Rick Warren - How to Pray Prayers That God Actually Answers

So how do you pray the kind of prayer that

God answers. In this passage, we're actually going to look

at how to pray in a crisis. Now, I hope

you're not in a crisis right now, but you will

be someday.

So you need to take notes because someday you're going

to where are those notes?

Or Rick told me how to pray in a crisis,

and you're going to want to come back to this

to do what God tells you to do. Let's get

right into it. There's six steps we see modeled in

Daniel's life and in the prayer in this chapter on

how to pray a prayer that God answers. Number one,

here's the first step. Let God speak to me before

I speak to him. Let God speak to me before

I speak to him. This is called the listening step.

You listen to the voice of God. How do you

do that? Well, I'm going to explain it, but there's

a principle you need to understand first, and it's this.

God always makes the first move in your life.

You don't.

God is Allah is the initiator of everything in your life,

and you are the responder. God never expects you to

make the first move. He always makes the first move.

The Bible says that we love him. We love God

because He first loved us. God loved you a whole

long time before you ever loved him. The Bible says

that we serve God because God first served us, and

he knew we had a problem, and he sent Jesus

Christ to die on the cross for us, long before

we even knew we had a problem. He served us

before we served him. The Bible says we give to

God because God first gave to us. Everything you have

in your life is a gift of God. The air

you breathe, your life, your mind, your brain, everything you've

got is a gift from God. God will never ask

you to do something He hasn't already done for you.

God never asked you to do something that he goes

Now personally, I've never done this, but I'm expecting you

to do it. God always initiates, We always respond. And

that's even true with prayer. The reason we pray, the

reason we talk to God is because God has first

talked to us in this book. In this book the Bible,

written over three five hundred plus years, sixty six different

authors that God inspired to write these words down that

he wanted written down. There are literally thousands and thousands

of promises from God to you, to you, and what

we do in prayer is we claim the promises that

He has said to us. He said, God, you said this,

so I'm asking you to do this. And God, you

said that, so I'm asking you to do that. So

the Bible says that prayer actually starts not with talking,

but with listening. You listen to God. Now, how do

you listen to God by reading this book or if

you don't like to read, listening to the Bible on

tape or MP three or whatever. Logically, you need to

let God talk to you. Then you're going to know

how to pray, what to pray, where to pray, when

to pray, and all those things. Daniel did this. Now

as we start this chapter nine, Daniel's an old guy. Now,

he's eighty five years old. He started in the very

first session on Daniel. He's fifteen years old, the prisoner

of war. He's now gone through multiple changes in his life.

Test after test after test after test. He keeps getting

promoted higher in authority, higher in power. He's now served

three different kings, and we know that the Babylonians defeated

the Assyrians, and then the Persians defeated the Babylonians, and

so now he's got a new boss. He survived every

administration and no matter what the government was going on

around him, he keeps getting promoted, but he wants to

go home before he dies. He's eighty five years old,

and he knows that God had said in the Book

of Jeremiah that you'll be and drew in Babylon for

sale many years, and then I'm going to bring my

people back to Israel. And he knows times up, but

he also knows that the people israel lights have not

turned back to God. Seventy years later. They're still as

messed up as they were before. And he goes, We're

not any closer to God than we were seventy years ago.

And I'm afraid God's just going to leave us here

in Babylon and not bring us back to Israel. So

this is his crisis, and here's how it starts. Daniel,

Chapter nine, verse one. It was the first year the

reign of Darius the Mead, who was made king of

Babylon the Babylonians by.

Cyrus, who was a Persian.

You know, Babylon is Iraq, Persia is Iran today, And

he says, during the first year of his reign, I

Daniel was studying the scriptures, and I learned from the

word of the Lord, as recorded by Jeremiah, the Prophet,

that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. It was destroyed,

and they said it won't be rebuilt until after seventy years.

You guys get to go back home.

Now.

I want you to circle, if you're taking notes, circle

the phrase studying the scripture, and circle the phrase learned

from the word, study the scriptures, learn from the Word.

You will never pray effectively until you study the scriptures

and you learn from the Word. Until you get into

this book every single day.

Now, the more you know.

This book the Bible, the more prayers you're going to

have answered. If you're ignorant of this book, you don't

know how to pray, you don't know what to pray,

you don't know when to pray, you don't know the

promises that God has.

Made to you.

And so you got to read a little bit of

this book every single day of your life so you

can learn those promises that God has made to you.

Let me show you this. Here's what Jesus said up

here on the screen. John chapter fifteen. Jesus said, if

you stay connected me and my words remain in your heart.

What's he talking about the Bible? He says, these words

remain in your heart. He says, if you follow those

two conditions, you may ask any request you want in

prayer and it will be given to you. Jesus Christ, woah,

that's pretty much a blank check right there. You can

ask whatever you want in prayer and it'll be given

to you. Now, he says, notice this verse. If I'm

praying and I'm not getting an answer, the first thing

I need to check is am I meeting these two conditions?

Am I staying connected to God?

God?

Is there anything between me and you that's out a whack?

Is there any fellowship broken? Is there something in my

life that I know is wrong and you know it's wrong,

And you said for me to get right and I

haven't got it right yet. That is a break in

the connection with God. But he said, if you stay

connected to me, you're in harmony with me. He says,

my words this book is in your mind, it's in

your heart. You ask anything you want in prayer, and

it will be done. So if I'm not getting the answer,

that's one of the two problems, that's one of the

two conditions that need to be met. So Daniel is saying,

I'm going to study the Word. I'm going to have

it in me. The more you fill your mind with

this book, the more you memorize some Bible verses, the

more answers you're going to have in your life. Now,

this is so important to your life that I want

to help you. I want to help you develop the

habit of you never go to bed any day of

your life without spending at least a little bit of time,

even if it's a minute or two minutes, reading a

little bit of the Bible and then talking to God

for a minute or two or whatever. Now, last week

we saw that Daniel did this three times a day.

