The Nature of Prayer

0:01 I was told I wasn't actually the speaker today. I was just the emcee. So mean, that made me feel a little more relaxed. And so, today, the the... I was just gonna read a couple verses and, make a couple comments.

0:17 I did think of a few more things to say during breaking of bread, so, we'll see how the spirit leads. But, do plan on, regardless, having a time where we come together and pray for the needs of chapel for what's on people's hearers' hearts. So you can write down more than one prayer request, and we will do our best to pray through them. I invited several different men to come up, and what we'll do is we'll collect all the sheets and then stick them here, man will take a couple and pray. And, we will all pray together, as well in our hearts.

0:59 So I was giving some thought to the nature of prayer. As a adoptive parent, I have some insight into the way that we are adopted spiritually into God's family. God uses adoption as a metaphor. And, although you don't see really adoption in the Middle East culture or you don't see it much much in mention mention much in the bible, we're told that we're adopted to the family of God. We're...

1:38 We were in another family and we needed a father. We needed someone to take care of us. And so God, in his love, brought us into his family. And now we get all the same benefits as children in the family. In The United States, when you adopt a child and you go through the legal process, you may not know this, but the judge actually, when you go through the entire process, and it's quite a process, when the judge makes that order, it actually goes to the records office where they keep a little record called a birth certificate, and they take that old birth certificate.

2:20 I don't know whether they hide it or destroy it, but in the place of that old birth certificate with the the actual birth parents is a new birth certificate. And it says... And they backdate it to the date you were actually born, and it says, this this person, the Joseph McAllister, is now well, they they they put the new name, and it's the same day they were born. And and and it says they were born on that same date, and the parents are, and it's the new parents. And so it's it's it's set in stone.

2:50 It's real. It's legal. It's as far as anybody can tell, from a... They would go look at the records, this... These are the new parents.

2:59 And so for those of us who have been saved, we've been adopted into into the family of God, and and this is a real relationship. This is... We are now sons and daughters of of God and Christ. And and and so sometimes as you start this new relationship, it's... Think, oh, this is so great.

3:29 Things don't... It's not all joy and happiness and and all that you had planned and dreamed and hoped of. You know? It's not magical, and, you know, there... There's there's real life that that that comes into play with adoption.

3:44 One of the issues with adopted kids is that for a good amount of them, they struggle with,

3:54 something called attachment disorder

3:57 because of either neglect, in the previous relationship or the trauma of switching the people that they knew as parents to the new parents, a deep wound happens in their soul and their heart. They experience, They actually, many of them lose to some degree their ability to experience love. So the the new caregiver can do everything in their ability to communicate love to these these new beloved children that they care so much about that they are sacrificing for. And yet the child, some of some of these children end up living their entire lifetime unable to experience love from anyone. Yet, of course, love is necessary for all of us.

4:45 It's necessary for living. And, yet they are unable to feel, to sense, to know, this this great love which was their love, this sacrifice that that they've had. And so, you know, the... It it has ramifications in every relationship. They tend to live more rebelliously.

5:06 They tend to act vindictively over small things because they're they're they're hitting out. They're seeking something, but they can't experience this fulfillment of relationship because it's not... The the receptors to do it aren't there. They still have the need, it's just they can't get it. It's not happening.

5:28 And so and so there's there's a... It it becomes quite an issue. And sometimes I feel like, as a Christian I have attachment disorder. I have this sense that I cannot be loved, or I don't feel that love, or I don't have that intimacy with my heavenly Father, that maybe I would like to have

5:55 the

5:55 fulfillment. The difference between a real... Not a real, but a a birth child and an adopted child is so different. There is just an assumption. There is an understanding.

6:07 There is a rest in the relationship. If you've ever the the... Or for at least a child that's healed, you know, or or understands that attachment, they they just come up and there's that rest. Where if you see a child that's attachment, they're constantly looking out to other people. They they they don't have a don't have a trust in their parents.

6:29 In fact, a lot of people think it's great because they they look at your kids and they say, wow. He's so friendly. Well, you know what he's doing? He's not friendly. He's looking for a new parent because he doesn't think you're the...

6:39 No. And it's really true. They're looking for a new parent. So they're they're they're so... They develop skills of of charming charming, and they exude charisma.

