Prayer // LEVEL UP | Ps. Alin Nedelca

And today, it's a great day to be in

church, and that's because we are in

this series called level up.

And if you're looking at the screen and

you're thinking, "What's up with this

bulky computer from the '90s, maybe even

late '80s?" Wait until you see the next

picture.

Anyone remember the original Super Mario

game? Well, I do. I remember playing it

more than 30 years ago, going into my

cousin's house cuz I didn't have a Sega

game at that time. I was in there every

single day. And in the Mario game, you

would level up by overcoming different

obstacles, and the purpose of doing all

that was actually to find the real

princess, right? Because the game was

full of fake princesses. Well, guess

what? In the same way, leveling up in

our journey towards God, it's about

discovering and getting to know who God

really is. That's why we started this

series called level up. And in first

week of our series, we talked about the

importance of the word of God. And we

mentioned that we need to be in the word

of God, and the word of God has to be in

us. Why is that important? Because the

word of God it's alive and active. And

active means that it has the power to

activate faith in our life so that we

can believe God and embrace his

extraordinary purpose for our life. That

was week one. Now, last week, Pastor

Jamie, which is our lead pastor, brought

an incredible message on the power of

worship. And he gave us a few ways on

how we can level up when it comes to our

worship before God, but he mentioned

that worship is not about the tradition

or a religion. Worship it's about a

person, right? In fact, he said that

worship it's about the person of Jesus

Christ who gave his life for us so that

we can experience his salvation, his

freedom, his grace, and all the great

things that he has for our lives.

Now, if you haven't been here the

previous 2 weeks, that's okay. You can

always go on our YouTube channel, which

is Lighthouse Church IE. You can check

up the messages there, or we are on

Spotify as well. Now, this week I have

the privilege of talking about the topic

called prayer.

Prayer. And then next week, as we wrap

up our series, make sure you come back

because it's going to be crucial as

we're going to talk about the power of

service. Because what's the point of

knowing the word of God, accumulating

knowledge, what's the point of even

worshipping God, praying to God if we're

not going to put into practice

whatever he tells us to So, make sure

you come back next week and even you can

bring a friend with you.

But before we go into today's message, I

want to ask you this.

Do you remember learning how to swim?

Now, if Yeah, there you go. One person

does. Now, if you know how to swim,

swimming feels completely natural for

you. But if you don't know how to swim,

there's almost nothing more unnatural

except maybe for flying. Now, I remember

how I learned how to swim as a child,

and it was terrifying. Probably that's

why I remember it so well. So, why was

it Was I terrified? Because I didn't

learn to swim in a swimming pool like

some of you present here today. I

learned to swim in this place.

Now, don't get fooled by the beauty of

this lake because as beautiful as this

lake is is as dangerous as it can be.

And by the way, this is a lake back home

in my hometown in Romania. And believe

it or not, this is the same lake in two

different seasons of the year. From

January up to May, it has this color

which is like the turquoise, which

happens to be my wife's favorite color.

And then in summer, it turns into this

beautiful green color. But as I've said,

as beautiful as it looks like is as

dangerous as it can be. Why am I saying

that? Well, I remember growing up that

at least for 7 years in a row, 7 years,

at least one person drowned in this lake

and their bodies were never found. True.

And that's because underneath this lake,

it's actually a mine with all sorts of

galleries. And because of the galleries,

there's all sort of currents. Now, with

that in mind, one day, my sister and her

best friend decided that they're going

to take me to this lake and teach me how

to swim. And you all know what that went

from. So, what they did, I was probably

seven or eight at that time. So, I was

like pretty skinny, light as a feather,

not as I am right now.

But so, they they would take me, they

would throw me in the water, I would go

underneath, and I had to make myself

back up on the surface of the water. So,

I was like desperate swimming like a

desperate puppy. They were having a

ball, a laugh, and I was desperate. But,

one time my sister's friend threw me in

the water, went down, and to their

surprise,

I didn't came back up.