He had the habit. And I said, do.

You think your life would be any different if you

had a conversation with God three times a day your

entire life, which he did for over seventy years. Well,

no wonder he missed a lot of problem. No wonder

he knew how to be wise. No wonder he get

kept gotten promoted. He's talking to God every day. I

do this all the time as I go through my day.

I don't talk to God once a day. I talk

to God all the time. And as I'm getting ready

to go into meeting, I go, Okay, God, I'm going

to need your guidance in here. I don't know what

you want to say to these people. I don't know

what they want to say to me. I don't know

what the problem is. Help me to know the right thing.

I'm depending on you to give me the wisdom, the

guidance and the power to do what it is. And

I got out of that meeting a little The next thing,

and the whole day. One of my prayers is often

two words, what's next?

What's the next? Lord? What do you want to do?

And I'm always seeking God, checking in with him. In

chapter one, Daniel is worried about the crisis in his life,

and so he starts reading this book by Jared Now

here's the thing. Daniel and Jeremiah are contemporaries. They lived

at the same time when Babylon crushed Israel. Daniel's taking

a captive for prisoner a ward at to Babylon. Jeremiah

is left behind in a defeated, broken city called Jerusalem.

And in Jeremiah's book, God tells him those guys are

going to be there for seventy years. And Daniel reads

this and he starts getting hope. Here's what you want

to know what Daniel read. It's the next verse Jeremiah

chapter twenty nine, when he said I was studying the scripture.

Here's what he was studying. God says this to you.

You will be kept in Babylon for seventy years, but

then I'll keep my gracious promise to bring you back

to your home again. For I know the plans I

have for you, says the Lord. I have good plans

for you, not plans for your disaster. My plans will

give you hope and a future. And in those days

when you pray, I will listen. Now, if you've been

around church for an length time, you know that verse.

In fact, we even got a song about it. I

know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.

Plans to prosper for you, not to harm you. God says,

I have a plan.

For your life.

It's a plan for your success. It's not a plan

for your defeat. It's a good plan. It'll give you hope,

it'll give you a future. God says this to you.

We know that verse, but we often leave off the

last phrase, which says, in those days when you pray,

I will listen.

Now I want you to.

Listen very carefully. God says this to you this weekend.

I made you for a purpose. I have a plan

for your life. But it's not automatic. You can miss it.

You can miss my plan and purpose for your life.

In fact, most people miss God's plan and purpose for

their life. He said, there are two factors. I've promised

to rescue you. I'm going to bring you back home.

I'm going to do the things you need done in

your life. But he says, there are two factors involved

in you fulfilling your purpose in life. Write these down.

God's timing and my praying. God's timing and my praying,

and both of these have an important role in what

God wants to do in your life. God's timing when

he's going to do it, and you're praying when you

ask him to do it. Both of these extremely important.

So let me explain what that verse just said. In Jeremiah,

God says this, I got a plan for you.

Your life. I didn't make you without a purpose.

I created you for a purpose and plan, and my

plan for you is good. But it has a time table,

and he says to these guys specifically, he says, I'm

not going to cut short my plan. You're going to

be in Babylon for seventy years, he said. But and

I'm not going to cut it short one day short.

You're not coming home one day sooner. You're going to

be there for seventy years. So that's my plan and

that's my attention. But don't worry. It's a good plan.

But he says, when when the time is right for

me to fulfill your plan, you're all going to go

back home.

Then you're going to have to do something.

You're going to have to pray, And he says, and

when you pray, I will listen. Now, I want you

to notice this. This is a very important verse in

the Bible. Here we see God's sovereignty, He's in control

and your responsibility. You got something to do. God determines

the timing of his plan and purpose for your life.

But when the timing is right, you're still going to

have to play it. Pray, because he's not going to

do it until you ask. He's not going to force

his plan on you. Ever, you have to ask. Notice

this verse on the screen James, Chapter four, verse two.

You do not have what you need because you do not.

Ask God for it.

So you're telling me that God has some things he

wants to do in my life that are cool and

good and great, but they're going to happen unless I

ask for it. That's exactly what I'm telling you. God

has timing, but you have praying, and some things have

not happened in your life because you've never asked God

for them. You've never asked God to do them in

your life. He says, I intend to do it when

I'm ready. That's timing, but you've got to pray for

it to happen. You have not because you asked not.

Now this leaves a little quandary in your life. You've

gone through this before. How do I know when I'm

waiting on God? And how do I know when God's

waiting on me? Here's a good question. Okay, you know,

I really have this big dream for my life, and

I really think this is what God wants me to

do with my life, but I don't know it hadn't

happened yet. So am I waiting on God? Or is

God waiting on me? Well, this explains it right here.

What it means is this. If I've asked for God

to do something really great in my life, and I've

prayed about it and I've asked, and there's nothing between

me and God as far as I know, I'm doing

what he wants me to do. There's no big sin

that's over here in this corner that I'm going. Yeah,

I know God wants me to do this, but I

haven't done it. And if I've asked God, and like

Jesus said, I'm connected to God, we're all copasetic, we're

all we're in harmony. Me with God and I'm in

the Bible. I'm reading the Bible every day. His words

in me. If I pray and I ask and that's

all true and I haven't had the answer yet, then

I'm waiting on God. It has all to do with

his timing. I'm just waiting for God. God says I'll

do it, but I'm just going to do it in

my timing, and I just need to be patient. On

the other hand, if I have something really great that

I would.

