Instead Pray | John Chalinor

Well, welcome, church. We're glad you're here.

Happy New Year. Okay, there's like a quarter

of you that are like, yeah, New Year. Cool. Happy

New Year to those of you on our online family.

Paul, then that's you with your New Year's breakfast.

Well done. Different year, same groove. Well

played. Baghdad, we're so excited for you to

be with us. We're excited for what God has for

this year. within your community. We can't wait

to see all that he does. And those of you on

the online family, Tracy in Minnesota by the

Canadian border, sounds cold. Welcome to you

and anyone else. We're glad you're with us. Okay,

so if you're new to this space, and by new, I

mean you're new to church, you're new to Heights,

whatever kind of you feel that puts you in that

category, if that's you, whether that's here

in the room, whether that's across the screen.

I'd like to just slow down to go, you belong

here. I think it's really important that when,

you know, it's one thing to say, hey, you're

welcome. We're glad you're here. It's also another

thing to entrust the gift of time. Time is one

of the biggest commodities we have. And so to

trust time and trust time too, and entrust your

journey with God, whatever step, stage that's

at. I just want you to know that whether you're

here or whether you're across the screen, we

don't take that lightly. And the reason we don't

take it lightly is this, because you belong here.

This is home. And what I mean by that is you

belong because you are human. We often say, well,

once you believe the right things, then you belong.

No, you belong because you are human. And to

be human is to struggle to discover this God

who loves you and you were made for relationship

with him. We're all just fumbling into that together,

right? Like we're all just. This isn't a clean,

like anybody's got it all figured out and look

at that person and they're the model. That's

not how this works. How this works is we need

each other because we're all stumbling towards

Jesus. We're all growing. No one has finished

growing. No one has reached the level where we

look at them and go, oh, they're a super saint.

There are no things as super saints. There are

just saints. And we're all, once you meet Jesus,

we're all just saints, right? We're part of the

family. And so if you're here. And that's you.

You go, hey, I don't even know if I should be

here. You belong. Welcome. We're glad that you're

here. The New Year's an interesting thing. I

don't know if it's just age, but I got no desire

in 2026 to change all these things in my life.

Like I got no desire to like make my habit stacking

a certain way and like I'm going to be a better

version of whatever. And I have no desire. So

if you're here and you're like, oh, I'm excited

for a New Year's message. I got news for you.

That's not what this is. Right. Like I don't

have any desire to put a weight on you to to

make you measure up or to make a better, improved

version. I don't I don't think that's what the

gospel calls us to. But I do think that the gospel

calls us to wrestle with this idea of walking

with God and what that looks like. I do think

that the gospel calls us to kind of enter in

on a relational level with God and go, what is

it that God's doing in me? And back in earlier

2025, I got to go on sabbatical. And part of

sabbatical for me was. wrestling with God on

the front side going, hey, what is something

that I'd really like to kind of see God change,

develop, grow into my life when it comes to spirituality?

And so I had this like specific topic I was interested

in. I did what I think most people do. You grab

a book and any information you can kind of consume.

So I'm listening to different podcasts and messages

and I'm reading this book. The book is great.

It's really inspiring. There's stories in there,

like this guy tells a story of being in eighth

grade, I think it was, or middle school, and

he just feels a burden for his school, and it's

summer break. God's doing something in him, and

he's like, I want everybody to have this. I want

to see if you're real, God, so I'm going to go,

and I'm going to prayer walk on my summer break

around the middle school every day. And so this

guy's prayer walking his school. School starts

and he goes, I'm going to start a Bible study.

And so he creates this Bible study. He doesn't

really know what he's doing, doesn't really understand

the Bible, but he's like, we're just going to

pick a passage, whichever one I kind of open

the book to, and we're going to talk about it.

And so these middle schoolers are doing this.

