When We Pray: Eight Words | Part 2

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We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

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We're in a series called When We Pray.

Not if we pray.

Not you should pray.

But when we pray, because the natural human instinct is prayer.

In some form, in some way, at some time, everybody prays.

Everybody has some inkling or longing for something bigger than themselves to intervene and help or to be connected to.

Last week we said, just as communication is the foundation for every relationship, like that's how you grow in intimacy.

Prayer.

It's the pathway to intimacy with God.

And we're spending six weeks talking about how do we grow in prayer?

How do we grow in relationships?

How do we move from prayer being this mysterious or this duty or this thing that you feel like you ought to do to this delight, this life-giving, soul-shaping communion, connection with your Heavenly Father.

You know, in tomorrow's devotional, uh, Dane Ortland, uh, there's this incredible quote in his book, Deeper, writes this the deepest destiny of your life is to descend ever deeper with quiet yet ever-increasing intensity into the endless love of God.

I mean, have you thought about that?

I don't know what you think about your destiny right now.

I'm gonna manifest it, okay.

Like, what's your destiny?

And it's like, I my destiny is to get straight A's, my destiny is to get into the right college, my destiny is to meet and marry the right person, my destiny is to be upward and mobile, my destiny.

I don't know what you would say that D word is right there for your life, but but the deepest destiny, the heart's longing, like what you've been searching for and hungering for is something beyond what you can tangibly see and grasp to descend ever deeper, with a quiet yet ever-increasing intensity into the endless love of God.

How do we do that when life's chaotic?

How do we do that when life is busy and full?

When it does feel like the mountains are falling into the sea around you and the earth is giving way and the world is freaking out.

Like that seems really nice, and maybe I'll put it on a quote somewhere, Ryan.

But doesn't that feel unrealistic?

You know, one of the interesting things about the world, the way our world is designed, is the problem is it's it's designed so that we don't pay attention to that which really matters.

Isn't it true that our eyes get caught off and our lives get consumed with things that when you look back on your life, you're going like, why was I so focused on that?

I'll give you an example.

When I was in my early 20s, this last year we just this last year, this last week, we just celebrated my daughter's 18th birthday.

Hello, um, I'm getting older.

Uh, and she's amazing, she's wonderful, and it's so great.

But it got me thinking about my my kids, and I remembered when my son was born.

Uh, so Elle was born, I was smarter then, then I got dumber, I guess, and then my son was born, and when he was born, it was a Sunday.

It was February 18th, it was a Sunday, 2007.

He was born early in the morning, and I felt this intense pressure that I had to show up.

I was a youth pastor, Sunday evening to pastor this little community of high schoolers.

So, friends, can I tell you one of my regrets in life is I left my pre not longer, my wife in the hospital with our newborn baby boy to go be, you know, lead a high school group, which by the way, 15 years later, I don't have a clue what I said then, let alone do they have a clue what I said then?

See, the problem with our world, even in the spiritual realm, is we, and we can spiritualize and say is we give our attention to things that don't matter.

And it's not saying that like showing up for ministry doesn't matter.

It definitely matters, but we don't give our attention to the things in front of us that matter, that matter significantly.

How do we give our attention to that which deeply and profoundly matters?

How do we live in such a space that we're attentive, not caught up with the pace, not caught up with somehow, you see, the reason I had to show up there is I had to be a success.

It wasn't for people to meet with God.

How do we pay attention to that which matters?

This morning, what I want to draw your attention to is just simply eight words.

I've read twice uh Psalm 46.

It's the context for the eight words that we're gonna dive into.

I I pray that these words are guiding words.

I I hope my hope is that honestly, this would be feel like this divine invitation that out of it you wouldn't walk out feeling like, oh, I got to do all this stuff.

Like you would walk out going like, oh, someone gave me permission.

Someone gave me permission.

What I wish somebody did, because I didn't know it as a young pastor in that moment.

I wish my boss would have said, hey, it's a Sunday.

Don't worry about it.

Don't show up.

You need to be with your wife.

This is me saying, I'm giving you permission.

Oh no, it's not me.

It's God's word saying and giving you permission.

The eight words, these eight words are powerful.

These eight words are transforming.

These eight words, my goodness, they they bring in peace in the midst of confusion, in the midst of anxiety and anxious thoughts.

They bring in hope and life.

Eight simple words.

Be still and know that I am God.

It's as simple as that.

It's as difficult as that.

Be still and know that I am God.

Like imagine what would happen in your life if you felt the permission to be still and redirect your attention and recognize that he's God.

He's in control.

He's got it taken care of.

He's not fretting or concerned.

He's sovereign and in control.

