Prayer Problems| Pastor Malachi Maillot | 21 Days of Prayer

Hey KCC, it's so good to be with you today.

Thank you so much for tuning in to our online service at KCC.

I hope that you enjoyed uh the worship today.

I pray that it blessed you, even though that we're not in the same building.

Uh but we believe that God He doesn't need necessarily a physical space in order to move, in order to move in your hearts.

But uh, you know, he proved that in the in the Old Testament, he proved it in the New Testament, and he's proving it today that that uh he could still work in our lives, even though we're I'm preaching to a camera and uh you're watching online.

But uh, you know, I for one, I can't wait to be back in the same space with you guys.

Um but for right now, you know, we're we're so thankful for tech technology, we're so thankful for our our tech team and our amazing uh tech team leader, James Johnson.

He he and his crew have just been working so hard to get this content to you guys and and the uh editing the worship and and the sermons and week after week after week.

We're just so grateful for them today.

And and I'm I'm I'm so excited to share this message with you guys.

Uh I get the honor of kicking off our series uh over the next three weeks.

We're gonna be uh starting our actually, we're starting tomorrow our 21 days of prayer.

And so I get to kick off our series, and we're just gonna be focusing on prayer over the next three weeks.

So I'm super excited for this.

Uh, if you don't follow us on social media, you can go do that right now.

Grab your phone.

If you have Instagram or Facebook, you can go to KCC Church and follow us there because over the next 21 days, we're gonna be posting each and every day.

Uh following with our 21 days of prayer, we're gonna be posting an encouraging verse on prayer and then leading you through a focused prayer so that you can just follow along with us and be praying uh along with the topics that we're praying for.

And so we just want you to be able to follow along with us.

It's gonna be such a great next three weeks as we as we head into September into some new and exciting things that we're we're gonna be talking about soon, and hopefully we'll get some news to you guys.

But uh I want to jump right in to this verse that we're gonna be talking about today.

Um in Luke 11, 1 to 4.

And so this is this is a very famous verse, and uh, and we're talking about prayer today.

And this this verse, I'm sure you've heard it before, this is the structure of prayer, the the structure that Jesus gave his disciples and and and that we can use today for like a like a structure of prayer.

Okay, so Jesus in this passage in Luke 11, verse 1, Jesus in this passage, he's in the middle of praying.

Luke 11:1

Okay, so he's in the middle of exactly what we're talking about today, and that the one of his disciples comes to him with a question.

And it says in verse 1, now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place, when he had ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.

And so Jesus says to him, When you pray, say this Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

So Jesus, he he gives us this layout on how to pray.

And I and I think Jesus really he understands uh priorities here, and so he says, uh our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

He he wants us to understand that who we're praying to.

It's always it's always so important that when you start praying, you know who you're praying to.

And and giving a weight to that, hallowed be your name means to to say how holy you are, how amazing you are, and and to to give glory and to give weight, to give praise.

And so when we start praying, this is this is what Jesus is telling us, he says to pray up, pray up first, uh, pray up to God, glorify God with thankfulness, with praise, and to to exalt him and to glorify our Father in heaven.

And then he makes this next statement.

He says, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Your will be done.

And this is kind of the piece that I want to I want to weave into my message today.

I want to focus on this today.

Uh, and the title of this message is Prayer Problems.

Prayer problems.

If you're taking notes, I would greatly appreciate that.

Um, but you can write down that title, prayer problems.

Let's just pray together before we start.

Father God, I just thank you so much uh for this time.

I thank you so much for uh the ability that we have to be online when we can't meet in the same space, when we're restricted, God, that that you're not restricted to any sort of box.

You're you're always thinking outside the box, God.

You created the box, and and you we you want us to to do the same where we can think outside the box.

We're we're filming these services, and it's and it's kind of an interesting time, but God, I pray that that even though um that your word transcends through everything, God, that that your presence can be with each and every single person.

It doesn't matter if we're in a church building, it doesn't matter if we're in a home, that if if someone's watching on their phone and a coffee shop, that you're here with them right now as they're watching this.

God, I pray that your word would be with us today.

God, I pray that um your your presence would be with us, your peace, your love, God, through all this time.

Uh and in Jesus' name, we love you.

Help us to grow in relationship deeper and deeper with you.

In your name.

Amen.

Well, I don't know, I don't know if you ever uh if you ever did this as a kid.

