Foundations - Part 3: Fueled by Prayer | Pastor Pablo Morales

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. At the beginning of October,

we started this series called Foundations, which

explores some of the core convictions that define

how we function at ECB. These are foundations

that shape our way of ministry here in ECB, but

also they shape our own lives. These are things

that we want each one of us to work with, that

really define how we live our lives with the

Lord. We started talking about being rooted in

the Word and then being empowered by the Holy

Spirit. And today we are talking about being

fueled by prayer. Now I know that depending on

the doctrinal background that you come from,

the denominational background that you come from,

there are lots of ideas about prayer. And this

study does not mean to be a summary of all the

theological views on prayer. But it's trying

to define how we see prayer in our ministry and

in our lives. And as I have worked with people,

I realized too that depending on where you are

in your journey with God, the way you relate

to prayer changes. I remember leading someone

to Christ many years ago, and then as I was discipling

her, and there were moments in which now I invited

her to pray into this space. She would say, you

know, It's hard for me to pray out loud because

I didn't grow up praying. So, in fact, at the

beginning for me to pray was weird. It was like

talking to the air. And so she had to learn what

prayer was and how to engage in this new dimension

of her relationship with God. And then I have

talked to other Christians that know prayer.

They pray and they understand prayer to some

degree. But they treat it like when the doctor

tells you, you need to eat more fruits and vegetables,

you know. It's like, I know I need to pray. I

know God wants me to pray. But it's like, one

more thing to do. And I just don't have time.

So they don't pray because it feels almost like

a burden, you know. And that's why I say like

the fruits and vegetables. Yeah, I know I need

to eat more fruits and vegetables to stay healthy.

But I just don't. And this person sees prayer

almost like a thing you do, rather than expression

of who we are. And therefore, one of the things

that we'll discover in this study is that prayer

is so essential to following Jesus. Not only

Jesus talked about it, but the Apostle Paul also

talked about it, and they give us a picture of

prayer. That is very profound. If we go to the

life of Jesus. For instance. We know that Jesus

in many times. During his ministry. He will go

away by his own. To just spend time praying.

But there is a particular time. In which actually

we know what we pray. What he prayed. And this

happened at the end of his ministry. Hours before

he got captured by his enemies and then crucified.

During that time, after the last supper, he goes

to Gethsemane with his apostles. And then he

goes with three of them into this sector of the

garden. And he is going to start praying to the

Father. And this is what the Gospel of Mark says.

He went on a little farther and fell to the ground.

And he prayed that if it were possible, the awful

hour awaiting him might pass him by. He knows

that if he continues with the plan, what is about

to happen is going to be terrible. It's going

to require for him to suffer so much. Not only

physically, physical torture, but emotionally

being accused and mocked by the people that he

loves. Being betrayed by those that he served

with. And not only that, but he will now enter

the realm of darkness and go into the very place

to be able to defeat the power of him who had

the power and control over death. That is the

devil according to the book of Hebrews. What

is about to happen is going to be very complex

and require for him to be willing to suffer in

deep ways that we cannot really understand. But

as he is praying, in aligning himself with God's

plan, and pursue his calling all the way to the

very end, he says, Abba Father, which is a Hebrew

way of Very intimate relationship with God. He's

almost saying, Daddy, everything is possible

for you. Please take this cup of suffering away

from me. Yet, I want your will to be done, not

mine. Now, you know that I'm a theologian. And

this is one of those passages that theologians

have written for centuries trying to figure out.

How does this work? If Jesus is God. The very

nature of God. And he is God incarnate. He is

the son of God. How can he have a different will

from the father? How does that work? And the

answer is. We have no clue. But one of the things

that we see. Is that as Jesus is engaging in

this space. He is going to address the apostles.

And he's going to say something about prayer

that completely redefines the way we think of

it. Then he returned and found the disciples

asleep. And he said to Peter, Simon, are you

asleep? Couldn't you watch with me even one hour?

