Rick Warren - How to Pray and Actually Hear God Back

We're now coming to the last message about Daniel, and

in chapter nine we learn how to pray the kind

of prayer that God answers. I mean, if you're going

to pray, you may as well get a prayer that

God's going to answer. You've prayed a lot of prayers

that God did not answer, 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 of 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 always 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 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. We 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 Syrians,

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 seventy 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 vice 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. In John chapter fifteen. Jesus said,

if you stay connected to 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, Whoh, 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. And 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 like 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 us 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, 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 problems. 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. Now I want to teach you this

habit of having a little bit of daily reading the

Bible and praying, talking to God two or three times

a day, at least three times a day, because it

will revolutionize your life. Men, it'll make you a strong man.

It'll make you more confident. It'll make you less fearful.

Same thing. Women, It'll make you a stronger woman. It'll

make you more confident, it will make you less fearful.

If you will develop a habit of multiple times a

day you have a conversation with God, you let him

talk to you, and you talk to him, you will

handle your stress better. It will improve every single area

of your life. I guarantee it. I've done a lot

of hard things in my life. I've taken a lot

of risks. I've fought a lot of battles. I faced

a lot of critics. I've done a lot of difficulties.

I've been in situations you would not want to be

in and have to handle with other people's lives. I've

handled a lot of problems and men in a lot

of battles. But the most difficult battle I face as

a man is the battle to consistently have a conversation

with God. And read His word every day of my life.

No battle comes close. Weak men don't do this, Weak

women don't do this. It's only it's a test of

your character. Do you have the character and the stamina

to do this? Spend time? A little bit of time

every day with God, not a lot of time. Now,

why is it so difficult? Because Satan knows that if

he wins this battle, he's won every other one in

your life. This is the lynchpin. This is it. If

you win in this area, you're going to win in all.

The other areas of your life.

I know many of you use the Daily Hope Devotionals

as part of your regular Bible study, and so I

want to share some exciting news. We've put three hundred

and sixty five of the best devotionals into a brand

new book that we're calling the Daily Hope Devotional, Purpose, Peace,

and Promise for every Day. This devotional book is designed

with clear, practical biblical teaching to help you make knowing

God your number one priority. I believe it will help

you stay focused on God throughout the day as he

provides you with real purpose, lasting peace, and his unfailing promises.

Imagine starting every day like that this book is a

great way to share the hope you have in Jesus

with your friends, co workers, and relatives. I hope you'll

get a copy for everyone you know.

Be sure in request your copy when you partner with

Daily Hope to take the word of God to a

hurting world.

In chapter one, Daniel is worried about the crisis in

his life, and so he starts reading this book by Jeremiah.

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 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 graatious 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 all.

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

are 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 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. He was like, 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 personal 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 as 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 gonna 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's been married forty one years. Here's a big tip

for every husband. I have 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 that 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, Uh,

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, Woa wah wa wah wah whah, and

she's just 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 their 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,

her 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 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.

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. But 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 other words, you're

not going to just exist. You're gonna really 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 gonna 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? Seek? 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 God's kingdom before everything else.

God's chame is 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 of 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 to all

these other things you're seeking. He says, seek first me.

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

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

bless the people who put me first. You have probably

never realized this, but of 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 is the result of you not

seeking God. I know many of you use the Daily

Hope Devotionals as part of your regular Bible study, and

so I want to share some exciting news. We've put

three hundred and sixty five of the best devotionals into

a brand new book that we're calling the Daily Hope

Devotional Purpose, Peace, and Promise for every Day. This devotional

book is designed with clear, practical biblical teaching to help

you make knowing God your number one priority. I believe

it will help you stay focused on God throughout the day.

As he provides you with real purpose, lasting peace, and

his unfailing promises. Imagine starting every day like that. This

book is a great way to share the hope you

have in Jesus with your friends, co workers, and relatives.

I hope you'll get a copy for everyone you know.

Be sure and request your copy when you partner with

Daily Hope to take the word of God to a

hurting world.