Uh I remember I remember I used to do this when I really, really wanted something.

I would, I would always, I would always go to my parents, uh, but I would make sure that at least one of them was out of the room or or one of them was just way too busy to deal with what I was requesting.

And I would and I would typically go to that person who is who is way too busy to deal with my request.

And and the reason I did this was was when I when I got the answer I didn't like, or when I really just wanted something, I would, I would go to great lengths to manipulate one of my parents to get what I wanted.

And I'm sure you could probably all uh relate to this.

Or there's a situation where you know I would ask, and and it was usually my dad's mistake for doing this, where he would be, he would be working on something, and I'm like perfect, right?

And I would go in there and and I would ask him the question, and it would be like a request for something that I really, really wanted, or or something that I uh, you know, my sister did.

I just wanted uh retribution of some sort, but I would I would ask him the question, whatever that question was, and he would make the mistake by saying, Go ask your mother, right?

Go ask your mother.

And so so which I would, you know, I would go to my mom and I would say, like, and she I would I would ask that question, and she was like, Well, well, did you ask your dad?

Right?

She would make the same mistake.

She would ping-pong the question back and forth.

And so then that's where you know I would just bend the truth, I would, uh, you know, and I would go back and forth until I got what I wanted, okay?

Right?

And so, and and of course there was always times where we got caught or I got caught, and uh your mom and your dad, all they had to do was just talk to each other, right?

And they would just sort out the issue and the gig was up, and I, you know, either got in trouble or or just the answer was no, right?

But I bring this up because I think our natural reaction, I think even as as we grew up and and as kids, like our natural reaction when when something happens that we don't like or we get an answer that we don't like, or we're in a situation uh that that that that makes an issue for us or it's frustrating or we get into trouble, our reaction to that, we we we either complain or we try to control the situation.

Right?

We complain or we try to control the situation, we try to manipulate the situation, we try to we try to get out of that situation, right?

We want we want it to stop.

We don't want to be in a situation that causes us pressure, right?

When something isn't quite uh working quite the way we want it, right?

It's not often that we just kind of accept it with zero reluctance, right?

We might accept it, but we're gonna complain about it.

Or we might accept it in the moment, but we're gonna try to work around it in some way.

And obviously not everyone's the same.

Like I'm not putting everyone on the same table, but I think to some certain degree, and I think we all we all have this.

We have this innate ability to be selfish.

We were born with this tendency, right?

Especially, especially as kids, like I like I like I shared that little story.

Uh, especially as kids, most of our requests to our parents when we were kids were made in a head space of need or discomfort.

Most of our requests to our parents or or to whatever we were wanting to get were made in a head space of need or discomfort.

And and learning to be selfish is as easy as breathing for us, right?

Learning to be selfish is as easy as breathing because it's a part of our human nature, right?

Our sinful nature that we are all born into.

No one was excluded from this.

We were all born into this.

And so when I think about prayer, when I think about prayer, I'll I'll get really, really honest with you today that I, you know, I've 100% done this.

I feel like I feel like we tend to look at prayer as a way to fix a problem.

Right?

I'm gonna say that again.

We tend to look at prayer as a way to fix our problems.

When we're in when we're in trouble, when we have a problem, when there's pressure, when there's discomfort, when there's pain, we try and just pray away the problem.

And our and our prayer, you know, they they usually end up sounding like this like, help, help me, like get me out of the God, get me out of this situation, like a little help here.

Like that's that's kind of how our prayers, it's like this crisis mentality that we step into.

And I think that if we're not careful, you know, I and I've been here and I and I've and I've been through some of this, and sometimes I have to pull myself out of this, but my habit, if I'm not careful, is to only pray when I'm in trouble.

Right?

Because let's be honest here, like when life is good, when when I've got everything I've need when I what I need, uh when when things at work are going smoothly, when I'm when there's no dramatic things happening, when there's no drama with my friends, when when life is just kind of flowing, prayer, uh, because because we have this habit of making it in desperation and doing it in desperation or doing it when we're in trouble, prayer can easily become like this like back burner thought, right?

Where it's kind of on the shelf of our mind, or or or it's this little quick thing I do before bed.

It's like a you know, give thanks to God, like thank you, God, for everything I have, and then just like close the book and we're kind of done with prayer, right?