6:50 But really all they're doing is they're looking for a new parent because they don't think their parent loves them, and they don't think that they're gonna get to keep their current parent. And and and, and even children who are are, who get it... Get... Have this change made when they're days old. Some...

7:07 I don't know whether it's a spiritual connection or or just they somehow sense the the trauma in their life at this young age. Even though they don't have a conscious understanding of it, sometimes those are the worst because somewhere deep inside they've been... They've had this change made, and they're still... They still don't have that connection with their parents. So I guess this is kind of my introduction to prayer because prayer at its heart is an intermittent...

7:38 Intimate interchange with our parents. One of the... I could go on and on about the ramifications of that, but I think that's enough as an introduction of of attachment disorder. One of the things, you know, as I've read and studied and tried to... I I hope that my my children will will all have that bond and attachment and will have that fulfillment as a family.

8:24 And it's this, basically, it's... You gotta look at it as a therapy. You gotta do it every day or as often as you can. It's gotta be done multiple times, many times, many hours. And it's this...

8:35 You get in a rocking chair, and you and you you take your child, just just one of them in the rocking chair, and you just sit there, and you do nothing but rocking, which is hard for someone like me because I'm, you know, I'm kind of a go go and gonna do all this stuff. And... But I'll tell you some of the most enjoyable times for me in my busy life and doing way too much is to come to the end of the day and and come into the end of the day, and we've been running all day long. It's been hectic. And then to turn the lights down and to bring one of my children into my arms and to spend fifteen minutes or half an hour or sometimes it just extends, and it's...

9:15 We're just rocking back and forth. And nothing is said, but there's that rocking back and forth. And and and there's some physical reasons for that because actually God has designed supposedly... This is the explanation I heard, the lymphatic system. That's your body's drain of all the toxins and stuff.

9:30 And people are emotionally damaged. They... Some of those things don't work normally. They're they're tense. They're they're tense.

9:36 They... Emotionally, they don't trust anybody, so they're always running, going, trying to care for them, trying to provide for themselves. They're not they're not trusting parents to provide. There's... So so they're tense.

9:48 You go back and forth. It it just... The body starts to to drain some of those stoppages and start to relax. And then they experience this time of relaxation with their with their parent, with their caregiver. And as they relax and as they experience this time of enjoyment, there's there's suddenly...

10:07 Over time, they start to connect to their their daddy or mommy with this experience of of of joy, love, and interchange. And so I I I guess I'm using this metaphor to say, where is this with our heavenly father? Do we have a connection and attachment? Do we trust him? Ultimately, difference between, you know, idols in this world are we're trusting other things.

10:35 You know? That was the issue. You know, you look back, like David, for instance, even in that that time. And all the idols, actually have physical things that people would, you know, worship. And even king...

10:52 Even David before as king, remember a reference to, him as he was escaping. And there was just... It was kind of like matter of factly, like, there's no comment on it, but but, king David was... Had realized he had to run and escape, and Michael hit him. And what she did was she put an idol in his bed.

11:12 Why is there... Why there was an idol in his house? It was just kinda like, well, I guess everybody had idols in their house. It was just a... You know, it was like, you know, come on, guys.

11:21 You know, why would you... To me, it seemed like, come on. But but I think I think today in this world, the... We have other things that we trust in as well and just the things of this world. You know?

11:40 And I I... As I was preparing and and reading and thinking, and I was struggling with some issues of worldliness in my own heart, and I still am. And and ultimately, I I kind of I kind of realized that the the issues in my heart are are trusting in other trusting in other things, not trusting in the Lord. And and I think I need to rock with my my father a little bit more. I've been I've been seeking out for these things.

12:12 I've been seeking out other things. And I need to sit down and worship, sit down and resting in him, sit down and and, and having those those pleasant times in the evening where I... Where time passes a different different rate and and just in simple enjoyment. More more enjoyment in the breaking of bread. More, you know, looking to experience those times and and consciously...

12:36 It's a conscious thing. Because because you don't sit down and rock every day without choosing to do so with your kids. Yet the the ramifications of me not doing it with my kids are possibly doing my dooming my children to, a life of kind of quiet desperation where they're they're constantly reaching out for for something else. I'd like to... A year or two ago when we had a similar meeting to this, I I talked on James five sixteen, and I'd like to open that up again.

