he retains
this military imagery. He does this because
we face a real enemy. To be up and awake means
the battle is engaged. To be watchful means
we got our eyes open. Overcomers will understand that
the enemy wants to attack you with distractions, and doubts,
and temptations, so that you don't pray. So, guard your prayer time. Keep your prayers
constantly flowing. Prioritize prayer as
you plan your schedule. Encourage everything that feeds
and fosters your prayer life and focus your prayers
as you can. Get a plan for your prayer. Don't be willy-nilly at praying. Don't just pray whenever
you feel like it 'cause I promise you,
you won't feel like it as much as you should. And then prayer doesn't get
done and when prayer doesn't get done, a lot of other things get
done that shouldn't get done. But if you don't know
exactly what to pray for, don't avoid prayer
or hesitate to pray. Trust that the intention
of your prayer will be heard and understood. Here's what Colossians 4:2 says,
"Continue earnestly in prayer being vigilant in it
with thanksgiving." And then notice number six,
the perseverance of the Overcomer's Prayer. "Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end." Then is says,
"With all perseverance." To pray effectively is to
persevere no matter how sorry or earthbound your prayers may
feel, no matter how focused, or failing, or frantic you feel,
the more you pray in all circumstances,
the more you align your will with God's which will mean
more visible answers. And here's what
I've done some days. I have it my journal. "Dear Lord, I don't know where
you are and I don't feel like praying today,
but I know I am called to pray so I'm gonna pray
the best I can. I'm gonna do what you've told me
to do and I'm gonna trust that somewhere out there
you're there, and maybe I'll figure
this out later." Be as honest with the Lord
as you can when you pray. You know how I learned that? Have you ever read the Psalms
and seen how David prayed? I mean, he prayed honestly. He prayed, "Lord,
how long are you gonna wait before you answer me?" Someone once told me
the Psalms all began with a sigh and they end with a song. Isn't that true? You start out with David
and he's in the dumps and you wonder, where is in
the world did this come from? But he tells God
what's in his heart. He prays honestly,
he tells God he's struggling with his prayers, and then
somehow through it all, God breaks through. We can't just stop praying
when it doesn't feel right to pray anymore. I tell myself this a lot
of times, "Jeremiah, you gotta
soldier through, man. You gotta keep going. You gotta pray even when
you don't feel like praying 'cause if you don't pray when
you don't feel like praying, there'll be a lot of times
when you should pray that you don't pray." And that's what I'm saying. Be persevering in your prayer. And then the purpose of
the Overcomer's Prayer. Here's what it says next,
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
being watchful to this end with all perseverance
and supplication for all the saints." Pray for all the saints. When we pray for each other,
everybody in the body of Christ is praying for everybody else
in the body of Christ. And although I may be praying
for you, instead of for myself, I don't need to worry
about my needs being met, because while I'm praying
for you, you're praying for me. This is called
reciprocal prayer, and Paul said, "praying always
for all the saints." If we all did that, we'd never
have to pray much for ourselves, because we'd know everybody else
is praying for us, and we're praying for them. How many of you know life gets
so much better when you get your eyes off of you
and get your eyes on God? Somebody once told me that the best definition
of humility is this: "Humility is not thinking
less of yourself; it's just thinking
of yourself less." You know, and sometimes
we need to do that, to pray in humility before God. Well, let's look at, "The Practice
of the Overcomer's Prayer." Are you prepared
to pray effectively? Do you feel confident in your
ability to pray as you should? If not, don't give up. Prayer is something
you can learn. You can learn to pray. I learned to pray. Professor Don Whitney of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary offers excellent advice. If you've ever learned
a foreign language, you know that you learn it best
when you actually speak it. The same is true with the
foreign language of prayer. There are many good resources
for learning how to pray, but the best way to learn
to pray is just to pray. Just get alone
in a room and pray. Sometimes it's best
to pray out loud. You won't fall asleep as easy
when you pray out loud. You say, "Well,
I'm pretty awkward at praying." I remember one
of the great things-- when people get
in a small group, usually somewhere along the way,
people pray, and sometimes they have a time
at the end of the small group where they have
a little prayer time. And I've met so many guys,
especially, who go to a small group
with their wife, and they never prayed
out loud in their lives, and the thought of it
terrifies them, the thought that
somebody's gonna put them under pressure in a small group,
or you go around in a circle, and it comes your time,
and you don't know if you're gonna live through it. And we try to say, "Well, if you don't feel like
you want to pray, just tap your neighbor,
and they'll pass you by." But then I have to tell you,
on more than one occasion I've had guys tell me,
come and tell me, like, they just won the Olympics
or something. "Dr. Jeremiah, I was
at small group last week, and I prayed out loud
for the first time. And I've gotta tell you,
it was unbelievable. I was unbelievable." How do you pray?