Keep, watch, and pray. So that you will not give

into temptation for the spirit is willing. But

the body is weak. And here Jesus is giving us

a window. Into the experience of following God's

call for our lives. We learned last week that

the moment you come to know Jesus as your Savior

and you start following Jesus, the Bible says

that at that moment, God gives you the Holy Spirit

to be now in you until the day of redemption.

So following Jesus now is entering into a deeper

relationship with God by having this deep connection

with the Holy Spirit that needs to be nurtured.

And now Jesus is telling the apostles that this

dual reality, You have a spiritual connection

with God. And you want to be aligned with that,

with God. And pursue His calling. Even if it

means suffering and dying on the cross. This

is something that you are willing to. But at

the same time, you have your humanity in all

of its rawness. And this humanity wrestles with

things and desires. And things that are not always

aligned. With what God desires. And he is experiencing

this at this moment. And he says look you have

your humanness. And you also have your spiritualness.

And you have to pray. To bring those two in alignment.

And suddenly we realize that prayer. Is both

simple and complex. Quite simple. Because prayer

is simply talking to God. So anyone can pray

in any location at any moment. Because the moment

you are talking to God, you are praying. You

don't need to know eloquent words and cite Bible

verses. No. Prayer is simply talking to God.

But at the same time, it's deeper. Because what

Jesus is telling us is that prayer was designed

as a tool for us to be able to align our hearts,

our inmost being with the Holy Spirit so that

we can pursue His calling freely. And there will

be moments in which you and I will feel the dissonance.

We know what God says. We know what God called

us for, but internally we are not aligning ourselves

with it. And how do I move from this to being

aligned? The answer is prayer. Prayer is that

tool. Now later, Jesus himself is going to appear

to the Apostle Paul. Who was a man who was persecuting

Christians. He's on his way to Damascus. And

Jesus appears to him. Paul becomes blinded by

the light. A few days later. A guy called Ananias

comes and prays for him. And after praying for

him. Then. His eyes become, his sight becomes

open again. He's able to see. And now he becomes

indwelled by the Holy Spirit. And from that moment

on, the Apostle Paul starts serving God and pursuing

Jesus' calling for him. And he writes many of

the letters that we have in the New Testament

in the Bible. Telling Christians about many of

these things. And just like Jesus, Paul will

experience prayer in a very unique way. Paul

is going to realize that it is true. There's

the call to pursue God and grow in intimacy with

the Holy Spirit. But it's also the wrestling

with our humanity. And they don't always match.

But what he experiences is that in that wrestling

of aligning our hearts with God's. There's another

factor, and that is the spiritual reality of

spiritual oppression. In the book of Ephesians

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, he's going to say, hey guys, remember

that as you are struggling with people, our struggle

is not just flesh and blood. There are spiritual

entities in the spiritual realm, forces of darkness

that are opposing you. And you will have to learn

to engage with that opposition with the right

spiritual tools. And he calls that the armor

of God. And as he's talking about that, he tells

Christians in Ephesians 6, chapter 6, verse 13.

Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor

so you will be able to resist the enemy in the

time of evil. And then after the battle, you

will be standing firm. You see how he mentions

that you and I have a spiritual enemy that wants

to oppose us? And he describes this interaction

as a battle that feels really much like a wrestling

of will. Where am I going? To align myself with.

Is this I'm going to align myself with the Lord?

With my enemy? With my own desires? Where am

I going to be? And in that place of wrestling.

He says you need to learn to use these things.

If you want to stand firm at the end of the battle.

Because your enemy wants to confuse you. Your

enemy wants to deter you. Your enemy wants to

compromise you. Therefore. Engage with this.

And then he continues. In the following verses

later. On verse 16 he says. In addition to all

of these things of the armor of God. Hold up

the shield of faith. To start the fiery arrows

of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet.

And take the sword of the spirit. Which is the

word of God. And I love this. Because it summarizes

all of our convictions. In one verse like this.

It's like look. Follow Jesus. Stand in your salvation.

