When God Says No with Rick Warren

hello Saddleback today we conclude 40 days of Prayer I still have 12 more messages I'm gonna have to do part 2 this next year because there's just too much to teach you on prayer many times in the Bible God promises to answer our prayers and if you've got your message doats pull them out of the bulletin right now because at the top one of those many answers are promises for answers to prayer is Jeremiah 33 verse 3 and it says this God is speaking call to me and I might answer you that's not what it says call to me and I will answer you not I might not maybe not if it's a bad hair day not if I'm fickle or you know it might in a good mood then no he says call to me and I will answer you that's about as clear as you can get God always answers every prayer he does not always answer yes there's more than one answer but every prayers and no is an answer that is an answer no as an answer not yet is an answer I want you to grow is an answer wait is an answer God always answers every single prayer just not on our timetable and just not always in the way that we we want to ask him to the Bible is actually full of examples of very famous people people of great faith where God said no to them to one of their pre requests Abraham asked God that Ishmael be considered the promised son he said nope it's gonna be Isaac and your wife Sarah's gonna have that baby miracle baby David prayed and he said God he had a child who was dying a little baby he was dying he prayed the baby would live it didn't live he died even though Moses I mean David prayed and fasted for seven days Moses asked God for certain things like I want to go into the Promised Land God said no Peter Paul Joe Jona all unanswered prayers when we say unanswered meaning God said no didn't answer them the way he wanted they wanted even Jesus had God say no to him there are several prayers where God says no to what Jesus had prayed and we're gonna look at one of them today now I didn't want to end this 40 days of prayer when we've been looking at the meaning of prayer without actually dealing with this subject when God says no because we've all had God say no to us often it can be confusing if God is loving and if God is good and if God has no limitation on his power then why did my prayer not get answered it's question can become confusing it can be frustrating why does God sometimes say yes and sometimes God says no why did they get a miracle and I didn't why did he get a healing and she didn't it's confusing it's frustrating and it can flat-out be heartbreaking because when you have something you've prayed for from the bottom of your heart and you've prayed about it sincerely and you've claimed a promise and the answer is no that is the single greatest test of faith you will ever have in your life having a prayer not answered the way you want it in other words I got to know and then God not explaining why you got a no is the greatest test of faith you're gonna have in your life bar none I've seen many people walk away from God because they didn't pass that test in faith now I have watched people pray for in all of my lifetime and as a pastor I've prayed with people and I've seen my own prayers sometimes God says yes sometimes he says wait sometimes he says I want you to grow up some more first sometimes he said not yet and sometimes God says no and what I've observed about prayer is is several things first I've learned that some prayers conflict with other prayers so God couldn't possibly answer both of them for instance if a little kid is praying the snow so he doesn't have to go to school and dad is praying that it'll be clear weather so he can go to work God can't answer both prayers there are many examples of this where you're praying for one team to win another by something else praying for somebody else's team to win obviously if God did answer he couldn't answer both at the same time or I'm praying for this candidate and you're praying for that candidate there are often many prayers that are actually conflict with other prayers so clearly God couldn't answer both at the same time then there are some prayers that for God to answer it would require that he take away your free will and your freedom to choose are somebody else's free will and freedom to choose I mean for instance what if somebody who was really really disgusting came up to you and said I am praying to God that he will force you to marry me well God's not gonna take away your free will God's not gonna force you to marry somebody you don't want to marry and if he's not gonna take away your free will he's not gonna take away anybody else's either to be fair you can't force somebody to fall in love with you you can't force somebody to stay in love with you that's sad but it's true and so while you can't say I'm praying that that God you'll make that person fall in love with me and marry me God's not gonna do that and unfortunately that's the same thing is true is if you say I'm praying that my spouse will stay in love with me and not leave and some of you have prayed that and they left because God is not going to force them not gonna force their will to change anymore God lets you do what you want to do God doesn't force you to do good all the time God lets you do wrong things all the time and so he lets other people it's part of the free will that we have being made in the image of God and so God's not going to take away somebody's free will he doesn't force you to do the right thing he won't always force other people and that's why some of our prayers don't get answered but not every prayer can be answered for instance like if you prayed for somebody we've all done this prayed for somebody to live who was very ill and they