Like for God to do in my life.

And I've always wanted God to do it, but I've

never asked. I've never asked God to do it. Never

ask for God's help, never ask for God's guidance in

my dream. Then God's waiting on you if you haven't

prayed about it. God is waiting on you. You have not

because you ask not. So let me just start with

this first point by asking a very person question, what

do you really want in life? What do you really

really want in life? But you've never asked God for it?

Did you know that the Bible says you can ask

God for anything? You can ask God for anything. First step,

listen to God. I read a little bit word. I

let God speak to me. Then I talk to him.

Now here's step two. Step two is focus my attention

on God. This is the second step in the kind

of prayer that God gets answered. So focus my attention

on God. And in Daniel chapter nine, verse three, it

says this, so I turned my face to the Lord

seeking him. All right, circle the phrase turned my face.

I turned my face to the Lord seeking him. Husbands,

let me talk to you for just a minute. I'm

going to give you a marriage tip that will pay

great dividends.

In your life the rest of your life.

You're listening to a guy who has been married forty

one years. Here's a big tip for every husband. I've noticed,

and I've developed this habit that whenever Kay.

Talks to me, I turn my face toward her.

Physically, whenever she starts talking, I literally turn my face

toward her.

And you know what I've learned. She likes it.

In fact, she loves it that because when you turn

your face to somebody, it's a you have my undivided attention.

I'm totally focused on you. You like this? Yeah, all the

wives are clapping right now. Okay, great, great, Yeah, okay,

everybody likes this. When you talk, you want people to

turn their focus to you. Pity the poor substitute teacher

who stands up in class and she's trying to teach

and nobody's looking at her, and it's like in the

old Peanuts cartoons.

Wow wow wha whay wow whah.

And Jesus blathering on. Nobody's tuned in, nobody's listening. Turning

your face shows attention. When my kids were little, they

used to grab me by the face, look at me, daddy,

you're not paying attention.

Look at me, daddy.

They wanted eye to eye contact. That is the highest

gift you give anybody is your attention. It's more important

than chocolate, roses or money, giving your kids, your wife.

Your attention is the highest gift because your attention is

your life. Now, did you know that you can actually

do this with God? You can turn your face to

God in prayer. How physically? Just look up God, I'm here,

I'm ready to talk. I'm checking in for my three

times a day conversation. You can go outside and look

up at the heavens.

You stare up. You just look up. There's nothing in the.

Bible says you have to close your eyes to pray.

Nothing in the Bible says you have to bow your

head to pray. That's one of the ways to pray.

It's a good way. But many times in the Bible

people didn't close their eyes. They actually looked up and

they talked aloud. I like to pray aloud to God.

When I close my eyes and think I go to sleep.

I don't pray with my eyes closed, and I don't

pray in my mind. When I'm praying, I'm praying aloud,

and I'm driving the car, or I'm looking.

Up or whatever.

You could get in your lazy boy chair and lean back,

look up.

God, I'm turning my face to you. Okay, let me stay.

But it's a physical reminder that I'm refocusing my attention. Okay,

this is what Daniel did. He physically noticed Verse three.

In the New American Standard version, it says this, so

I gave my attention to the Lord to seek him

by prayer circle the word seek. This is the second

step of prayer. The first is listening. The second step

of prayer is seeking. Let me just show you some

of the benefits. If you'll learn how to do this,

it'll change your life. Your whole life's just gonna get

a whole lot better. Let me just show you three

or four or five promises. How about this one up

here on the screen Amos five to four. God says this,

seek me and you will live. In others, You're not

going to just exist. You're gonna really live. You're not

living life to the fullest. Some of you just existing,

He says, Seek me and you will live. You're gonna

learn how to really live. Proverbs eight, Verse seventeen. God

says this, I love those who love me, and those

who seek me. Will what find me find me? He said,

I can't find God. You're not seeking. You got to

seek in the right way. Those who seek me will

find me. Let me show you another one. Jeremiah twenty nine,

verse thirteen says this God says, you will find me

when you seek me, what with all your heart. That's serious,

that's emotional seeking. We'll talk about that in a minute.

You're going to.

Find me when you really want to know me, not

like I kind of like to know God in my

spare time between the football game and work.

Maybe.

No, when you seek Me with all your heart, then

you're going to know me now. Hebrews eleven, verse six

says this God rewards those who earnestly seek him. Would

you like God to reward your business?

Seek him?

Would you like God to reward your finances?

Seek him?

Would you like God to reward your marriage? Would you,

guys like God to reward your children? Would you like

God to reward your relationships, your boyfriend, your girlfriend? Would

you like God to reward your future? Wherever you seek God,

God is going to reward Wherever you don't seek God.

God says, you're.

On your own. You're on your own. Let me show

you another verse. This is a very familiar one.

Luke.

Chapter twelve, Jesus says this seek. There's that word again.

Seek first Godd's kingdom before everything else. God's came as

his priorities, not your priorities, His priorities before everything else,

And all the other things you will need you need

will be given to you. Another one of those blanket promises.

He says, don't seek wealth, Seek God. He'll take care

what you need. Don't seek fame, Seek God. He'll take

care of what you need. Don't seek pleasure, don't seek

a husband, don't seek all these other things you're seeking.

He says, seek first me.