And wouldn't you know that God rescues, saves,

Jesus meets them, and two thirds of them end

up meeting Jesus and are saved. Yeah, which you

go, yeah. I mean, I'm sitting there reading this

like, I'm like, oh, this is amazing. I want this,

right? And so you're inspired and I'm reading

it. Well, I get about three quarters of the way

through this book and I'm just frustrated. I

can remember where I was. It was by myself. I

had gone on a trip and like, and when a Christian

says frustrated, what they really mean is angry.

You know, we just don't have anger because that's

sinful. So we're frustrated, you know? But I'm

angry. Like inside, I'm just like, I don't get

this. This is frustrating to me. I'm not learning

anything new. And as clear as anything, God steps

into that moment as I'm unpacking emotions with

him about this book. He goes, John, because you

don't need more information. You have all the

information you will ever need to be able to

put this into your life. John, you need to do

something different. You need to just do it.

And the topic was prayer. You see, I can already

tell you guys, some of you over the next four

weeks are gonna be bored out of your minds with

me because you're gonna be like, John, this is

not new information. I would dare say that the

average person does not need more information

on prayer. You need to just. Do it. You need

to do something different. And as I'm sitting

with God and I come to this realization of like,

I just need to do something different than I've

been doing. I'm frustrated with my prayer life

and it's not because I don't know the Lord's

prayer. It's not because I don't know that the

disciples came and said, hey, would you, would

you teach us how to pray? And he teaches them

how to pray. It's not because there's not plenty

of verses in the Bible that talk about prayer

and I haven't read those and spoke on those.

It's not a lack of information. It's a lack of

doing. what I know to do. So let me ask you,

how satisfied are you with your prayer life today?

I had this image in this moment. You ever seen

Big Hero 6? How satisfied are you with your character?

I am satisfied. I literally went this far. I

got online and looked for a Baymax costume, and

I was going to preach the whole message in a

Baymax costume. So that you would never forget

it. Needless to say, they weren't very good.

So that we don't have Daymax today. But how satisfied

are you? It's interesting. The question raises

emotion. It raises maybe feelings that I would

say the gospel didn't create you for. Like Jesus

didn't save you for feelings of... yeah, I'm

not satisfied. I'm not very good at it. I wish

I was better. Right? Like, I don't think, in

fact, I would say this, that if you're still

sitting in the camp of like, oh, I got this all

together. You should see my prayer life. I'm

really happy. Okay, hang on a second. And again,

right? I'm not going to wow you with verses you

don't know. But in Colossians, chapter four,

verse two, it says this, devote yourselves, devote

yourselves. Devote yourselves to prayer, being

watchful and thankful. Okay, just so we're clear,

the word devote means to faithfully, faithfully

do it. It means to, you are going to attach yourself

in a way that this is what your passion is. Kind

of like, kind of like, there's a big game tonight.

Don't know if you know. The Steelers are playing

the Dirty Birds. And speaking of prayer, you

just need to pray, right? This is our playoffs.

We started tonight because we're that good, okay?

But it's easy to devote ourselves to things,

right? Like to faithfully participate in something,

to be, that's what it's talking about, to devote,

right? Like think in this concept that when you

look at the New Testament, you get to the early

church and the early church is gathering and

it says they devoted themselves. They faithfully

attached themselves to prayer. That was what

they were known for. And when I hear that, I

go, that's not me. Right? Like all of a sudden,

it's like, huh. If that doesn't get you. And

I got good news for you. 2026, you can start

today by memorizing a verse of the Bible. You

ready? You can leave here today with the victory

of you memorize the verse from the Bible. It's

maybe the easiest behind Jesus wept. You ready?

1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17. Pray continually.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Good job. You walked out of here, you have attained

Bible memorization. Pray continually. Okay, pray

without ceasing. That means don't stop. Continually

live in a dependent posture through prayer on

God. Right? Like continually, like you are leaning

into this dependency. And here's what we do in

Christian world with this verse, okay? So pray

without ceasing. Okay, well, you know what I

do? It's kind of like a phone call. I call God

in the morning because I talk to him and I don't

hang up. And I just leave the line open all day

between me and God. It sounds really good, doesn't

it? It sounds like something tangible. Like I

just call him and I go through my day and that

phone's still there and me and God, we're just

having this phone conversation all day. Then

I get to the end of my day and I'm like, okay,

God, I gotta go to sleep. Talk to you in the

morning. I don't know about you. I'll just speak

about me. I call God in the morning, every morning.