died well if all that was required for faith but if it was faith in order for you to have it answered the way you want it to be yes you had faith anybody with great faith would never die well God didn't mean for any of us to live forever here on earth the Bible tells us it is appointed unto man once to die God has already set the appointment if when you will die on this planet why because you were made to last forever but not in a place of sorrow sadness suffering sickness and sorrow I thank God I don't have to live on earth forever I want to live forever just not here I want to live forever in a place that's perfect with no sorrow no sadness no sin no suffering no none of that no injustice no racial prejudice no sexual abuse no injustice no war no hypocrisy that's where I want to live forever and I think you do too so I'm glad we don't live on earth forever but if you could if all you needed was faith in order to have any answer your prayer then somebody with a great faith would never die and that clearly is not God's will all of us eventually die so we wouldn't be surprised in fact they tell you this but we're all terminal you're terminal people say he's got a terminal illness well everybody's got a terminal illness it's called humanity nobody's going to live forever and so there are some prayers that when you pray for their healing they're not gonna get well because it's just their time and so then there is a no there now those are understandable okay I get it on Prynne and somebody else is praying the opposite and not God's not gonna force somebody to do the right thing he doesn't force me but what about the times when I pray and I don't get the answer I want and it's unexplainable that is the hardest thing as I said that's the greatest test of your faith it can be heartbreaking some of you have been praying God I want somebody to love and I want to be married that's a legitimate prayer request and it hasn't happened yet and as your pastor that that's heartbreaking for me I want you to have what you want in life and it's normal to want to be loved by somebody like that um when sick people you pray for them some people I've prayed for they get well some people I prefer they don't get well and I don't have an explanation for all of that the Bible says that God's some of the things are secret to God that we don't understand that some get relief from pain and sometimes we don't we don't get relief from pain so what I want to do this weekend is two things first I want to just quickly give you just a few of the reasons specifically three possible reasons God says no to some of your prayers now there may be a thousand reasons I'm just gonna give you three I'm sure there there are literally hundreds maybe even thousands of reasons why God would say no that we don't understand but I do know a few of them and I want to give those to you why God might say no but second and more important is what do you do when God says no what do you do when you've prayed your heart out and you've claimed a promise and God says no and you don't get the answer you wanted well before I share these three possibilities of reasons why he might say no I wrote there on your outline a warning or a caution and I wrote there use these only use these reasons I'm giving you to comfort yourself never use them with somebody in pain why because you don't know why God said no to them never presume that you know why God did something unless he tells you he tells you why he did it then then you can presume then you can assume that but you shouldn't presume that something happened because you think this is why it happened never do that when Jobe went through all of his suffering the story of Jobe it's in the middle of the Bible Jobe was the wealthiest man in the world he was the Warren Buffett the Bill Gates of his day and on a single day he literally lost everything his wealth his health his family his reputation everything first a marauding band of but terrorists came in killed his entire family everybody died in the same day he lost all of his crops he lost all of his sheep his cattle his goats his wealth was instantly destroyed he lost his his health he came down with a very dreaded very extremely painful disease so you think you've had a bad day on one day he literally loses it all and Jobe has three dear friends and at first they do the right thing and the Bible tells us that jobs three friends came to job and Jobe is sitting on the ground outside mourning in despair and misery that he's lost everything in a single day and his three friends came and for the next seven days they sat with him by him saying nothing great that's what you do I think I've told you this before that the deeper the pain the fewer words you use somebody has a bad hair day you can spend 30 minutes talking them if somebody's just lost a loved one you need to show up and shut up say nothing people I don't know what to say you don't need to say anything when somebody's in that deep grief you just need to be there show up and shut up and for seven days they did that's the Ministry of presence he they just sit with their friend and that's all you need to do be there for your friend you don't give them an advice you don't try to explain anything you just be present with them but after seven days they open their mouths and the three friends got in trouble because the rest of the book of Job is this discussion we dream job and his friends for job is saying one thing and all the friends are trying to explain away the unexplainable well job the read all this happening is because of this and the reason this happened to you because of this and they're trying to say things that make him feel guilty and they're trying to say things that cheer him up