Why Pray? | Isaiah 36-38 | Gary Hamrick

I'm gonna read the first six verses of Isaiah 38 let me just kind of set the background to this passage here the King at the time here is King Hezekiah the Prophet is obviously Isaiah this is the Book of Isaiah this is a record of his prophecies in his ministry during the period of the kings if you've been with us very long through the Book of Isaiah you will remember me saying that the Bible is not always in chronological order and that the Book of Isaiah really fits within the book of 2nd Kings because this is when Isaiah prophesied he ministers during the period of the Kings and the particular King of Judah right now is King Hezekiah and so what we're about to read here in Isaiah 38 has to do with his near-death experience God was merciful to him and extended his life and this story is also found in 2nd Kings chapter 20 so if we read this and you think where have I read this before because you may have read it in 2nd Kings chapter 20 but Isaiah has included it here in his scroll as well because it was something that occurred during Isaiah's ministry as well as occurring during Hezekiah is rain so that's why you have it in second Kings 20 and also here in Isaiah 38 I'm gonna read the first six verses and here we go Isaiah 38 verse 1 says in those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death the prophet Isaiah some of em Oz went to him and said this is what the Lord says put your house in order because you were going to die you will not recover and Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord remember O Lord how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes and Hezekiah wept bitterly and then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah go and tell Hezekiah this is what the Lord the God of your father David says I have heard your prayer and have seen your tears I will add 15 years to your life and I will deliver you in this city from the hand of the king of Assyria I will and this city I've entitled my sermon today why pray why pray let's first pause and do just that let's pray together Lord thank you for this time now in your word as we open up the Bible we pray that you would speak to us through this chapter here through this account with Hezekiah Lord teach us some things about prayer many of us are familiar with the topic but probably not as many of us are actually praying so lord help us that we might enjoy this wonderful opportunity through prayer to commune with you to connect with you and Lord slow us down we pray that we would take time to pray use this time in your word now to speak to us we ask in Jesus name and everybody said amen a few years ago my wife Terry and I were ordering Chinese food to be delivered to our house and so Terry was on the phone and she was ordering the food and got through the food order and got down at the end of the call to the credit card and so she was given the credit card information over the phone and then then all of a sudden I was standing there in the kitchen I could see her expression all of a sudden she's still on the phone and she got an expression of joy and then expressed her like confusion and we kind of went back and forth joy and confusion and she kept saying this is what I heard she kept saying it's a special day what that's wonderful what does that mean do I get free food is it like free delivery well what does that mean why do you keep saying special day special David what do I get and then she just had this looking confusion and she just said I'm sorry I'm sorry can you talk to my husband so she handed me the phone so I took the phone I said hello is it a special day and he said no no no no special day no special day wife gave me credit card I want expiration date expiration date I don't I don't share that illustration to disparage any culture there's just a bit of a language barrier for the moment an expiration date is what he wanted it wasn't a special day at all how does that fit into this story I'll tell you like a credit card we all have an expiration date how do you like that and Isaiah the prophet has shown up to King Hezekiah and says to him your expiration date is up you better get your house in order you're gonna die now I began thinking through studying the passage would it be kind of cool if actually there was if we were like you know a canned food item if all of us were born with like an expiration date like on our backside you know and so you always would know like when that day is gonna happen and then you wouldn't be afraid like am I gonna die and we're gonna die oh no that's right my expiration dates not up yet and you would you'd never be anxious or worried or fearful you could plan accordingly but on the other hand if you all had an expiration date stamped on your backside you'd be living recklessly until that day probably so God knows what he's doing it doesn't tell us in advance when your expiration date is but in this case he does he says to the prophet Isaiah I want you to go to King Hezekiah and I want you to tell him yes he's sick and he will not recover his days are numbered he's gonna die and Hezekiah hears this word this is grim news for him he's 39 years of age at this time nobody you're 39 you don't want to hear I mean that's the prime of your life you don't want to hear hey you're getting ready to die so this is the news that he's being told by Isaiah that he because of his sickness will not recover and he's going to die actually I didn't read it but further down in chapter 38 in verse 21 it tells us the source of his illness because it gives us the cure here in a moment in verse 21 but in verse 21 it tells us that he his sickness is the zone of an infected boil which apparently has caused sepsis throughout his whole body not the infection from the boil has has