Just imagine like the anxiety that would just drip out of your body if we had this practice in our community of being still and knowing that he's God.

Well, what does that look like?

I just want to take the minutes that we have together and just unpack these eight words.

You're like, you thought you were going to get an eight-word sermon.

No, you got eight words, but then there'll be more words behind the sermon there.

Let's just break this down.

Be still.

Dallas Willard said, hurry is the great enemy of the soul.

Be still.

What does it mean to be still?

The word means to put an end to a state or activity, to sink down deep, to relax into, to drop or to let go, especially of the hands.

Think about this, this verse.

Imagine, imagine the permission, because I think when we hear be still, it's like it's like God reprimanding a child.

Be still.

And certainly there is a little bit of that.

Be still.

But how different is it?

Hey, relax into.

You ever shown up at like one of those spas?

I do it like once a year with my wife, um, but that's it.

I I'm not a spa guy.

Um, you probably took that, uh, you saw that already.

But but they like, they the first they like give you, you know, um, I don't like the weird yeah, that you wear, and that's always makes me feel weird anyways, and they're like, relax.

I'm like, I can't, I was relaxed in my normal clothes.

Um, but you're wearing this, and they got this peaceful music, and they say, just just relax.

And you just kind of sit there and you have your tea or water or whatnot.

Like it's an invitation, it's not a command, it's a moment of pause to relax into.

What would it look like if you just began to relax into the presence of God?

Instead of rushing into the day, you relaxed into the presence of God.

Imagine how your day would shift and change and the pace and maybe your heart rate, if you said today, I just want to relax into your presence before I head off into my day.

And normally what I do is rush off into my day, and I just kind of try to invite you into my rushing.

Isn't it true?

Like for us, like Silicon Valley, we live at a pace, don't we?

Like busyness.

It's a badge of honor.

How are you doing?

Busy.

And if you don't answer that way, it's code in here that you're a slacker and you're no good, right?

Like, I'm fantastic.

Oh, I'm just refreshed.

Like you can't say refreshed, you know, right?

Like, no, you can't be refreshed.

You're doing life wrong.

Right?

I mean, that's how we think.

It's screwed up.

You know, it's interesting.

John Ortberg in his book Soul Keeping writes this: being busy is an outward condition, a condition of the body.

It occurs when we have many things to do.

Busyness is inevitable in modern culture.

If you're alive today in North America, you are a busy person.

Hello.

And by the way, coming out of pandemic or whatever we are in, I don't care whatever it is we're in currently, it feels like it's more busy than it was before.

Yeah?

That's the only amen I got was was on that.

Being hurried, listen to this, is an inner condition, a condition of the soul.

It means to be so preoccupied with myself and my life that I'm unable to be fully present with God, with myself and with other people.

I'm unable to occupy the present moment.

Busyness, listen, migrates to hurry when we let it squeeze God out of our lives.

I cannot live in the kingdom of God with a hurried soul.

I cannot rest in God with a hurried soul.

Be still.

Hurry is the enemy of the soul.

Relax into the presence of God.

And here's what's fascinating.

Psalm 23, I always found this curious.

Uh, you know, it's talking about God being our shepherd.

And you know, one of the lines that always is intriguing to me is it says, the Lord is our shepherd, I shall not want.

And then notice what it says next.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

Like there's something about this internal striving of the human condition that we need help to do this.

It was true 3,000 years ago, and it's true today.

And a shepherd with a sheep knows that he has to actually at times make the sheep enjoy and relax and take a break.

It's like when my kids were really little and they're tired, and some of you parents know this, and they're like, hey, you're tired.

I'm not tired.

No, I'm fine.

Well, you're actually miserable, let's be real.

This is miserable to be around.

But a parent sees their child and sees the state that they're in, and the child cannot see the state that they're in.

They don't get it, they don't know it.

I'm not tired.

No.

That's how a child responds.

And they're responding, no, out of their tiredness.

Friends, I just gotta let you know that you're tired and you don't know it.

And you have a God with a great invitation that says, be still.

And there's times where he says, I'm gonna make you lie down because I love you.

It's in green pastures and you need to rest.

And I know our culture says, bigger, better, next, bigger, better, next.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, and it will crush your soul.

Be still and know that I am God.

It goes on, be still.

Hurry is the great enemy of the soul.

And then, and know, there's something you need to know.

And it's literally, I love Brother Lawrence, and he's got this little book called Practicing the Presence of God.

He's a monk from a long time ago.

And and he had this thought that he could practice the presence of God anywhere at any time.

And so, you know, it wasn't just when they had their daily prayers and when they were in the, you know, the monastery, he was a dishwasher at the monastery.

