Confidence In Prayer

I would rather my prayers go unanswered from my perspective than unasked.

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I'll say bless the Lord if you'll say, Oh my soul.

Bless the Lord.

Bless his holy name.

Well, we're in the attic.

This is the only space in the house that I can find that my wife lets me have my own space.

This is the only place I can hide where the kids won't come barging in.

They actually might, so if they do, just kind of embrace it.

Working from home is a new rhythm for me.

And I don't know if some of you have found yourself in a similar situation, but I've realized I need a lot more prayer, and I need to be praying a lot more during this time.

So would you guys bow your head and close your eyes with me as we pray?

Lord, would you teach us to pray?

Amen.

Now, how many of you, when I said bow your heads and close your eyes, were like, hot dog, I'm going back to sleep?

Daddy's sleepy.

Uh, how many of you would I prayed a one-sentence prayer were like, oh, thank the Lord it was short?

I don't know about you, but uh, during this time, more than anything, that this has revealed to me being at home for a consistent amount of time, other than the fact that I have an unhealthy Netflix addiction addiction.

Um, the fact that uh I thought COVID-19 was the second version of the freshman 15 because I've been eating my emotions and feelings.

No disrespect to the disease and those who have it.

Um, it's just uh it's really difficult not to consistently uh walk by the refrigerator and ask for a little pick-me-up and a little happy because I'm working on the fruit of the spirit called self-control.

I'm trying to lean in and listen in to prayer more than I have uh before.

And as everything becomes really, really uncertain and a lot of fear-mongering is happening, and you're not really sure where it is that you need to stand.

And so this morning I just want us to take a look at God's word and see if we can't develop our confidence in prayer.

Uh, confidence in prayer is something that I think a believer is entitled to as their birthright.

Scripture tells us we can boldly approach the throne of grace in our time of need.

And I don't know about you, but my needs are spiking during this time.

And unfortunately, prayer is usually not my first response, it's my last resort.

And so, how do we as believers, how do we as a church be consistently in the presence of Jesus, being on the lookout for his provision and his protection, but also engaging this lost and broken world with the kingdom of God, with power and with authority?

I don't know about you, that's what I'm after.

And so let's open up God's word.

We're gonna be in John, first John chapter five.

First John chapter five, and we'll start in verse 13.

I'm gonna pray for us as you guys are turning there.

Holy Spirit, would you give us eyes to see and ears to hear?

Jesus, would you go before us in this text and make a way?

And together we say the words that ravish your heart.

Speak, Lord.

Your servants are listening.

Amen.

1 John, starting in chapter 5, verse 13.

I write these things to you who believe in the Son of God, that you may know and have eternal life.

And this is the confidence, the confidence we have towards Him.

That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of Him.

I'll say the word of the Lord if you'll say thanks be to God.

The word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

Amen.

Amen or what?

How in the world can John write that?

Like we can have confidence that if we ask for anything, God hears us, and then we have confidence that since He's heard us, we have what we ask for.

Is that true for you?

Let's see if it's true for me.

Uh Jesus, I have confidence in who you are as the Son of God.

I'm asking for a Toyota FJ 40 1977 fully restored.

I'm asking for the fact that my body will burn off all the excess fat that I'm consuming because I'm emotionally needy.

Um, Jesus, I'm praying for perfect little children who listen and obey right away, do whatever I ask of them, and are internally grateful.

And I'm asking for a wife who cannot physically keep her hands off of me because I'm so attractive.

My wife is not knocking at the door.

I can hear my kids screaming in the background.

Um, nothing's pulled up in my driveway, and my shirt's still really, really tight around my midsection.

How can John say?

How can Scripture say?

And John's your best friend, by the way, right, Granview?

Because you guys spent three years slow walking through the Gospel of John.

So this is your boy, right?

Finally, he wrote a shorter book for those of us who can't read very long.

And in 1 John chapter 5, he's saying, hey, if you ask anything, it's heard, and if it's heard, you already have it.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

I don't know about you, but confidence in prayer sometimes is shaken because uh, can I literally take the word of God to be true?

Now, here's the part where as a professional preacher and a pastor and Christian, I'm supposed to tell you, guys, you just need more faith.

You gotta work harder.

