Teach Us to Pray | On Earth as it is in Heaven | Matthew 6:10 | Coleton Segars

The teaching text for today is Matthew 6, verses 9 and 10.

Matthew 6:9

Jesus says, This then is how you should pray.

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is the word of the Lord.

When Teddy was growing up, around two years old, I was the primary, I was one of the primary people that Rani was at St.

Mary's and she was working at, and I worked from home working at a church.

And I was just with him a lot in during those grow-up years and things like that, which you would think that like would give me like some credibility or like some favoritism from him.

That was not my experience.

Every time Rani got home, he wanted nothing to do with me.

I don't even know if he wanted things to do with me in the midst of the time that we were together at the beginning.

But it was just, it was one of those things that stuck out to me that eventually I asked Randy about it, because I was like, like, given the choice, it's not just, I mean, she's great, obviously, but like given the choice between me and her, it was a hundred percent her and not me.

I'd be like, have my arms open.

He would run around me, push me down just to get to her.

And it got to the point where I was like, like, look, if you don't want me, I don't want you.

This is like thoughts that started to come, which is a terrible thing to think about, your two-year-old.

Um, and I was telling Rainey about it and just frustrated on this stuff, and she said something that was really brilliant, that really fundamentally changed my relationship with Teddy.

But what she said was, she's like, listen, very humbly, she was like, When you hang out with him, you take Teddy to do things that you want to do.

You take him everywhere you want to go, but you take him to do things that you want to do.

When I hang out with Teddy, I let him take me to do the things that he wants to do.

And again, she was not, she wasn't like, you don't have to do this, and I'm I'm you know, I'm just want to give you some feedback on your time together.

But when you hang out with him, you take him to do what you want to do as a father, I let him take me to do what he wants to do as a two-year-old.

Of course, he prefers to hang out with me over you.

And so I took that and tried to receive that and be teachable, and it really did.

Like it fundamentally changed my relationship with my two-year-old and on into it.

There were still things that he has to do because he's a child and I have to go do certain things.

But it did change, like, what do you want to do out in the backyard?

Because what I want to do is I want to double this thing up and pick up the leaves.

You want to pick up leaves today, two-year-old?

And he's like, Oh, not really.

Um, but that's what we're doing.

And so it did, it changed everything about our relationship, but it really began shifting it almost immediately.

And I was really grateful for that advice because it really did change something that I really cared about.

And it made something that was already fine, but made it really great, my relationship with him.

Tell you that story.

Um, because I want this message on prayer to do that for your prayer life.

I want it to be like just learn this one thing about prayer that fundamentally could change everything that you think about prayer, everything that you have understood about prayer, the way that you enter into prayer.

I want this to have a similar impact in your life.

Just learning this one thing your kingdom come, your will be done.

And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at three questions and take them question by question.

Uh, what is Jesus actually telling us to ask for is one question.

I think we have a slide here.

What does why doesn't He just do these things without our prayers?

Why do we have to pray for this?

And then what does that mean for our prayers?

And then I want to give you some practical ways to actually pray for his kingdom and will to be done on earth.

And so those three questions, we'll take them one at a time.

The first, what is it that Jesus is actually telling us to ask for?

In the verse, he says, I want you, I pray that my kingdom come, that God's kingdom come, and God's will be done.

And we need to see those things as together.

They're not two separate things, they're one and the same thing.

It's just a different expression of the same idea.

And so uh Dallas Willard in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, it's a really, really long book, and honestly, I'm not finished with it yet, but it's really, really good.

If you get a chance and you just have time to read 500 pages of theology, you're gonna love it.

Um if you don't want to read it, I do not blame you.

Um but this is what he says about the kingdom and referencing the kingdom.

He says, every last one of us has a kingdom or a queendom, and it's a realm that is uniquely our own, where our choice determines what happens.

Our kingdom is simply the range of our effective will.

They go together.

Whatever we genuinely have say over is our kingdom, and our having say over something is precisely precisely what places it within our kingdom.

Now, God's own kingdom or rule is the range of his effective will, where what he wants done is done.

Everything that obeys God and his will, whether by nature or by choice, is within his kingdom.

And so each of us has a kingdom.

You if you're if you're a homeowner and you like, I have the rules of the house, then this is this that is your kingdom that you maybe rule by yourself or with somebody else.

But it is the range of your effective will.

As long as you live under my roof, you're gonna obey my rules, and like that is your kingdom and rule.