And he's like, I can practice the presence of God.

And so he began to practice the presence of God, of really knowing his presence and as he was washing dishes, as he was going about his day.

And he just began to write simple thoughts that he had as he was practicing the presence of God.

This word to know means to notice, to be cognizant or aware of a fact or specific piece of information, to be aware of or to understand or recognize, to observe or to see with our eyes, to perceive, to know by way of experience.

I need to be still so that I can know by way of experience that you're God.

Stillness is part of the pathway to knowing God's God, by the way.

To turn your mind to something to care for, to see about, observe.

William Berry writes this whether we are aware of it or not, at every moment of our existence, we are encountering God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is trying to catch our attention, trying to draw us into a reciprocal conscious relationship.

Be still, cease striving, relax into and know.

Like like shift your attention, shift your perspective, shift your eyes.

I don't know what the anxious thought of your day.

In fact, I like the way John Orberg talks about it.

He calls it the troubling thought.

We all have these troubling thoughts that are consuming us that rob us of anxiety or rob us of peace and produce anxiety.

The way he says it is simply a way of thinking that does not take God into account.

What is that troubling thought that's robbing your peace that you begin to focus on, you look in, that you know.

You know it by way of experience, you know it by way of focus, you know it because it has your attention.

And whatever has your attention, not only is it what you gravitate towards, it begins to shape you.

He says, be still, identify that troubling thought.

It might be your marriage, it might be your work, it might be the economy.

You might have just checked your 401k because you're on the verge of retirement, and then, oh, what in the world just happened?

I don't know if I can retire right now.

What is happening?

Am I ever going to be able to retire?

And we begin to go down that path without God.

That's the problem.

It's not the thought.

It's what that thought does, is you begin to think that thought and go down that path as if God does not exist.

And when you do that, it sucks you down into a spiral of anxious activity and it crushes the soul.

Be still and know.

Which means I have to shift my attention, and it's a practice, it's a practice, it's something I just need to begin to put into practice of shifting my attention to knowing who God is.

Still and know what that I am God.

Which means that you and I are not God.

And that's a very good thing.

That he is God and you are not.

In fact, the word in Hebrew for God is the right here is Elohim.

It's the supernatural being who originated and rules over the universe, God's creative activity.

Be still and recognize the supernatural being who originated and rules over the universe, his creative activity.

Like, like your God and all that we know, see, and understand, you spoke one word and it came into existence.

Can he handle what's going on in your world?

When we zoom out and we begin to see who he is.

And then when Moses encountered God, he gave him his covenant name.

Yahweh.

I am ever-existing one, uncreated creator, sovereign one.

Like he is the great I am, which means I am not, and what a relief.

Because the source of so much of our striving, of so much of our worrying, of so much anxiety is the things that we're trying to do and be that it's God's alone to do and be.

So every other pursuit is not life.

He alone has life, and what he is now, he is eternally.

Now the psalmist tells us be still, cease activity, relax into no, shift your attention from that troubling thought that he is God, the I am.

Sigmund Mulwinkel writes this about the Hebrew thought.

He says, To the Hebrew, to do, to be, does not mean to exist as all other beings and things do as well, but to be active, to express one's self and active being.

So the God who acts, or I am the God who really acts.

See, is the invitation of God to cease your activity to see and recognize the God's has already been acting and working.

Like be still relaxed into I'm not in control of my boss, and I can't change him.

But God, you are in control.

God, I don't know how my kids are going to respond, and it seems like they're making some really bad decisions, but every time I get in it, it seems like I'm messing it up.

But here's what I know is you're a good father and you love them more than me.

And would you meet them?

Because you're God.

God, the way this like economy's looking right now is scaring me.

And I don't know if I can get a job everywhere I'm going as they're doing these freezes, and but God, you are in control.

And you're sovereign and you will provide.

And I recognize that when I cease my activity, I finally recognize your activity and see how you're working and moving.

You know, throughout the Hebrew scriptures, the names of God took on special form, special meaning as they saw his activity in their lives, as they saw him work and move.

And so they had names like these Yahweh Nisi, he is my banner.

God declares that his banner over you is love.

The banner is what you led out into the battlefield.

He's saying, you know what is leading you is my love.

Like my banner over you is my love.

The protection ahead of you is my love.

Like where you're headed into is my love.

Yahweh Ira, he is my provider.

As we see, as we strive and struggle, he's God's going, like I want to provide for you.

Would you step back and let me let me provide for you?

Yahweh Ra, he is my shepherd.

The tender, loving care of a shepherd to provide for the sheep what they need the most, whether they want it in the moment or not.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for your rod is for you're with me, your rod and your staff.