spread throughout his whole system and he's dying from this it's a raging infection and so Isaiah is sent by the Lord to tell him that he that he will not recover and Hezekiah you know maybe he's standing or sitting I kind of picture that perhaps he's lying in bed because he's sick and and that he rolls over because it does say that he faces the wall he hears this news from Isaiah and then he turns and he faces the wall and he prays he prays and his prayer is simple and I want you to notice with me we're gonna read it again in verse three his prayer is so simple he doesn't even ask God for anything you know he does it's not what you know if it were if it were me I would be like why do I have to die I am only 39 God you know help me and you know cure me and then and and save me and I don't want to die and he doesn't do any of that it's very interesting here he doesn't ask God for anything he turns with his face to the wall and listen to listen to what he does he appeals to the memory of God he if not even to the mercy of God God's gonna be merciful but he appeals to the memory of God and because his prayer is just Lord remember that I've lived faithfully and devoted to you please remember that notice again it's a very simple short prayer it's just verse three look at verse three remember O Lord how I have walked before you faithfully and with a wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes that's this whole prayer and then it adds and Hezekiah wept bitterly so he's distraught he's weeping he hears this news he knows I mean the word of Isaiah is true so he knows his time is short hearings and he just prays this simple prayer remember Lord that I've been faithful and devoted to you and then he weeps it's one of the simplest prayers but God honored it God honored it and I love the way it also adds in verse 5 that God heard him prayers heard his prayers and saw his tears heard his prayers and saw his tears in Psalm 56 verse 8 very interesting verse of the Bible Psalm 56 verse 8 says that God bottles up our tears and records them in his book God is acquainted with our grief and familiar with our suffering and knows when we are in anguish Psalm 56 verse 8 he bottles up our tears and he writes them in his book God sees God takes note when we are in anguish and this simple prayer of Hezekiah was enough for God it was enough God had mercy on Hezekiah and he sent Isaiah back to Talam I'll add 15 more years to your life and I will defend Jerusalem against the Assyrians I mean he he goes even above and beyond Hezekiah didn't even ask for healing and God says I'm going to heal you and then God adds and I'm gonna protect Jerusalem from the Assyrians now by the way the Bible says in 1st Samuel chapter 15 verse 29 that God is not a man that he should lie or change his mind okay we are fickle like that but God is Nadia's constant is the same yesterday today and forever so God is not like a man that he should lie or change his mind so did he change his mind here he adds 15 more years to Hezekiah his life Hezekiah didn't even asked for it no the fact of the matter is that God is consistent he doesn't change his mind he doesn't lie it was part of the will and intent of God that Hezekiah should live a longer life but this was a moment of testing well Hezekiah get angry at God well Hezekiah cursed God well Hezekiah get mad at Isaiah or will he turn his face to the wall and pray a simple prayer remember me Lord and weep and in response to that God gave Hezekiah what I believe in the sovereign will of God was God's original intention for Hezekiah but he wanted to see if Hezekiah was willing enough to humble himself to receive it and so God was merciful and he extends as the guy's life 15 more years and it's interesting also to notice the method by which God heals Hezekiah if you look in verse 21 I'll just refer to it not going to quote it but in verse 21 God tells Isaiah to prepare a poultice of figs like just kind of a mushy fig substance and apply it to the boil I'm sure that was a wonderful day for Isaiah you know I just like God God's like I say I want you to make this a mixture of figs and I want you to go ahead and put it right there on that boil on Hezekiah his body what I mean do I have any rubber gloves for this Lord I mean you know do I have to touch the boil and this you know I can just see Isaiah like okay Lord you know but so he's putting this mixture of figs on the boil this is what God told him to do it's basically a medicinal compound here that by which God is going to use this to extract the infection now please note look God is a God of miracles and God can choose to heal somebody anyway he jolly well wants to but there are times when God will use natural means to accomplish a supernatural end okay don't despise doctors in medicine okay listen God is the ultimate healer always but God uses doctors and God uses medicine God uses natural means to accomplish his supernatural purposes for goodness sakes in this story God used a Fig Newton so he could use whatever he wants and so Hezekiah is healed here and Hezekiah gets this extension on his life and I just love the way that God honors a very simple non-demanding broken man's prayer and response so let's examine the role of prayer in the life of an individual and before we actually talk about why pray we need to first answer the question what is prayer I know it might seem a bit elementary elementary to to most of us but in its simplest death Asian prayer is connecting and communing with God prayer is connecting and communing with God it is sometimes talking it is sometimes just listening and not saying anything it can be with words or just from your heart there's no right or wrong way to pray there is no designed or designated prayer posture you can stand you can sit you can kneel