Rick Warren - The Prayer of Dependence Part Two

Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's

Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today,

Rick continues teaching a series called Connecting with God the

Lord's Prayer. In these lessons, Rick shows you what it

means to truly be spiritually connected to God and to

each other through the power of God's Love and God's Word.

In just a little while, we're going to tell you

how to get the Lord's Prayer Words of Hope and

Happiness gift book. This life giving resource will help you

strengthen the hope of the children you love by introducing

them to the Lord's Prayer. Go to Pastorick dot com

to find out more, or text the word daily to

eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastorick

dot com. Or the word Daily to eight hundred six

hundred five thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick

with part two of a message called the Prayer of Dependence.

Matthew seven, verse eleven says this, if you were asked

by your son for bread, would you give him a stone?

The answer obviously is, of course not. How much more

likely is it that your heavenly Father will give good

things to those who ask him. If my kids come

to me and say, Daddy, I'm hungry, what am I

gonna do? Give him a piece of rubber at you on, No,

I'm gonna get them some food. If they're genuinely hungry,

I'm gonna help him out. And if I know how

to do this, then I'm imperfect. Certainly, God, who is

perfect in his love towards you, wants to meet all

your needs. He says. God is waiting. He wants to

meet your need. And that's the fourth thing. He's waiting

on me. He's waiting on me. If you have needs

in your life that are not being met, it's not

God's fault. You're not waiting on God. He's waiting on you.

Look at this next verse. Let's read it aloud together.

You do not have because you do not ask God.

The problem is not that God doesn't want to meet

your need. Problem is you never ask him for it.

God says you don't have because you don't ask. Over

twenty times in the New Testament, God says, ask me

as a father. I love you, and I'm waiting for

you to ask, and I want you to ask. And

he says ask and it shall be given. Seek and

you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. Ask, ask, seek, knock.

That spells ask. He's just saying it three different ways.

He says, whatever you ask in my name, I will

do it. He said, ask that the Father may be

glorified in the sun. Over and over we're told to ask.

God says, I want you to look to Me as

the source for all your needs in life. That's the

way I designed it. So here's my very blunt question.

Who's your source? You know, law enforcement, if they're picking

up some money launderers or some drug addicts, they don't

care about the small fries, the user en user. They

want to know who's your source, who's your supplier? They

want to get to the source. And my question to

you is for your safety, for your security, for your

financial stability. Who's your source? Washington? I hope not. I

hope you're not looking to Washington to be your source

of stability. Wall Street again, I hope not. Your job.

You're look into your job to be your source of security. Friend,

I may tell you this, you could lose your job

this next year. You need to look to God as

your source. Now, who are you looking to to meet

your needs. No man will ever be able to meet

all your needs. No woman will ever be able to

meet all your needs. So many people go into marriage saying, oh,

I found the perfect person. They're gonna meet all my needs.

You get married, then you find out they got bigger

needs than you do, and you're gonna be severely disappointed

anytime you look to anybody else. Your parents can't meet

all your needs. Your spouse can't meet all your needs.

Your girlfriend, your boyfriend can't meet all your needs. In fact,

you're setting yourself up for profound disappointment. Only God can

meet all your needs, and you need to look to

him as the source of your supply. You don't look

to your IRA, you don't look to your four oh

one K, You certainly don't look to Social Security for security.

You look to God for your security. And if one

door closes, God can open another door. And if the

faucet turns off here, God can turn off. I want

to fascet over here. And if during this next year

you lose your job and fifteen doors closed, God can

open a window. You look to him as your source.

That's what it means to depend on God. I see

him as my source. Number two. Second thing it means

to depend on God is it means trusting him for today,

for today, not for next week, not for next year,

not for next month, just one day at a time.

God says, I want to make this real simple. I

want you to take life and bite sized pieces twenty

for our increments. I want you to trust me just

for today. Notice the Bible does not say give us

this day our monthly bred. It doesn't say give us

this day our annual bread. It doesn't even say, like

a paycheck, give us this day our weekly bread. And

it's interesting that a since the fifties, bread has been

a synonym for money. You got any dough? Oh you

got any money, You got any bread? Okay, so bread

and dough. Give us this day our daily dough. You

know it's to be daily, not monthly, annually weekly. God says,

I want you to trust me one day at time.

