PRAYER (IN GOOD TIMES IN BAD TIMES) | Eld Terence

You're listening to a message to go from ast church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

Title prayer in good times and in bad times? Hey, guys,

do we only pray to the Lord when things are

going bad? Normally? That's a very honest answer, which is true.

You know. It is only when things really are going

bad that we come to the Lord and ask why

is that? Why is it that we do not go

to the Lord in time in good times? If God

is only a resource, then probably we'll only go to

him when we don't have lah. But if God is

a savior, if he is our friend, if he is

a confidant, if he is everything to us, we will

also go to him in good times. Why you only

go to your friend in bad times? No? Isn't it

in good times? You? Hey? You know what happened to

me or not? What is friend testing him? Right or not?

How many of you go to your friends and share

good restaurant you've been to? Do do you keep it

to yourselves? No? But you see, if you are like

most of us who pray to God only in bad times,

we will only tell the friends about the lousy restaurant

you went to. We will never tell them about a

good restaurant, Craig, We'll keep that to ourselves. Is that

the way God has meant prayer to be. No, And

over the years that I've learned, prayer is much more

than just getting down on my knees. It's much more

than just believing God for things. But pray is really

about acknowledging the existence of God. That he's there every

day of your life. You know, he becomes real to

you even though you don't see him. And that's a

good place to be because that means that you at

any time can have a conversation with the Lord that's

going to help lead and guide you. But you see,

if we only get to God when things are going bad,

and that's the only time we go to the Lord,

what if we don't get an answer. Wow, there's a

time we don't get an answer. Well, let's go into that. Okay.

So I believe God has answered my prayers so very

long ago. I believe that. Do I believe that's the

end of it? Is it sufficient that God answered my

prayers in the past. Guys, you always hear a lot

of testimonies they share with you. But things that God

has done for me in the past, and then some

of you may be But what about the present. Well,

I praise the Lord that I've been able to share

with you things that God does for me in the present,

and I will share a couple of them again today,

all right. So the Lord is there for you in

the past. He is strengthening your views about Him so

that He will always be there in your eyes in

the present. You see, if you don't have a past

with the Lord, how can you have a present with him?

So never ever look down on your past with God.

Never look down in your past with God. It helps

you develop an understanding in the strength about Him and

you in the present. Why not you build relationships your

parents in the past? Door near? Because if you build

your relationship in the past, only in and when you're

in the present, you can't bothered about them. Is that

the way it is? No, In fact, some of us

can't be bothered with a present with the parents in

the present because of how we have a relationship with

them in the past. That's the other flip side. But

does it remain that way in the Lord. It's not

supposed to. So this is not my message, but I'll

just tell this to you. If you have a bad

relationship with your parents now, and this I believe is prophetic,

get your act together and build a relationship with them.

Get your act together, forgive them and move on. Get

your act together and be good to them, because your

life depends upon how you deal with your parents. And

is prophetic. Okay, So I don't know who that is for,

but I praise the Lord. You will find some answers

in that. So why not, now, that's the question? Why not? Now? See?

The thing is the key takeaways of how God has

helped us in the past. These are a few things

that we have to remember. Are we thankful and are

we appreciative? You know, if we are not thankful to

God for the things He's done with us in the past,

we will not be able to build a relationship with

him in the present. Why does scripture always say remember

remember what? Remember things in the How can you remember

things in the present. They haven't happened yet. You can

only remember things from the past because it's gone. And

scripture says, read remember now, remember what most of us

remember when somebody hurt us? Is that what we're supposed

to remember? How many of you think that's why we're

supposed to remember praise the Lord. No hands up. That's

not what scripture is telling us to remember. It is

telling us to remember God. Remember what he's done for us,

Remember how he's helped us. Remember God has been real

in our life. How many of us have had experiences

where God came through in our past? We do. I

remember that at the age of ten, there was something

happening in the house, something that was quite serious. And

in my mind, my tenure old mind, and I had

not known the Lord yet. I prayed and I just said, God,

send this person to the house and the problem will

be solved. I was ten years old or eleven years old,

six or seven years before I knew the Lord personally,

and that's what I said. I said, God, my God, Please.

I didn't know too much about in Jesus name. I

didn't know about the structure of how press should be.

But I just knew that I needed to pray to God.