you can lift your hands you can close your eyes you can open your eyes when you pray you can pray on the run you can pray in public you can pray in private you can pray in the morning you can pray in the evening you can pray everywhere in between but the main thing is we need to pray we need to pray you say well I don't really have time to pray I really can't afford to pray you can't not afford to pray I know that's a double negative and your grammar teachers would really have a problem with that but you know what I'm saying we prayer is so important we can't afford not to and we deny ourselves and we rob ourselves of what of what God wants to do in our hearts and in our lives because we don't take time to pray we don't take time to seek his face and the Bible actually exhorts us to pray in different places for example Romans 12:12 be joyful in Hope patient in affliction faithful in prayer in Colossians 4 verse 2 devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful 1st Thessalonians 5:17 says pray continually now whenever you read in the Bible strong exhortations one after another it's given to us intentionally because what it says to us is it won't come naturally we will get occupied busy and if it's not our own system of busyness trust me the enemy will try to make you busy so that you don't pray and seek God too so between ourselves and between whatever the enemy tries to throw our way to keep us at a distance from God those things will constantly be competing with us in our attempt to get alone with the Lord that's why the scripture constantly is telling us devote yourself to prayer continually pray you know because it won't come easily it won't come naturally but if we don't will she do ourselves a disservice gee k Chesterton Chesterton once said quote the difference between talking about prayer and actually praying is the same as the difference between blowing a kiss and actually kissing then we can talk about prayer a lot but unless we actually pray we're not really engaging with the heart of God so why pray I'm gonna submit to you five reasons to consider prayer and this list could be exhaustive you can come up with I'm sure much better points and I'm gonna give you but I'm gonna give you just five so that together we can consider the importance of prayer as we see just the example here of Hezekiah I mean it's not this long laborious prayer it's not you know he didn't go on and on and on it was just one verse didn't even ask anything turns his face toward the wall prays to God on behalf of God's memory Laura just remember that I've been faithful to you and then he weeps bitterly and God takes note of it so here's the first thing why pray number one because I may not receive what God wants me to have until I ask I may not receive what God wants me to have until I ask now it isn't that God delights in just withholding things from us but I'm gonna explain what I mean as I go through this point first of all in your Bibles you can write down in the margin here James 4 verse 2 James 4 verse 2 makes it pretty clear you don't have because you don't ask God mr. James 4:2 says you have not because you ask not you don't have because you have not asked God now by the way Jesus said in Matthew 6 verse 8 your father knows what you need even before you ask so it's easy to get a little cynical about prayer isn't it because if you think to yourself alright well God is my father and he loves me he wants his best for me so if he knows what I need and Jesus said in Matthew 6 8 he knows what I need even before I ask why bother asking I mean why doesn't he just give me what I want or what I need why doesn't he anticipate everything because God knows everything and then just go ahead and deliver without my having to ask what's the purpose in prayer why would God withhold things from me until I asked now by the way it is it as if God withholds everything everything from you and me he wants us to ask he certainly anticipates what we need and and you better believe there are many times that God lavishes upon us what we don't deserve what we haven't asked for because he's already anticipated our need and he's taking care of it it's just like you know as a parent you wouldn't you wouldn't treat your kids that way well I'm not gonna give you a single thing until you ask that's not the way God treats us you know well I see I see Johnny you have holes in your shoes but I'm not gonna give you a pair of shoes until you ask I see that you're hungry Sally but I'm not gonna give you any food until you ask I mean that's ridiculous no parent treats a child like that God doesn't treat us like that but there are times there are times where God is waiting for us to ask why because in asking we're learning some things number one humility in asking you ever have a hard time asking somebody for something you know because you don't want to impose you don't want to be a burden so I don't want to ask alright and we can treat God that way well honey one impose I don't want to ask God is teaching us humility because it takes humility to ask ok god I'm gonna humble myself and I'm gonna ask we also learned patience while we're waiting because between asking and when the answer comes whatever that answer might be we learn patience in our waiting and we learn how to be grateful for what we receive after we receive in response to what we've asked so we learn all these different things so this is why God's doesn't want you to ask because we learn to appreciate and respect and honor and worship the one who has provided for us what we've asked we learn patience and are waiting we learn humility in the process of asking so it's not like God is just you know this manipulative dad in heaven is just like I'm not gonna give you a single thing do you ask but James 4:2 says you don't