And if I'm in first place, he goes, I'm going

to take everything else into considerations. You put me first.

I bless the people who put me first. You have

probably never realized this, but with a lot of the

pain you're in right now, the difficulties, the stress, the

pressure you feel, the troubles you're facing, the mess that's

all tangled up in relationships, almost all of that stuff

that you're facing right now now is the result of

you not seeking God. Because You didn't ask God first.

You didn't seek his guidance, You didn't seek his wisdom,

you didn't seek his help, you didn't seek his permission.

You just made a decision.

And so you went out and you bought something without

even asking God, God, should I buy this house, Should

I do this job? Should I do this car? Should

I get in this relationship? You didn't even ask God,

you didn't seek God.

You just did it.

And now you're reaping the consequences of it. And that

causes so much of the problem in your life because

you made a decision without talking to God first. You

weren't having that daily conversation with God. God, I'm getting

ready to Costco. Go to Costco, help because I don't

want to come home with four giant jars of pickles

that I really don't need.

In every area.

You ask God, you see God, he'll help even blessed,

He'll bless your shopping. Now here's a very important point.

Anytime we ignore God, we don't ask for his help.

We don't ask for his guidance, we don't ask for

his blessing, we don't ask for his permission, we don't

ask for his wisdom. You know what, God does when

we don't ask for those things, don't ask for his direction.

God just backs off in your life.

Fine, I only go where I'm invited, So God says

to you, burger king, have it your way, Go right ahead. Okay,

you didn't ask me if you should buy that. You

didn't ask me if you should date her. You didn't

ask me if you should accept that job. You didn't

ask me if that was a good goal. You just

did it. So fine, have it your way, and God

just backs off. I'll just go back to heaven, hang

out there and let you reap the results of your

dumb decisions. And then you got all kinds of chaos

and problems and trials and troubles in your life. And

then you cry out to God, said God, I'm seeking you.

He goes, Okay, I'm coming back. And that's what happens

when we reap the consequences of our sin. Let me

show you this on screen. HOSEI, chapter five. God says this,

when I don't seek God in everyar of my life.

He says this, Okay, I will return to my place

on high and I'll just wait and I'll just wait

until they that's you and me acknowledge our offenses. We

didn't seek God, we didn't ask his opinion and this decision,

and they feel their guilt and then they seek my face.

And then in their troubles and.

Distress, which is always getting our attention, they will earnestly

seek me, saying, let us return to the.

Lord so that he may heal us.

Friends, that is a description of what's happening in America

and in the world right now.

Because we have not sought God.

We didn't ask God's permission, We didn't ask God's wisdom,

we didn't ask God's help, we didn't ask God's guidance.

We just did whatever we wanted to do. And we're

in trouble and distress. And that's in our lives and

our marriages and our families, in our work, and finally

gets so bad. You know, we don't change when we

see the light. We change when we feel the heat.

And we say, let us return to the Lord so

he may heal us what needs healing in your life. God,

I need you to heal me of my depression. I

need you to heal me of my anxiety. I need

you to heal me of my secret fears that scare

me to death that.

I'm panicked about. God. I need you to heal my body. God.

I need you to heal the finances that I messed

up because of my own decisions.

God. I need you to heal my marriage. I need

you to heal my relationship. God.

I need you to heal my nation. America needs healing.

I need healing. My job, my career needs healing. I

don't know where you need it, but he says it

starts with focusing my attention on God and seeking him.

So let me ask you a couple questions here. Is

it possible that the pain you're going through right now

is because you did not seek God, but you just

went ahead and made a decision without checking in with him.

Highly probable, And now God said, I could have saved

you a lot of effort.

If you just sought me.

Just have a conversation with you two or three times

a day, and I'll go red light danger read Will Robinson,

that's danger, don't go that direction. Is it possible, Yes,

that pain is because you did not seek God in

the past. You made a bunch of dumb decisions, and

now you're paying the results of it. The third step

in prayers that get answered is express my desires with emotion.

Express my desires. When I want to ask God for something,

I'm praying about, God, I need this, whether it's a

physical need, a material need, a spiritual need, and emotionally,

whatever you're asking for God, in prayer, you express my emotion,

my desire with emotion. So many of our prayers are

just cut and dried. We just say these words. We

don't even know what we're talking about. We have these

little you know, things we've memorized. Now I lay me

down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to

keep you know, And if I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

That means nothing, it's just little thing.

Or you sit down, freez it bless this food to

the nourishment of our bodies. The bless the gift and

the giver. And it does. And it's it's not there's

no emotion, there's no authenticity. It's just things you've learned.

God doesn't care how beautiful your prayer sounds. In fact,

God doesn't even care as much about the words as

he cares much about the emotions. Have you learned that

you can say the right words and the wrong emotion,

and your spouse doesn't get it. Yes, you can say

all the right things, but you didn't what do you

mean by that because of the tone of your voice.

And so he's saying, God is an emotional god. The

only reason you have emotions, the good ones and the

bad ones, is because you're made in God's image. Human

beings have emotions that none of the animals have. We

have a whole pentopley of emotions because God is an

emotional god. The Bible says God gets happy. The Bible

says God gets sad. He's sad when he sees a rape,

when he sees a molestation, when he sees a war.

God is sad when he sees what people do to

each other out of selfishness. And the Bible says God

gets angry. That's why you can get angry. You're made

in God's image. The Bible says, God gets jealous. Why

and that's why you get jealous, because when God sees

you giving your love to something else instead of him

that belongs to him, he gets jealous. The Bible says,

God gets frustrated. He looks down and he sees all

of the stuff we're doing. He goes, I told you

not to do that, and you're doing it anyway. It's

going to mess you up. He gets frustrated. Now, could

God change it? Of course, he could turn us all

into puppets. But God's going to just of your life,

have it your way.