I'm not asking you for to trust me for the

rest of your life, just one twenty four hour increment.

We'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow, and we'll worry about next week,

next week, and we'll worry about next month, next month.

I don't want you worrying about that. In fact, I

don't want you worrying at all. I want you to

take it one day at a time. Now, how do

you do that? How do you trust God just for today?

Give us today our daily bread? How do you do that? Well,

there are four things that you do to trust God

on a daily basis. And it just so happens that

those four things are all covered in one scripture. It's

Philippians four, six and eight. It's on the back of

your outline. It's very important verse. So I want us

to read it aloud together. Don't worry about anything. Instead,

pray about everything. Tell God what you need, thanking him

for all he has done. And fix your thoughts on

what is true and honorable and right. Think about these

things that are pure and lovely and admirable and excellent

and worthy of praise. Now, in this passage he gives

us the four steps to trusting God for today, and

here they are. The first thing you might write this down,

he says, worry about nothing. That's the first step. Worry

about nothing, he said, I don't want you worrying about anything.

Don't worry about anything. Now, let me be very frank

with you, very blunt, friends, this is the hardest command

in the Bible to obey. Don't worry about anything. It's

the hardest command in the Bible to obey don't worry

about anything. You know, there's some commands in the Bible.

I just don't find that hard, you know, to obey.

When the Bible says don't murder, that's not a big

deal to me, you know. I just I don't find

that very difficult to obey. Okay, I don't murder. It's

just not that hard. When the Bible says don't commit

adult treat I don't find that particularly hard. I mean,

when you're married to Kay Warren, you know. But this one, yeah,

don't worry. You break this one six or eight times

a day, Okay, you get all worried about it. Now,

Why is worry such a big deal? And why does

God say I don't want you worrying. You may have

never realized this worry is not just a bad habit,

it's a flat out sin. Worry is a why because

it is an insult to God. Every time you worry,

you're saying God, I don't believe your promises. God, I

don't really believe you love me. God, I don't believe

you'll take care of me. God, I don't believe you'll

meet all my needs. Father, I don't believe you're gonna

take care of me and do all the things you've

promised to do. It is an insult to God. If

my kids, when they were small, came to me and said, Dad,

we're worried about the house. You guys don't have worry

about it. I'm gonna pay for the house. Dad. We

don't think you can do that, And we're worried about

whether we're gonna have a meal tonight. Don't worry about it.

I gotta take Dad. We don't think you're competent to

take care of that. That would be an insult to me.

If my kids worried that I couldn't take care of him,

I would be insulted. And God is insulted. When you worry,

it's saying God, I don't really believe you. When you worry,

you are acting like an orphan. You're acting like you

don't have a spiritual father in heaven who cares. Who

said I will give you whatever you need if you'll

trust me, and you'll ask, if you'll depend on me.

You're acting like a spiritual orphan. Do you know what

worry is. Worry is the practical expression of atheism. You're

acting like an atheist. Every time you worry. I don't

believe God will keep his promises. I don't believe that

God will take care of me. I believe I have

to figure this out myself. You're acting like an atheist,

and God is offended, and so he says, don't worry

about anything. In fact, look at this verse. The Bible says,

don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of

your tomorrow. To live one day at a time. Now,

every time God gives a negative, don't do this, he

always follows it with a positive. Do this instead. Don't

do this, do do this. And when he says worry

about nothing, the next thing he says is this, pray

about everything. He says, here's the alternative. I don't want

you worry. I want you praying. Worry about nothing, pray

about everything everything. Yep, every single thing. God says, here's

what you can do in life. You got two choices.

You can worry or you can pray. And every day

you're doing one of the others. And every time you

worry you're not praying, and every time you pray, you're

not worrying. So you got two choices. You can either

pray or panic, or you can worry, or you can worship.

And you're always going to be doing one or the

other in life, talking to God about it or talking

to yourself. Now, worry has never solved the problem. It's

never solved a single problem. It's doing without doing. It's

like in a rocket share, a lot of motion but

no forward action. Worry has never solved any any problem.

It is the most useless emotion. The prayer can change things.

If you prayed as much as you worry, if you

prayed about all the things you worry about, you'd have

a lot less to worry about. Those are your alternatives,

he says, worry about nothing instead, pray about everything everything. Yeah, literally,

there's nothing you can't pray about.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be

back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.