And I remember what happened so vividly

as if it was yesterday. So, I'm

underneath the water, I've actually

opened my eyes, and I looked behind, and

it felt like something was dragging me

towards the deep of the lake. Now, when

that happened, I started desperately to

use my hands, to use my feet, but all of

the sudden, I see two hands and a head,

and of course, it was my sister's friend

grab me, pull me back up on the surface

of the water. Now, I'm looking at my

sister's face, and she's panicking,

she's freaking out. I'm looking at her

friend's face, he's the same, but I was

mortified

because I actually thought that's going

to be the end of Alain.

And Alain lived until he was seven and

died drowning into the lake. Now,

obviously, after my experience, I was

afraid for a while to go back into the

water,

but thank God for my dad, who eventually

teach me how to swim.

Now, when it comes to swimming, swimming

requires something that every one of us

resist if we want to be teach how to

swim, and that is surrender.

Surrender. If we want to be taught how

to swim, and we need to

be taught by a parent, not a sibling,

right? By someone who already knows what

they're doing, maybe even

an instructor. But in order to be able

to do that, we need to surrender to

their teaching. Now, why am I telling

you this story? Because if we want to

level up in our prayer life, and if we

call ourselves, some of us followers of

Jesus, then we need to surrender to

Jesus to teach us how to pray. Now, if

you're here today and you don't consider

yourself to be a Christ follower, and

maybe you're even thinking, "I've never

prayed. I don't know how to pray. I

don't even know what I believe in God."

That's okay. You're very welcome in this

place. But what if What if prayer isn't

about having all the right words?

What if it's simply about willing being

willing to take the very first step and

say, "God, if you're there, I want to

know you." I remember I prayed this very

same prayer for the first time when I

was interested in God, and to my

surprise, he answered.

Now, coming back to those of us who do

pray,

most of us approach God because we want

him to make us feel comfortable. Am I

right? We want him to keep us on the

land. I mean, why go in the dangerous

lake and swim? So, when we pray, we come

up with our plans, our list, right?

We come up with our list, our plans, our

preferences,

our agenda. But Jesus teaches us to pray

differently. In fact, one day while

Jesus was praying, one of his disciples

finally had the courage to ask on behalf

of the group and said, "Lord,

teach us how to pray." This is in the

Gospel of Luke. "Lord, teach us how to

pray."

Now, isn't that interesting? Out of all

the things that disciples could have

asked Jesus to teach them, they said,

"Teach us how to pray."

They didn't ask Jesus to teach them how

to perform miracles,

not even healings, and not even how to

turn the water into wine. How sad is

that? I'm just joking. Out of all of the

things they said, "Lord, teach us how to

pray because we want to pray the way you

pray." So, get ready because I believe

that Jesus is about to teach all of us

how to pray. And in fact, we should be

happy about that. Why? Because if we're

honest for a moment,

very few of our prayers ever seem to get

answered anyway.

I mean, it turns out that the remote

control and the car keys were exactly

where you left them, right? And as

indeed, you did find a parking space on

the way to church today. Maybe you

prayed about it, but guess what? So did

other several hundred people found a

parking space,

and they didn't pray about it.

But what about the other kind of

prayers? The prayers that you might

consider a miracle,

or maybe something big.

Occasionally, you get a yes.

But sometimes,

you just get nothing.

And perhaps you're here today, and a

series of those nothings convinced you

that there's nothing to prayer. Prayer

is just a waste of time.

It just doesn't work.

Now, to your surprise, you might be

right in some ways because some prayers

that most of us pray, naturally,

they don't work.

At least not in the way we want them to,

but in spite of that, Jesus prayed.

Jesus prayed. And not only that, but he

taught his followers how to pray as

well.

So, why the disciples looked at Jesus

and the way he prayed,

they've noticed something different.

They noticed that his prayers were

intimate.

They were passionate,

honest, and compelling.

So, watching him pray, the disciples

became dissatisfied,

and I think that even frustrated

with their prayer life. Why? Because

think about their experience. I mean,

they prayed.

They Their parents prayed. Their

grandparents prayed. Yet, when Jesus

walked the earth, Israel was still under

Roman occupation.