Like when we when we have it good, when life is when is when it's good, which is not often, but well, it's easy for us to coast, right?

It's easy for us to become familiar.

It's it's easy for us to lose that reverence for God, that hallowed be your name, our k our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.

It's really easy to lose that reverence for him when life is just kind of good, right?

We kind of just it's it's it's not as easy for us, right?

Uh we aren't really desperate for something.

And of course, when life happens, because it's gonna happen on a on a daily basis, the good vibes stop, the life, our life feels like it's falling apart.

Uh, you know, like we we feel like we're like Peter, we're walking on the water, and all of a sudden we start sinking, and and all of a sudden we just send up, like uh, as Pastor Brian likes to call it, the prayer flare, like help, help, get me out of this.

Like, I'm sinking, I'm dying, I can't do this, right?

And and and hear me out on this, hear me out on this.

Um, I think it's easy to maybe take my words here, but like I'm not saying that God discourages that kind of prayer, right?

The the prayer when we're in trouble, the prayer of desperation.

Like, God is not discouraging that type of prayer, okay?

And that's not what I'm saying.

Like, he would rather us in those moments know that he's the only one that can save us.

He would rather us know that he's the only one that we can truly count on.

We can always count on him, that that he is a good, good father, that he cares and he knows every situation that every single person is in, each and every single situation that he knows.

Like he knows what we're going through.

But my point is this that prayer is much bigger than than just a lifeline, right?

Prayer is has a bigger part to play in our life than just being, like Pastor Brian says, the prayer flair or or the problematic prayer, right?

And I have uh I just have a few quick thoughts on on the purpose of prayer this morning that I want to I want to highlight them to you.

And there's it's really simple.

There's two of them, uh, and that's all we're gonna go for today.

Uh prayer, you know, it's a big topic, but I just really wanted to simplify it down to just two quick points.

Because I believe if we can if we can understand the purpose of something, it helps us grasp it a little better.

And so my my first thought is this you can write this down, uh, and I and I think it's gonna be on the screen for you, that prayer, and this is this is very complicated here, the prayer is designed for communication with God.

Mind-boggling, right?

Like, like so simple.

You probably didn't expect that, but prayer is designed for communication with God, right?

Because prayer at its inception, prayer when it was birthed, it was just a simple conversation, right?

To simply talk with God, to build relationship with Him, to get to know God, the original design.

Because if you go back to the the beginning of the Bible in Genesis, you can see it, right?

If if you've ever read Genesis, I hope you have.

It says, in the beginning, God created everything, right?

He creates this universe, he he speaks out and and and things form.

The earth is formed, the universe is formed, the sun is formed, all these amazing things, right?

He forms a world, he begins filling the earth with animals and oceans and all that good stuff, right?

And then he creates his greatest creation, us, right?

Adam and Eve, the first man, the first woman.

And at this point of the picture, at this point of the story, right, it's it's the beginning, and at this point, sin had not entered the picture.

Sin was not even a thing, right?

And so we have to ask the question.

We have to ask the question.

Because obviously there's there's conversation that's happening between uh you know God and man, right?

And that's that's where prayer was birthed, right?

That's this the simplicity of it.

And you have to ask the question, what did Adam and Eve talk about, right?

Because if if our habit is to talk to God when we're in when we're in like turmoil or pressure, there's problems, what did Adam and Eve talk about?

Because let's think about it for a second.

When you read this, like they had they had no kids.

And all the parents at home were like, yeah, I mean, it would be kind of nice.

Like, not that kids are not a blessing, kids are a blessing.

I don't have kids, but I I know that I I was a kid once and I stressed out my parents, okay?

So I created some problems.

But they had no kids, right?

They lived in paradise.

There was no sin, right?

There was no there was no death.

There was there was no mortgage, there was no rent to be paid.

They didn't really, like they had jobs, but it was different.

Like it was like a part of who they they were.

There was no bills, right?

There was no COVID-19, they were naked.

It was awesome, like there was no shame, right?

Because there was no sin at this point.

And so and we can't even, I don't even think we can really comprehend this fully because we don't know a world without sin, right?

But they, Adam and Eve literally had nothing to worry about.

So what did they talk to God about?

What did they talk to God about?

And in that environment, in that perfect environment, right, simple conversation with God happened.

Prayer was was was birthed out of conversation with God, communion with him, relationship with the Father.