And the moment I finished that prayer, there was a

honk on the horn and we looked out. My house

had a driveway, okay, and there he was at the gate,

this very person that I had asked God to send.

So he came to the house, and you were happy

to see him. A Scotsman. By the way, he's a Scotsman.

When he talked, can't bell I understand what he's saying,

but and this was this is and he said this,

He said, I had no idea why I'm here. I

was on my way home, and all of a sudden

I had this very deep urge to come here, and

he was. Then the problem was solved. That spoke to

me about a God. Then, so when I got into

a personal relationship with the Lord, Wow, how powerful it

was to know that God has been in my corner

since the very beginning. Be thankful. Second thing is what

have we learned? You see, when God does something for

us in the past, is it just for the sake

of that thing happening? Or is there a lesson to

be learned? And this is a very important point when

you come to the part later I'll be talking about asking,

so what have we learned? Every single situation that happens

in our life, every answer that the Lord has given,

every prayer that he's responded to, is something for us

to learn. If we learn how to use it, we

can see it happen again and again. And again, what

is the proof of this? Well, you know how many

of us when we buy a I would like to

say video player, but I don't think this exists anymore.

All right, uh, tv box? Hey, let's go with a

TV box. If you learn the procedure, and if you

learn from a manual how to operate it, how wonderful

it is you will be able to do all kinds

of things with Kragna. How many of us just use

Excel plus minus, subtraction and division. Later on we learn

amphersend some brackets if look up, you know some of

these other things? All right, control C, control F. See

when we learn the shortcuts and we get more proficient,

doesn't the program become more responsive to us? Man? When

I first learned this, I learned macros. You know, there

was some time ago. I don't need it now because

those days you didn't have multiple worksheets. Now you've got

multiple worksheets. You don't need macro really la huh. But

those days, no worksheet, one worksheet, one open. I actually

learned macros, and I tell you I had a lot

of fun with it. With the macro, I could use

the macros to draw up tables all with the push

of a button. So I don't need to go copying

piacee create a table. I just create one macro, pup

the whole book. She's done, you see. So it's about

what have we learned? Are we unfaithful or weak in

trusting in his providence? Ah? The past will teach us

about our weaknesses, our feelings, the problems we have with

trusting the Lord. And this is again very important. How

many of you know that if you know the weakness

of your car, you won't purposely, you know, use that weakness.

How should I mean? Okay, if your car, if you

know your car tire is bald, will you go drifting

or not? You will drift off the cliff. That will

be the end of your story. But how many of

you know your tires are really good? And only then

maybe you may give it a little bit more juice

because you have learned about what failure can happen right

in life? Failure is one of the best lessons you know.

If everything good happens to you, one failure will destroy you.

Do you know that? Which is why I never tell

my children how clever you are? Why are you so clever? Ever?

If they go through life hearing how clever they are. Certainly,

when they go to university and they fail one paper,

you know what will be the response, I'm not clever.

I can't do this and that's it. They finished one failure,

So how did I validate my kids? Wow, you've done

so well. You put in the effort and you see

the result. It's so good. I love the effort you

put into it because it has produced a good result.

And all through the years, what are they hearing? You

put in the effort, you get the result. So now

they go to university and they flunk their first paper.

You know what is their thought. I didn't work hard enough,

I didn't put in enough effort. I will succeed. I

just got to give it its due. So are we

unfaithful or weak in trusting the Lord in his providence?

So so what can we do to let go of fear?

Another thing that prevents us is fear. And you know,

one of the greatest, I would say greatest, one of

the worst things is that we fear the Lord will

not answer. You know, some of us don't pray because

we fear the Lord will not answer. That is like

sitting in a car fearing it will not take us

to the next destination. And because of that fear not

putting the key inside and turning it on, have fear

the car will not go, so I don't even try.

You see, these are the things. They are real things.

They are issues that either push us or stop us.

So do we think that our problems if he's forgot okay,

I think there's a grammatical error. There is not if

it's easy bad English. Do we think that our problems

is for God? Or problems are for God to fail us?

You know, we always believe that God is this nasty

old man who's trying to fail us. I don't even

had teachers like that in school, who always seem like

they want to fail you, that in their minded they

fail you. Later on you will pass. These are guys

who did not understand how mentality works. You keep telling

somebody you'll be a failure all your life, you know

what will happen. They will end up being a failure

all there. Why, guys, God is not like that. If

you study scripture, God has never tested us to fail us.