God and I have a conversation as I'm getting

ready. Then sometimes that conversation continues

on longer depending on the day. But there's some

point, we'll say an hour and a half. I've been

talking to God for an hour and a half, and then

I step out and into my day. And my day often

has these things called meetings. And sometimes,

because that phone line's there, we'll talk to

God, right? Like when we start that meeting,

we'll pray to start that meeting. But if that

meeting goes good, I may not talk to God for

another two to three hours. So the line has been

dead for two to three hours. And maybe I pick

it up then, but you know what normally happens

by then? It's lunchtime. And depending on if

lunch is about fueling my body or if it's actually

slowing down to enjoy the good gift that God

gave me, right, of food, sometimes I'll pray

for my lunch, sometimes I won't. I can go an

entire day from the morning when I'm like, hey,

good morning, God, all the way to night and go,

huh, I never picked up the phone again. If you

called me first thing in the morning, please

don't, but if you did, and you're like, hey man,

I'm just gonna leave this line open all day because

I just wanna be connected to you and you don't

talk for three hours, I'm hanging up on you,

right? Like it's interesting, we take this verse

and we try and make it something to make us feel

better about what we're doing, but pray continually

is pray continually to be in constant dependency

on God. And I don't know how you feel, but when

I read these verses, it's really easy for a sense

of guilt. I'm not devoted. A sense of, man, I

don't talk to God continuously. Shame can creep

in. Judgmentalness over, oh, if I was just more

spiritual, I would have a better prayer life.

Can I just ease the tension? In 2026? Jesus did

not save you to guilt, shame, and self -judgment.

Those are not part of the gospel. So that tells

me, that tells me that we have made prayer something

it's not. And we have missed the purpose of prayer

for the process of prayer. We have grabbed prayer.

And we have made it this religious activity that

if I was a good religious man, whatever, right?

Like if I was good, I would do this and I would

be winning gold stars to tell you through the

year. That is not what prayer was intended to

be. And so if you'll let me, I'd love to take

the rest of our time just to shape prayer in

a different direction because we've got to do

something different. I have to do something different.

Some of you are like, I memorized this verse.

Okay, you ready? Or you're sitting there going,

hey, we're talking about prayer. I bet he goes

here. Philippians 4 verse. Well done. Good job.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every

situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,

present your request to God. And the peace of

God, which transcends all understanding, will

guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every

situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God. How many of you,

just out of curiosity, you've memorized this

verse at some point in your life? Yeah. How's

your anxiety? Why? Because here's the thing.

Here's the thing. Memorizing a verse doesn't

mean that I live the verse. Right? Like this

is the whole point. I'm not giving you anything

new. You're like, yeah, I've heard this before.

I thought you'd say this. I'm kind of bored now.

What time's the game on? Right? But the idea

is the information doesn't transform you. It's

the action. And prayer, prayer has to be something

that you do. Like some of you are like, okay,

we're going to talk about prayer. I'm going to

go out and I'm going to get my new prayer journal.

And if you looked at your old ones, they're about

a quarter full and you ran out and you stopped.

And I'm not bashing that. I'm not bashing prayer

journals. But what I am saying is somewhere along

the line, we've substituted prayer journals for

what prayer actually was meant to be to us. This

verse here where it says, Do not be anxious about

anything. I think sometimes around prayer, we

just need some fresh language. So I'm gonna make

a disclaimer. Don't email me, okay? Those of

you that are here, those of you that are across

screens, whatever, don't email me from what I'm

about to do. Because I know for some of you,

you don't like it and it will annoy you. Okay,

I just need you to know you already live rent

-free in my head, okay? So we're good, we're

good. I already got you there. But in the message

translation, it says this. And it puts new language

to it. Same verse. Don't fret or worry. Instead

of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises

shape your worries into prayers. Letting God

know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense

of God's wholeness, everything coming together

for good, will come and settle you. It's wonderful

what happens when Christ displaces worry at the

center of your life. Come on. That's good. I

love that this came from a man who faithfully

walked with God for a long time, Eugene Peterson.