have because you don't ask God is wanting us to step towards him and God is wanting us to engage with the heart of our father and say Lord father this is my request this is my plea this is my prayer this is my desire this is why this is my wish is my want now listen God is our father's gonna he's gonna filter through all of our requests alright as our Father in Heaven he's gonna filter through all those because some of the things we want we don't have the understanding or the capacity to realize that some of the things we want are good for us and God does don't think that God is a vending machine or a genie in a bottle that's not what prayer is about well I just you know throw up some prayers pull the lever and God's gonna give me what I want no God is our Father and as our father sometimes his answer is gonna be yes sometimes his answer is gonna be no and sometimes his answer is gonna be not now and we have to be willing to trust him as our Father in Heaven who always does what is best for us but he says I want you to come and I want you to ask I want you to make your requests known to me I want you to ask but now listen there's a warning because in James 4:2 when it says you have not because you ask not James 4:3 says and when you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures Oh so James qualifies the request there he says now I want you to ask him what you ask God because the reason a lot of times you don't have is because you haven't even asked but by the way there's another reason why you don't get and that's because you've asked but you've asked with wrong motives God is not obligated to deliver to us what we ask with wrong motives and now you might be wondering well how can I know if my request is one with wrong motives answer when you don't get what you asked for now that doesn't mean everything that you don't get that you asked for is because you prayed with wrong motives but what it does mean is if you pray with wrong motives you won't get what you asked for okay not every every time God says no it's because we asked with wrong motives but every time we ask with wrong motives God's gonna say no why well because God is sometimes protecting us from our own selfish ambitions that are not in step with His purposes and plans for our lives so God's not a vending machine and God's not a genie in a bottle God is our Father he's not at our beck and call to just do whatever we want he is our Father in Heaven who sometimes says yes sometimes says no sometimes says not now now one out of three ain't bad don't get angry with God if he says no or not now he knows what's best but he wants us to ask we can learn humility patience and have a deep appreciation for the wonderful benefits in hand of God when we ask number two why pray because God delights to show himself strong on my behalf in the previous chapter if you go backwards up to Isaiah 37 just look at Isaiah 37 with me for a moment because in the previous chapter there Isaiah 37 it recounts an occasion when the Assyrians were making serious threats against Jerusalem and there Hezekiah is king in Jerusalem and the Assyrians were encamped thousands tens of thousands were encamped around the city of Jerusalem and the field commander of the Assyrian army is coming to the wall of Jerusalem there is on the outside now the Assyrians have been camped and encircle Jerusalem the field commander of the Assyrians is coming out by the wall and he's trash-talking and he's just like and he's just you know like running off at the mouth and and he's just saying things insulting to the people of Judah to the king of Judah and to the God of Judah so you just you know just going off he's just a mean he's just like you know you you think you you guys can rely on your God and your God is nothing and don't trust Hezekiah my king is a better King and you guys are gonna get swallowed up and we're gonna take over your city and and and and stop your praying because we have stronger gods and all this kind of stuff he goes on and on and on saying all this stuff okay well it's one thing to insult the people of Judah it's another thing to insult the king of Judah but when he starts insulting the god of Judah the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Hezekiah comes unglued and what does he do he prays in Chapter 37 look again here at chapter 37 verse 15 and Hezekiah prayed to the Lord Hezekiah had his moments of Prayer for sure he prayed to the Lord this is what he prays verse 16 Oh Lord Almighty God of Israel and throne between the cherubim you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth you have made heaven and earth give ear o Lord and here open your eyes O Lord and see listen to all the words Sennacherib is sent to insult the Living God they just praise you just appeals to God in this way jump to verse 21 it says in then isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah this is what the Lord the God of Israel says because you have prayed to me see God takes note of it because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria because you have prayed to me here's what God ends up doing further down in the chapter verse 36 for something pretty serious here verse 36 then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp when the people got up the next morning there were all the dead bodies I mean God God showed himself strong in a big way by defending Jerusalem and the people that he loves and by the way I think the reason why Hezekiah prays in chapter 38 when he gets this news about his coming death is because he saw the hand of God in what we have is chapter 37 in defending the city of Jerusalem so in other words prayer builds your prayer life see Hezekiah I think in Chapter 38 turns and faces the wall and prays that simple prayer because he knows God God