And before the Romans were the Greeks,

and before the Greeks were the Persians,

and before the Persians, the Assyrians,

and before those, the Babylonians. So,

seeing Jesus prayed, I think the

disciples might have come to the

conclusion

that maybe they've been doing it wrong.

That's why they've said, "Lord, teach us

how to pray."

Now, in the classic way of Jesus doing

and saying things, you need to love

Jesus. Instead of teaching his disciples

how to pray first, he taught them how

not to pray.

And if you're not a Christ follower

here, or you maybe even became cynical

towards Christianity, you're actually

going to like this part. And that's

because Jesus confronts religious

hypocrisy.

And he says in the Gospel of

Matthew chapter 6, he says, "And when

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,

for they love to pray standing in the

synagogues and on the street corners to

be seen by others.

Truly, I tell you, they have received

their reward in full."

You need to love Jesus, and that's

because Jesus had zero tolerance for

pretenders.

Jesus had zero tolerance for people

acting holy.

God isn't impressed by polished prayers

coming from inauthentic hearts.

These people wanted attention, and guess

what? They got attention, but from the

people,

not from God.

And then from here, Jesus shifts the

focus, and he says, "But when you pray,

which leads us to a few important

questions.

When do you pray?

Why do you pray?

Where do you pray?

I think it's worth giving our attention

to these questions.

Jesus says, "But when you pray, go into

your room, close the door, and pray to

your father who is unseen.

Then your father who sees what is done

in secret

will reward you."

Now, if you grew up in church and

thinking that church is the only place

where God can actually hear your

prayers, but Jesus says that God can

hear you anywhere.

He can hear you at home, on the way to

work, in your car, on the lowest, on the

train. And not only that he can hear

you, but he sees you.

And as he sees you, he will reward you.

With what? With his presence. When your

prayers are coming from the bottom of

your heart, God sees that. That means

that when you pray,

next slide, please.

When you pray, you should use your own

words.

Right? You can speak honestly.

You can pour out your heart.

Jesus goes on to say, "And when you

pray, do not keep on babbling, right?

Like pagans, for they think they'll be

heard because of their many words."

Don't babble like the pagans means don't

use the same words. Why? Because

repetition doesn't move God. Perfect

prayers don't move God, and Lent doesn't

impress God, either.

In fact, Martin Luther, who's known to

be the father of Reformation, and that's

because he believed in authority of

scripture over church and human

authority, and he actually emphasized

what the scripture teaches that

salvation comes by faith alone, which is

a response to the grace of God. When it

comes to prayer, he said that the fewer

the words,

the better the prayer.

And what Jesus says next explains why we

don't need a lot of words, or even the

perfect words. In fact, what he says

next pulls out the rug out of underneath

the reason why many of us pray in the

first place. Look at what he says. He

says, "For your father knows what you

need before you ask." Your father knows

what you need before you ask.

Now, as you look and read that,

the next question comes up, right? If

God already knows,

why pray?

Have you ever wondered that?

And I think that's exactly the question

that Jesus wanted his disciples to ask.

He's got them where he wanted them to

be, and maybe

he's got you and me exactly where he

wants us, too.

Because God doesn't allow us to In fact,

he does allow us to go to get to a point

where we say, "God, I don't know how to

do this on my own." And when you get to

that place, he doesn't leave you

wondering. He actually teaches you. And

from here, we're going to look at four

ways

that we can level up into our prayer

life. And the very first one is this:

When you pray,

if you want to level up in your prayer

life, then you should realize that

you're not praying into the air,

you're praying to a

person.

And Jesus goes on to say in our passage

in verse 9, he says, "This, then, is how

you should pray.

Our Father in heaven."

Now, that raises an important question,

isn't it?

Does calling God Father mean God is

male?

Why not heavenly mother?

Or heavenly being? Or heavenly deity?

Those are fair questions because Jesus

himself taught that God is spirit.

The disciple John, who knew Jesus

intimately, he said that God is love.

So, why does Jesus tell us to pray our

father?

What is Jesus doing?

I think that Jesus is inviting us into

something much deeper than a concept.

There's no special formula when we pray.