That when people... testimony of people that

met Eugene who translated the message have said

that it was like sitting in the presence of Jesus.

That's a beautiful testimony. And that's the

guy I go, hey, I could learn a thing or two.

Don't fret or worry. Okay, so it starts out with

this thing that we're all common to. There's

not a human alive that doesn't worry about something.

There's not a human alive that isn't fretting.

And he goes, instead of letting those things

build up, instead of growing those things into

your life, instead of letting worry grow into

where it begins to take space and it begins to

make you anxious because you're so worried and

wound up and so concerned and how's it gonna

work out and I don't know and all the unknowns

and all the stress, right? And it's building

up. He goes, you can grow that, but he goes,

don't grow that instead of worrying. Do what?

Pray. So if you hear nothing else and you want

to take away, instead of whatever that is, pray.

Instead, pray. Which tells me that I have a choice

in my life about what I choose to grow. That

there are seeds buried deep inside of you that

were put there at the beginning of a time. That

when God created humanity, he put these things,

these seeds into humans that were meant to grow

and flourish. And what we see in the person of

Jesus is we see a restoration where now it is

possible for the very things you were always

meant to experience and grow, that now because

of Jesus, you can grow again. This is not a whole

collection of what they are, but it's just an

idea. That you were made, you were made with

a seed inside of you for a relationship with

God. That the whole point of your existence is

to be connected to the God of the universe. That

the whole point of you is that this relationship

would flourish. And guess what happens? Instead

of whatever's going on, whatever's happening,

and I pray, guess what happens? I grow. By prayer,

I grow this relationship with God. It's nurtured.

I feel closer to him. I had somebody tell me

just in between services that they had a moment

where they're like, it resonated so deeply because

I felt distance and I just got away and sat with

God. And in sitting with God, I felt distance.

And after I'd sat with him, I felt this closeness,

this nearness, right? Why? Because prayer, prayer,

instead of whatever it is, I'm gonna pray, it

grows the relationship. God dependent. That when

I pray, what happens is I move from being independent,

right? Because you are born independent. What

prayer does is it makes you God dependent. That

when I enter into this gift of prayer, what happens

is this little seed inside of me that's been

crushed by just being born as a human, separated

from God, all of a sudden in Jesus now, I can

become God dependent in a way that everything

depends on him. And I'm not trying to be self

-independent. I'm not trying to be self -dependent.

Control. Isn't it amazing that when you begin

to pray, it's really hard to keep your hands

closed and go, God, I'm praying, but I don't

want you to touch these ones. I got these ones.

Don't touch them. I don't want your influence,

God, in this part of my life. That's not what

happens. You begin to pray and what happens?

God, I need you to have control. I need to relinquish

control. And that seed inside of you, you were

created to not be in control. You know that,

right? You weren't created to be in control.

And what prayer does is it begins to nurture

that seed and that seed begins to grow. Healing.

You know that one of the beautiful things about

prayer is that within prayer, right? Like we

go to him in our brokenness and what we get is

healing. And the beauty of the gospel is this.

that our God is a healer. And when I get in prayer

and I get around him and I spend time, what I

realize is that he is the healer and the only

healer. And it changes because of my dependency,

my control. I begin to trust him more. And guess

what? Whether you experience that healing here

or into eternity, there is healing coming that

is full and complete. That's a promise. It was

on the cross that what? Everything was restored.