You wouldn't call it a kingdom, but that is basically what he's saying.

And that's what he is referencing when when Jesus is referencing the kingdom of God.

It's his rule and reign that is perfectly ruled in the heavens, his will is constantly done in the heavens without any rival or any competition, anything like that.

His will is done in the heavens.

Therefore, the kingdom exists there a hundred percent.

On earth, his rule and reign expands into the earth, but it's not fully expanded in the earth because there's sin and brokenness in the earth.

And so when Jesus says to pray for his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying for God's effect, the range of his effective will to extend and to advance for more of what God's kingdom is like, for more of what he wants to do, just pray we're praying for what he wants to happen to happen in the earth.

So for example, we would never do this.

But if we uh as a nation went to Russia and said, we want your kingdom to come in the US as it is in Russia, what that would do to our country is it would change a lot of things in our country.

There would be this overtaking of Russian government and Russian rule and Russian kingdomness that would be breaking into the US.

It would change fundamentally the things that we do.

We would experience what Russian rule is like, what all of those things are like.

Again, we never do that, but that is the idea.

You're asking for a different government to come in and take over and to rule and to reign.

That's what Jesus is actually asking us to ask for.

And so, in the same way, when we pray for God's kingdom to come on earth, we're saying there is something about your kingdom.

There are qualities that exist in your kingdom.

And we want to see those qualities of your kingdom rule, what it's like to live under your kingship when you're king over someone's life.

I want to see what that's like, and I want to break that into the earth where it's not.

And we see what God's qualities are, God's kingdom qualities are, and you see those primarily in the life of Jesus and his followers.

And so if you're tr trying to figure out this is his kingdom, you have to actually consider like inside your kingdom is a certain set of qualities that if you made decisions, here are the type of the decisions that you would make.

If you ruled over someone's life, here's what that person's life would be like because you would be making decisions.

Your will would be being done in that person's life.

And again, you see those qualities in the life of Jesus.

He shows up in the Gospels and he says, The kingdom of God has come upon you.

It is here and now, it's happening in your midst.

That's what Jesus says.

And then he begins making decisions, and he says, I'm doing the will of my Father.

And so he moves out into the world doing the will of the Father, and what he's doing is he's just extending the kingdom of God from the heavens.

He's extending that into the earth.

And so just look at what he does, and you can see what his kingdom, what God's kingdom is actually like.

And so, just a handful here, I think I have them on the screen.

When Jesus moves out into the world, you see abundance where there's scarcity.

All of a sudden we don't we don't have any wine, and he's like, In my kingdom in the heavens, we do not have scarcity, we have abundance.

All of a sudden they don't have enough food, and he's like, In my kingdom, we got plenty to eat.

And so he breaks out some bread and he breaks out some wine from water.

Like he does these things.

There's abundance in his kingdom, and so abundance begins taking over the kingdom of scarcity or the dominion of scarcity.

His kingdom of abundance begins washing over that and extending abundance where there's scarcity.

We see that with truth where there was hypocrisy, freedom from bondage for those who are oppressed by evil in the enemy.

There is no enemy in the heavens, there's no oppression in the heavens.

Therefore, as Jesus extends the kingdom of God out into the world, what you see is oppression in people who are oppressed, that being released from their oppression, those who are in bondage being set free.

And so you see those things happening there.

There's no disease in the heavens.

And so when Jesus begins extending the kingdom, what people begin experiencing is freedom from their disease and healing from their disease.

There's no alienation in his kingdom, and so there's restoration and reconciliation that Jesus begins breaking in.

Hospitality where there was hatred, life where there was death, hope where there was despair.

There is no despair, death, or hatred in the kingdom of the heavens.

And so we want to see that done on the earth, and Jesus is advancing the kingdom qualities into the earth, and it's actually overtaking the spaces that are actually defined by the dominion of the earth, of the brokenness of the earth.

In his followers, you see that love is advancing where there is hatred.

You see justice advancing where there was oppression and injustice.

And so there's constantly, these are the qualities of what his kingdom are actually like.

And so when Jesus says and tells us to actually extend his kingdom into the world or to pray for that, he's saying, pray that my kingdom would be extended.

Pray that these things that are that are true of my kingdom in the heavens, pray that those things would begin advancing among you in your time, in your space.

Pray that my rule and reign would take more and more and more space.

Into the spaces where it's not happening in Memphis.

Pray that my kingdom would come and my will would be done in Memphis.