He has always tested us to prove us. That's a

big difference. You go to the gym, you want to

prove to yourself that you can lift twenty kg's. So

what do you do You lived twenty cage's. If you're

not going to prove to yourself that you can do it,

you will always, for the rest of your life lived

fifteen CAGs. Will you get the desired results? No, because

you didn't prove to yourself you can do it. See,

God's in the business of proving to you that his

belief in you will produce great results. You believe God

believes in you, You better believe it because he said,

go into the world and preach the gospel, making disciples.

Did he give that job to angels? I mean, if

one angel appears now, suddenly comes here, He's like about

seven feet tall, he's got wings. Let's stretch out. Some

angels got four wings, some even got six. Don't ask

me where I'm getting this from, but you know you

gotta study. Right now, he appears to seven feet tall,

two wings, white, long blonde hair, handsome, not a blemish

on him. And he comes and he tells you the

Lord will answer your prayer. You believe him or not?

Of course you will, you know, but you will also

There are also some who will not believe you know

it's in scripture. When he appeared before John the Baptist Father,

and he said, you're gonna have a son. Ha ha,

How can this be? You will not open your mouth

until the son is born? Why because you did not

believe me I'm a messenger of God. But then he

appears to marry. The Lord is favoring you. You're gonna

bear a son. His name shall be Jesus. But I'm

I'm not married, said, don't worry about that. God will

take care of it. Be to me as you have said.

And in faith? What did she said? My soul does

magnified the name of the Lord. Ah. Do you see

the difference? Guys, Your God believed that you had this

capacity to go into the world and preach the gospel,

to save people, to see people come to the Lord.

He didn't give that job too, Angel, He gave it

to us. So do you think God believes in you?

If there's no scripture that speaks clearly of that. This

should help you understand. Hey, who was he talking to?

You know, he was talking to his one hundred and

twenty believers, who were what cowards, who had run away,

who had rejected him, who had denied him who did

not believe in him. Those are the ones he spoke to.

You know, you read scripture. This is the one he

told us to them. You know, the faith of the

Lord in us is stronger than our own faith in ourselves.

You better believe it, because the power the Holy Spirit

will come upon you and make you something great in

the name of Jesus. So you say I cannot do it,

It's all right, you can't. But with the power of

the Holy Spirit working through you can do all things

through Christ who strengthens you. Which is why I don't

mind sharing Jesus with unbelievers. You know why, at the

age of sixty five, I don't care anymore what they

think of me. I don't care anymore they think I'm crazy.

I don't care anymore they say no because they're not

saying no to me. I didn't die for their sins.

If they reject Jesus, who are saying no to You

were talking about good restaurants, right, You tell your friend

you've got a good restaurant, come in me, and the

guy says no, I don't ago. You get offended. A

you don't care. You already know the restaurant is good.

He doesn't want to take you up on it. That's

his business right along. You will still go to that

restaurant because the restaurant is serving goodoo. So when you

are talking about Jesus, Jesus is good food for the soul.

Someone don't accept it as their business. You are enjoying

it already. See the devil caught us thinking that we

need to fall apart when somebody rejects us. No need love,

There is no need to fall apart. Okay, So what

has this got to do with prayer? This is just

the foundation and scripture in Matthew seven seven says ask

and it shall be given to you. Seek and you

will find. Knock and it will be open to you.

And Matthew seven eight, it's just for everyone who asks,

what happens receives, and he who knocks, he who seeks, fines,

and to him who knocks it will be open. Okay,

what man among you, if his son asks for bread,

will give him a stone. Verse ten, All we ask

for a fish will give him a serpent. This is

the wonderful part. Seven eleven. If you, then, being evil,

know how to give good gifts to your children, how

much more will your father, who is in heaven, give

good things to those who ask him. Okay, I didn't

do this in Jesus voice. No impact. If I just

see it like that, there's no impact. See, I always

imagine when I read scripture, how would my Jesus be

Ask and it will be given to you? Seek and

you will find. Knock and it will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds,

And to him who knocks it will be opened. Or

what man is there among you, who, if his son

asks for bread, will give him a stone, Or he

asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?

But if you, then, being evil, know how to give

good gifts to your how much more will your father,

where is in heaven, give good things to those who

ask him? What difference or not? That's how the word

of Lord speaks to me. That's how it becomes alive

to me. Because I don't believe in a weak Jesus.