I'm not going to force you to love me. I'm

not going to force you to do the right thing.

So you and I make selfish decisions every day, and

people get hurt. That's why there's sin, that's why there's

evil in the world. Because God gives us the freedom

to choose. And so God just says, okay, I'll just

back off. Let you reap the results of your own

own decision. But God says, I'm an emotional God. Jesus

dying on the cross was an emotional scene, highly emotional.

Jesus dying the cross was emotionally agonizing to him. It

was agonizing to God the father watching his son die

that way, but doing it for your benefit. It was

agonizing with the people who are watching. It's an emotional thing,

and God is very emotional about you. Do you realize this,

God just go O, I love you now. God loves

you passionately emotionally. God has deep, deep, deep feelings for you.

How much he loves you. If you don't know w

how much you lled you look at the cross. I'm

willing to die. I'm willing to die for you. That's

how much God has emotion for you. And so God says,

I want you. When I have such emotion for you,

I want you to talk to me emotionally. Don't just

do these little prayer things where you read a prayer

and there's no emotion in it.

Let me ask you.

Does tone make a difference when you make a request.

Of course it does, you know.

I mean, how about guys, if you had said to

your future spouse on.

A date, you go, huh, exc you to marry me? Oh? Please,

I want you to marry me. She go, buddy.

If you can't say it with a little bit more

passion than that, forget it.

That ain't going to happen.

Do any of you remember when you were little and

somebody was tickling you, and it was fun at the start,

and then it got too much, okay, And when you

wanted to stop taking you go you stop tickling me.

No, please stop taking me. I can't handle it anymore.

And you are passionate of passion, intensity shows house up much.

Something matters to you.

Now, if you ask God about something, God, I really

like this, but you're not passionate about it. God goes, Wow,

do I know it's just a if you only pray

about it once, you're not willing to pray about it

more than once, and you never talked to God about God,

I really need this. I gotta have this. You know

I've got to have it. Then God goes, what is

this a wish or a whim? Or is it really

a true desire? And so the Bible says this. Here's

the third thing Daniel did. Verse three, the second part

of it. He says, I begin pleading with God earnestly

in prayer circle. The word pleading pleading means to ask

with emotion. It's not cut and dry. It's more than

a mundane request. I'm asking with emotion. I'm pleading. The

hebrewhere there is bakasha. It means an emotional request. It's

a serious seeking. It's searching with all your heart. It's

earnestly begging. It's I'm begging you. I'm begging you. I'm

begging you please, please please. I'm begging you please. I'm

down on my knees. I gotta have this. That's pleading.

God listens to pleading. Makes me think about a story

I heard a while back where as a kid, a

young kid who at Christmas time he wanted a Star

Wars watch and it was a really cool watch. I

had Yoda on it, and he just and so he

was bugging his parents, Mom, I want this Star Wars

watch for Christmas, Dad, I want this Star Wars watch

for Christmas. He just keeps on and on and on,

every conversation, every meal, he's mentioning the Star Wars watch,

and finally his dad goes, Johnny, we got it. If

you mentioned this one more time, you're not gonna get

the watch. Smart kid backs off, doesn't doesn't do anything.

About a week later, they're having this whole family sitting

at dinner and the dad says, Hey, you know what,

it's good for us to talk about the Bible. So

everybody just share your your favorite Bible verse, anything or

Bible verse that you know.

You could say.

And so one of the kids goes John three sixteen

because everybody knows that one for.

God so loved the world.

And the teenager goes John eleven thirty five. Jesus wept.

Shortest verse in the Bible. Anybody can memorize that two words,

Jesus wept. So okay, john John love the third right,

Jesus wept.

That's his verse.

So they're going around the room and they come to

Johnny and Johnny goes. So they said, Johnny, what's your

favorite verse? He said, well, my favorite verse would be

Mark thirteen thirty seven, where Jesus said I told you

once and I sand to you again.

Watch. Yeah, yeah, smart kid.

Okay, that's what you get for going putting your kids

in Siddleback Kids ministry. They're gonna learn Bible verses like that.

Watch And so you know he was. He was already

look at this verse in the sage paraphrase, Daniel nine

three says, I poured out my heart to God, bearing

my soul to God. Have you ever done that? Have

you ever poured out your heart to God? Have you

ever bared your soul to God? This is not wimpy

week praying. This is got ceased praying. This is got

wrenching praying. I'm pouring out my soul to God.

God.

I gotta have your help in this business. I gotta

have your help in this marriage. I've got to God.

I am telling you, I'm pouring out my heart. I

am being authentic. I'm burying my soul. It's kind of

like Jacob wrestling with the Angel. I'm not gonna let

go until you bless me God. Now, when was the

last time you ever prayed like that, pouring out your

soul to God emotionally? I can tell you You may

have forgotten, but I can tell you the last time

you prayed like that as your pastor, friend, spiritual coach.

The last time you prayed like that is when you

were in deep, deep pain. Because we don't pour out

our hearts to God like that when we're things are

going great and we're skipping the hills of Jerusalem picking

flowers and talking about peace, love and Bobby Sherman, you know,

just to have a happy day, smiling faith. No, you

pour out your God when you are in deep pain?

Is that the only time you pour out your heart

to God when you're in deep pain?

Can you do it any other time?