You just pray. Pray the best you can. "Lord, it's me." I've heard all kinds of prayers. "Lord, it's me,
and here I am again." And I love those prayers,
because they're so honest, and they're so real. They haven't learned
Christianese yet, so they pray, they pray in normal terms,
like I think God would rather have us pray. You get what I'm saying? So, here's Paul's instruction
to us. At the end of the armor
of the believer, after he's told us we're to take
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,
and wield it against the enemy, it's almost like he takes
a step back, and he said, "Oh, by the way, praying always with all prayer
and supplication." This is how to prepare yourself
for communication with your Commander,
as you engage in life's daily battles. You're gonna go into the war
tomorrow when you get back home. You're gonna face the challenges
of the secular group out there that hates God, hates Jesus,
and probably doesn't think too highly of you. But before you go out
into that world, go down into your prayer closet. Make sure you're in contact
with Almighty God. And then you don't go out there
by yourself. You don't go by yourself. You go with him. <i> male announcer: Dr. Jeremiah
will return with one more</i> <i> inspirational Word to close
today's "Overcomer" program</i> <i> right after this.</i> <i>announcer: A new day has dawned.</i> <i> Hope is on the horizon.</i> <i>Discover eight ways to live
a life of unstoppable strength,</i> <i> unmovable faith,</i> <i> and unbelievable power
in Dr. David Jeremiah's book,</i> <i> "Overcomer."</i> <i>In a world where we often feel
so powerless,</i> <i> applying these straightforward
spiritual truths</i> <i> will awaken the power of God
in you</i> <i> so you can conquer
life's everyday challenges</i> <i> and become an overcomer.</i> <i> You will discover how to
overcome falsehood with truth,</i> <i> anxiety with peace,
fear with faith, and more.</i> <i> Request "Overcomer" today
when you give a gift</i> <i> of any amount
in support of this program.</i> <i>And if you give a generous gift
to the ministry of $75 or more,</i> <i>you'll receive the comprehensive
"Overcomer" study set,</i> <i> which contains
the "Overcomer" book,</i> <i> Dr. Jeremiah's complete
teaching series on DVD,</i> <i> including his interview
hosted by Sheila Walsh,</i> <i> a correlating study guide,</i> <i> and "The Warrior's Prayer"
bookmark.</i> <i>Plus, with any order
of the "Overcomer" book or set,</i> <i> you will receive
the "Super 8 Overcomer Cards,"</i> <i> stunning cards
highlighting</i> <i> the God-given powers
of an overcomer.</i> <i> Stop living in defeat.</i> <i> God created you
to be an overcomer.</i> <i> Order Dr. Jeremiah's book,
"Overcomer,"</i> <i>or the complete study set today.</i> <i> announcer: And now with one
last Word for today's program,</i> <i> here is Dr. Jeremiah.</i> Dr. Jeremiah: God created you
to be an overcomer. He has given you supernatural
tools to use here on earth that can both protect you
from the enemy and strengthen you to conquer
the greatest obstacles in your life. You no longer need to be
defeated, and discouraged, disillusioned, or distraught
by life's challenges. Being an overcomer means putting
on the whole armor of God provided to us by faith
in Jesus Christ. If you want to know more about
the power you can have through faith in Christ, I have two free
resources from "Turning Point" I would like to send to you. One is a booklet called,
"Your Greatest Turning Point," and the other is our monthly
devotional magazine called, "Turning Points." We will gladly send them
both to you free of charge if you will contact us here at,
"Turning Point" today. <i> female announcer: Thank you
for being with us today.</i> <i>Join Dr. Jeremiah next time
for a new series, "Romans VIII:</i> <i> The Greatest Chapter
in the Bible,"</i> <i> here on "Turning Point."</i> ♪♪♪