is powerful I've seen him work in my life before in response to a prayer that was chapter 37 so I know that God can work again in response to prayer the more we pray it builds our prayer life because as you pray you can see answers to prayer you can see the different ways that God worked and wonderful miraculous ways and it motivates you to pray more see this is what is happening here in the life of Hezekiah and God is showing himself strong on behalf of his people you know second chronicles 16 verse 9 says that the eyes of the Lord ranged throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him you know that God is on the hunt for people that he can show himself strong to whose hearts are committed to him his eyes are roaming to and fro all over the earth who can i strengthen today who can i strengthen today that's the heart of our Father he delights to show himself strong in our behalf Asaph would say in Psalm 50 verse 15 call upon me in the day of your trouble and I will deliver you and you will honor me this is what God says to us he beckons us call upon me go ahead call upon me in their day of trouble and I will deliver you and you will honor me just as he did for Hezekiah number three why pray number three what I want to give you a preview because prayer bends my will to the will of God prayer bends my will to the will of God let me spend a little bit time on this one because this was a little tricky and I and I've heard some people who think differently so I want to clarify I have a will and God has a will same with you you have a will and God has a will now sometimes those wills align what God's want what God wants is the same thing you want and sometimes those things do not align God wills something you don't will it so in those moments when my will does not align with the will of God or when I don't know if my will aligns with the will of God so let's say there's nothing clearly like in Scripture that that I'm wishing or willing or wanting that is a conflict with God's will but let's just say it's something about which I just don't know you know a a move a career change that there's not a scripture verse about it so I'm not sure if this is God's will so so in prayer what happens in prayer is prayer helps to bend my will to the will of God if it's already a line there's not much bending but if it's not then what happens is in my heart God begins to move in my heart in such a way that I'm now just surrendered to the will of God my will bent toward the will of God now here's why I need to clarify this because I've heard some people over my years of ministry who take issue with this they would say to you it is a faithless thing to end a prayer saying your will be done and the reason is because some believe that in prayer we should come boldly before the throne of grace there's a Bible verse on that and we should declare to God in faith believing and that if if anything else other than a strong declaration of believing enters in such as if your will be done then it's almost a statement of a lack of faith and they will often quote out of James James chapter 1 verses 6 through 8 which talks about if if you pray you need to pray believing when he asks you must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind that man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord he is a double-minded man unstable and all he does so you could look at a verse a passage like that in James 1 6 to 8 and it almost sounds like you know you just need to go and kind of assert yourself to God and not doubt and this is what I declare and make your statement and stand strong and be a person of faith but the but the issue is what is the doubt that James is talking about here I think it's it's incorrect to say that the doubt he's talking about is is the doubt of faith because the interpretation can be well if you if you doubt what you're asking then you show faithlessness and then you're not going to get what you want because you're double minded man when in reality I believe the doubt he's talking about is doubting God if you doubt God if you doubt that God is able then you're a double minded person why are you asking God for something that you don't really ultimately believe he's able to do that's the double mindedness so the issue is in in James 1 6 through 8 don't ever doubt God because God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond we could whole were imagine but to defer to his will is not doubting God that is a posture in a position of humility saying okay as my father in heaven I may not be able to see everything clearly Paul writes about it and first Corinthians chapter 13 now we see but in a glass darkly then one day I'll see face to face and I'll know in part now but I'll know fully then so for the meantime because I see things in a glass now I'm not clear about everything I don't I don't know everything that God does I'm gonna defer to the will of God and I'm gonna say Lord your will be done I'm gonna make my requests known I'm gonna say Lord this is what I'm asking this is my plea this is my prayer but ultimately Lord your will be done and I'm gonna trust it as my father in heaven you have my best interest at heart so I defer and prayer then helps to bend my will to the will of God that this is not weakness this is meekness this does not diminish your prayers because somehow you're not asserting yourself strongly in faith you can have faith and still believe but your faith and belief is in the is in God and his ability to accomplish those things in your life for your good and for my good okay so don't doubt that God is able because he is able but be willing in prayer to ask God to move your heart that it might bend to his will that you might be in conformity with the will of God for your life look Jesus modeled this