14:11 And I... You know, last time I talked I I talked a lot about fervency and the importance of being earnest before the Lord. And I think I may have had the wrong focus because fervency is an effect. Know, it comes out of out of out of... When you have a loving intimate relationship, the natural outcome of that is that you have the ability to be...

14:36 To lay everything bare and be earnest and transparent. Because if you don't have... You you can't be that way if you don't have that intimate relationship because anytime you're transparent and earnest and you kinda lay things bare, there's a natural vulnerability to that. So without the trust, there is no intimacy, which is which is everybody's need, especially with God. So so I think the key might be more for the for the...

15:10 For understanding powerful prayer is and having a right relationship with Christ much more than summoning up some kind of sense of urgency. Like, I'm gonna be really earnest. Get ready. This is important. So we'll be earnest today.

15:26 It's not... It's it's it's not about that. It's it's about it's about having the proper having the proper relationship with Christ and and and intimacy and knowing him. And then the earnest is just a natural outcrop. The the earnest prayer of the righteous man is a not...

15:47 Is a natural outcrop of that relationship. And the the righteousness as well is a natural outcropping of of being in that relationship and trusting him, and then letting go of those other things that we trust. We're not seeking for other parents. We're not seeking for other gods. We're not looking for someone else to deliver us.

16:09 We're not looking for something else to deliver us. If you could turn to Daniel nine. One of my favorite prayers is the prayer of Daniel. And Daniel's unique because, like, say, if you compare him with David, I don't know really any major scandals in his life. David had a few.

17:06 You know, he had some issues of passion in his life. Although he's compared to the Lord, he has beautiful prayers that he's written, and he's written more than Daniel has. Still, you look at Daniel's life, and there's really no recording of any major misdecision, any downfall, any major sin in his life, any sin at all that I I can think of. God used him to prophecy, used him to totally change the course of of a pagan king's life. Probably through his preaching, the most powerful man in the world got saved.

17:48 And and Daniel having... I think towards... This is well into his later adult life. He has worked for several masters and seen several total regime changes and and and lived through it through God's protection. He he comes face to face with the reality of the destruction and the punishment on his own people.

18:14 And there is... And I'm gonna read here. It says, in the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, the seed of Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books that the... By the books, that's God's word that he was reading, that the prophecy, I think it was...

18:37 Am not sure which prophet, that the number of the years where of the word of Jehovah came to the prophet came to... There it is, Jeremiah, the prophet. For accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem was seventy years. And I set my face unto the lord to to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And so sees this terror coming, and he sees that it is God's choice and will, and God is in it.

19:11 And another translation says so, but he's... But this one, I'm actually reading Darby here, says, and he connects it. I set my face unto the Lord. So there was a terrible need, a terrible in his mind. His heart was broken over the over the over the imminent punishment and destruction of his people.

19:39 And, and what he did because he trusted the Lord and understood his goodness and meditated on it. He was seeking him already. He, he sought the Lord by prayer and supplication. And, you know, regarding earnestness, he didn't get any more earnest than fasting. He was he was giving up his own pleasures.

20:06 He's wearing sackcloth, which is... Again, this is all outers. Come... Kinda comes afterwards. You know?

20:13 The... He was wearing sackcloth, basically rough clothes. And this this man was a very hot... Probably second in command in the, in the... Of the civilized world.

20:25 So he had very expensive clothes, but he he resulted to the type... Making clothes out of, you know, bags that would hold, you know, ordinary things, rough cloth. And and put ashes on himself. He wasn't gonna be clean. He wasn't gonna try to be somebody.

20:49 He was gonna put himself in the place. I I think it's a posture in front of God. It's not about those specific things, but it's that for him, I believe, that was that was how he could communicate. That was a physical thing he could do to communicate to the Lord his heart of misery and, helplessness in front of God. And so he he he supplicated his...

21:19 He he he, he prayed his heart to the Lord. And he goes on actually to confess all the things that other people did really, not himself too much. I think maybe he was confessing some of his own heart and what it could have been if the Lord hadn't rescued him. But I prayed unto Jehovah, my God, and made my confession and said, alas, the great and terrible God, keeping covenant and loving and kindness with them that love him and that keep his commandments. We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even turning aside from the commandments and from thine ordinances.

22:02 And we have not hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets who spoke in the name of our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and all the people of the land. Thine, oh lord, is the righteousness, but into us confusion of face as this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto Israel that are near, that thou are far off in all countries, whether thou hast driven them. That are... Okay. Missed it.