At its base layer, prayer is a conversation.

And I and I wanna and I wanna kind of quickly go on a little rabbit trail here because I think this is important.

And uh, you know, if we read on, of course, things change for Adam and Eve.

They make a mistake, right?

Sin enters the pitcher, they they miss the mark.

Um it says that that God actually just gave them one rule in the garden, right?

He said, Hey, see that tree over there?

Don't eat from that tree, okay?

You have everything else around you.

You can do whatever you want, but just don't eat from that tree.

And and what happens is that Satan, he actually he actually comes in and he deceives Eve and this whole thing, this whole mess, right?

And they they end up eating from the tree and uh and they they sin, right?

And that's that's the that's the the moment when sin enters the picture.

And there's there's so much we could unpackage uh you know out of these out of these scriptures.

I'm sure there's tons of sermons you've heard uh on Adam and Eve, but but in this verse, notice what happens in this in verse 7, after they realize they've sinned, it says, then then both of the both of their eyes were open to them, and they knew that they were naked.

So so sin had brought shame, right, to this to this beautiful relationship that they had.

And so they sowed fig trees to g fig leaves together, sorry, and made themselves coverings.

And the they then they heard in verse 8, it said, then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And Adam and his wife hid themselves.

Notice notice what they did.

They hid themselves, this is their reaction, they hid them in the time of trouble, they hid themselves in the time of pressure from the presence of the Lord God and the trees of the garden.

But notice what God does.

Then it says the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?

In in the midst of this, like you think about this is the birth of sin.

Okay, so this is a big moment.

This is this is a very heavy moment because with sin there's there's consequence, and and you can you can see that by from when sin entered till now, if you look at our world, that's the consequence of that one sin.

Is is is all the things that are happening in our world, it just continues to spread, it continues to grow, right?

And so the consequence was heavy, and God saw like if you think about it, if if you believe that God is sovereign, which he is, like he sees the end from the beginning, and the beginning from the end, right?

He he he he sees it all and he knew that that Adam and Eve were going to sin.

And so he knows the consequence of this one sin.

But in the midst of this, in the midst of this knowledge, right, he seeks after them.

And and and Adam and Eve's reaction is completely the opposite.

It's to run away, right?

Our reaction to problems, our reaction to pain, our reaction to worry, our reaction to turmoil, our reaction to shame is to run the other way.

Get out of the situation, pray the problems away, right?

That's our reaction.

And it's and it's just it's a gut reaction, it's something that we sometimes can't control, but God's reaction, this is the important part, because we see God's character, a piece of God's character in this one scripture where he's seeking out Adam and Eve.

God's reaction was to come find us where we are at.

Right?

He comes, he comes seeking Adam and Eve, and he comes right to where they're at, right where they're hiding.

And and my point of this is I if if you think that God doesn't see what you're going through, or you think that, you know, maybe you've you've gone too far this way, you've gone too far that way, or you're maybe during this like whole pandemic, you feel like, man, I've just distanced myself from God, like my prayer life is terrible.

I can't believe we're talking about prayer, or I feel like, man, like my life is in shambles.

I feel like I I've just gone way too far this way.

I just need to hide from this.

I don't want to feel what I'm feeling.

And and if you think that that God's gonna like walk the other way from you, you're wrong because in reality, God is looking for you.

God is seeking out where you're at.

And it's not that you even have to take a step towards him, he's coming to our front door, and that's his character, is he comes to where we're at, right?

That's a reality of who God is, he cares exactly what you're going through.

And that was just a little rabbit trail.

I just felt like that was important to say, but but prayer at its inception, right?

That first point, prayer is at its inception, and it's its purpose, it was designed for simple communication with God.

And my second thought on prayer is this that prayer is designed to change me.

Prayer is to designed to change me, not things.

Okay?

And like I mentioned before, I think often our our reaction to difficulty, like I said, is to pray to pray away everything that's hindering us.

Right?

We we want the things that are surrounding us, we want the situation.

That is surrounding us to change often when we pray.

Or we have this uh this this thing I like to call the vending machine theology, where where we we see what we really like in life, right?

And and we see something we really want in life, and we we know that God wants to bless us, right?

And we we go to the vending machine of heaven essentially, and we we we look on the in the vending machine, and and you know, we got D4 is your like the wife, or you got the husband, we got like E5 is like the house and the picket fence and the dog and and and the nice car, right?