That the kingdom qualities would begin overtaking the Memphis qualities that are actually defining our city.

That's what he's saying.

That's what he's asking us to pray.

So, leads to the question: if it is your kingdom and if it is your will, and if in the heavens it's fully done, all of these things are naturally happening, or you're just you're ruling and reigning without any rival, why do we have to pray for this to happen here?

Like, why do you need our prayers to actually accomplish this thing?

Go to the next slide.

Why do you actually need our prayers to do these things?

Can't you or wouldn't you just accomplish these things without our prayers?

Why do you need us to pray for this?

The short answer is the reason that he asks us to pray for this, and the reason that we have to do this is because that is how he has sovereignly chosen to set up the world.

He has just chosen go to the next slide.

Follow me, bro.

Come on, keep it coming.

That is how God has sovereignly set it up.

He has decided the world will function this way.

And so, yes, my kingdom is completely ruled by me in the heavens, but I have decided that the world would be ruled by people like me and you, and that we would rule this thing together.

And so, why do your prayers matter is because I've decided that your prayers have power, and I've decided that your prayers are important, and I've decided to work through your prayers.

That is how he has decided to set it up.

Back in the Garden of Eden, when he created the earth, he made people to actually rule over the garden itself.

He did not make people to rule over the garden because he was overwhelmed with how much gardening needed to be done.

He didn't need any help gardening.

He didn't need any help extending the garden out into the world.

He could have done it all by himself.

He just chose not to.

He chose to create a garden, create people, and go, let's work on this thing together.

I want to give you authority.

I want to give you rule and reign.

I want to give you agency in the world, and that we will extend my garden, we'll extend my kingdom, God's kingdom, out into the world.

But I'm not going to do it by myself.

I've chosen to do that through you.

I could do it myself because I'm God.

I just created everything out of nothing.

I could do it myself, but I don't want to do it by myself.

I have sovereignly set it up for us to do it together.

That's how he began creation, and that is still how he's functioning today.

He doesn't need people to pray.

He doesn't need us to pray in order to do the things that he wants to do in the world.

But that is how he has chosen to do things in the world by the prayers of his people, which is why Jesus is saying, Therefore pray that my kingdom would come and my will be done.

He doesn't need it, but he's chosen it.

Dallas Willard again, he says, in creating human beings, God made them to rule, to reign, to have dominion in a limited sphere.

This one.

The human job description found in Genesis 1 indicates that God assigned to us collectively the rule over all living things on earth, animal and plant.

We are responsible before God for life on the earth.

God equipped us for this task by framing our nature to function in conscious, personal relationship of interactive responsibility with him, responsibility with him.

We are meant to exercise our rule only in union with God as he acts with us.

He intended, and this is the last very important, he intended to be our constant companion.

He intended to be our constant coworker in the creative enterprise of life on earth.

That is the way that he has set up the earth to work.

And so why does he need our prayers?

Because he's just chosen to do it that way.

I have another quote, it's longer than that one.

I apologize, but it is helpful in understanding this.

But this is Tyler Staton in his book.

He says, God made Adam and Eve, his managers here on the earth, God's intercessors, entrusted to call the shots on the earth.

Psalm 115 puts it bluntly: the highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth, he's given that to mankind.

It's important to understand the meaning of this given earth.

God did not completely forfeit the earth to people and dust off his divine hands and get on with the next project.

He maintained and currently maintains sovereignty and ultimate governing authority over the activities of his creation.

But God did and does share the responsibility of managing the earth with people, or to say it biblically, God made us to be his intercessors.

And so, according to the scriptures, you are a ruler and a co-heir with Christ if you are in Christ.

You are a manager of heavenly resources.

Prayer is the means by which we push back the curse that's infected the world and infected us.

It is the active experience of restoring creation.

And we need to remember God doesn't need intercessors managing his creation.

He's not overwhelmed by all the responsibility of overseeing the world.

He's all-knowing, all-powerful.

He's got this.

God doesn't need intercessors.

God chooses intercessors.

He chooses us.

It is this gift and unique calling that he's given to us to go.

I want the world to function in partnership with people who would choose to do the things that I want to do in the world.

I'm not going to do all of those things by myself.

I'm going to wait until they ask.

And he has chosen for his kingdom and will to advance into the world, break through into this world by people who choose to pray for it.

I will function in regard to what they ask for, because I have sovereignly set it up that way.

That's just how he set it up.

And it's honestly, it's not that crazy from the way that food works.