I believe that when Jesus speaks, strength comes in to me.

So Scripture says, now, ask ask you know this world? Ask?

Is it means ask? It also means to beg to

call for crave, desire require. My mom always just she

tells me. You know, every time I see her, she says,

you know, I talk to the Lord and I say,

here comes the beggar, Here comes the beggar. Eh. You know,

I used to go into I used to tell her, Mom,

can you stop saying that you are a child of

the Lord. You're a child of God. You don't have

to beg from the Lord because he is your father.

And then I read the scripture and then I understood it.

And then now I never stopped my mom from saying

here comes the beggar, because the Lord hears her. And

of course when she tells me that here comes the

bigger she'll smile. So it' said. You know, it's a

thing that she has going with the Lord. That's fine. Hey, guys,

if you got to big from someone, not big from

the God. Don't beg from your friends, don't beg from

your boss. If you have to beg, beg from God.

Ask ask. You know, this morning, as I was praying

for you on my walk, the Lord help me understand this.

See the word in James chapter four, verse three. It

says that some of us ask, but we don't receive

because we asked to spend it on our own desires,

right or not. Inherently, this Lord is actually teaching me

about this word ask. Okay, so I can help you.

And you notice that that in James, asking and not

getting is in relation to spending a lot of times

when we ask, we ask for money, right, we ask

for money, and the Bible says to spend it on

our own hedonistic desires, our own selfish desires. Hey, God

is not against you asking for money, all right. And

you know that asking is a process of learning. And

this is what the Lord told me this morning. It's

okay if you don't get. You know, it's okay when

you ask and you don't get, you know why. It's

the process of you learning how and what to ask for.

I'll give you an example my children as they're growing up. Daddy,

I want a horse. I want a cat, Diddy, I

want a dog. I never said no to my children.

I always gave them this answer. I said, yes, I

will get you a horse. Yes I will buy you

a dog. Yes I will get you a cat. What

you got to do first is you've got to grow up,

get married, have your own house, and then I'll buy

these things for you. See. I never said no. I

didn't even say wait, I said yes. You know, I

actually went and looked for a horse for them. There

was an ad in the papers selling a horse. I

actually went to look, you know, I went, I went

to look. And then when I had to look at

the horse because my brother in law had a big place,

so he said, yeah, go ahead, hit the horse here

for them, since they spend their time after school in

my brother in law's house. Then he said go and

have look. So I went to look at the horse. Unfortunately,

this horse looked like it was about to to go

knock me cannot move. Said no, this is not the horse.

But that was the only horse that came up for

saying okay. But the thing is I actually went to look.

But they grew older, they got married, they got their

own house. Do you know one of them has got

three dogs. One of them has a dog and a cat. Well,

you know what's the wonderful thing. They got what they wanted.

But I didn't have to pay for it. So isn't

God good? See, when you ask from the Lord, sometimes

you get. You know, when you were young, you asked

your dad for a car, Dad, I want a car

and I grow up. When you grow up the door,

your father gives you a car, right, so you ask rightly?

You got all right? But let's just say your father

is a bus driver and you tell your dad I

want the latest Mercedes bended sports car. Will you get

it or not? Will your father give it to you

or not? No? Then, over time you actually learn what

you can ask for and what not to ask for.

Am I right? Even in your places of work, you

will learn what you can ask for and what you

cannot ask for. So Scripture is actually telling us that

when we ask for the Lord and sometimes we don't

get it's just learning process, our process of learning what

we can ask o God for and what we cannot

or sometimes asking the Lord and learning we have to

wait for it, asking from the Lord and say no,

this is not for you. So asking is a process

of us learning. Don't ever be afraid to ask from

the Lord, you see, because even if God says no,

you have learned a valuable lesson. So now I ask

the Lord for a lot of things, and I tell

you sometimes I get it. I don't know if I

shared this testimony with you, but I probably did. I

will just remind you that One of my most recent

asking from the Lord resulted in me receiving something that's

worth six figures without me having to pay anything because

I asked correctly. Then the next thing is seek. Scripture

is sick and you will find. Seek and you will find.

To seek means to be about looking for something, desiring, endeavoring,

inquiring for seek, You inquire, you require, you look for something.

Scripture is talking now about ask. Don't be afraid to ask.