and they're trying to say thing and they're giving all kinds of spurious reasons and that's what most of the book of Job is about and when you get to the last chapter God comes and talks to job before he heals him and then God turns to job's friends and God said to job's friends these three friends this look up here on the screen he says I'm angry with you the three friends for you have not been right in what you said about me my servant job is the only one who spoke the truth and got it right now that's an encouragement to me because if you read the book of Job job does a lot of complaining and he's complaining God God says yeah but you're speaking the truth and you're getting it right so God doesn't mind you complaining when you're in pain job does a lot of complaining but he will not curse God and he does not attribute his pain for the wrong reasons and finally God just has enough it goes okay guys well everything you just said all the reasons you told Joby's suffering are wrong you're dead wrong shut up on the other hand my servant job got it all right good for him you were on thin ice when you try to explain what God does not explain don't do it never presume to know why God does did something unless he tells you about it so with that caution saying but I'm gonna share with you and possible reasons why God says no you can use it for your own comfort but do not use it to load it on to somebody who is in pain at that moment just be there and and and be there with them be present with them let me give you three of the many reasons when God will say no to a prayer request at UMaine number one God says no when he has a bigger perspective God says no when he has a bigger perspective he can see things you can't see the fact is God sees the whole picture we don't he's got a wider view we don't we have limited perspective we can't see the future and that in itself should cause us to be humble going okay maybe I can't see what God can see if you can see what God could see you'd be God but you're not Hebrews chapter 4 says this in the Bible he God knows about everyone everywhere everything about us is barren wide open to the all-seeing eyes of our Living God nothing can be hidden from him now look at all of the superlatives in that everything everywhere everyone all seeing nothing he's saying God can see a whole lot I don't have to belabor this point you've got that our problem is our limited perspective we often can't see the unintended consequences of what we are asking you know we're just asking we said I want this we don't realize that every answered prayer sets off a chain of events it's like a set of dominoes it starts to fall over and and we don't see that now if you could see your life if you could see your life the way God sees it right now do you think that would change maybe some of the things you asked for in prayer probably do you think if you could see your life the way God sees it it might solve some of your problems definitely if you could see your life the way God see it what you would then you'd see from beginning to end you'd never have ever in your life unexpected trouble he always thought that one's coming up in another three months that's coming out in six years you could always be prepared in advance you'd never ask for the wrong thing as I said earlier as a parent you you never give your kids everything they ask for why because you have a bigger perspective than they do you can see the end result you could see the negative impact you could see things they don't see as little kids and God can see far more than that see when I when I ask God for something there's no way that I could imagine all the tumblers that are set in motion all of the the steps to start falling into place the implications of consequences and I said every answered purse that's off a chain of events and God can see ahead now sometimes God says no to protect you and guard you from stuff you can't see look at the next verse there on your outline the Bible says this God guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful and circle guards and circle protects he guards and protects now what does that mean that God guards and protects me well it doesn't mean that he always pulls you out of the frying pan when you're in the frying pan what it means is he doesn't let you get burned up and guards and protects remember when we did that study of Daniel and Daniel prayed a God keep me out of that den of lions they were gonna throw him to the Lions God allowed him to be thrown to the Lions but then he shut the mouths of the Lions he didn't keep him out of the den he let him be in the middle of the Lions but didn't shut the mouths of lions so he wasn't harmed in that same book we looked at where the three Hebrew men were thrown for their faith into that fiery furnace God didn't keep him out of the fiery furnace I'm sure they said God keep us out if you wish but I said he got let them go through it he walks through it with them and they're not burned and when they come out on the backside the ropes are burned off and they're free and sometimes you're gonna go through fiery trials and you've been all bound up by a relationship bound up by a fear bound up by a habit you've been tied like ropes around you tied by some habit or hurt or hang-up a person and when you come through that fiery trial it's been burned off and you there's a new level of freedom in your life and so that means he's protecting you the God doesn't keep you out of the stuff of life he takes you through it and he protects you you know the Apostle Paul st. Paul his greatest prayer in life was I want to go to the city of Rome which was the Roman Empire's capital of the world at that time I want to go to Rome and I want to preach