You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional

at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.

Perhaps the most important role you can play in the

life of a child is teaching them to trust God

through prayer. It's the key to living with hope. Jesus said,

we should always pray and never give up. That's why

it's important to strengthen the hope of children by introducing

them to Jesus's model for prayer at an early age.

And we're excited to tell you about a very special

resource to help you do just that. It's called The

Lord's Prayer Words of Hope and Happiness. This book brings

the poetic scripture of the King James version of the

Bible to life. Readers young and old will enjoy thoughtful

insights from New York Times best selling author Pastor Rick

Warren and stunning illustrations by award winning artist Richard Jesse Watson.

It's sure to become a meaningful bedtime ritual, a treasure memory,

and a lasting legacy that bears good fruit for generations

to come. This wonderful book is a perfect way to

share the beauty and richness of the Lord's Prayer with

the children. The Lord has placed in your life, and

we'll send it to you to say thanks. When you

give a gift to daily Hope, your gift will be

used to help take the good news of Jesus Christ

to people everywhere. Just call eight hundred six hundred five

zero zero four or go to pastor Rick dot com.

That's eight hundred and six hundred at five zero zero four,

or go to pastor Rick dot com. Thanks so very.

Much, you're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again.

Here's Pastor Rick Warren.

Look at this Firse Romans eight thirty two. Since God

did not spare even his own son for us. In

other words, he sent Jesus to die for us. Since

God did not spare even his own son to die

for us, but he gave him up for all of us,

won't he also surely give us everything else? God solved

your biggest problem when he sent Jesus to die for you.

Your biggest problem was getting you into heaven, paying for

all your sins, righting all your wrongs, earning your forgiveness,

And when Jesus died for you. If God loved you

enough to send Jesus die for you, don't you think

he loves you enough to take care of all these

other problems? Every other problem in your life is small potatoes.

After salvation, once He's come and saved you. Everything else

is insignificant by comparison. So he's saying, don't worry, pray

about everything. In and God cared enough to die for you,

then he's going to care enough to take care of

all your needs. Pray about everything. Third thing he says

in this verse is he says, thank God in all things.

Thank God in all things. In all things, he says,

give things. Now circle the word in because remember we

talked about this two weeks ago. It doesn't say for

all things, give thanks. It says, in all things, give thanks.

You don't have to be thankful for bad things in

your life. You should never be thankful for evil. You

don't have to be thankful for cancer or a car accident,

or rape, or a war or abuse, or any of

those other bad things in life that would be sick.

God doesn't say be thankful for everything. There's a lot

of things that we hate in life, we dislike in life.

But God says, in everything, give thanks. Why Because I

know God's going to take care of me. I know

he's going to meet my needs. I know he's going

to help me. I know that if I don't worry,

but I trust him, I see him as my source,

and I trust him one day at a time, He's

going to take me through this. So I thank God

in all things. And then there's the fourth thing that

you do, And what I'm giving you is the strategy

for stress reduction. Think about the right thing, worry about nothing,

pray about everything. Thank God in all things, think about

the right thing. Whatever you put your mind on is

what's going to get you. You fill your mind with worries,

you're going to be down, depressed, discourage, defeated. You feel

your mind with the right things, you're going to be

lifted up, hopeful and couraged positive. Think about the right things. Now,

Notice he tells us. It gives us a list of

things to think about. He says, fix your thoughts on

what's true, honorable, right, what's pure and lovely and admirable,

what's excellent, what's worthy of praise? Where do you find

things that are pure and lovely to think about? At

the movies? I don't think so. No, that's not pure

and lovely at the movies. On television, No, I don't

think so. Where are you going to find pure and

lovely and honorable thoughts? Right here in the truth of God.

The more you fill your mind with this book. The

more you're going to be at peace. You need to

read it, study it, memorize it, buy the Bible on CD,

listen to it, any way you can get it into

your life. You fill your mind, You flood your mind

because in your mind you've got this scale. And on

one side it's all the bad things that the world

is telling you, and on the other side is all

the good things that the Word is telling you. And

you're going to base your life on the world or

the word. The world or the Word. And if you

listen and all, if you spend more time reading the

paper than God's word, guess what you're gonna do. You're

gonna be more negative because it's filled with bad news.