The next thing you know is seek look for things. Guys,

how many of you are seeking a life's partner. Don't

put up your hands. You're but the Bible says, seek

and you will find wow life partner. You seek, you'll find.

Seek is also about asking the Lord for wisdom. You're

seeking an answer. This week has been a strange week

for me. My mom, who is now eighty nine years old,

is suffering from a severe cognitive decline. Severe In fact,

I would consider her to be ten percent of her

normal self. So sometime last week when I met up

with her, she thought I was her brother. Not that

I look like a brother, but she thought I was

a brother who had just recently passed away. She's now

the last of her generation. My mother is the last

of her generation, the absolute last out of eighteen siblings.

She's the last one. She's eighty nine. And so did

I correct it?

No?

I did not, Hi, Jerry, Yes, it's okay. Whatever makes

a happy ler, you know. But I was a little

bit sad that my own mother couldn't recognize me. So

what did I do? I asked the Lord, Lord, you

know this saddens me. I knew something about it. Several

hours later, my brother writes and said, I went to

visit mom and dad, and you know what Mom said,

I said, Terence came to visit us just now. And

then I was thinking, oh God, praise the Lord. That's

so good. I feel so good about that. Seek Then

day before yesterday, that's Friday, right there, Friday here, Friday Friday,

my mother was taken into the hospital to do some

tests because my mother had not eaten for a week.

All right, is not eaten for a week. So my

brother took her in and then I went there and

took over at five o'clock. I was there in the

hospital from five in the evening to four the next

morning while my mother went through the tests and did whatever.

You know, So it was really By the time I

got home and got to sleep was about five five

am on Saturday morning. I was so exhausted, I was

so mentally drained. But what I wanted to tell you

a seeker, I was in emergency, and my word, how

many people come in for accidents. You will have no idea.

It's like every half an hour somebody has been wheeling.

Almost all of this is accidents on motorbikes. And one

look at the estate you will realize something. They never

wore gloves, they didn't wear a jacket, they didn't wear shoes,

and they wore an incomplete helmet. So I was thinking myself,

thinking of getting a bike again. So the Lord is

actually showing you all these things. Then he's telling me, okay,

you know, if you're covered up and wearing all the

right things, you'll be okay. Anyway, as the story goes,

there was two Malay guys, I think they were maybe

in their twenties. So they were sitting right by my side,

and they came in so you could see, you know,

blood little knuckles and their hands and the chin and

the face and all that. You know, they were there

and they are actually from Puchong. But this hospital was Clanging,

so where they met the accident, the ambulance took them

to Clang emergency. So there they were sitting there. This

was about seven thirty seven forty in the evening. So

while they were being attended to, he asked the nurse,

can we get some food? You know, because we haven't

broken fast, we can get some food. And then the

nurse said, I think you can get but after you

have to wait until the doctors see you. Okay. The

moment I heard that, ask the Lord lord. Then he said,

and I heard the Lord say, go and buy them food.

I do not tell you this for you to think

I'm somebody great. No, I don't tell you this to

tell I'm something. You know, I'm very special what I do.

And the reason I tell you this is to tell

you that you can also have all these things happening

in your life. Because God is no respector of men,

meaning that he doesn't draw a distinction between me and you.

If it happens for me, it happens for you. Okay,

let's get that clear. And in scripture, when I refer

to you, I also mean me, so politically I'm correct. Now,

don't get offended. So the Lord said, buy them food.

So my caregiver was outside because I was in the

room with my mom. So I told the caregiver, here's money.

Please go and get this and this and this for them.

You know, when I gave it to them, they were

so grateful. It was so grateful. You mean to say

God would care for them. Hey, God is so compassionate.

He loves them as much as he loves me. The

love is the same. For God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever so

happens that I'm one of the whosoever, all right. But

God's compassion is for everyone. And God could think of

these two young guys who had fasted and hadn't eaten,

and they were so grateful, and thank God I gave

them the food because you know what time finally after

their initial test was over so they could eat, was

about ten to eleven. They left at two am, after

all their tests were completed two three am. I left

a little bit later than that. God is full of compassion.

He's telling you that you can be that someone to somebody. See,

I thought the Lord answer, I said, Lord, what do

you think? He said, go feed them. I heard it

feed them. Seeking is like that. You may not have

a clear direction, but you seek and you ask the Lord.