Now you have the Holy Spirit. Grow in intimacy

with him. Now you have the word of God. Be rooted

in the word. But you will have to remember. That

this struggle. Is a spiritual one. And you will

have. To learn to walk by faith. And here. Is

where prayer comes into place. And he will say

here on the following verse. Pray in the spirit

at all times. On every occasion. Stay alert.

And be persistent in your prayers. for all believers

everywhere. I remember I had a friend that came

from a church that taught him that this verse

says, everybody has to pray in tongues. And he

prayed in tongues. He had that gift. I didn't.

But then I would say, but I'm not sure that this

is the right interpretation of this verse because

didn't Paul say in Corinthians that not everybody

has the gift of tongues? There are those that

do, those that don't. But here Paul is saying

to every Christian, you need to pray in the Spirit.

And he went like, oh, yeah, that's kind of, I

hadn't thought about that part of it. Because

what the Apostle Paul is calling us all is to

learn to engage with prayer for what it was.

It's a tool that has been designed to help us

align our hearts. With the Holy Spirit. So that

now we can pursue our calling. Freely. And that's

why you go back to what Jesus was saying. As

he was aligning his desire. For avoiding suffering.

With God's desire. To go through it. He is exercising

in prayer. As a tool to align the heart. To pursue

God's calling. And he tells the apostles, you

have to learn to discover prayer as this. And

the apostle Paul says, you have to learn to engage

with prayer as this powerful tool. So suddenly,

prayer is much more than simply talking to God,

which we engage with in many ways when you are

praying for a need. When you're asking God to

open a door for something. When you're asking

God for a blessing on something. All of those

forms of prayer are part of the biblical mandate

of prayer. But there's a dimension of prayer

that has to do with aligning our hearts with

Him to pursue God's calling. And to understand

how this works more deeply. I would like to share

in the following section of this study, the areas

that I have learned in my own journey with the

Lord, as well as what I've learned in walking

with people in the context of counseling, to

see how is that this alignment starts happening.

And I call this kind of experiencing prayer,

I call it focus prayer. Because it's really focusing

on aligning something that has become misaligned.

But in order to understand that, we have to start

picturing what the Apostle Paul says, following

Jesus and pursuing God's calling, a moment it

feels like running a race. Now, I'm not a runner,

but I like hiking. And hiking gives me an idea

of what... looks like to be fueled by prayer,

to enter into this space so I can run freely

into the path that God has for me. And for that,

I'm going to show you a couple of pictures. I

not only enjoy hiking, but I enjoy photography.

And you will always see me on my vacation anywhere

with a big camera. And that drives my family

crazy because something that could take five

minutes now takes 20 because there's papi or

daddy. They're sitting taking 100 pictures, not

just one, but 100. And some of it is nice. This

is from the northwest coast in the U .S., the

area of Washington, Oregon, all that beautiful

region of the country. And this is called the

Olympic. National Park. And this is a path I

was walking in. And I could see the people ahead

of me. With the light coming down. And I remember

the word of God says. In the book of Psalms.

Your word is a lamp unto my feet. It guides us

into the path. That is dark ahead. We have his

word. We have his spirit. This other picture.

Was taken in the area of. Mount Baker. Which

is also there in the Washington area. And this

reminds me that sometimes walking and hiking

is a little bit more hard. Because you have to

go through the rocks. And it's not easy. It's

not straightforward. And this other one was from

the Mount Rainier National Park. And this area

was far away from this guy. It looked very unique

because the guy is walking in this path into

this place that looks very dark. Kind of eerie.

You see the trees, you know, and he's going to

enter the unknown. And that made me realize sometimes

when God is calling you to follow him, suffering

is coming along the way. And yet God is calling

you to it. And this last one was taken in Portland.

And I was able to see this guy running and right

at the right curve for the picture. And this

guy was sweating, but he was cold. And it's like

that remind me that, yeah, following Jesus, it

requires discipline. It's not easy, but it's

committed. You are going because God is calling

you for it and you just go for it. It doesn't

matter if it's to call, I'll go for it. It doesn't

matter if we sweat, we'll go for it. And this

is... Where the verse that the Apostle Paul wrote

about. I have run the race. I have finished it.