And we got like B3 over here is like the promotion.

It's like the vending machine of blessing, right?

And we think that, man, we got these like little prayer coins that God gave us, we shake them, right?

And and and we take that, we take that verse, we like we start popping in our prayer coins, right?

That's a prayer coin.

I don't know really exactly what it would sound like, but but and we take that verse, like whatever you ask for in prayer, God will hear you.

And we just expect God to like, you know, just push that little like the little like twirly thing, here comes the husband, drops in and we grab it, right?

Like that's what we think.

That's what we think prayer is designed for sometimes.

I think if we can all get honest, that's you know, we've all had those moments.

Like I've had those moments, I'm sure you've had those moments, and and then we all can just be in the pool of of of honesty right now, okay?

And so, but don't get me wrong.

Don't get me wrong here.

Like maybe something I've said here that's you know, you may be questioning like, uh, what is he talking about?

But like prayer, prayer can and will change situations.

I'm not saying that prayer doesn't have power, okay?

So prayer is powerful.

Like I've seen it myself, I've seen it in my life where where prayer has changed situations.

Prayer is a tool that God gives us, and and and Jesus said this that we're gonna walk with the same authority that he had.

And and and and Jesus, man, he performed miracles and he he prayed, he prayed for people to get healed, and and I believe that we're still gonna see that, and we can still see that, and prayer is powerful that way, but I think there's a deeper purpose.

Here's my point there's a deeper purpose to prayer.

And what's more important than miracles when I pray is that its purpose is to change me.

There's something deeper here.

Because prayer won't change the will of God.

Okay?

God is sovereign, like we said, like I said before, that he sees the end from the beginning, the beginning from the end, right?

Like he is outside of the box.

He is outside of time because he created it.

And and it's it's hard for our human brains to really comprehend that, but when we pray, we can't really, we can't change God's will.

Right?

But what does happen instead is that prayer aligns me with his will.

What happens instead is is when I pray, it it adjusts my perspective, it adjusts my direction, and it adjusts me to align with God's will.

Isn't that incredible?

And I I think I think when you know when I when I read the New Testament, we can see this so prominently in Jesus' life.

Right?

His life was aligned with the will of the Father.

Jesus' life was aligned with the will of the Father through prayer.

Right in John, in John 6, 38, Jesus says this, he says, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of the Father, or the will of him who sent me.

Isn't that insane?

That's just an incredible verse.

Like, I have not come down from heaven to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me.

And in Luke 22, 42, Jesus, he's he's about to go to the cross, okay, and he's in the he's in the garden of Gethsemane.

I can't even pronounce it properly, but that's okay.

And he's he's about to lay his life down, like he's in his last moments with his friends, with his disciples, and he's praying in this garden, and he's about to lay his life down for the sake of the world.

And so in this moment, we see Jesus struggling.

And and we know that he's struggling because it says that he was actually so stressed out to the point where he was like sweating blood.

And it's this gruesome kind of picture, but but but in this moment, Jesus is praying and he says, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.

If there's any other way to do this, God, please like show me in this moment.

But then he says, but he actually says, yet, but but not my will, but yours be done.

Not my will, but yours be done.

Isn't that just incredible to think about?

Jesus' mission was the will of the Father, right?

He was in constant communication with his father.

He was aligning, he was constantly aligning himself to the Father's will.

Constantly.

And you see it in moments of scripture where where even in in times of pressure and times of problems, that you know, Jesus would pray in times of problems, but what he would pray is, God, your will be done.

God, not my will, but your will.

God, change me.

Like Jesus prayed those prayers.

Isn't that it's so it's hard for me to comprehend because of who Jesus was.

But Jesus prayed those prayers because he understood that prayer was not meant to change just the situation.

Like, like I said, prayer can change situations, but it's it's designed, its purpose is to change me and you.

And the same thing that happens, the same thing happens to us when we pray, right?

It aligns our will with his.

And I I want to ask you a question.

Like, what if instead of looking at prayer as a way out of something or a way out of a situation, a way out of this pressure, a way out of a problem, but we but we look at prayer as a way into something, and we look at prayer as ourselves being aligned with God's will.

And uh, and right now I just want to encourage you, uh, just take a take a moment and just look at your life and be honest with yourself.