I want to tell people the good news and I'm sure Paul's idea of going to Rome was take a Mediterranean cruise to Rome book the Colosseum for a week and have Paul's Harvest Crusade that's his idea well the fact is Paul did get to Rome but not on the way he intended God's idea was to send him as a prisoner in Chains and so now he's in Rome but he's sitting in prison in Chains so while he's there he doesn't want to waste any time and he starts writing letters to all these Christians in different cities in the in the Roman Empire and as a result of those letters we get the Bible the New Testament of the New Testament which do you think would have had more impact Paul speaking in the Coliseum or sitting in prison and writing a bunch of letters and books that we're now studying 2,000 years later this is where God had a bigger perspective Paul's idea was man God you're not letting me do it I was made to teach I was bublik speaker I'm great at it let me go to the Colosseum God said no I got a better idea I got a bigger perspective now the second reason another reason why God often says no is not only does he have a bigger perspective he sees what you can't see but God says no when he has a better plan not just a bigger perspective but he's got a better plan and a lot of times God wants to fulfill the desire that you're praying for God I really need this in my life I really want this in my life and I'm praying for this and it's a good thing there's nothing wrong with it it's a good request that you've made and God says I want to fulfill that just not in the way that you want it fulfilled I I have a better plan the Bible says this in Isaiah chapter 55 God says this plan of mine is not what you would work out neither are my thoughts the same as yours for my ways are higher than yours now I want you to circle the word ways notice it's plural not my way my ways what I want to point out is the God has born one way at doing things often time when we ask God for something we only think there's one way for him to answer it but God has unlimited number of ways unlike you his options are unlimited he's got many alternatives he's never forced to answer an only one way and he wants say I want to answer your request but not in the way you wanted answered for example let's say you're in deep debt you got a lot of bills you've made a lot of foolish choices and you spent money you didn't have to buy things you didn't need to impress people you don't even like and now you're in deep kimchi and or guacamole or whatever you happen to like I haven't like both and and you're just going oh you know how am I ever gonna climb out of this debt and you say god help me get out of this financial stress well God can answer in many many many different ways for instance there are many ways to increase your income not just one and there are many ways to lower your expenses not just one you know spend less the problem is we want God to answer in our preferred way we want to tell God not only what to do for us we want to tell him how to do it and that's arrogant you just need to leave the packaging to God you need to let him decide what you're going to do what he's gonna do and how he's going to do it we assume we want the best way and of course the best way for us is always the easiest way what's the easiest way to get out of debt win the lottery I doubt God's gonna choose that way why because you don't learn anything by winning the lottery God always wants the best way to answer and the best way to answer your prayer is gonna be the way that helps you grow up he don't want you to stay a spiritual baby don't want you to be a immature little brat the rest of your life he wants you to grow up and so he wants you to mature now one of the ways God matures you to help you grow up build character is he delays the answer if God gave you an instant answer to every prayer it's like a slot machine pull the lever get the you know get the three cherries and all of a sudden you you get the money God is not a slot machine sometimes God says I'm gonna give it to you but I'm gonna do it in my way and my timing because I want you to trust me first I want you to grow and so there is a delay so I've said before maturity is knowing the difference we know and not yet babies don't know the difference between no and not yet a delay is not a denial and many of the heroes great heroes in the Bible with the greatest faith they didn't get their answers here on earth did you know that the most famous people in the Bible many of them the things that God promised them they did not get while they were here on earth let me show you this in the Bible it says this hebrews chapter 11 these these great heroes were commended for their faith yet none of them received what God had promised because God had planned something better circles planned something better they didn't get what was promised because God had planned something bad better now I want you to write this down God has all of eternity to fulfill his promises there are over six thousand promises in the Bible from God to you they're like blank cheques God says I promise to do this in your life if you'll do this I'll do this if you'll do this I'll do this over six thousand promises from God if you don't know what they are it's like having an insurance policy and you don't know what's in it but those six thousand promises not all of them have to be solved or are answered here on earth because God has long-range plans for your life many of them will be fulfilled in eternity now I'm sure you would feel this way but looking back I'm actually grateful that there were some prayers I pray that God didn't answer you know when I was a sophomore in high school I wanted to be a politician that shows how