To where you will be made whole again. God's

wholeness that Eugene Peterson talks about. That's

what you will experience. The power of God. Healing

is one of the most practical ways when somebody

comes up to you and they're like, hey, would

you pray for me? And you're like, it's a gift,

by the way, to pray for somebody else. And you

get to pray for them. And after you're done praying

for them, you prayed for healing. And then they

contact you and they go, hey, guess what? I was

healed. Right? Like all of a sudden, what grew

inside of you, you don't go, oh, well, God's

not very powerful. That's weird. No, all of a

sudden you're like, wow, I can't believe the

power of God. All we did was pray and the power

of God transformed. Right? And all of a sudden

there's this change. Why? Because the seed inside

of you that you would trust the power of God

has always been there. Gratitude. You ever notice

that when you slow down, right? Like, and maybe.

Maybe for you, it's kind of at the end of the

day. There's this thing called the prayer of

examine that we may talk about in the coming

weeks. We'll see. But one of the beautiful things

about the prayer of examine is it happens at

the end. It happens at nighttime. Some people

believe nighttime to be the start of your new

day. So the way that you start your day, according

to them, is you have this prayer of examine.

What is the prayer of examine? You just go back

through your day. Where did you see the fingertips

of God, fingerprints of God all over your day?

Where did you see God show up? What did you,

and all you do is thank him for it. And what

gratitude does is all of a sudden you go to sleep,

what, with a full heart because you see the goodness

of God in every single moment of your day. The

moments that you just passed you by, all of a

sudden you grab them and go, no, I'm not gonna

miss those, right? And so this gratitude opens

my soul up that he's the provider. When you sit

at a meal, And when you're not fueling yourself,

you're actually sitting there and you pray and

you begin to thank God for your food. What are

you doing? You're recognizing him as what? Your

provider. And it's a small little nudge to if

he can provide the food that I need to stay alive,

he can provide everything else I need, right?

And so all of a sudden, this idea of this little

seed of him as provider begins to grow. We talked

about this one a little bit, but talking to God

for others. That it's a gift to be able to talk

to God for others, right? And the idea of prayer

is prayer is where that's nourished, that you

get to go and talk to God. And what it's ultimately

doing is building trust, that you would trust

God because you were designed to trust him. So

all of this is planted inside of you, right?

And kind of is a picture of how does prayer actually

work then? What is prayer and another image of

prayer? You have this. And prayer, when I come

to the seeds, when I begin to pray, what I'm

actually doing is watering my soul and the seeds

that have been put there since creation. How

can I pray? Well, it's a gift that's given by

God through the person of Jesus. And I come and

I water. Some of you thought water was going

to come out, didn't you? You just wait. So I'm

watering, I'm watering, every time I pray, I'm

watering the seeds that God's planted in me.

For example, when I water, when I go to God and

I just spend time with him in prayer, in conversation,

I'm watering the relationship when I go to him

and listen. What's blooming, what's growing through

prayer, through watering is the relationship

with God. You can go through each one of these,

that each space you go to, right? Like that when

I stop for dinner and I thank God for being my

provider, I recognize that what, that he is provider

and that grows in me. But all I did was stop

and pray. Why? Because what prayer does, it's

the water to what he's put in you. It's what

he wants to grow inside of you. It's what he

wants your life to become. And prayer is this

gift that allows us. Now, the problem is this.

Most of us assume that what we were given in

Jesus when it comes to watering and prayers is

you have a limited amount. And if you don't believe

that, we don't pray like it's not limited. Or

I don't pray like it's not limited. Right? We

assume. That there's a certain amount before

God's going to be overwhelmed with the relationship

with me. There's a certain amount that I have

for gratitude. There's only a certain amount

of prayers that I have for healing. Right? There's

only a certain. And so we assume that it's going

to run out. However, I think it's more like.

Some of you know me too well. It's not really

on. I just got to break the tension. What you

were given in Jesus is an unlimited source. It'll

never run out. And why is praying without ceasing

important? Because all day long I can water into

bloom the things that God has planted in me.