for us in Matthew chapter 6 his own disciples came to Jesus and said teach us to pray which is a strong indication to all of us isn't it that we need to learn how to pray teach us to pray and in the Lord's Prayer he starts out thy kingdom come thy will be done pray that pray father your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and an and in Gethsemane when Jesus was in agony before the cross he praised in Luke 22:42 he says father if you were willing take this cup from me but nevertheless not my will but yours be done so Jesus was willing to defer to the will of father and in prayer we need to ask God Lord your will be done we banned our will to the will of the Father East Stanley Jones said quote prayer is surrender surrender to the will of God and cooperate with that will if I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore and pull do I pull the shore to me or do I pull myself to the shore prayer is not pulling God to my will but aligning the aligning of my will to the will of God end quote I got to go through these real quickly my time is escaping me here number four because prayer combats anxiety fear weary in temptation that's imported isn't it we need to pray because it combats anxiety fear worrying temptation folks we are people of flesh and in our flesh there's times we're gonna be afraid we're gonna worry we're gonna get anxious we're gonna feel tempted and prayer helps us in that regard Philippians 4:6 and seven great verses be anxious for nothing but in all things through prayer and supplication it's another type of prayer with Thanksgiving make your requests known to God and the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus it's a wonderful isn't it when you can go into your prayer closet or in your car wherever you might be praying and you can be so anxious and fearful and then you just spend some time in prayer and then that peace that passes all understanding just ministers to that anxiety that worry in that fear the same for temptation in the garden in Matthew chapter 26 41 jesus said to his disciples watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation for the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak jesus knows that we are frail and through prayer we can be strengthened in our soul against temptation lastly number five why pray because prayer is the pathway for forgiveness we all need forgiveness because we have all sinned sin separates us from God but first John 1:9 says if we confess our sins we give our sins to God say Lord you know my sins lord I confess them to you if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we would just go to him and say Lord I'm sorry forgive me he will cleanse our hearts prayer is a pathway to forgiveness King David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then was confronted by the prophet Nathan David was cut to the heart he repented he was broken and he wrote Psalm 51 all of Psalm 51 is a prayer of confession repentance and contrition before God and part of it goes like this in Psalm 51 1 and 2 David said have mercy on me O God according to your unfailing love according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions washed away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin later in that chapter he says create in me a pure heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me but restore unto me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me if you want to get closer to God pray if you're sick and need healing pray if you're worried or fearful pray if you're tempted pray if you need answers to questions pray if you're in doubt pray and if you don't know what else to do then by all means pray amen John Bunyan said this about prayer you can do more than pray after you have prayed but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed let's pray father thank you for this reminder Lord a simple prayer of Hezekiah is that you honored you extended his life you were merciful he didn't even ask for it thank you for the wonderful ways you're so merciful in our lives that we don't even sometimes know to ask or how to ask nevertheless you tell us to come to ask you delight to show yourself strong in our lives your will be done Lord not ours thank you for your comfort thank you for how you helped us with anxiety fear worry and temptation thank you that there's a pathway for forgiveness Lord we rob ourselves when we don't take time with you we rob ourselves o that you would so want to calm our fears if we would only pray o how you want to strengthen us through our temptations if we would only pray you want to take away our fears if we would just simply pray forgive us when we're so busy Lord we do a disservice to ourselves may we be disciplined in our lives unhurried to be able to just take that time that we need to sit at your feet sometimes just to listen what would you say to me today Lord how would you encourage me or challenge me thank you for being my father thank you for caring for me and loving me for looking out for me and protecting me and providing for me or in all the many ways that you're so good to us help us to take time to pray you're a good and merciful God and we thank you that you have made a way for us to communities esteem and all God's people said amen and amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Cornerstone Chapel, Prayer, Gary Hamrick, gary hamrick sermons, gary hamrick podcast, prayer for protection, Calvary, Chapel, Cornerstone Chapel Leesburg, cornerstone chapel leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg sermons, Biblical Sermons of prayer, Pray, Why Pray, why prayer is important, why pray if god is all knowing, why prayers are not answered

Id: 1LUjPYeFvbc

Length: 39min 29sec (2369 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019