immature I was I'm just kidding but when I was sophomore in high school I was class president every year from sixth grade until my freshman year in college a student body president junior high and high school and so all these people would come and offer me these positions and when I was sophomore in high school I received an appointment to go to the United States Senate and work as a page an assistant for Senator as a sophomore in high school I thought this great and I had prayed for that that's great and then they came and said well you're not coming at the beginning of summer you're coming at the end and that summer I got a job as a lifeguard at a Christian camp in Northern California my life got completely turned around by the end of summer I didn't want to go there was a no and I didn't go in 1979 kay and I were praying about being missionaries to China and God closed the door because at that time was the middle of the Cultural Revolution there were never no way gonna let America's into China I'm glad we didn't end up in China there'd be no Saddleback Church that was this was not my plan this was God's plan and God said no and my heart was broken I thought God why he's saying this we're willing to go when so many people aren't willing to go in 1980 when we're Kay and I are living in Texas and I had finished up my master's degree in AI I thought well we'll start a church in California and I'll get five sponsors to financially underwrite at the first year and I worked my tail off trying to get five sponsors to a sponsor at the beginning of this new church and I couldn't get anybody to do it and finally I just said honey we're going we're leaving we packed up everything in a u-haul truck looked like Beverly Hillbillies come and listen to my story about a man named your head California is the place you ought to be and we get here no money no members no building we didn't have money for the first night we got here we were gonna sleep in the truck we actually went up to Anaheim found some people up there spent the night with some people up there didn't have any money four o'clock in the afternoon I pulled off the off ramp walked into a real estate office only place I could find here in Orange County in in this area and it's open and I walked in one guy his name was Don Dale I walked in I said hi my name is Rick Warren I'm 25 years old I just moved here from Texas I'm here to start a new church I have no money I have no members I have no building and I need a place to stay and he did what you just did he start laughing where God guy's God provides his well let's see what happens so we got in the car he took us over to first little condo we looked at it I don't know how he did it but he convinced the owner to give us the first month rent free and nothing down only God would do that then we signed the papers on it moved in the only thing we looked at as we were driving there I said Donna you go to church wait now no I don't know I'm not know and I say well fine you're my first member so he started this church a week later with Kay and I and our daughter Don and his wife his daughter and one other person and the rest of history I'm glad God didn't answer my prayer because I missed would have missed all of the stories that happened in those early years where I had to depend on him rather than having five financial sponsors I've got a place to live still didn't have any income three days after we got here phone rang I picked the phone ago didn't expect anybody to call who would know where my phone number is the guy said is this Rick Warren yeah he does this a young kid is starting to church in South Orange County yeah he goes my name is Bill Grady we've never met so no so how'd you hear about me said somebody told me you were starting to church he said I live up here in Fulton he said I feel led to pay your rent for the next three months hello you are my new best friend that wouldn't happen if I'd had financial sponsors I remember when we went we were looking for all the equipment we would need for the first service we've gone out and rented Laguna Hills High School on faith we went out in que and I were 25 years old we know we're gonna need nursery equipment for the first service we didn't have any money we had less than a thousand dollars in our checking account that's all we had everything that who knows how long they've got to you know live on that when we went to this garage sale and they had a swing and a diaper changing table and a little few other little stroller things that you could use the nursery in case it add it all up we'll buy it all then us $32.50 I'll never forget that number $32.50 she wrote a check out to that lady knowing that that was money we'd be using for groceries for who knows how long I was on faith and I remember going back to our little apartment pulling opening up the mail and there was a letter from a little lady in Texas who I'd met one time I had spoken at her church and somehow she said where'd that little whippersnapper go the preacher is preached at our church they said all he's gone to California to start a churches somehow she got my address and she says I'm on a pension and I don't have it much I've got a fixed income but I want to be a part and she wrote check maybe this will help out and it was for $32.50 now I could tell you a thousand stories like that over the last 38 years but none of that would have happened if God had answered my original prayer of God I want it all funded before I go it would not have been on faith I remember asking K one time what are you glad God said no she said well there are two guys I wanted to marry but God said no I said me too I'm the lucky dog nananananana but you could do this you have some unanswered