Rick Warren - How to Pray in a Crisis - Part Three

Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

We are so glad that you found us today. I've

got a question for you. Are you feeling stuck, like

maybe you've hit a wall and just nothing's moving forward. Well,

you're not alone and you're not without hope. You know,

the Bible is full of people who faced impossible situations

like Mary, Noah, Job, even the apostle Paul, and they

all experienced one thing that changed everything, a breakthrough from God.

So today Pastor Rick continues his series called Seeking God

for a Breakthrough.

Rick's going to.

Walk us through biblical accounts of faith, prayer, and perseverance,

reminding us that God still moves in powerful ways whether

you're in a season of waiting or searching for hope.

This series offers encouragement and biblical truth to help you

keep going and get the breakthrough.

Uni.

Okay, here's Rick with the final part of a message

called how to Pray in a Crisis.

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 Daniel, he said he

was pleading. He's crying out. 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 gonna go. I'm gonna 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. Thirty four days of seeking God,

and they will ask the way to Jerusalem. What 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 gonna ask God in tears, and they will start

back home again. You need to pray that prayer. You

need to pray that prayer for your own life. God,

I've got 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 per 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? That means

you 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 we say God,

we need help in this area. All right, here's the

fourth key. There's six keys. Number four. I need to

demonstrate my seriousness. When you're praying about something, you need

to signal to God that you mean business about this

that it's not just a little whim, it's not just

a casual thought. But you're really serious about this. You

want to let God see how important whatever you're praying

about is to you. Now, Daniel Well, in the next

part of this verse, mentions three ways he shows he

signals his seriousness to God. Two of them were cultural customs,

which we don't do in America or anywhere I think today.

But one of them is a spiritual discipline that had

been going on for centuries and thousands of years, and

people still do it today. Here's what he says in

verse three, the third part of the verse. He said,

I started fasting, which means he's going without food. That's

a spiritual discipline. He said, I started fasting and went

without food, and to show my sadness, to demonstrate my seriousness,

I put on rough clothes and sat in ashes. Now

nobody does this today. This is called sackcloth and ashes,

and it was done for hundreds and hundred of years

in the Middle East and in the Orient. I don't

know that anybody does this today. Jesus said, there are

some miracles that happen only by prayer and fasting, not

by prayer alone. Why, Because it says God, I'm super

serious about this. I'm super serious enough to go without food.

That's how discipline and serious I am about this prayer

request all I don't have time to go in this,

but all through scripture. Moses fasted before he received the

Ten Commandments. The Israelite fasted from before they went into many,

many major battles. Daniel fasted in order to receive guidance

from God. Neamiah fasted before he began a major building project.

You should too, business guy. Jesus fasted and victory over temptation.

The very first Christians fasted during decision making times in

their life. We'll I'll teach you a whole lot more

about this, but this is the point of simply saying

I demonstrate my seriousness. Okay. Number five. The fifth thing,

Thank God for his love and promises. Thank God for

his love and promises. The Bible says, when you ask,

ask with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not a holiday. If you're

a believer, it's the attitude of your entire life. You

are to live with the attitude of gratitude. And the

fifth thing Daniel does in his prayer is he reminds

himself of how good God is, how gracious God is,

and how grateful he is to God Daniel ninety four.

Then I prayed to the Lord, and I said, Lord,

you are great. You are an awesome God. You always

fulfill your promises. You keep your word, you say it,

you keep your word. You always fulfill your promises of

constant love. And I'm flaky, you're not. I'm unfaithful to you,

but you're not unfaithful to me. You keep your promises

of concile love to those who love you, and keep

your commands down in verse ninety says, and even though

we have rebelled against you, you Lord are merciful and forgiving.

You Just tell God, God, I'm grateful that you're God,

and I'm not God. I'm grateful that you're loving, You're forgiving,

You're good, You're merciful. And so you thank God for

his love and his promises. And then number six, the

sixth thing do you do? 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 problem 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 blessings, with forgiving, with mercy, with grace. It's

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

gonna take me down. No, no, you're gonna get taken

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

me humbly and 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. You 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 logeo. Homo means same homo sapian homogenized

milk means it's all the same homo same logeo means

to speak, and so to confess theimply means to speak

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

I don't excuse it, don't. 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, now 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've 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 it none wrong. Then 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've rejected your laws. 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. 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. You told us

what's right and wrong, what's morally good. Not so this

clear teaching came through your promise verse thirteen, but we

kept on sinning. We never gave you a second thought.

You're 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? 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're merciful. Now, how does God respond to this

kind of prayer, the six things 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.

That's why we're going to seek God for thirty four days.

Is your future worth thirty four days? Yes? Is your

future worth having a conversation with God three times a

day about for thirty four days before you start the

new year? Yes, he said, I kept on praying. If

you 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 arch angels.

There was Lucifer, he fell, he became Satan. There's Michael,

and there's Gabriel. Gabriels the guy who shows up at Christmas. Hello. OK,

so we actually know the names of these guys. And

this is so important that God sends the angel Gabriel

in a vision to Daniel, and he says, suddenly, while

I'm doing all his praying, the angel Gabriel appeared 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. 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 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 four

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 been 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. All of the elements

of Daniel's prayer are in that promise. And for thirty

four days, we're going to claim that promise. Anybody with me,

anybody with me? Okay, okay. 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 finance, 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 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 I

will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sins, and

I will heal their land. Period done. That's it, So

let's pray. 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,

and as we begin to go through in a couple

of weeks, the thirty four Days of Seeking You, 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 into them, it's right, they're going to

have stayed home and watch 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 be

a part of thirty four days of Seeking God. 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 ask God,

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 fake. I me 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,

the manager of my life. And I pray this humbly

in your name. Amen.

Hey, if you've just prayed along with Rick to accept

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It often seems like mission impossible, But if we'll work

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