I have remained faithful. But in hiking and running.

I learned something in Texas and in Thailand.

Texas. Sometimes going in the path. You are pursuing

it. Something happens that is not very pleasant.

And now this picture is not mine. It's just AI

for full transparency. This is Chad GPT. But

if you've experienced this, you know what I'm

talking about. These sticky seeds that you are

walking and suddenly it's like, oh, it hurts

because they're spiking. And you look, it's like,

what? Now you cannot walk again, you know, keep

walking. You have to now stop. Remove your socks

and remove each one. And they're sticky. You

cannot go like, or shake it, you know. You have

to remove the sock and you have to remove the

seeds. Because you have a choice to make. You

keep walking and running and following the path.

With this there. And therefore it's going to

always hold you back. Because it hurts. Or you

stop and take care of it. So you can run freely.

And the other one I learned in Thailand. I'm

going to show you this only for two seconds.

Blech. Leaches. Blech. I was hiking in the south

of Thailand. And there was I had heard about

and never seen one. Until I saw one in my shoe

trying to get to my foot. Thankfully, the guy

that was with us helped me before I freaked out.

But just the thought of having one of those bugs

sucking my blood, you know, it's like, how do

you remove it? It's like, ugh. It doesn't matter

whether the path is easy, rocky, leads you to

suffering, or to a very plain ride. If we're

following Jesus, we're following Jesus. But did

you realize that along the way in following Jesus,

you can have leeches that are trying to suck

the energy out of you? You have these sticky

things that try to make it so uncomfortable that

you decide to stop hiking altogether. These are

things that I call obstructions. And Jesus is

sensing one of them because he knows that he's

not completely aligned in that space. And what

do we call that misalignment? I have no idea.

But what I know is that Jesus himself did it.

And he's asking us so whenever we feel any of

these obstructions of any form, we engage in

prayer. So our soul is aligned with the spirit.

So now we're able to freely continue the journey

of following Jesus. There are four obstructions

that we have observed. The first one is bitterness.

The second one is fear. The third one is shame.

And the fourth one is disappointment with God.

These are the leeches. These are the sticky seeds.

These are the... pebbles in your shoes. You know

that you are just not feeling completely at peace

and you want to follow the Lord, you want to

pursue your calling, but you are not fully there

because these things are holding you back. And

if we are going to discover prayer and develop

lives that are fueled by prayer, we have to understand

how these areas work. The first one, the area

of bitterness. Along the way in following Jesus,

you will have people that will hurt you, will

disappoint you, will do things that will make

you feel harmed. That's unavoidable. But what

you do about it makes the difference between

being aligned with the Holy Spirit or not. And

the tendency that all of us will have is that

our humanity wants us to become bitter and resentful

towards the people and hold those grudges. The

Apostle Paul was teaching the Christians in the

Church of Corinth. And there was a guy that committed

sexual immorality in the midst of the community.

And that hurt so many people and created a complicated

thing. And they were trying to figure out how

to deal with this. And as they were dealing with

it, there was a moment in which things were coming

a little bit more clear. And the Apostle Paul

writes to them and he says, By the way, have

you forgiven the guy yet? And this is what he

says, when you forgive this man, I forgive him

too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be

forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for

your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart

us, for we are familiar with his evil schemes.

We know that Satan wants to use bitterness as

a way of infiltrating your heart and infiltrating

your calling. That's why, hey, We're going to

forgive this guy. Because I'm not going to let

Satan outsmart us. And this is one of the things

we realize. Is that in the spiritual struggle

where Paul says you need to learn to use prayer

as a place of encountering alignment with God.

Bitterness will be something that will hold you

back from really releasing this thing in God's

presence and pursuing your calling freely. I

have to ask you, have you forgiven freely and

completely? Or there's bitterness in your heart?