Um, if you're not experiencing this, then there's something wrong with you.

And if I tell you that, then I need to tell you this as a brother in Christ, as Chris Brooks, then there's something wrong with me.

Because I always I don't always experience the promise that was written here in Scripture that whatever I say, whatever I ask, it's heard, and when it's heard, it will be given to me.

And in fact, if I could be really honest with you, out of my 37 years of being a follower of Jesus, a child of God, and even for the last 17 where I actually took it seriously and leveraged my life fully into the kingdom of God, if you were to list out every prayer request I have ever prayed, statistically, if you ran the stats, I would say there have been more unanswered prayers that I have prayed in my life than answered, from my perspective.

I could ask you guys, hey, do you have your you guys have a handful of prayer requests that God answered in a miraculous and amazing way?

And I'm sure some of you would have some.

What if I asked you how many of your prayers went unanswered?

I think maybe all of us might have an example of that.

If I was to condense it down, I was trying to do some thinking of the things that shook my confidence, especially in my teenage and 20 years, of the prayers I prayed that felt like they were going unanswered.

I boiled them down to four.

The top four most unanswered prayer requests from my perspective that I ever prayed.

That really makes it difficult for me to hear and obey this text.

Number one is God, take these feelings away, please.

Anybody ever pray that?

Lord, take these feelings away.

I don't care that I've spent 15 years cultivating them in the darkness, but now that I'm ready to repent of, poof, I need them gone.

Take it away.

Take these feelings away.

And why was I praying that?

Because I didn't know the joy of obedience even when my emotions didn't line up with my intentions.

Second one.

First one's God, take these feelings away.

The second one is, God, please deliver me from the consequences of my sin.

That when my sin has found me out, and I know that I come running to God as a last resort, as a bailout.

I can remember being a high school student, arrested, went home and waiting for my dad to come home, and I pulled out a shotgun and put it to my chin because I did not want to deal with the consequence of having to face my father after what I had done.

I'm praying, I think the first prayer request I prayed in that moment is Jesus, please come back right now before I have to face my father and the consequences of these decisions.

Um, since we're here, I think that one went unanswered.

And two is like, please get me out of this.

Why was I praying that?

Because I would rather God deliver me from the consequences of my behavior rather than shape my character to behave in a different way.

Just a side note, by the way, just so we're clear, uh, grace is not you getting out of your consequences all the time.

Sometimes your grace is you actually living through the consequences of your sin so that you can actually live a different way.

Third one that I prayed a lot.

Dear God, please let this person like me or love me or make me feel complete.

Um even after I'm married, I still pray that.

Not about other women, but you know, you want favor with people above you, you want favor in um friendships, you you you want people uh to like you so that you can feel better about yourself.

And that one continues to go unanswered.

Why?

And why am I praying that in the first place?

Because the honest statement of what I'm saying is God, your love doesn't mean enough to me, theirs means more.

Fourth most common requested prayer uh that would go unanswered from my perspective, and maybe you've had one that's similar to this.

Dear God, please let me get this job, make this team, win this contest, get this contract, or have this incredible provision from you.

And always seem to go unanswered.

Why?

Because that way, if God would answer my prayer requests every time, then my identity could be in my accomplishments, not in who he says I am.

Because I'd rather learn from success than failure.

And I'd always want to get everything that the world wants and then just thank God for it.

Those are the top four unanswered prayers from my perspective.

And as I reflect back on those, I realize I think God heard those prayers.

And I think he answered them, just not in the way that I wanted him to.

Because oftentimes the things that we think will bless us, God does not use to bless us.

If you want to see what Jesus thinks about blessings, just go to Matthew chapter 5 and read the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Because sometimes in our most desperate and despicable condition, Jesus would call it blessed because we're more aware of his presence than we ever have been before.

So as I reflect back on those four prayer requests, another scripture comes to my mind.

And it's Jesus who said, Which one of your children, when he asks you for a loaf of bread, you would give them a stone?

And which one of you, if they asked you for a fish, you would give them a snake?

And in all those prayer requests, I realized I was asking for snakes and stones, not bread and fish.

Snakes and stones and bread and fish.

How much of our prayers are we begging God for snakes and stones when He is offering us bread and fish?