You read the bad news or the good news. God says,

fill your mind with the Word of God. You've got

to get into the Word. The Bible says this up

here on the screen Isaiah twenty six. He God will

keep in perfect peace all those who trust in Him

whose thoughts turn often to the Lord? Do your thoughts

turn often to the Lord? Or do you only think

about him on Sundays? Where do your thoughts turn most

often to sex? To people? Magazine, to making money, to

impressing other people. What do you think about the most?

God says, if you want to have peace in the

middle of tough times, you got to think about the word. Now.

There's a third key to depending on God. I see

him as my source. It all comes from him. It's

all a gift. I trust him one day at a time.

I worry about nothing. I pray about everything. I thank

Him in all things that I keep my ariund on

the right thing. And the third thing, this is very important.

I share whatever he supplies. Trusting God. Depending on God

means sharing whatever he supplies, sharing whatever he supplies. When

God gives you something, I'm telling you he always wants

you to share it with everybody else. Everything God gives

to you, he wants you to share it. Notice it

doesn't say give me this day my daily bread. It

said give us this day our daily bread. Where to

share it? We are to share it? Why does God

want you to share it? He wants you to learn

to be like him. God shares everything he's got with you.

God is generous. God so loved the world that he gave.

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

And God says, I want you to become like me.

I want you to be loving, and I want you

to learn how to share. Now, how do you spell love?

You spell love, giv e. Love is all about giving.

Lust is all about getting. Love is all about giving.

When you say to somebody in a Valenhein's card, I

need you, I want you, I've got to have you. Sorry,

that's not love, that's lust.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so happy

that you've chosen to study along with us today. If

you'd like to receive ricks free daily devotional, go to

Pastororick dot com and sign up right now. Rick will

be back to close out our time in just a moment.

But first, perhaps the most important role you can play

in the life of a child is teaching them to

trust God through prayer. It's the key to living with hope.

Jesus said we should always pray and never give up.

That's why it's so important to strengthen the hope of

children by introducing them to Jesus's model for prayer at

an early age. With this in mind, we're excited to

tell you about a very special resource to help.

You do just that.

It's called The Lord's Prayer Words of Hope and Happiness.

This book brings the poetic scripture of the King James

version of the Bible to life. Readers young and old

will enjoy thoughtful insights from New York Times best selling

author Pastor Rick Warren and stunning illustrations by award winning

artist Richard Jesse Watson. It's sure to become a meaningful

bedtime ritual, a treasured memory, and a lasting legacy that

bears good fruit for generations to come. The Lord's Prayer

Words of Hope and Happiness is the perfect way to

share the beauty and richness of the Lord's Prayer with

the children. The Lord has placed in your life and

will send it to you when you give a gift

to Daily Hope to help take the good news to

people everywhere. Call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and

four to support Daily Hope and will send you this

powerful resource. Or you can visit Pastorick dot com. That's

eight hundred six hundred five thousand four or Pastorick dot com.

Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

I want you to listen to this testimony from a

listener in Monterey, Mexico. Jonas Alvarez writes, Hi there, Pastor Rick.

My name is Jonas Alvarez and I'm an English teacher

in Monterey, Mexico. I listen to Daily Hope every day

by podcast and it has profoundly enriched my life. I

recommend to my students to listen to it and to

practice their English skills. Hey, that's a great idea, and

I know for sure that if they do, they're going

to get much more than just learning English. Thank you

so very much, sincerely, Jonas. Well, thanks for writing, Jonas.

My prayer is that Daily Hope will bring the hope

that we find in Jesus to your students, just as

we're praying that it brings hope to people all around

the world. By the way, did you notice how Jonas

is sharing Daily Hope podcasts with his students. I think

that's a great idea. My question to you is who

are you sharing the Daily Hope podcast with? Could you

tell about this good news? You know, good news is

so good we can't keep it to ourselves. You've got

to share it. So if you shared Daily Hope with

somebody else, would you let me know about it? Write

me you know the address, Rick at pastorick dot com.

It's just Rick at pastorick dot com, and tell me

your story of how you're sharing Daily Hope with other people.

If you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast

has blessed your life, please write him at Rick at

pastorick dot com. That's Rick at pastorrick dot com. Be

sure to join us next time as we look into

God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored

by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support