They guard and protect me.

Yahweh Tisakenu, he is my righteousness.

Like some of our striving and some of our anxiety has to do with we're somehow trying to measure up to become the right person.

Like somehow there's this list of the perfect person, and sometimes it's in the religious realm, and other times it's just in human like everything, but we're just trying to be and somehow level up and get better.

And the good news of the gospel is because this when God sees you, he sees Jesus.

You're covered, you're clothed in his righteousness.

Like you have the imputed, literally placed upon righteousness of Christ.

You can't earn it.

There's nothing you can do to deserve it.

It's not because you were a good boy or girl this day.

It's not because you did something bad, so you lost it.

It's yours.

It's covered.

You are covered in Christ.

So he sees Christ when he sees you.

His righteousness is all over you.

Man, what freedom we would walk in if we just realized, man, I'm covered in the righteousness of God.

Yahweh Rafa, he is my healer.

He's my healer.

He meets me in the depths of my brokenness, my doubts, my worries, my concerns, my relationships, my physical needs.

He is my healer.

Yahweh Shalom, He is my peace.

He's my peace, He is wholeness and life.

In fact, the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 4 would say it this way: don't be anxious about anything, but with prayer and petition, present your request to God.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

And then it says this, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Like God's peace is not passive, it's proactive.

That word guard is the same word for a centurion.

It's like his peace stands guard when we be still.

When we be still, when we are still, I speak for a living.

When we're still, his peace guards your heart and your mind.

We are then shifting our attention in his peace stands as I'm gonna guard you in this moment.

Be still and know that I'm God.

What would it look like for you to practice this this week?

Now, I'm not talking about 30 minutes.

I'm not talking about 20 minutes.

I'm talking about a moment.

Like set your phone, maybe it's at 8:30 a.m., maybe it's at 12 p.m., maybe it's at 7 p.m.

Just to go off.

And whether you'd be still.

And you would stop.

And you know he's God, where you shift from those troubling thoughts and invite God into those thoughts and recognize who he is.

Relax into the presence of God.

I want us to do that as we close.

Just simply relax into this presence.

Stillness is hard for us.

Silence is hard for us.

We like noise because it keeps us distracted.

We like noise because then we don't have to deal with the inner stuff going on.

And that's the reason silence is hard, is because the minute we're silent, all the stuff that we've been ignoring bubbles up, doesn't it?

But silence gives space for our soul to speak, to know what's really going on inside.

I found it helpful to kind of still myself with three kind of steps.

One is just physical stillness, where I just stop and I'm still.

I'm a drummer, uh, and so drummers are naturally fidgety people.

I'm always like, I can barely sit still.

But it's like I literally get in a very comfortable, relaxed into posture.

And maybe you just get in right now, get into a comfortable, relaxed posture.

When I'm doing this at home, I have to have my phone in the other room.

Because this has trained me so well.

If it's sitting next to me, I just my my hand, it's like it does it works without my mind.

It just grabs it, it just goes.

And I'm like, why am I on Instagram?

I don't know, I don't know.

So I literally get technology out.

Physical stillness.

And take a moment and just thoughtfully, you go, I'm gonna physically get still.

Breathe in, breathe out.

And then mental stillness.

When I do this at home, I actually keep my to-do list because the minute I try to get still, I all my to-do list shows up, and that's okay.

I just write it down.

So I don't forget about it, and it's off my mind.

But then the troubling thoughts are what begin to come in.

And you identify them, and then you just bring them to Jesus.

You bring him into the conversation.

And then there's emo the emotional stillness, it's the things that are going on in your heart, because the minute we're silent, it does begin to bubble up the internal.

It might be fears or concerns, it might be anger or worry.

And you just begin to bring those to your Heavenly Father.

So it's just take a moment to be still and know that he's God.

If you want to close your eyes, you can.

If you don't, don't worry about it.

Breathe in, breathe out, get your body in a posture where you're just comfortable.

I find it helpful to have two feet on the ground, just kinda gets me balanced.

What's the troubling thoughts that keep you awake at night?

What do you worry about in the morning?

What does it look like to bring God into those thoughts?

To invite God into those moments.

Maybe you're feeling emotions, maybe there's a tightness of anxiety.

Identify it.

Maybe it's fear, worry, discouragement, depression.

And bring God into the middle of that.

Would you just recognize that he's God?

That he's a good, loving heavenly father.

Father, I pray for my friends this week.

They would hear your invitation, your ever-present moments, welcoming and beckoning them to have just a quiet space, a minute or two, to be with you, to settle our soul, to calm our worries, to meet us in our anxious space.

May we hear your whispers, your voice.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

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