Maybe that's what's shaking our confidence.

The difference between uh bread and fish and snake and stones is a snake and stones is always asking the question, why didn't I get what I want?

Bread and fish is going, Jesus, what do you want to give to me so that I can give to others?

Bread and fish allows us to sink our words, our our lives into the word of God and the people of God and the kingdom of God, and it nourishes us and it readies us for action.

Snakes and stones, those are the things we break our teeth on, and the things that wind up biting us and killing us.

Bread and fish is life.

Snake and stones is death.

Snake and Stones is always looking for presence and provision.

From a cosmic Santa Claus, bread and fish says your presence alone is enough and it's more than your provision.

I'm not just seeking the gift, I'm seeking the giver.

I'm not just seeking the hand of God, I'm seeking the face of God.

I have a buddy in Atlanta who's a pastor and just recently got a new puppy because that solves a lot of problems in your family sometimes.

And he was sharing with me how he had had dogs in the past that just got really unruly.

So this time he decided, hey, I'm gonna hire a trainer.

He knew the trainer was coming, so he started trying to get his dog ready and make it look like he had done a bunch of work, and so he he got his dog to do a bunch of tricks like sit and stay and all that fun stuff.

And he was really proud of himself when the trainer came in, and the trainer came in, the doggy llama.

Um, and he showed him all of his stuff and he just said, Oh, that's great.

Um, and the pastor was really excited.

He says, Look how obedient uh my dog is to me.

And the trainer just shook his head, and he's like, What?

He says, Your dog's not obedient.

He says, Your dog does tricks for treats.

It has yet to submit to the will of the master because it enjoys and respects the master.

Now, you and I, we're not dogs.

But unfortunately, the reason our confidence is so shaken in prayer sometimes is most of our life is spent doing tricks for treats from God.

And when the treats stop, and the tricks aren't enough, maybe we'll find ourselves face down crying out to God, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

I have ultimate confidence that you are who you say you are, and I will trust and obey because there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

Even when I can't see it, I know that you are working.

All that I have need of, thy hand has provided.

Great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

So, how do we go from just doing tricks for treats to understanding obedience and confidence in our relationship with God to where we're seeking his presence more than we're seeking his provision?

Well, I got a couple things that I'd love to walk with you through because scripture tells us in Psalm 37, 4, uh, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

And again, our problem is we're dyslexic Christians, right?

We've we flip that.

Um, God, give me the desires of my heart, and then I'll delight in you.

That's not how the kingdom works.

Um, the way up is the way down, and the way to life is through death.

And so what we're doing is we're submitting our delight to him, and then he will give us the desires of our heart, which is technically his desires.

Sometimes our prayers are just I don't want to want this anymore, I want to want you more.

So, quick as I can make this, um I'm gonna give you 14 flashpoints on prayer.

Um, and I just want you guys as a family or individuals, however you are, to ask the Holy Spirit, hey, prompt me to pick one of these that I'm gonna practice this week.

Did you see that?

Those three P's.

Prompt me to pick one that I'm gonna practice this week.

You can say that three times fast.

Sorry, I just got your kids crazy.

So here we go.

We'll we'll put them on uh the screen, and I want you to write one down and then uh as individually or as a family, you guys get to practice one of these this week.

Okay, when it comes to prayer.

First of all, pray out loud.

I was in a discipleship group um with a pretty prominent doctor in my last church, and we were walking through um being uh men who can spiritually pastor our families and our spouses, and realized that many of them didn't have any prayer life with their spouse.

And I said, Okay, our homework assignment this week um is to pray over your wife.

And he looked at me and said, Do you mean out loud?

And I said, Yes.

I forget how great the fear is for us to look like we have it all together.

By the way, I hate like just flowerly, empty, stupid words that drivel out of people's mouth that sounds really, really Christian-y, but actually is not even connecting or telling the truth about what's going on.

So pray out loud and pray the way that you know how.

Just go for it.

Um, Ken later came back to me and said, uh, I prayed over my wife.

I said, Great, how'd it go?

He says, Good.

I it I said grace before dinner.

Good start, good start, but pray out loud.

Pray out loud for your family, for your spouse, for your kids before they go to bed.