Where is prayer on my priority list?

Do I even have a prayer life?

And uh, and this isn't to convict you, this isn't to make you feel bad, because trust me, I'm preaching from one of my greatest weaknesses, and and my prayer life has struggled and it's been up and down, and it's all over the place sometimes.

But I think I think this is just a good reminder for us to just go back to the basics, and if we can get to ground zero of understanding the purpose of prayer, and I think if we think about that that basic idea that prayer started with Adam and Eve and God as a simple conversation, a communion with God, a relationship with God, getting to know him better, in growing intimacy with God, honesty with God.

I think it becomes that much easier for us to grasp this idea.

And even Paul says this this really intimidating verse, he he he says that we should pray without ceasing.

He's like, You should pray, but pray without ceasing.

That's intimidating for a lot of us because we think we think about how busy our lives are, and like how do I pray all day, every day, without ceasing, without stopping, right?

But I think if we can grasp this idea that it's just a it's just communication, it's a conversation with God, that that you know, we don't really necessarily need to be in church to pray.

I believe that it's powerful when when a group of Christians come together and we pray for things, like that's important, but I think that that's a different kind of prayer that we're talking about today.

And we don't necessarily need to be in a prayer meeting to pray, and we can we can we can understand this idea that it's just a conversation, then we can go throughout our day in communion with God.

We can go throughout our day with simple conversation, it starts to become natural.

It's not like this big fancy prayer that we need to we need to try and like make ourselves sound so eloquent.

It's just a conversation and it starts to become a conversation between just two people, uh like talking to your best friend, right?

Where you can we can start to be honest with God, the conversation starts to flow and you begin to let God into those deeper spots in your heart where you tried to maybe keep them out before.

And if we start to realize that, we we start to realize that prayer isn't just for changing the situation around me, it's not just for changing the situation that I'm in, but instead, it's meant for changing me for the situation.

It's in it's instead meant for to change me for that situation, right?

We we flip it on its head.

And the and the mountain moving prayer and the mountain moving miracle is a byproduct of prayer.

And my my heart becoming soft and malleable is actually the greater miracle than the mountain moving.

Because you know, becoming aligned with God's will will bring you confidence so that it won't matter what we walk through, it won't matter what's in front of us, it won't matter the situation that when God calls us to walk through the fire, we're gonna know because we're gonna know his will, because we we're we've been praying and it aligns us with his will.

And so I really want to encourage you over these next three weeks as we we focus on prayer, allow yourself to just have that question, like, where am I at with this?

Where am I at with prayer?

And and I want to challenge you to follow us on our social media and and to follow along with the reading of the scriptures and the and the prayers, and and I I want to challenge you to take these 21 days seriously and to really just take that time out of your day and to begin to look at prayer not as this big scary thing or this big eloquent thing or this thing that you have to like carve out like a half an hour for, that you can just you can just start to talk with God and you start to let him into your day and and and to really just engage as a church as we go through these 21 days.

And maybe you feel like like how do I start?

I know I've I've been there where it feels like, man, I I I feel like everyone's just so far ahead of me, or I feel like I I just I just I just kind of lost where I was at with God, or I feel like I'm backtracked, but I'm telling you, today is that perfect time to start.

You just start today.

You just you just have that conversation with God today.

Take that first step towards God.

And uh, and I just want to pray for you as we close.

So would you just bow your heads with me and and wherever you're at, uh, I just want to just pray for you and bless you today.

So, Father God, I just thank you so much for this time together, God.

I thank you so much for your word, God, that that you don't leave us, God, you don't forsake us, God, that you don't leave us hanging, God, that that in your word, as we read today, man, like you chase after us, like you chased after Adam and Eve, even though you knew what was happening, God, you chased after us.

You chased after them, God, and you chase after us and you meet us where we're at.

And God, wherever we're at with our lives, God, I pray that you would just help us.

And right now, even as I'm praying, pray, I pray that that you would just change my will.

Like, you would just change me, align me with your will.

Uh, and and and and as those who are watching, God, I pray that you would just be with them.

God, you would encourage them right now.

In your love, God, you would encourage them with peace, God, that you would just help us through these these these interesting times, God.

And I pray this all in your name, all in your mighty name, God.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, thank you so much for uh joining with us on our online service.

We're so grateful for you, and we miss you.

We can't wait to see you again.

Thank you.