In fact, the Apostle Peter, who was

right there when Jesus taught the

disciples about prayer, he would later

write in his letter and he would say,

"Cast your cares on him

because he cares for you."

Don't cast your cares on him because

he's powerful, even though that's true,

but because he cares for you.

That means that prayer is relational.

Not only that, but prayer is personal

and prayer is intimate.

I'm going to be vulnerable for a second.

My relationship with my earthly father

hasn't been the best while he was still

around.

And after he passed away, I became a

Christ follower, which was 16 years ago,

and I remember people telling me that

when you pray to God, and I've seen in

scripture, that when you pray to God,

you should address him as your heavenly

father. Now, because my relationship

with my earthly father hasn't been the

best,

I honestly struggled for a good amount

of time

to address God as my heavenly father.

And maybe you're here today and you can

relate to that.

Maybe the relationship you've had with

your father hasn't been the best,

either. In fact, maybe the relationship

you have right now with your father is

not that great or intimate.

Well, the good news is that your

heavenly father knows that.

And not only that he knows that, but he

appreciates that and he's willing to

enter into that tension

with you as he did with me to just talk

about it.

But if Jesus was right, and I think he

was,

we might not be able to level up in our

prayer life if we don't see God as our

heavenly father.

Think about that

as you go into your week. And then from

there Jesus continues. He says that our

father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Here is the part we often skip. Hallowed

be your name, which uh simply means holy

is your name.

When we pray, as we sang,

God the God of who created the universe,

the galaxies, the stars, the mountains

and the oceans, when we pray, we should

actually pause and acknowledge whom we

are addressing.

The great God who has no equal. The

creator of the universe. Yes, he's

intimate, he's close, he's personal, but

in the same time he is infinite.

And when we rush past acknowledging who

God is, we might actually reduce God

when we pray to a good luck in charm.

Right? Or maybe to a last glance in the

mirror before we leave the home.

Or even to a wish me luck before an exam

or a project that we have maybe to

finish.

That's why what comes next in what Jesus

says is the place in prayer where we

recenter.

What comes next is the purpose of

prayer, and with the purpose of prayer

comes the second way we can level up in

our prayer life, and that is when we

pray, we should pray with a pattern.

What does it mean to pray with a pattern

when Jesus says it? He said, "Your

kingdom come,

your will be done on Earth as it is in

heaven."

Now, you might be looking at that, and

you're thinking, "Hold on a second.

His kingdom? What about my kingdom?

What about my family? My job? My lack of

job? My health? My fears? My bills? My

son who's struggling? My daughter who

won't talk to me? What about me?"

To which I really think that Jesus is

smiling and saying, "That's already

covered.

Remember, your father in heaven sees

that and knows what you need before you

even ask.

It's so easy to forget that part.

So, with this in our mind, when we

recognize that we're addressing our

heavenly father, what else is it to say

except that God, you first.

Your agenda first. Your kingdom first.

Your will first. My kingdom can wait.

Maybe the purpose of prayer is not to

impose our will to God.

Maybe the purpose of prayer is to

surrender

our will to God.

And why am I saying this? Because Jesus

modeled this himself. This wasn't

something that Jesus only taught. He

modeled it. This is how he prayed.

Remember the Garden of Gethsemane? Just

hours before he was arrested, Jesus

said, "Father, I dread this. There's

nothing in me about this that I'm

looking for." But then, he prayed the

words that changed history.

He said, "Not my will,

but yours be done."

Have you ever wondered what hung in the

balance of this prayer?

Or more importantly, who hung in the

balance? You did.

I did. The entire world did.

Jesus' surrender to his father's will

actually opened the way for our

salvation.

And guess what? Jesus is inviting us to

pray

as he prayed.

According to him, if we approach prayer

with any other posture than surrender

to God's will, maybe we're missing the

point. So, we pray, "Your kingdom come,

your will be done

on Earth as it is in heaven."

Right here.

Right now. I pray your kingdom come,

your will be done in my life, in my

marriage, in my family, in my workplace,

in my relationships, with my influence,

wherever I have responsibility,

may heaven begin right here.

Do you know what? Why does this even

matter?