Just have a prayer that you say out loud, that you know that God is hearing you, and if he hears you, he's answering you.

Um, use prayer as a listening opportunity.

That's number two.

Prayer is just not about us talking, it's about us listening.

So take some time just to listen.

Say, Holy Spirit, what does God want to say to me?

Let him bring scriptures to mind, let him bring people to mind.

Try to start flushing that out.

Our birthright as the children of God is to hear our Father's voice.

And God can start to prompt you and you can hear him and you can start to recognize him.

Now, I gotta warn you, whatever he reveals to you, he's gonna ask you probably to be obedient to you and to see if you're trustworthy to communicate more to you.

And some of you, before you listen, ask to listen to him, you need to be obedient to what he's already revealed to you that you've been disobedient to.

Third, pray short prayers.

This is great for guys like me who sometimes struggle with the tension deficit disorder.

But some of my favorite prayers in the Bible are one-sentence prayers.

Find some of those and let them rip.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

Son of David, have mercy on us.

These are fun, punchy.

Here we go.

Lord, if you are willing, make me well.

Find those one-sentence prayers that you can really just go after that become an integral part of uh your prayer life.

I think it was Spurgeon one time that said he never prayed for longer than five minutes, but never went five minutes without praying.

Four, long to get lost in prayer.

You're gonna find out even when you're praying short prayers, all of a sudden you're gonna look up and maybe five, ten, fifteen minutes has gone by, where you're just so immersed with being in the presence of your heavenly father, our father who art in heaven, hallowed, sacred, beautiful, mysterious is your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth and in me as it is in heaven.

Get rapturously delighted in the character of your heavenly father, and just get lost.

Leisurely spend time with him, listening and talking.

Five, uh, pray God's word.

Um, I'm sure you may have heard this before, but there's an incredible sense of power that comes and authority when we're using our Father's words.

Uh, you guys pray the Lord's prayer.

I think that's incredible.

Like these are the words of Jesus about the Father, and this can serve as incredible prompts for in your spirit.

Something I try to do.

Like, I pray out of God's glorious riches that he would strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all God's things to grasp how deep and how wide, how long and how high is the love of Christ, and that I know this love surpasses knowledge.

Not of him, right?

What happens when I start to know the cadence of my Father's voice and the prayers of Scripture?

It gives me a courage and a clarity sometimes that I can't get to by myself.

It's also an incredible weapon against the adversary when you're feeling guilt and shame and condemnation.

Fight the lies.

There's no Condemnation now for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do, God did by sending his own Son in likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering for us.

The Lord is my shepherd.

Oh, I shall not want.

Oh, Father, I want so many things more than you.

Forgive me.

Make me lie down in green pastures.

Lead me beside quiet waters.

Restore my soul for your name's sake.

Lead me in paths of righteousness.

See, that's that's pick a scripture, internalize it, use it as you're praying.

It's incredible.

Number six, write your prayers out.

Um, that's what uh a daily practice of mine.

So I I'll get in scripture and then um I'll just start writing to my father in heaven.

So that's what mine looks like.

I've got a specific journal that I keep when I write, and then I go back and I'll try to highlight areas and themes that are going on so that I can remember the Lord's faithfulness and provision.

I've got two sections.

One, here's what I want to say to you, and two, here's what I think you might be saying to me.

So write out your prayers.

Um, prayer walk.

Now you'd be like, Chris, seriously, uh, we're not talking about going to the mall buying a pair of white sneakers with a huge soul, um, getting some track suits and some 1.5 pound hand weights.

Is that what you're talking about, prayer walking?

Now, I don't know about you, but for me and my wife, um, there's sometimes we literally have to run out the door and tell our kids, don't die, and we'll walk around our neighborhood just so we can have uninterrupted time together.

My body is active, endorphins are being released.

Um, I'm outside and I'm engaging her.

And sometimes I do that just with the Lord.

I gotta get out in the woods and take a walk and just talk to him.

As silly as it sounds, sometimes I just put my hand out like this and just ask Father, will you hold my hand as we walk together?

Just trying to practice his presence in different ways.

Um of that, number eight, celebrate beauty anytime you see it with God.

Bless the Lord.

Praise Jesus.

Oh my goodness, God is good.