prayer you you're grateful for have you ever been back to your high school reunion and that hunk of burnin love you wanted to marry is now a tub of goo thank you God thank you thank you God not only has a bigger perspective he's got a better plan so stop praying God blessed my plans don't ever pray that again God bless my plans start saying god I want your plan for my life don't say God bless my plan say god help me to do what your blessing not bless what I'm doing help me to do what your blessing and then it'll be automatic number three God says no when he's got a bigger perspective God says no one he's got a better plan God said says no when he has a greater purpose there's a big one God will never let your prayer interfere with your purpose God has never made anything without a purpose every plant every Rock every animal that's the purpose if your heart is beating there's a purpose for your life and God will never let your prayer interfere with his purpose for your life Psalm 57 verse 2 I cry out to God Most High who fulfills his purpose for me God's not obligated explained his purposes all of them and why he does what he do he doesn't have to check with you that you know he doesn't need your approval God doesn't have to check in but everything God allows in your life he does for a good purpose including your problems and your unanswered prayer you may be in a tough spot right now look at the next verse the purpose of these troubles what you're going through right now is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is and your faith is more precious than gold so anytime you feel discouraged you want to remind yourself that God has a greater purpose and he may have said no to this but he has a greater purpose and he not let your prayer interfere with the purpose for your life 2nd Corinthians for these present troubles are quite small stuff you're going through and won't last very long yet they will produce for us an immeasurably great glory that'll last forever that's in heaven the rewards in heaven so we don't look at the troubles we can see right now rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen but the troubles we seen will soon be over but the joys to come will last forever he's got a greater purpose that's why God even allowed his own son to go through suffering he had a greater purpose our salvation so if you want to be happy you got to understand some things you're just not ever gonna understand but God has a greater purpose now what do I do when God says no all right write these down real quick and wrap it up what should I do three things you should do when you get a note to a prayer that you've been praying about number one trust that God does everything how did his goodness and love trust that God does everything in your life out of His goodness and love God is a good God he cannot do evil and God is a loving God he cannot be unloving and so everything that happens in your life it may appear bad and it may not even be good but God says I can even use it for good obviously not everything that happens your life is good it's not all good there's a lot of bad in the world a lot of the world God's us I didn't even use that and if you'll trust me I will use even the bad in your life for good anybody can bring good out of good God specializes in bringing good out of bad the Bible says in Psalm 25 all the ways of the Lord are loving it is impossible for God to not act loving to you God will never love you any more or any men less than he does this very second God will never love you any more or never any less why cuz it isn't based on you it's based on who he is all the ways the Lord are loving and Romans 8:28 in everything God works for the good doesn't say it's good he works for the good of those who love him now why why do I trust God when God says no because anytime God says no Satan's always been step in with doubts and he's gonna say hey you didn't get your prayer answered see God doesn't love you he didn't care about you he didn't love you he's a liar Satan is a liar he's incapable of telling the truth write down this principle I want you to write it down I don't have to understand God's answer to know that it's motivated by love I don't have to understand my brain isn't big enough it's like an ant trying to understand the Internet your brain isn't big enough to understand all the ways of God I don't have to understand God's answer to know that it's motivated by love that's like I don't understand the chemistry of digestion doesn't keep me from eating the steak I don't understand internal combustion doesn't keep me from driving car I don't understand how air waves go through the air and come through a television or a cell phone or an iPad but doesn't keep me from using I don't have to understand that to benefit from it that makes sense and the same is true with God the same is it just is true with God the truth is God loves you too much to give you everything you ask for so what's going to happen is when God says no you got three options you can resist you can resent or you can relax and I've seen all three of these I've seen people that win they don't get the answer to prayer that they thought they deserved or wanted they resist that they fight God they rebel against God they run away from God they get mad at God they turned their back on God if you won't do things my way forget it God I'm gonna take my ball and go home and some people do that they resist and some people just resent it and they get mad they get miserable they become bitter they doubt God's love they resent it or you can just relax knowing God is a good god and he's a loving God he always acts toward me with love and with goodness in my best interest and I'm gonna relax in that so