And this bitterness can be caused by things that

are very traumatic. Like being molested as a

child by someone you trusted. And that can stay

with you for years that you never forgave. And

because bitterness is there, your ability to

pursue God and following Jesus freely is compromised.

The leech is there in your leg. And you've been

walking while bleeding. But what you need to

do is to stop and remove the leech altogether.

So that you can now freely follow the Lord. And

there are other things that are not so traumatic,

like someone being mean to you while driving

to ECB this morning. And now you're like... On

one occasion I woke up in the morning to do my

exercises, because after your 50s you have to

stretch to be able to work with that back, you

know, and your legs and everything, that neck.

I was doing my morning stretches and I was thinking

about this text that I received last night. And

I was thinking, that was not nice. You know,

the person shouldn't have said that. And it's

like, that's so wrong. I'm called for. You know,

and I'm thinking all these things while I'm going.

You know, my stretches and legs, you know. And

then I realized, why am I thinking about that

text? I don't want to be thinking about that

text. This is the beginning of my day. I just

want my coffee, you know. And at that moment,

I realized, oh, because that text I received

last night hurt me. Root of bitterness. And I

remember what Paul said. I'm not going to let

Satan outsmart me. So I stopped my stretches.

I went on my knees and said, Lord, this person

sent this text last night. This is what the person

said. And it was really not nice. It wasn't called

for. That's not respectful. That's not honoring.

That's not how we need to talk to each other.

That was so wrong. I'm bothered by it. But I

forgive this person for sending that text and

writing that. Because I don't want that bitterness

in my heart here. I'm releasing it in your presence.

Take it. That is focused prayer, you see. I noticed

that as I was walking, there was something in

my sock. And I looked and it was those annoying

seeds. I had to stop. Take it and say, Lord,

here, take this bitterness so I can continue

my hiking with you. I do not know what bitterness

you may be carrying, but as long as you are carrying

bitterness of any form, you are compromised.

Your spiritual effectiveness is compromised because

Satan has outsmarted you. This is not about you

forgiving because people deserve it. This is

you forgiving because you are aligning yourself

with the Holy Spirit and you want to pursue God

in that way. Ultimately, it's about spiritual

alignment. Nothing more, nothing less. The second

area has to do with fear. And as you follow Jesus

in your calling, there are always going to be

moments in which the uncertainties of tomorrow,

the what -ifs of tomorrow, are going to meet

you here right now. And you are going to start

being concerned about all these things. And before

you know it, it's hard to concentrate. It's hard

to really be completely focused on what you're

doing because all these fears are competing with

your devotion and with your attention. And there's

something that the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy

about that because Timothy was someone that the

Apostle Paul mentored. And they served together.

And Paul tells Timothy, Timothy, this is why

I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual

gift God gave you when I lay my hands on you.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and

timidity, but of power, of love, of self -discipline.

So if you are struggling, Timothy, in seeking

God and pursuing His calling because fear has

taken hold of you and is trying to deter you,

then you have to remember that that is not the

Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit doesn't

use fear to manipulate you. The Holy Spirit speaks

power, love, self -discipline. It's empowering

you. So when you are experiencing fear of any

sort, now you realize, oh, my humanness is wrestling

because I am encountering all these what ifs.

But in reality, this is not the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, I need to go to focus prayer to align

myself with the Holy Spirit. And I need to bring

these fears to the light so that the Holy Spirit

can help me be free from these things. And if

you are being held by fear in your life, I have

to ask you, have you renounced these fears that

seem to be dissonant from what God is actually

calling you to be or do? Many years ago, I went

to visit a country with a ministry team when

I was serving in the US. And this country was

far away. It had survived civil war. And it was

a place that was, let me say, not with good reputation.

That was not where you go for vacation. But we

had prayed about it. The project had developed.

We had the team from different countries that

had gathered in Dallas. And we were going to

visit that place. And I remember that when some

people would hear that I was going to that country.

They would say, are you sure you want to go there?