Any good and perfect gift comes down from the Father above, in whom there is no shadow of turning.

And you taste something good when you see something beautiful, when the sun hits your face the right way, or the breeze moves, a constant awareness of the beauty and grandeur, mystery and sovereignty of God, always reorienting your thoughts, knowing that your deepest needs and satisfaction comes from the Father in heaven.

Um, that's number seven.

Number of the eight, celebrate beauty.

Number nine, have something fixed and something at liberty.

So every day make sure you have something disciplined and routine that you know this is I spend X amount of time doing this, and then spend some time during your day experimenting with something new, like I'm giving you.

Hey, I'm gonna try this new practice and see how it works.

Because just so we're clear, when we try to put a new rhythm into our life, every new rhythm usually feels like death first before it turns into life.

It's usually discipline before it turns into delight.

Uh, number 10, pray with other people.

Pray with other people.

Um, it helps, it's it's like a potluck.

Um, you'll wind up tasting and seeing that the Lord is good in more flavorful ways.

Salt, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

And that was not singular, it was plural.

So together, um, a more comprehensive and compelling view of God emerges.

Um, number 11, use scripted prayers.

Uh, I know sometimes that feels weird for some of us who are either wounded by a liturgical tradition or who grew up thinking, oh, that's not authentic and real.

Uh I think like Valley of Vision, uh 365 Days of Gospel Prayers by Scotty Smith, Book of Common Prayer.

There's plenty of books where sometimes people can use language in a way that sparks and ignites my own prayer life and imagination.

Sometimes I just need them to put down a cone of primer so that I could start pating freely.

12.

Use silence and solitude for things that cannot be heard but only received.

A wise man once wrote that to me one time.

Uh, number 13, remember that Jesus prays for you, and so does the Holy Spirit.

Jesus at the right hand of the Father interceding on behalf of the saints.

The Holy Spirit is able to communicate in groans and deep sighs for us when we don't know what to pray.

So uh always ask them to help you pray.

And number uh 14, um, when you can't pray, sing.

When you can't pray, sing.

Sing the truths and the faithfulness.

This is why we worship together, because those songs will get embedded in you by that.

That's what the Psalms were all about, right?

I let the morning bring me word of your steadfast love.

Show me the way I should go.

For into your hands I entrust my spirit.

Those are the things that you want trapped in you.

You want songs that your congregation sings so that it's flowing out of you in moments unbidden to where you are developing your confidence.

So the last thing that I want to tell you, pick one of those out and practice it.

Um, but what I forgot to tell you as we were interpreting God's word together is there were two conditional statements that we blew past.

So in our text, it says, if you ask according to my will.

John will say that in a different way in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

If my words abide in you, then ask for whatever you want and it'll be received.

It's asking according to the will and the words of the Father.

And in that you can have confidence that whatever you ask for, he hears, and whatever he hears, he gives.

Because here's the deal at the end of the day, men and women, I would rather my prayers go unanswered from my perspective than unasked.

I have confidence that I can approach my Father in heaven through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, and that I can start to ask him for what I want, who he is, and I know above all else, at the end of the day, it is his presence more than provision or blessings as I define them, or comfort or convenience that I want.

At the end of the day, I know that my Father in heaven hears me, and whatever I need, he provides.

Amen.

Grand Parkway, thanks for letting us worship with you this morning.

Uh, my kids want to help out in speaking a prayer of blessing over you, your family, and your congregation and church.

This is Abigail, Christopher, and Maggie.

Looks like Luna made it in.

Uh so if you'll stand up wherever you're at, put your hands out in a posture of receiving, and we'll speak a prayer of blessing over you.

Abigail?

I'm gonna say Psalms 4, 8.

In peace, I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will make me dwell in safety.

I will be saying Psalms 121.

For the case.

I left my eyes.

I left my eyes to the mountain.

Where does my health come from?

Where my health comes from the Lord.

I will be saying Psalms 122, 8, and 9.

For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be with you.

For the sake of the house of the Lord, I will seek your good.

Amen.

Amen.

And so, church, may you grow in your confidence and character in prayer this week.

May you ask for bread and fish, not snakes and stones.

And may you know that your Father in heaven hears you.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Bless you guys.