I trust that God does everything out of his goodness and love second thing I do when I don't get an answer that I think I wanted when in pain pray what Jesus prayed facing the cross now there's a very specific prayer that jesus prayed the night before he was crucified before they killed him and that prayer was prayed in a garden called Gethsemane gasps M&E is the place of Olive Press it's where they would press the olives and and in that point of pressure point was where jesus prayed the night before the Romans took him and crucified him on the cross he knew where he was going he knew what was about to happen and he's going through the agony of going I don't want to go that go through that but I know it's the key to salvation of the world and in mark chapter 14 Jesus is so filled with pressure and stress over knowing what he's going to face the next day here's what it says mark 14 going a little farther in this garden it's at nighttime Jesus fell to the ground praying that if possible he might not have to suffer what is ahead of him okay let me stop right here if you know you're going through some major pain you know you're gonna go it's okay to pray God I don't want this Jesus did it Jesus did he prayed that if possible he might not have to suffer what was ahead of him and then Jesus prayed and noticed the Finzi prayed because this is the very thing you want to pray ABBA my father remember Abba means daddy that's how you talk to God daddy my father the most intimate term Jesus for it Abba my father all things are possible for you please take this cup of suffering away from me right now I don't want to die on the cross yet I want your will not mine to be done now friends that's the right way to pray when you're in pain that's the right way to pray when you're under pressure that's the right way to pray when you are facing something you don't want to face you pray the exact same three things write these down this is a model for us but Jesus prayed first when you're in pain first affirm God's power that's the first thing you do that's the first thing jesus said father I know you can do anything and of course it can so it's not like God's limited God God could do anything so your firm God's power what are you facing bankruptcy divorce death whatever jail time whatever your father I affirm your power I know you can do anything second after your firm God's power ask with passion ask with passion and he says father please please help me he says father Abba my father all things are possible you please take this cup of suffering away from me that's a legitimate prayer jesus prayed it god I don't want to go through this pain please hear the passion in this I don't want to go to the cross please give me what I ask you ask with passion and the third thing you do is you accept God's plan and he says nevertheless even though this is what I want he says yet I want your will not mine to be done however what I want most is your will so you're facing cancer surgery father I know you have all the power to take me through this bring me through this you got all you can you'd a miracle if you want you Father you have the power to do anything and I'm asking God I don't want to die this cancer I don't want to die but nevertheless what I really want most is I want your plan for my life I want your will for my life because I know it's good there is almost nothing God won't do for the person who has that attitude toward him I trust that God does everything out of love and goodness I expect God III pray the prayer that jesus prayed facing cross and number three I expect when God says no I expect God to give His grace to handle his answer I expect God to give His grace to handle his answer God will never put more on you than he puts in you to bear it up and what God calls you to do he'll equip you to do he'll give you the energy do the power and the strength to do and if God says no to something he's gonna give you the energy to go through that he will give you the grace to handle his answer even Paul the greatest Christian besides Jesus Christ who I said wrote most of the New Testament didn't have all his prayers answered yes in fact in this next verse here's what he says second Corinthians he's talking about a long-term problem in his life we don't know what this thorn in his flesh was what this habit or heard or hang-up we don't actually know and I'm actually kind of glad we don't know so it can apply to everybody but Paul says there was something in his life that had been harassing and hassling him caused pain in his life perpetual pain for his whole life and he says in this passage three times I prayed to the Lord about this and I asked him to take it away but his answer was my grace is all you need for my power is greatest when you are weak so Paul says I gladly boast about my weaknesses so that Christ's power can flow through me for when I'm weak then I'm strong Paul says I want you to take the pain away God says I'm gonna leave the pain my grace will help you through the pain you're gonna grow through the pain you're gonna be a different person through the pain my grace will help you handle the pain and you're gonna be a better person most of you know that I've struggled with a handicap since I was a kid a brain disorder my brain runs incredibly fast hot and it causes all kinds of problems I won't go into but many of you know that I've struggled with my entire life in a lot of different areas in speaking and sleeping and also different things and all my life I've prayed for God to take this handicap away in my life in fact as a young man I thought I could never do public speaking because of this brain disorder that I've got and when we started Saddleback said God I could do one service but