Why is this idea of devoting myself to prayer

so important? Because just by exercising, just

by doing it, what am I doing? I am growing something

that God has planted in me. And it doesn't run

out. The prayers can continue and continue and

continue. Because there's an unlimited source,

the power of the Holy Spirit in you, right? That

is even praying for you when you don't know what

to pray. We'll talk about that later. But this

idea that there's this reality that when it comes

to prayer, prayer is a gift that I water into

bloom the things that God has put inside of me.

That changes drastically. That overwhelmingly

changes. What prayer is and how prayer works.

Because prayer is not this religious activity

I have to do. It's a gift that lets everything

I want bloom into my life. That I get to experience

the goodness of my salvation through taking things

to God as I water the different things and they

grow and they bloom. I mean, just imagine for

a second a human being where all of these are

in full bloom. You go, man, that's the person

I want to be around. Eugene Peterson, people

would travel from far away to just go sit and

spend time. Why? Because he'd spent the seasons

of bringing into bloom what God had planted inside

of him. This idea of instead pray, instead pray.

You look at the life of Jesus. Early on in Luke

chapter five, Jesus. Goes off to a desert place.

And it says that he prays. What is Jesus doing?

Well, he's on the back end of an extremely busy

day where he's just poured out and given away

and taking care of people. And he's just overwhelmed

from loving and serving everyone else. And it

says that he gets away to a desolate place and

he prays. What is he doing? He's watering back

in. The things that he needs, like a relationship

with his father where he's reminded that even

though I poured out, you are the provider for

what I'm pouring out. It's not dependent on me.

I think the model that we see of Jesus is so

many of us are so busy giving to everybody else

that when we get done, there's nothing left.

And it leads us to sometimes sin. It leads us

to sometimes unhealthy thoughts. It leads us

to sometimes spinning up and worrying and being

concerned. Jesus is exhausted. He's worn out.

He's given everything he can. And what does he

do? He goes and he what? He restores through

the gift of prayer. Why? Because what the father

does is begins to bloom inside of him what he

needs for the next day. The next day, Luke chapter

six, you find Jesus going to a mountain. He gets

on the mountain and he prays all night. Now what's

interesting with him praying all night is what

happens the next day. Because he prays all night,

comes down the mountain. When he gets off the

mountain, he goes to pick the 12 disciples. He

goes, I'll pick you, you, you. Think about it

for a second. This moment changed the course

of history. The reason you're sitting here. The

reason I'm here is because God chose 12 people

to carry the gospel and the good news, right?

Like plan A, according to God, not plan B. Plan

A is Jesus would ascend and leave 12 people to

take the gospel, the good news, to every corner

of the planet. You're here because of the decision

made in that moment. And where was Jesus before

he made that decision? On a mountain. And what's

he doing? He's watering. He's watering. Could

have been easy for him to go, hey, I got my own

wisdom. I got my own smarts. I can make this

decision. I don't need my father's power for

this. I can figure this out. I can do this all

by myself. Instead, he's on a mountain. And then

he comes down under the wisdom of God. Instead

of his own wisdom, he prays. Instead of figuring

it out, he prays. You follow Jesus a little further.

He ends up at a tomb. And within that tomb is

a friend of his, Lazarus. Lazarus has died. What

does Jesus do outside of the tomb? He prays.

He waters. God, we need to see the power. God,

we need to bring into fruition that you can raise

the dead. And what happens? Lazarus comes hopping

out. literally hopping because he was wrapped

in bandages. He's like a rabbit. It could have

been easy in that moment for Jesus to bypass

that and go, we're just going to do this. Lazarus,

get out here. He doesn't do that. He goes and

he waters what? The power of God inside of him.

That God, you would, you would do this. You're

growing faith in me. And he even says, this is

for everybody else. What was he doing? He's watering

the faith of everybody else. that they would

see the power of God raise Lazarus. You follow

it a little further. He ends up around a dinner

table. What does he do at a dinner table? It

says that he takes bread, he breaks it and he

gives thanks. That's that gratitude. He's just

watering gratitude. God, you're the provider.