I tell you why. Until our will is

surrendered to God's will, what's the

point of praying anyway?

Because if my name is Jimmy and I want

God to give me gimme

right?

I'm not really seeking God.

I'm just trying to use him.

I see God as a vending machine or a nap

that exists to solve my problems.

How many of you know that God is better

than the ChatGPT app?

Not that the app is wrong or bad, but

God is better.

Do you know it's so easy when we think

that God, you know, is just there to

fulfill our own needs. It's so easy to

come with this objection and arrive at

this conclusion. If there is a God,

then he should answer my prayer.

And if he doesn't, maybe

God isn't even there.

And honestly, that's understandable.

Only when we see God as someone who

gives us what we want, when we want, or

we see him as a divine healer with when

we need a miracle,

or we see him as a lifeguard who's ready

to jump into action when we drown, like

my sister's friends.

But what if God is more than that?

What if his plan

includes you,

but is bigger than you?

What if his plan involves you, but it

doesn't revolve around you?

Do you know what's funny? As humans, we

end up in so many messes, and then most

of the time our prayers sound like,

"God, get me out of this place." Right?

Have you ever behaved your way into a

situation you didn't want to be in, and

then ended up praying your way out of

the very situation you got yourself

into?

I did. In fact, the most recent one is

at the beginning of the year when I

wanted to change our car.

Now, bear with me for a second. At the

beginning of the year, I thought that

we're going to change our car from a

manual one to an automatic one as I

wanted my precious wife to start

driving. So, I've done a bit of a

research and I have found a Range Rover

car. Beautiful car, isn't it? It wasn't

like a new car. It was like 2017, wasn't

that expensive, probably around 12

grand. And I contacted the guy, went to

see the car, I liked the car, I put a

deposit on the car, and then in 1 week

time went to collect the car. So, I'm

driving the car back home and after 3

weeks of having the car, one day on the

way to work, I'm hearing a noise and the

car stopped working.

Now, what happened? The recovery came,

brought it to a garage, and guess what?

The engine of the car it's toasted.

Now, one thing I didn't tell you is that

the way I paid for the car was actually

cash.

Not with a bank transfer. I mean, why

would you do that, right?

So, obviously, I knew I shouldn't do

that. I had that knowledge on the

inside, don't do that. But yet, I went

for it. And once I found myself in the

mess, I catched myself praying. God,

help me. Rescue me. Save me. What am I

going to do? I loaned even the money.

And now the money to fix the car cost

more than the half of the price of the

car.

Now, does God answer these kind of

prayers? Sometimes, he does.

But his heart,

even for me cuz I'm speaking to me even

though I have the mic, his heart is to

help us to avoid having to pray the kind

of prayers by be beginning our everyday

surrendered

to his will.

Now, with that being said, you might ask

yourself,

having

prayer request, is it okay? Is it okay

to have prayer requests? Is it okay to

pray for certain things or situations or

other people? Absolutely. You can pray

about all the things that are near and

dear to you. As the Apostle Peter said,

he said, "Cast your cares upon him, for

he cares for you." And from here,

actually, Jesus tells us to pray for

three specific things, which actually

covers most of our needs. And with that

comes the third way to level up in our

prayer, which is to pray with precision.

And Jesus invites us to pray for three

things: for provision, for pardon, and

for protection. And the old star would

be

And pardon is the forgiveness side. Now,

when it comes to provision, he says that

when you pray, you should pray, "Give us

today our daily bread."

And when you pray like that, you're

actually declaring, "God, I need you.

I depend on you."

And this is so important because we live

in a country like Ireland where

generally speaking, I mean, generally

speaking, you we don't get into trouble

because of our lack,

we get into trouble because of our

access

or access, sorry.

And it's so easy to take things for

granted,

right? And because of that, we expect

things,

we feel entitled to things, and we

become ungrateful for things. Now,

what's antidote to that, you might ask?

Well, I think the antidote is found in

God's word again in the Old Testament

and something that the book of Proverbs

teaches. And you know, I dare you to use

these verses right here as a prayer to

pray with and see what happens. But it

says, "Keep falsehood from me." We can

deal with that, right? "Give me neither

poverty nor riches, but give me only my

daily bread." That right here is not

really a Western prayer, isn't it?