22:29 And and that are far off in all countries, whither thou hast driven them because of their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful against thee. So he he just... He he confesses his his sin. And I think part of the barrier between us is... It start...

23:28 So if they if they don't have that close relationship, they can't take the discipline, and they're gonna rebel. And and so so So So so there's that estrangement. And and so we as as Christians who are who still find ourselves sometimes doing the wrong thing, when we find that we need to we need to still confess our sin the bible calls us to, and seek to enter back into that intimacy of prayer, of the intimate interchange with the Lord. Because it... Because even having our sins forgiven, we still we still can displease the Holy Spirit.

24:37 We can still lose our... We can still live worldly in a way that's that's not fulfilling to either us, and it doesn't doesn't give us the relationship he seeks with us. It wasn't why he died so that we could live worldly. He didn't die so we could... He didn't he didn't die so that we could we could not have a connection.

24:56 It was because he wanted wanted us to be with him, ultimately, in a in a state of paradise. But but even here in this broken world, he's... He he he seeks a life of peace with us, even in the business. I wanted to make the point that that Daniel, if there was any man that had any more pressure, I don't know. You know, we can all make excuses of of pressure and business, but here he had the weight of the of the world on his shoulders.

25:26 It would be equivalent of the president or the vice president here in The United States. All the things that he had responsibility for, and and the weight of it was his life. And he didn't count that too dear. And, he trusted the Lord, and the Lord honored him and gave him that peace. It says that he prayed three times a day, and and we had the account of him, you know, putting his own life at stake for that, knowing that this next time he's gonna be watched, and they were gonna put him they were gonna put him to death when he did it.

25:58 And he sat. He he intentionally went right down, didn't try to hide it. And so and so he is an example of prayer to us, even in a busy life. And and an example even in in confession even, you know, seeking the lord even not for himself but for others, and confessing their sins and supplicating for them. And and I think it's an example of his heart, the heart of a godly man who who will will naturally...

26:36 I think there's that healing, you know, that when we don't trust, it's it's a broken heart right there. When we are trusting him, he allows that same healing that happens to the kid when he learns learns to trust his parents. It's the same with us Christians. But suddenly, the heart's not broken. It can now feel, it can now care.

26:52 It can now care for people and empathize and things like that. And I've seen that healing in people when they come close. I've seen it in myself. But suddenly, I care a little bit more about others because the Lord has, broken me a little bit. And I I still struggle with worldliness very much, but, but I know that that he is...

27:36 And so dealing with sin, sometimes we just aren't even able to fully comprehend our own depravity. We can't... Our hearts are so our hearts are so they, are so deceptive that we don't... We have a hard time even comprehending the sin that we've done that we need to confess. And so that's an example of praying to the Lord to help us with that even.

28:11 That it goes a step further because, you know, the Lord said... David said, search me and know me. See if there is any wicked thing in me. And, and so that's that's an example of a prayer that we can pray to to help grow closer to him. I'm just gonna close.

28:30 The Lord's interested in our heart. And I think that's why it's important to understand that, you know, whether we're crying out to the lord for something that's potentially life ending for us or family members. An example would be, when my brother Nathan was kidnapped, and he was gone for four days. We all got out and we we cried out to the Lord to save him, and he delivered him. And afterwards, we we actually went and put a rock out as an example...

29:03 As a remembrance, you know, kinda like, I think... Was it the children of Israel that did that when they were brought in? They put... We put a rock out, we said, this is this is... And it's not still there.

29:13 So the rock didn't work too well, but we still remember. But, this is this is what we're gonna do to remember god delivered our our Nathan. And, but I think the lord also wants to see the small things. You know, like for another day of prayer meeting, Joshua said, well, asked us to pray that they would help win more games. Because that was on his heart.

29:34 You know? And and as we share our heart, and we share what's on the heart of others with the Lord, it's part of us knowing him. You know? It's part... And even if it maybe seems small to us or to or to them and too small to bring to God, well, we're supposed to bring it all to God.

29:54 You know? And and maybe at some point in time, he will he will change your heart and make you think that small, so small that you're not even thinking about it. But while it's on your heart, it's worth praying about because we're supposed to bring those things to the Lord in prayer. So I'm gonna leave you with that, and I I... We have ten minutes to pray.