never two and then we went to double services God I could teach two serves but never three and God I could teach three but never for God I could teach four but never five and then there was that decade where I taught six services a weekend and the toll that it gave on my body mentally and emotionally physically on my body was I'd go home and just get in bed and I thought of all the people god you chose to speak to about 30,000 people every weekend with all of our services why me and God would say my grace is sufficient for you and I prayed everyday for my son who struggle have been an illness up to the day that he took his life and God says my grace is sufficient for you I would not be the person that I am today without the pain in my life I have learned nothing from pleasure I've told you this before everything I've learned in life I've learned from pain I've learned nothing from come from complements I learned from criticism God says I know God is more interested in your character than your comfort comfort is gonna go on for trillions of years in heaven this is not the comfort time this is the learn time this is the school so what have you prayed for so far in your life and you've prayed and you've prayed and you've prayed then it hasn't happened well you need to remember that God has a bigger perspective he may be protecting you from something unforeseen God has a better plan the story of your life has not ended some of you you've gone through a divorce I'm sorry for that pain a chapter in your life is in it but that's not the end of the story it's just the end of the chapter you're now in a new chapter and God has a plan and a purpose and a perspective far bigger than you realize and he's a good and loving God he has a bigger perspective he has a better plan and he's got a greater purpose and right now he's working on you he will give you the grace and he will give you the power to handle that situation last verse on your outline those who know you Lord will trust you you do not abandon anyone who comes to you if you don't trust him it's because you don't know him if you don't trust him it's because you don't really no God I want to invite you to get to know God I want to invite you to come down today they got whoever whatever you are I want to get to know you I want to take the first step I don't understand it all it doesn't all make sense to me but I'm saying if you're there and you're real and you can change my life I'm all-in just take that first little step some of the things in your life that you have that are painful I just need to be honest as your pastor who loves you I'll tell you this they're not going to change because this is not heaven this is earth and on earth there is sadness and sorrow and sickness and there's some things you're just gonna have to learn to manage Russell quell for wrote this poem and I'll end with this you are who you are for a reason it's totally regardless of your handicap mental emotional spiritual physical regardless of what you think is a limitation in your life you are who you are for a reason you're part of an intricate plan you're precious and perfect unique design called God's special woman or man you look like you look for a reason our God made no mistake he knit you together within the womb you're just what he wanted to make the parents you had were the ones that he chosen no matter how you may feel they were custom designed with God's plan in mind and they bear the Masters seal they had the DNA that made you and God was more interested in you than their parenting skills know that trauma you faced was not easy and God wept that it hurt you so but it was allowed to shape your heart so that into his likeness you'd grow you are who you are for a reason you've been formed by the Masters rod you are who you are beloved because there is a God let's bow our heads would you follow me in this prayer I'm gonna pray a prayer and I invite you to just say it with me you not say it aloud God knows your heart he knows every thought you've ever had he knew that a thousand years before you were born a million years for your born you'd be sitting in Saddleback today so he could say you matter to me would you say God I I want to get to know you better just say that in your God I want to get to know you better I want to know you and I want to know what you're like God you know I've asked for many things in prayer and I've been confused when I didn't see the answer help me to remember that you have a bigger perspective that you can see things in my life I can't see that you're guarding and protecting me from even things I don't even know are out there and God help me to remember that you have a better plan that you have something better in mind when you say no and God help me to remember that you have a greater purpose for my life and that your purpose is bigger than the problems that I go through so here's what I want to do Lord starting starting today I want to trust that everything you do in my life you do out of your goodness and love that you want what's best for me it's you're a good God and that you love me that all of your ways toward me are loving and Lord when I'm in pain help me to pray the way Jesus did and then lord help me to expect you to give me the strength the grace the power to handle what answer you give Lord your word says that those who know you will trust you I don't know you that well obviously because I don't trust you that much so today Jesus Christ as much as I know how I opened my life to you and I want to learn to trust you and your name I pray amen

Channel: Saddleback Church Hong Kong

Views: 35,379

Keywords:

Id: J0674OfXmak

Length: 55min 43sec (3343 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 17 2017