But why is he saying to pray like that?

"Otherwise, I may have too much and

disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?'

or I may become poor and steal and so

dishonor the name of my God."

The reality is that we're not just

vulnerable when we have too little,

we're also vulnerable when we have too

much.

Too little could tempt us to steal. Too

much could tempt us to forget God.

I mean, surely you've heard or know of

someone who no longer needed to trust

God and no longer maybe even had time to

come for church and prioritized the

things of God because they became

successful and self-sufficient.

Now, is it wrong to be successful? Oh,

no, absolutely not. But it is wrong when

you forget the one

who made you successful.

Right? So, I dare you to pray these

prayers.

Now, we go to the next part that Jesus

invites us to pray, which is to pray for

pardon, for forgiveness, right? And he

says, "And forgive our debts as we have

also forgiven our debtors."

Now, that right here, that's a serious

prayer.

Why is it serious? Because

if you don't only pray but act in

accordance to it, that means that you

might when you're praying that what

you're actually saying is this,

"I surrender my need to get even." When

you choose to forgive. "I surrender my

right to hold on to the offense.

And I surrender my desire to make them

pay."

Now, if you're a Christ follower in the

room, you don't have any option or any

other option.

In fact, let me say in in a more kind

way. If you're a Christ follower in the

room, you don't have an option.

Because you have received forgiveness

from God, you are called to extend

forgiveness to others. We don't forgive

because people deserve to be forgiven.

We have received grace, and therefore,

we extend it as well.

Now, if you're here and you're not And

by the way, yeah, forgiveness, it's

evidence that we follow Jesus.

But if you're here and you're not a

Christ follower, not a Jesus follower,

here is the harsh reality for you.

Forgiveness is difficult.

But unforgiveness is difficult, too.

So, choose your difficult.

And the trick with unforgiveness is

this, when you refuse to forgive, you're

allowing someone who hurt you to keep

controlling you.

Yes, they might be out of your life

physically, but they're still

influencing your emotions, your peace,

your joy, your relationships, and even

your future.

So, choose your difficult.

But let's be honest for a second. To ask

God to do something for us

that we are unwilling to do for others,

that kind of creates a distorted picture

of God, isn't it? And it reduces God to

a cleaning product.

How many of you know that prayer is more

than getting God to clean up our mess?

Prayer brings us into alignment with

God. That's uh When it comes to

forgiveness, forgiveness, it's a posture

of surrender.

So, would you maybe consider

even this week or the next week or next

month to forgive the person

that maybe you have to forgive? Would

you consider doing that? It's in your

own benefit. And that doesn't mean that

you need to restore the relationship

with that person, because forgiveness

and reconciliation is not the same

thing. Sometimes that's not That

actually might not be even wise or

healthy. Maybe you need to keep the

distance. But, would you be willing

maybe to to release that person so you

can get healed from the inside out? And

if you can do it,

I want to invite you to surrender that

to Jesus.

Because forgiveness, actually, it's

surrender to our heavenly Father.

At the third thing, Jesus talks about

protection. We can pray for protection.

Protection from what?

He says, "And lead us not into

temptation."

Let me make it a bit more personal, and

lead me not into temptation.

Now, do you pray like this?

Do you pray like this?

Cuz you can't be planning to lead

yourself into temptation, and then pray

not to be led there.

Right?

Jesus says, "And lead us not into

temptation, but deliver us from the evil

one." Now, the definition of this term

deliver actually means to preserve or to

rescue one from danger.

Now, if we're honest, when we lead

ourselves into temptation, what we're

actually saying is this, "Well, it's not

that dangerous." Right?

How many of you know that sin will take

us further than we want to go?

Sin will keep us longer than we want to

stay

and cost us more than we want to pay.

But, the good news is this, that there

is a way, there is a path that can lead

you away from temptation, and there is a

path that can deliver us from the evil

one. And that path is not called

discipline, even though it requires

discipline, it's not called just

self-control,

even though it requires self-control,

the path that can lead us away from

temptation, it's saying yes to Jesus'

original invitation, "Follow me."

