Supplication
Notes
Transcript
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Mission and Vision
We are continuing to walk through this pasture of prayer
How many of you are seeing God do something in your prayer life?
How man y of you are seeing answered prayers?
Amen. Continue to keep track of your prayers in your prayer journals and we are going to see how God moves through your prayers here in a few weeks as we will have a time to share testimonies
Glad to be back home. Thank you Larisa for delivering the Word last week that the Lord put on your heart!
Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Today we are talking through supplication
Pray
When we talk about prayers there are different types of prayers. There are prayers of Praise. These should be those prayers that take up most of your prayer life.
Not to shame you, but these are the prayers of us telling God how good he is
Thanksgiving
What he’s done in your life and what you are grateful for
Then we have supplication
Here’s your basic definition of supplication… to ask for something with honesty and humility
Confession
You get that
Imprecation
Not something we’re gonna dive into this series… but interesting none the less
Jesus lays out this format in the Lord’s prayer. When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray… not teach me a prayer but teach me the way to pray
Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name - Praise
Thy kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven - thanksgiving and praise and transitioning into supplication
Give us this day our daily bread - Supplication
Forgive us our trespasses - Confession
Most of us have been taught the Lord’s prayer as a prayer to pray and not a format for how to pray
This is one of the reason we struggle praying for any amount of time
I mean, we’ve been programmed that we come to God because we’re suppposed to. Right? If you’re a Christian you’re supposed to be praying
So when you pray… what do you say
I guess you ask God for the stuff you need and for him to do stuff in your life
This is the assumption when we come to the Lord in prayer sometimes and it sets us up for an ineffective prayer life
Now don’t hear me wrong… there is no formula to get your prayers answered in the way you want, but God is clear that your heart must be operating in faith
James 1:6-7
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
But because we have not conditioned our selves to trust the Character of God, we struggle to believe in faith that we are going to get what we are asking for
That’s good
See if you don’t know the Charachter of God, then your prayers are going to be - as some who are outside the faith have claimed - just you talking to the imaginary person in the Sky
Because whoever you are praying to, YOU don’t believe he has the power to deliver. You don’t believe that he has your best interest in mind. You don’t believe that he is good. You don’t see where he has been consistantly faithful in yourlife in the past
See that’s what these other prayers are about
When you get before the Lord and you can reflect on his goodness and praise his name
THen you can be thankful for his kingdom and thank him for all the times he never failed you
By the time you are reaching out in supplication - the asking portion - you are already aligned with the character and heart of God
Lets go to our text
Jesus is telling the people to ask, seek, and knock
Each step has more personal involvement… not the topic today but interesting for you to go back and look at
Ask and it will be given to you
This asking is not simply requesting anything you want
This is an asking that is in line with the will of God and the word of God
Seek and you will find
Sometimes your prayers are not simple… sometimes the answer will be no
Jesus says seek for what it is and you will find
Knock and it will be opened to you
Then Jesus turns this around… The reason you are able to ask, seek, and knock and get results is not because of how you do it but because of your Good Father in heaven
People don’t pray and ask because we stigmatize being needy
By admitting to our need, we humble ourselves to the point to be able to receive the help that we need
Maybe there was a wound.
You were promised something that never came through
Fear of rejection that comes from asking and not receiving
But see all of that is me centered
ITs about the wounds I have… the trust issues I have
None of these reasons are God honoring
People don’t ask rightly because they don’t trust God
They don’t truly know the God who provides
Or they don’t truly trust God to be thier provider
It’s a lot more attractive to pray out of obligation and then operate as though God hasn’t heard me… it give me more control
But that is FUNCTIONAL ATHIESME
Praying and then responding as though no one heard you is the opposite of faith
Mark 11:24
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
This is not some verse saying everything that you pray for is going to happen, but when you come to your father who is Good. Trust that he hears you and he wants to give you good things. And if the answer is no, or not yet… that is also for your good.
even in the times that you can’t see it… God is working in all things for your good if you are called according to his purpose
But you have to Trust God for that.
how do you get past yourself and trust God
You make a decision based on his character that he is trustworthy
You spend time in prayers of praise
you spend time in thanksgiving
If you do this, when you come to the moments of supplciation. Weather you are praying for yourself or someone else… you are going to know your father well enough to know that you can ask him for whats on your heart and trust that he will move according to his grace and goodness in your life.
You will know that he has the power and the desire to do good in your life As he is the perfect father
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
To to Text Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.