I'm just showing people that you're the provider

and what's growing in them is God is our provider.

Follow fast forward. Jesus is resurrected. He

meets two people. They end up having dinner.

What does he do at dinner? He takes bread and

he breaks it and he gives thanks. The same thing

he's doing before the cross, he's doing in his

resurrected body. Tells me there's a pattern

here that we need because it's important for

us. He goes and he waters. Jesus gets to the

cross. Before the cross, he gets to the garden.

In the garden, right? Like sweat drops of blood

because he's so stressed. The anxiety, the stress,

the pressure, whatever you want to call it, is

so high that he gets to the garden. What does

he do? He cries out. He prays. He waters. And

when he leaves, where's he at? God, you're in

control. It's your will, not mine. Let's go do

this. We'll talk about a word called supplication

in a few weeks. Supplication is a phenomenal

word. Do you know why? It's all of the emotions.

I don't know about you, God packed me a little

bit with emotion. It's all the emotions. And

what I do in supplication, I take them to God

and go, there it is. It's like showing up and

going, God, I don't like today. And you know

what God does? Because you're watering what?

Relationship, dependency. He just pulls up alongside

you. Hey, why don't you tell me why you don't

like today? Well, this happened, this happened,

this happened, this happened, and I'm still worked

up. That's pretty bad. Where was I in all that?

Well, I don't know. Hadn't stopped to think about

it. And you see what happens, right? Instead

of letting my bad day turn into a bad week, turn

into a bad year, turn into a bad life, instead,

pray. That's what Jesus did in the garden. Think

about Jesus on the cross. On the cross, he's

praying for others. I don't know about you. I

ain't praying for your forgiveness if you're

beating me to death. It's not happening. What

does Jesus do? Father, forgive them. They don't

know what he's praying. Forgive them. They don't

know what they're doing. He's watering. Why?

So that his soul doesn't grow bitterness, anger,

so that his soul doesn't. grow in a way that

it shouldn't, that it wasn't designed for. Instead

of growing those things, he grows dependency

on God, he grows forgiveness, and he's able to

release them from a cage. What else does he do

from the cross? He goes, Father, into your hands

I commit my spirit. He's watering the dependency

and the power that I am giving up my spirit,

knowing you will raise it from the dead. And

in that moment, He hands over his soul, his spirit.

He entrusts it. Instead of trying to cling on

to this life and cling on and not worried and

does God really have it? Can he do it? Instead

of that, he goes, instead, I'm just going to

pray. Instead, pray. What is it that God wants

to grow in your life? What is it that he wants

to grow in you? Because what you've been given

is a gift called prayer to water into bloom the

seeds that he has planted inside of you. And

so what is it today that God wants to grow in

you? When it comes to relationship, dependency,

control, healing, power, gratitude, provider,

others, trust. So here's what we're going to

do. We're going to spend time. We're just going

to stop. And we're just going to pause to go

for you to ask, God, what is it in me that you

want to grow? And then in prayer, you're just

going to start watering. You're just going to

start watering. Start talking to him about it.

Instead, pray. So whatever your natural tendency

is, instead of that, pray. And so I'd love to

pray for you. And then you'll have time and space

just to pray and ask God, what does he have for

you? And so God, we are grateful today. Thank

you for being a God who is present in our pain.

Thank you for being a God who brings peace where

there is worry and anxiety. Thank you for being

a God who brings love when we feel alone and

isolated. Thank you for being a God who is provider.

God, we ask in this moment with our hands, heart,

soul, life open to you, God, we ask would you,

through the power of your spirit, Holy Spirit,

would you speak to each person in this room,

each person across the screen today, in living

rooms and gyms, isolated on a phone. Holy Spirit,

would you speak and would you tell us, would

you show us what you desire to see grow? Would

you protect us from our natural instinct? to

grow something else. And instead, would we just

pray, would you help us water that ground right

now? Holy Spirit, speak.