Why is Jesus inviting us to follow him?

Because he knows what we're going

through. In fact, the author of the book

of Hebrews says about Jesus that we do

not have a high priest, which is Jesus,

who is unable to empathize with our

weaknesses, but we have one who has been

tempted in any way, just as we are, and

yet he did not sin. So, because he can

relate to our going through, the next

verse says that we can actually approach

God's throne of grace with confidence

so that we may receive what? Mercy and

what? Grace to help us in our time of

need.

But do you pray like that? And lead me

not into temptation.

And number four, the last fourth way

that we can actually that can actually

help us to level up in our prayer life

is that we can actually pray in power.

Pray in power.

What I mean by that? Well, James, the

brother of Jesus, was pretty close to

him as he was his brother. He would

later write in his letter and he would

say in the book of James chapter 5, says

James 5 · chapter mention

that the the prayer of a righteous

person is powerful and effective. Elijah

was a human being even as we are.

But look at this. He prayed earnestly

that it would not rain and it did not

rain on the land for 3 and 1/2 years.

How crazy is that? Do you want to know

what's even more crazier?

Powerful prayer it's available to

ordinary people like you and me. Why?

Because Elijah was a human being.

Even as we are. He had emotions.

Scripture talks about at some stage he

had some fears. He was afraid of a woman

even.

So he had doubts, he had fears, yet he

prayed.

And it did not rain for 3 and 1/2 years.

Now you might look at this and you might

get stuck on this word righteous and you

might be thinking that righteous means

that you need to be perfect. But

righteous doesn't mean you need to be

perfect and actually what makes you

righteous is that when you when put your

trust in Jesus and in his sacrifice at

the cross, scripture teaches that God

made Jesus to be seen for us so that we

come we can become the righteousness

the righteousness of God in Christ.

That's why our prayers have power. And

that's why we should actually believe

that God still hears, that God still

open doors, that God can restore

relationships, that God can provide,

that God can intervene, and that he can

save people.

So, pray in power.

So, before we wrap up this message,

let's look again at the four ways that

can actually help us to level up in

prayer. When you pray

when you pray, it's good to pray.

Not if you pray, but when you pray,

right?

Pray to your heavenly Father who knows

you, loves you, and has a an

extraordinary purpose for your life. Not

only that, but pray with a pattern. Say,

"God, your kingdom come, your will be

done in this situation, in my family, in

my life." Number three, pray with

precision.

Use specific prayers.

We're actually encouraged to pray for

what? For provision,

for pardon, which is forgiveness, for

protection. You can actually play pray

for your close family who maybe don't

know God and they're desperate without

hope.

They can't see the light at the end of

the tunnel. You can pray for that

believing

that your prayers are powerful,

that we can actually pray in power.

Now, can you imagine

what God could could do in you,

through you, and around you, if you

leveled up in your prayer life and pray

like that.

Imagine waking up even tomorrow morning,

and instead of carrying everything

yourself,

you bring everything in prayer to your

heavenly Father, who cares for you.

What if prayer could be more than

something we do when life gets

difficult?

What if prayer can become the place we

go every day?

Every day to find peace,

to find direction, to find strength and

confidence

in God.

With that being said, let's stand and as

the band will lead us into a last song,

into a response time,

what better way to respond other than to

pray together?

So, I'd love for us to pray out loud all

together the prayer that Jesus taught

us,

the Lord's Prayer. And if you grew up

praying this prayer, and maybe even been

abused of the many times you've been

asked to be prayed, and it had no effect

in your life, I challenge you to pray

this prayer right now with me.

With the

thought that

you're not just repeating words,

but actually you're addressing your

heavenly Father,

who knows you.

This is an invitation

to declare his greatness,

to surrender to his will,

and to acknowledge our dependence on

him.

So, if you're comfortable, repeat after

me. So, I'm going to say it first, you

wait until I finish, and then you're

going to repeat. You ready? Here we go.

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on Earth

as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive our debts

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom

and the power

and the glory forever.

Amen. Amen.