But what happens if you don't come back? What

happens if something dangerous happens? It's

a worst case scenario. It's like, wow, now I'm

all freaking out about all these things. Should

I go? Shouldn't I go? Yeah, it is dangerous.

What would I do? Now I'm in that space of people

speaking fear into God's calling. And I remember

that I had to go on my knees and say, Lord, People

are telling me all these things. Yeah, now I

have some concerns about it. But we knew, we

prayed, and we knew you were calling us to this,

so I'm going. But I'm leaving you with this fear

because I don't want to be held back by this

fear. And I remember saying goodbye to my wife,

getting in the airplane, and seeing the city

of Dallas becoming smaller and smaller as we

flew away. And the thought crossed my mind, what

if I never come back? Because that was a possibility.

I mean, just driving in Sukhumvit, you may never

come back. So it's like going to anywhere, you

may never come back. But I remember facing that

fear until it went away. Because I learned that

fear, if you take the fear and you turn it, To

the other side. You will realize that every fear

is a lie. It's a lie from the enemy. God is saying.

You should go. Because I'm with you. I have a

purpose for you. And the lie says. You should

not go. Because too dangerous. God is not going

to protect you. You know. God is not going to

be there for you. There's always a lie behind

it. You're afraid of the finances. You don't

have. And the lie is. God is not in your future.

He does not know your needs. He doesn't see you.

He doesn't care for you. You see? Every fear

we have is a lie. And that's why we come in prayer

and we renounce the fear and we express it with

our words exactly what is the fear that I am

feeling. What are the fears that are holding

you back? Is there a leech in your leg that you

need to remove because it's sucking the energy

out of you? Focus prayer. Then there's the other

struggle with shame. When we have engaged in

shameful things in the past, and now we are following

Jesus, and we believe that he has forgiven us,

but for some reason there's a disconnect. And

the Bible says that Satan, the devil, is called

the accuser, because he wants to constantly accuse

you and make you feel... That you are unworthy.

That you do not deserve to do this. That how

can God ever could use someone like you. After

what you have done. And all of those thoughts.

All of that wrestling with your raw humanity

is real. But that's not the Holy Spirit. Because

the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. And he

wants you to experience the healing power of

grace. So therefore, in this space, when dealing

with shame, we really bring it to the Lord. And

we call it for what it is. And there's something

we repent. We repent of it. If there's something

we need to confess, we confess it. There was

a moment in the life of King David where he committed

adultery. And not only that, he got involved

in politics and plot a murder. And then he was

caught in all that mess. And he writes his prayer

in Psalm chapter 51. And he says, God have mercy

Psalms 51 · chapter mention

on me. Because of your unfailing love. Because

of your great compassion. Blot out the stain

of my sin. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify

me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion.

And I'm going to call it for what it is. I rebelled.

I was rebellious. I recognize it. And it haunts

me day and night. I regret it every single day.

If I could just go back in time. It is against

you, Lord. It is against you and you alone that

I have sinned. And I have done what is evil in

your sight. Yeah, because it is evil. I'm going

to call it for what it is. But Lord. Will you

create in me a clean heart? Will you renew a

loyal spirit within me? Now, we're taking focused

prayer. You see, focused prayer is not like this

prayer before you eat lunch. Lord, thank you

for the food. Forgive us for all of our sins.

In Jesus' name, amen. No, if you are dealing

with shame and regret and guilt in your life,

What you need to do is that you need to come

to the throne of grace. Confess, call things

for what they are. Repent for it, bring it to

the light. And invite God's grace now to encounter

you in that place. So that that leech that is

sucking the life out of you can be removed by

God's power. And when it does, you can stand

up from that place. Standing in God's grace,

firm against the attack of the accuser. That

wants you to remain lying down on the ground

eating dust. Because you are just a worm and

nothing else. Have you experienced the peace

of God's grace? Have you received it? Or there's

this area in your life that has not been touched

by God's grace. And the enemy is using it to

try to persuade you from pursuing God's calling.