He will help you. Sometimes when you ask the Lord,

he will make you the answer. And God makes you

the answer. Isn't it wonderful where God can make you

the answer? Seek? And then it says, a knock as

in a door knock, is the Lord asking you to

climb mountain a Balu. By the way, Atkinson Tawai researched,

it was put up in honor of the first District

officer of Jesselton. His name is George Francis Atkinson, whose

father happened to have been a pastor. He sent me

the picture. I better research and find out what's happening.

What's all about? Now? You know? So? Anyway, God doesn't

say before you can answer, Before I send you the answer,

I want you to climb Mount Kinabalu ten times in

a row without a break. Go up, come down, go up,

and on the tenth time you will get your answer.

Does God do that? You know what he's telling you

to do. He's just telling you to knock on his door.

Knock on his door. Did he tell you bang on

the door? Did he tell you smash down the door?

Did he tell you rammed door? What did he say? Knock?

We are the ones who complicate things. But actually when

you when you, when you learn about prayer, it's very simple, okay,

and it means always daily whosoever you know the Lord

is is telling you that whoever asks, he's gonna he's

gonna get it. You know, whoever asks is going to

get it, you know, and the Bible says he will do,

he will come through, You'll obtain it, you will get it.

That's what that scripture seven, uh, all the way to

the end. Actually, men will ask and you will receive.

Knock seeking you will find, knock and it will be open.

It means that that this is going to happen when

you do it. Now, this whole message, this whole message

is actually a counsel that I gave to a friend

in trouble. All right, this friend in Singapore, she was

in trouble and she wrote this, she said. And that's

where it has been shaky. As I've been questioning why

a powerful, ever living God can simply confirm his existence,

his love and care, etc. By clearing all doubt. Why

does God still give free will and take on all

after taking on all the sins of men, knowing we

are sinners and will continue to sin because of evil

and bad choices. This is my friend writing to me.

I understand now what she is going through because her

mother is ninety four years old and she is the

sole caregiver of her mother. And it seemed as if

she was going crazy. So now she was in a

moment of despair, and she wrote to me, remember my

gang of four. I keep talking about my friends, my

Singapore friends, my gang of four. She's one of them,

but this one, and they are all believers. But she

didn't write this on them on the group chat. She

wrote this privately to me, so I was counseling her.

I said, God has never confirmed his existence by clearing dout.

God is never It doesn't work, you know. Forty years,

for forty years in the desert, God confirmed his existence

over and over again to the children as fire by night,

cloud by day, miracles, water from the rock, birds from

the air, manner on the ground. Forty years, God was

confirming his existence and clearing doubt. But you know what,

it didn't work. It didn't work. This is because of

the hard hearts we must never keep a hard heart,

for if there's anything that will prevent miracles from taking

place in our life, this is the one that stops

it cold a hard heart. I said, you know that

God gave free will to men at creation and not

after taking the sins of men. God gave free will

to men at creation. He did not give it after

taking the sins of men. Because God doesn't cheat. How

many of us spend two three am men in Starbucks

and go to school for our exam the next day

and say God help me, and you expect to pass.

God is not your cheat. You study and then you

say God help me. You'll you'll pass with flying colors

because you've done your part. God will help you. Understand now,

He doesn't take these Otherwise He could have at the

moment Adam and he fell, throw Satan into hell and

cause Jesus immediately to appear die for Adam sin, and

that would have been the end of it. Right. Didn't

God cheats like that? No, there was a process to go.

He allowed men to progress on with his choices. You

and I have got to learn that our choices will

progress us, either well or not so well. While working

and waiting for the right opportunity to have Jesus born.

See God's about perfection. We may not understand it, but

that doesn't mean God will change his own values. Do

you understand now? In terms of internal God, the time

he took until Jesus appeared was about a week. Actually

God acted if you talk God timer, God acted within

a week. But for us here was a few thousand years.

You have to understand. So what God gives, he does

not take away in shortcuts. Man has made a decision.

Now he'll have to work it out. So I'm explaining

to my friend. God will not take the easy way

out and have you and I handle our problems by

him doing it on our behalf or just removing it now.

He expects us to grow and be able to handle.

He expects us to mature, so he knows we will

yet sin and make bad choices. But what is what

is good is that we that he remember saying that

he has faith in us. God has faith in you

and I that we will find the right way back.