This is called praying with emotion, called quote crying out

to God. Someday you might want to do a study

of this in the Bible about all the times God

talks about, quote crying out to God. There are many

many examples of people of all sorts who cried out

to God and God heard their prayer. There are many

many promises in the Bible about crying out. God does

not listen to just complaints. He listens to crying out

in emotion to God saying God, I really need your help.

Now.

It says he said he was pleading. He's crying. What

is he pleading? What is Daniel pleading with God about?

He's going God, I want to go back home. I'm

an old man. I'm eighty five years old. I spent

my entire life serving pagan kings. I've done good. I

stay true, kept my integrity in a pagan world. I

didn't deny my faith, and I kept getting promoted. I'm

pretty influential guy in the whole kingdom here. But God,

I want to go back home. I really I'm going

to go. I'm going to die in my home country now. Jeremiah,

the other guy at the same time, had predicted that

after seventy years, Babylon would fall, and that then the

people of God in Babylon would start praying and pleading

God let us go back home. Here's what it says

Jeremiah chapter fifty. This was his prediction. He says, then

my people will join together in tears. That's emotional praying.

They'll join together in tears to seek the Lord. And

they will ask the way to Jerusalem. Why, because it

had been seventy years. They didn't even know how to

get back home. They will ask the way to Jerusalem

and they will start back home again. That's one of

the most touching and hopeful verses in the Bible. They

don't know the way to get back home, but they're

going to ask God in tears, and they will start

back home again. America needs to pray that prayer. We

have gotten so far off from where we started. We

need to go back home again. You need to pray

that prayer. You need to pray that prayer for your

own life. God, I've gotten so detached from you, I've

gotten so busy, I've gotten so distracted.

I don't even know the way to find my way

back home to you.

I haven't the slightest idea how to get back home

to you. I don't know how to get home to Jerusalem.

But I want to come back home. You need to

pray that prayer for your life. Some of you need

to pray that for your family. Our family's so out

of whack. We need to come back home to you.

Some of your parents need to pray that for your kids.

I got kids who are out there on the limb.

I need to pray they'll come back home. Some of

you need to pray it for your business. All of

us need to pray it for our nation. It's a

message of hope. Now when does God answer that kind

of prayer? Well, notice that verse It said when my

people join together in tears. You might circle that, when

my people join together in tears, God says, then I'm

going to answer. Let me ask you a question. You

see everything that I see. You read the newspapers, you

watch TV, you see what's going on in our nation,

You see what's going on in our world. Does anything

break your heart? The stuff that's going on around does

it break your heart? What you see happening in our society,

in our system, in our politics, does anything break your heart?

You see all the stuff going on all around the world.

Is there anything ever bring tears to your eyes? If

that means you've really pulled away from the heart of God.

It's not something we just gossip about and tweet about.

It's something that breaks the heart. And in tears he said, God,

we need help in this area. All right, there are

a couple more number four. The first the fourth key

is this, demonstrate my seriousness. Demonstrate my seriousness in prayer.

How do you let God see how important the prayers

to you.

Tom is going to come.

And teach the next couple of points, and he's going

to talk to you about how do you do that?

How do you show to God God, I'm really serious

about this prayer.

So when you're praying, is it like just checking a

box or just covering.

The bases, or are you really serious about it?

There's some things that we can do to demonstrate to

ourselves and to God that we're serious about this prayer.

Daniel show some of these as we read this next verse.

A couple things that he does here are actually cultural

things that they did in their day, but one of

them is a spiritual discipline, spiritual habit all throughout the

Bible that people did to demonstrate the seriousness of their prayer,

of their commitment their trust in God. Look at this

Daniel ninety three, and I started fasting, and I went

without food to show my sadness. I put on rough

clothes and I sat in ashes. Now those last two

were the cultural ones, sackcloth and ashes. They would sew

grain sacks together and they'd wear that. They put ashes

on their face as a way of saying, I'm in grief.

I'm serious.

In our culture, there was a time when people would

wear black for an entire year if they were in grief.

It was a cultural way of saying I'm seriously in grief.

So that's the cultural part, But there's also this spiritual discipline.

I started fasting. All throughout the Bible, people went without food.

They fasted to say God, I'm really serious about this

before you. Moses fasted when he received the Ten Commandments.

The Israelites fasted before a miraculous victory that they got

from God. Daniel fasted when he needed wisdom from God.

Neamiah fasted before he started a huge project. Jesus fasted

as a part of the vic true that God gave

him over temptation out in the wilderness. The first Christians

fasted when they wanted to know God's wisdom for the

New Church. It's all throughout the Bible. It's just a

way of saying God, I'm serious about this. Fasting, the

Bible says, demonstrates the depth of desire that you have

when you're praying. It's a way of saying God, this

emotion that Rick was just talking about. I want you

to see this emotion. Fasting gives you just literally more

time to pray. The time you prepare and eat and

clean up from a meal, you take that time to

focus on God. Sometimes we get too busy to pray,

so you do a break an intentional fast to say God,

I want to focus on you. And Jesus taught us

it actually releases God's supernatural power in our lives. I

don't understand the mystery of this, but he said there's

some things in life that only by prayer and fasting

can those things happen. There's something about depending on.

God in that way.

So, whether it's through fasting, through journaling, whatever way you

do this, you say God, I am serious about this.