Finally, the last dimension of obstruction as

we are following the Lord that has to be addressed

through focused prayer is the aspect of disappointment

with God. Because just like people do not meet

your expectations and do things that sometimes

will hurt you, following God sometimes feels

like that. You have expectations of what God

will do. You have prayed to God about certain

things that you think He should answer in a certain

way. And when He didn't answer it the way you

thought, when things did not go the way you hoped,

then you feel disappointed with God. And as you

feel disappointed with God, your ability to trust

God gets weakened. And therefore you are trying

to follow God. You keep walking in the path.

But this time you are not walking next to him.

You are a mile away. And your heart is not in

it. That aspect of disappointment with God. Is

addressed through lament. And what that means.

Is that you bring your disappointment with God.

And you call it for what it is. And you open

your heart to the Lord. And you say God this

is how I'm feeling right now. And this is why

I feel so disoriented and disappointed. It was

a group of people called the sons of Korah. They

were Levites. Who were people who served God.

And they wrote many psalms. And one of the famous

songs that they wrote. was this psalm that says,

As the deer panted for the water, so my soul

is thirsty after you. Famous psalm, famous song.

But you realize that that song, that psalm, is

something that they wrote about the experience

that they were going through with depression

in their life. They were feeling downcast. And

as they write, they say this, Oh God, my rock,

I cry. Why have you forgotten me? Why must I

wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?

Lord, I'm grieving right now and I'm tired. And

I really feel like you have forgotten about me.

I have asked you to remove these enemies and

you have done nothing. And the problem is that

these people... Their tongues break my bones.

They scoff and they keep saying, where is this

God of yours? Lord, you're not answering my prayer.

And I'm tired. Why am I so discouraged? Why my

heart is so sad? If you would do something about

it, I will be happy and I will be encouraged.

But you're doing nothing. And as they are expressing

their lament before God, Suddenly, truth emerges.

And they're able to see beyond their pain. And

they are reminded by the Holy Spirit. Now that

God is on their side. And they write at the end,

I will put my hope in God. I will praise Him

again, my Savior and my God. Because Lord, I

don't understand what you're doing. I'm exhausted.

I'm tired. But one thing I cannot deny. Is that

I know who you are. And I'm still committed to

following you. But will you help me? Because

I'm tired. This is what lament looks like. This

is how we engage with disappointment. Therefore

I have to ask you. Have you lamented? Before

God. Or there's this lament. There's this disappointment.

That has attached to you. And is draining you.

And that's why you don't feel. Just like free.

To serve the Lord freely. Because these things

are holding you back. If any of these things

are holding you back. Any of the obstructions.

Are part of your current journey with God. I

want to bring them to your attention. Because

to be filled by prayer means that prayer is an

expression of who I am. And every time that I'm

experiencing these obstructions in my walk with

God, I'm going to stop, I'm going to remove that

sack, and I'm going to take each one of these

four things so that they will not continue to

interfere in me following Jesus fully. Whether

it be bitterness, fear, shame, or disappointment

with God. If this is something that you're wrestling

with, I want to encourage you to rediscover the

amazing power of prayer. That's why the Apostle

Paul wrote these words. And I'm going to invite

you to stand up and read them out loud with me

together. Pray in the Spirit. At all times. And

on every occasion. Stay alert. Be persistent

in your prayers. For all believers. Everywhere.

Anytime. Any reason. Everywhere. God is inviting

you. For a journey of intimacy with him. So is

your life. Fueled by prayer. If not, it's time

to rediscover the amazing power of prayer in

our lives. Lord, as we stand in your presence,

we know that you have spoken to us today and

I'm asking you if there's anything that is an

obstruction right now to following you. These

things have accumulated. Maybe all four of them

are there interfering. It's like our humanity

is not aligned with you and we want to, Lord,

break through those things today in your presence

so that we may be free to follow you and follow

you well. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for

tuning in to the ECB Sermon Podcast. Whether

near or far, if you are looking for community

or are in need of prayer, we welcome you to engage

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And remember to join us next week. God bless

you.