30:14 I didn't mean for that, but so I... Has has everybody... Can can you pass the sheets of paper to the center aisle? We'll just collect them and then whatever. Anyone like to to start?

31:39 Any man? Come on. Yeah. Come on up and and pray here, and and just just grab a couple and pray. And then as the lord leads, sit down, and another man will come up.

32:52 We thank you for the access that we have through our lord Jesus Christ. That if we ask anything in his name, he will do it. So, father, I pray for our young people that are in the military service. I pray that you will keep them safe from sin and temptation. Help them to find and cultivate Christian fellowship in the place that you put them.

33:24 We pray for the people in Oklahoma who are still walking around miss the ruins of their homes and businesses. And we pray for the children that... And young people that are being involved in finals at various schools, and we think especially of CCS as this is their finals week. Lord, I'd like to pray especially for our cousin Virginia who's going in soon for open heart surgery in the clinic. Pray that you'll give her trust in you, relax her heart, and give her doctors wisdom and help.

34:11 In Jesus' name, amen.

34:57 Let's pray, please. Dear heavenly father, we just come, to lift up your name today, and, we just, pray today for a good friend of ours, Jennifer Pistafka, she's going through cancer, Lord. Not, much of us make it out of cancer alive, but, not only anyone who controls that cancers is you, Lord. And, and we just pray for her right now as she's going through that. And I know it's rough, and I just pray that it will be over soon, Lord.

35:57 I pray for, next year's Awana, for, the sparky leaders, that will find the leaders that can do it. And and hopefully, can find them without being here and I just pray that we could find them real real quick Lord. And I pray that new kids could come to Wanna and the kids that don't know you Lord. I just pray that you will help them, and I just pray that you'll control them to come to Tijuana and, hear about your your word and hopefully, get saved. And I just pray for that right now, Lord.

36:51 Jesus' name, amen.

37:36 Heavenly father, you've created everything. You've created us individually. You've created this country that we live in. You've created the ground that we stand on, the air that we breathe, the sun that warms us, the snow that chills us. Everything was created by you, God.

38:05 We thank you for it. We thank you for everything that you've given us on a daily basis. You provide for our needs, Lord, more than we deserve. We thank you for that, because we know that those gifts come from you. Lord, as we stand here today and sit here today in this fellowship, in this body of believers that you brought together, we pray for these families.

38:45 We pray for the fathers of these families, their faithfulness for spiritual leadership. We pray for the wisdom and perseverance of the parents. Lord, you've given us these children for a short while. Just pray that you help us to train them in the way that you see fit. Pray for the wisdom there.

39:17 We pray for the children, that they would have a desire to follow God wholeheartedly. We pray that they will ignore the world. Ignore the... Those... The bad parts of the world, the sin and the uncommon desires, Lord.

39:39 Pray that you'll protect them, and that they'll seek you whenever they're challenged by the world. And pray for the parents, with their spouses, and committed to the marriage. Lord, it's a difficult thing, but you've created it, Lord. We know through marriage that we can give you glory and honor and praise. We know that it's not always easy.

40:12 We know that it's quite often difficult. It's a battle that we fight sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, but a battle that we cannot go into without your leadership and without your guidance and without your word and without your love. So we pray for we pray for the spouses, the husbands and the wives, that they will continue to grow closer to you and closer in love with their mates, Lord. We thank you that that you have provided the mates, and we know that it's your will, and ask for your guidance in those relationships. We also pray, Lord, that we can desire a deeper relationship with you.

41:05 The study of prayer has so many facets, Lord. One of which is a relationship building process between the sinner, the savior, the spirit, and the father. And we thank you we thank you for prayer. We thank you for the relationship that that helps us build. We thank you for your word.

41:30 We thank you for your love, and we thank you for the holy spirit. We just seek to build a relationship, a bond that is stronger and stronger, moment by moment, lord. It's a daily daily venture and a daily walk, a daily journey. Just ask that we seek you in all things that we do and every minute that we breathe. Your love is astounding for us, and we thank you for that.

42:01 In Jesus' name.

42:09 Dear heavenly father, I just thank you. Thank you for your love for us and and how you have a plan, and, your plan is to do as well. I just pray that we'll be able to to understand throughout our entire being the goodness you intend, and that we would respond accordingly as sons and daughters. We just, just pray now that you would would bless everyone here, and, we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.