It's a part of the prayer that God answers. And

then the next one is number five. You thank God

for his promises. Say God, I am thankful for the

promises that you've given. You've reminded yourself at the very

beginning that the only reason this prayer is going to

be answered is because God is gracious. And God is gracious,

he wants to answer your prayer. He's given promises that

say he's going to answer your prayer. You're not forcing

him to answer it. He is a loving and promising,

gracious God, Daniel nine, verse four. And then I prayed

to the Lord, and I said, Lord, you are a

great and awesome God. You always fulfill your promises of

constant love to those who love you and keep your commands.

This is the attitude of thanksgiving that needs to be

a part of our lives year round. God, I'm thankful

that you're answering this because you want to, because you

love me. You're not going to God saying God, I

hope you'll answer it.

I'm thankful, but you will answer it.

You're not going to God saying God, I know you'll

answer because I'm such a good man, such a good woman,

who could pray that.

No.

I know you'll answer it because you're such a good God.

I'm thankful for who you are. In any circumstances, we

can depend on God in that Daniel nine to nine.

Daniel said, even though we have rebelled against you, you

Lord are merciful and forgiving. So you go to him

based on that, you depend on him based on that.

All right, Rick's gonna come back and share number six,

which is number six is right? In this, I humbly

confess my sins.

Yeah, this is the last step. I humbly confess my sin.

God doesn't listen to prideful complaining, but he does listen

to humble confessing. God responds to humility, he says. God

resists a probe, but he gives grace.

To the humble.

Now, some of you think, you know, if I admit

my sins to God, I'm gonna get punished. Oh, hang

on a minute. First place, God already knows them all.

You're not gonna say, God, I did this?

You go? Oh really?

How did I miss that one? Didn't see that one coming.

God already knows every stupid thing you've done in your

entire life. He just wants you to admit it. It's

for your own humility. How does God respond when I

humbly admit I blew it with punishment? Never when God

hears you be humble. He responds, not with punishment, but

with blessing. Confess, with forgiving, with mercy, with grace. It's

not like I come and I admit it, then God's

going to take me down. No, no, You're gonna get

taken down by your own pride. God says, you come

to me humbly. You just admit. Hey, I blew it.

You know that stuff I said yesterday, it wasn't right.

That stuff I did to the way I talked to

my kids, that was not right the way I did this,

And they just admitted to God. He keep short accounts.

This is the sixth thing you do. I humbly confess.

Now.

The word confess in the Bible, the Greek word is

the word homo Logeoh Homo means same homosexual, homo sapian,

homogenized milk means it's all the same. Same Logeo means

to speak, and so to confess himply means to speak

the same thing about God. You're right, that was the sin.

I don't excuse it. I don't make excuses for it.

I don't say God that was a little faux pas

is a little weakness.

No, it was wrong. It was sin. It was rebellion

against you.

I did it. You told me not to do it,

but I did it anyway. And that kind of.

Thing God responds to with grace.

Now in Daniel, chapter five, nine, verse five, he says, this,

we've sinned and we've done wrong. Okay, this is the

sixth part of the prayer. I humbly confess, but I've

done wrong. We send it none wrong. But he doesn't

stop there. He gets very very specific, and you need

to too. You don't need to go, Oh, God, forgive

all the sins I did yesterday, but I'm too busy

to name them. God wants you to be specific because

then he wants you to be able to know what

not to do again. And so I want you to circle.

I'm just going to read these verses real quick. I'm

not even going to comment on them, and I want

you to circle the verbs which are the sins. Okay,

he says, we've sinned none wrong. That he says, we've

rebelled against you. That's one rebelled circle. That we've rebelled

against you. He says, we've ignored your commands. Circle ignored.

He says, we've rejected your laws. We made up our

own morality. We rejected your loss. He says, we have

refused to listen to your servants. The prophets refused who

spoke the message to our kings and our leaders, and

our parents and everybody else in our nation. He says,

this is very specific. We're all at fault here, every generation.

It's not like one generation in America. Every generation's got

part of the blame. And then in verse seven and eight,

he says this, we've brought disgrace and shame on ourselves

as a nation because we've been unfaithful to you. He said,

you know what, God, we've committed spiritual adultery. We gave

our love to somebody else when we're supposed to give

our love to you. We've been unfaithful to you. And

he said this is true of all of us, including

our kings, our leaders, and our parents. He said, we

next verse verse ten, we paid no attention to you

when you told us how to live, told us what's

right and wrong, what's morally good, not He said, this

clear teaching came through your promise verse thirteen.

But we kept on sinning. We never gave you a

second thought. We were oblivious to you. The clear warnings.

So God, he says, you had no choice but to

let disaster loose in our nation on us, since we

persistently and defiantly ignored you. And then he sums it

all up in verse sixteen, and he says, and now

all the other nations mock us. Does any of this

sound vaguely familiar to you? I just read you a

laundry list of America. I just read you the last

fifty years of America right there. Now, Daniel knows we

don't deserve God's blessing, but he casts himself on the

grace of God. He goes, God, we could never earn this,

we could never deserve this. We don't deserve to get

back to home, get back to you. We don't deserve

your blessing. But I'm going to cast myself on your mercy.

And in the next verse he says, this, Oh God,

oh God, listen to me. Hear my request. We don't

ask because we deserve out, We don't. We don't ask

because we deserve, but because you are so merciful. You

are a You're a good, good father, and you are merciful.

Now how does God respond to this kind of prayer?

The sixth that we just taught you. Well.

In verse twenty, here's how God responds. Daniel says, well,

I kept on praying. Let me stop right there. Circle

The phrase kept on. Daniel didn't pray this prayer one time.

He's praying it over and over and over and over. God,

I need your help. He's praying this over and over.