He trust us to change over time. Yeah, you're not

expected to be perfect, but tell but as you grow older,

you expected to know more and behave more rightly. So

he expects by time. You know, we will make the

right choices under one day we will look at the

litany of good choices that we have made in our lives.

That will happen. It will happen. One day you look back, say, hey,

I've been making right choices. Why you and I we

have learned, we have progressed. We know. You know you

want to ask your boss for something. Do you pick

a time and he's a bad mood. No, Over time

you'll be able to study your boss's faith. Today's the

day we better ask, and you ask, Lord, give me

a boss, give me a rasiat, sure how much you want.

It's about the right time. We will see the good

choices that we made. He didn't make us whims. You know,

God didn't make us whims. But it's proving us to

be his strong and resilient children. Just like Jesus. He

believes in you and will succeed with His help which

has given you in the Holy Spirit. This is my

counsel to her. Okay, remember, in a time of great distress,

Jesus fell on his knees in prayer and even sweated blood,

but found the strength to proceed with the will of God.

On our behalf. Did God just remove it from him? No,

you and I the tough stuff is meant to make

us tougher. God already believes you are tough and you

can manage it. I see the good choices you have made.

This is what I told her. I see the good

choices you've made. You're looking after your mom. I see this.

What you may fail to see is that everything that

you have done is a seed in his eyes. I

told her this, Everything that you've done is a seed

in his eyes to grow something good in you and

for your days to come. I told Ella Mabel, it

was so tough looking at my mother on Friday because

she was ten percent of herself. Seriously, I mean it

took the strength out of me. It exhausted me. And

it's just one full day of nine hours. It exhausted me.

She exhausted me because of what she was talking about,

what she was saying, and how she was saying and

how she was behaving. Oh so I understand, my friend.

But today I told her, elder member, you know what,

I didn't regret it. See that part of me is

not saying, ah, you know what does this have to

go through the art? No, because I realized that I

was caring for someone who cared for me all those years,

and God was giving me an opportunity to bless her back.

I felt so blessed. I didn't feel bad about it.

I was exhausted, I was thoroughly wiped out, but you

see that that was not what was driving me. And

I will end soon. Okay, So try it as I might,

despite surrounding my life to him. I do sin. We

all do. But it's not about how many times we

do mess up, but how many times we continue in

faith to seek His forgiveness and try again. That is

the strength of character, and that is the strength of faith.

It is so easy for us to say I'm a

hopeless sinner, there is no hope in me. I'm not

even going to ask the Lord to forgive me because

I'll fail again. So who have you not believed? Have

you not believed yourself? Or have you not believed God?

Because what did God say? If you ask me to forgiveness,

ask me to forgive you, I'll remove your sin as

far as the ease is from the yes. So when

I met up the millionth time and I go to God,

I'm believing God at his word. That God's word is

not dependent on what a rotten character I am, but

dependent on how good He is. And that's an important

distinction to me, because the Bible says without faith, it

is impossible to please him, for he who comes to

God must believe that he is and that He is

a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Guys, I

hope that as we enter into this time of prayer

and fast thing, that you will see that prayer is

your window of opportunity to commune with your God and

mine to see great things happen in your life. Because

when he says no to you, it's not the end.

It means you know what you're learning how to never

ask for the wrong thing again, or how to never

ask for the right thing in the wrong way. Doesn't

that make you better for the future. Yes, that's what

you call growing matured, becoming the matured child that you are.

You're looking at a person here who's got thirty years

of failures ahead of you, because most of you are

half my age, all right, So when you look at me,

my success is now come with more failures than you

have committed in your life. I got a thirty year

head start. Then when you reach my age, they say

I've come to the age of your failures. Then I say, sorry,

I got another thirty years more. I'm still ahead of you.

But you know what, it doesn't matter, because it just

means that I got thirty years more experience of learning

how those failures can be overcome in the name of Jesus.

So with that, guys, I hope you have been blessed

by this session on prayer in good times and in bad.

So even as you and I go into this time

of prayer and fasting, you're going to see great things

happen in your life. Then it becomes a joy to

pray because pray, Yes, praying is getting on your knees

and praying yeah. That is prayer. Prayer is also going

for the morning walks and talking to the Lord about

the weather. That is also prayer. Prayers. Also sitting in

your car and thinking about someone in his name, prayers

also about Lord, should I eat this today? The Lord

say no, it's bad. That's also prayer communication with the Lord.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you, God bless