He said, I kept on praying. Don't you pray about

something one time? You don't care about it, he says,

while I kept on praying and confessing my sins and

confessing the sins of my people and pleading with the Lord.

He's emotional in this. Suddenly the angel Gabriel appeared in

my vision. Now you guys know who Gabriel is. There

are three archangels. There was Lucifer, he fell, he became Satan.

There's Michael, and there's Gabriel. Gabriel's the guy who shows.

Up at Christmas. Hello.

Okay, So we actually know the names of these guys.

And this is so important that God. God sends the

angel Gabriel in a vision to Daniel, and he says, suddenly,

while I'm doing all his praying, the angel Gabriel period

in my vision and said this Daniel, I've been sent,

obviously by God. I've been sent to help you understand

God's plan. Now, the moment you began praying, the answer

was given, and I'm here to tell it to you,

for God loves you very much. Now, God doesn't have

to send Gabriel to me, and he doesn't have to

send Gabriel to you because we have the second half

of the Bible that was written that tells us all

about Jesus. And so I can tell you right now

what God will say to you.

I love you very very very very very very much.

I feel, very very deeply have deep feelings for you.

God says, I saw you born, I saw you grow,

I've saw all the hurts, I've saw the happy times.

I've seen everything in your life. And I have a

plan for your life, and I have a timetable for

your life. And when you start praying, I heard that prayer,

and I want to help you understand my plan for

your life because I love you very very much. Now

you say, well, wait a minute, Rick, this is God

talking to Daniel.

I'm not Daniel.

No, you're not neither am I. But I know this

prayer will work for you. And the reason I know

it will work for you. Is because the exact same

formula is given in another part of the Bible to anybody.

It's to all of God's people.

It's called Second Chronicle seven fourteen, one of the most

famous promises in the entire Bible. Now, before I read

this promise, I want you to understand it's one of

the most misused, misquoted versus in the Bible. I've actually

heard politicians quote this verse as a promise to America.

It is not a promise to America. It is not

a promise to any nation. It is a promise to

God's people. And God's people are in every nation. So

this is not a promise for America. This is a

promise for you and me and believers anywhere else in

any other nation of the world. And it is for us,

it's not for everybody. Second Chronicle seven fourteen. God says,

I got four conditions. If you'll do these four things,

I'll do three things. If my people, if my people

who are called by my name, are you called my name?

Are you called a Christian? That's being called by the

name of Christ. So if you're a Christian, you call

yourself a Christian. If my people who are called by

my name, and here are the four things.

Will humble themselves.

That's confession, and pray, that's pleading, and seek my face.

We're going to do that for thirty four days. And

turn from.

Their wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven. I

will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.

God says that I don't.

Know what you need.

Healing in healing in your mind, healing in your heart,

healing in your body, healing in your business, healing in

your finances, healing in your relationships, healing of your fears.

Your business needs healing, your family needs healing, your marriage

needs healing.

Your nation needs healing. If my people.

Who are called by my name, God says, will humble themselves.

I blew it, Lord, I just blew it and pray.

I am pleading God.

I did not seek you, and I made a bunch

of dumb decisions, and now I'm paying for it. Well,

humble themselves and pray and seek my face. You got

my attention. God, I'm looking at you, and turn from

their ways. They're wicked ways. Then will hear from heaven.

I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.

Period done. That's it.

We need a revival in America. Dear God, I thank

you that you're a good and gracious God. And as

we get ready to together as a family to claim

second Chronicle seven fourteen, that we will make a habit

out of having conversations with you.

And reading your word every day.

You've promised that if we stay connected to you, and

that if we have your word in our hearts, that

we can ask what we will and it will be done.

I thank you for these people who are here. They

love you, They're good people. They want to do what's right.

If they weren't interested in doing it's right, they're going

to stay home TV today. But they're here and it

says that their heart is in the right direction. So

I ask you on their behalf to hear their prayers

for Jesus sake, Now you pray, say God, I want

to learn to seek you.

I want to build a.

Habit that I don't ever go to bed at night,

even if I've only read the Bible for one minute

and prayed for one minute, I don't put my head

on the pillow without at.

Least one conversation with You.

Help me to see that your plan for my life

involves your timing and my praying, and that many times

I have not because I asked not. Teach me how

to focus my attention on you. God, it's so easy

to get distracted in this world. I want to turn

my face to you, and Lord, teach me how to

talk to you with emotion, to be authentic and real,

not phony and fate. I'm going to realize that my

tone and my heart are more important than the words.

Thank You, that my prayer doesn't have to be beautiful

and sound great. It just has to be honest and real. Lord,

break my heart over the things that break your heart.

Teach me to pour out my heart to you. And yes,

even if tears come, so be it.

God.

I've wandered away and I'm not as close to you

as I've been in the past. I want to start

back home again today. Help me to demonstrate my seriousness

by even willing to be willing to go without food

to show as a symbol as a sign that I'm serious.

About what I'm praying about.

Thank you for loving me, God, Thank you for your promises.

Thank you that you are faithful when I'm unfaithful. You're

consistent when I'm inconsistent. Thank you that when I come

and I humble myself to you and I admit what

I've done wrong, and I admit my rebellion, you don't

punish me, but you forgive me, and you wrap me

in your embrace. God, we ask you to work in

our hearts and lives. If you've never invited Christ to

your life, said Jesus Christ, I ask you to come

into my heart and life right now. Make yourself real

to me. I want to learn to trust you, and

I want you to be the manager, Dear Jesus Christ,

a manager of my life. And I pray this humbly

in your name.

Amen,