God chose food to be the way that we satiate our hunger or satisfy our hunger.

And we're not angry with that.

Nobody's sitting there like, I'm going to wait until he just does it from heaven.

I'm just going to starve myself until food fills my body without me eating.

Like no one argues with God about that.

But somehow, when it comes to prayer, it's like, aren't you just going to do it?

Aren't you just going to do this thing?

And he's like, I've told you I'm not just going to do it.

I've told you to pray for those things.

I've told you I've wanted to be in partnership with you.

He created food and chose to satisfy our hunger through food.

He chose to fill our bodies with life by oxygen and blood.

That's the way he just set it up.

It could have been anything.

If I drink water, all of a sudden I have my heart pumps better.

I don't know.

Like he could have done whatever he wanted to.

Every time I get a hug, I get three more years of life.

Like he could have done anything.

But he chose to do it in like this way.

This is the way that he chose to do it, and in the same way.

He's just chosen to do it this way.

He's chosen to let people have access and agency in the world through their prayers.

He has chosen to function in the world based on the things that we pray.

And so to say that your prayers don't make a difference or to think that your prayers don't do anything is to fundamentally misunderstand why you're actually here.

And to fundamentally misunderstand what he actually wants to do in the world.

He still wants to operate through his sons and daughters in the world.

That's what he wanted to do in Genesis 1, and nothing has changed.

Actually, if you just follow the scriptures, he wants to operate through his sons and daughters in Genesis 1.

Then he creates Israel, who he calls his firstborn son.

He wants to operate through them in the world.

That doesn't work, they don't do it very well.

Then all of a sudden you get to Jesus and it's like, I have my firstborn son.

And then he operates through the world.

And Jesus is the only one that's actually doing this right, and he's operating through his son.

And Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, because I have come to do the will of the Father.

And Jesus is advancing.

Jesus is praying and he's advancing God's kingdom through the world.

And now we are co-heirs, we are sons and daughters of God because of what Jesus has done for us.

And he still wants to do the same thing.

Nothing has changed.

He still wants to do that.

And so the prayers that we pray, he has made them powerful because he has chosen to operate through them.

And we have to see ourselves as a part of his plan to bless the world.

This is why A.W.

Tozer said he waits to be wanted.

He waits.

He's waiting for you to pray.

He waits to be wanted.

Because that's the way he's chosen to operate in the world.

So, will we miss out if we don't pray?

Go to this slide.

Yes.

Will we miss out if we don't pray?

Yes, there's there's evidence of that.

Will things go badly if we don't pray?

Yes, there's evidence of that in the scriptures.

Will things not happen that could have happened if we don't pray?

Yes, there's evidence of that in the scriptures.

It's just true that we will miss out.

Things will go badly, and things could have happened that we just they didn't happen because we didn't pray.

All of that's in the Bible.

And it's not these things will happen because God's mad at us.

It's because he's just decided to set it up in a way that where prayer actually has agency and prayer has power.

In the same way that will I get more hungry if I choose not to eat.

Yes.

Not because God is mad at you, but because that's how he's decided to set up the digestive system.

That's how he's chosen to do that.

Will I get very thirsty if I drink, don't drink any water for a very long time?

Yes, that's called dehydration.

That's just natural, that's that's naturally the way it's gonna work, but it's naturally supernatural because that's the supernatural way he set it up.

That's what he's done.

Charles Spurgeon, though I'm a great Baptist preacher, said, whether we like it or not, asking God of things is the rule of the kingdom.

God even says to his own son, ask of me and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance.

If the royal and divine Son of God cannot be exempted from asking, you and I cannot expect the rule to be relaxed in our favor.

If you may have everything by asking and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.

And what's wild is like Jesus is still praying now.

It says Jesus' role is to sit at the right hand of the Father and intercede.

He is still an intercessor for us.

Why would he do that if this doesn't matter?

Why would you make it your constant role in the world now to be interceding for us if prayers didn't actually move the hand of God to do things in the life of the world?

He still sees this as vital.

And he has made it his constant role to rule and reign by interceding for the saints and to intercede for us.

And so, in the same way, we have to see this shape this way.

We have to see ourselves as something like He's just chosen.

Why is prayer such an important thing?

Is because He's decided to work through it.

He has set it up: food to satisfy our hunger, water to quench our thirst, blood and oxygen to give our bodies life, and he has set up prayer to be a part of his working in the world.

That is how he has chosen to set it up.

And so Jesus says, this is why he's saying, pray.

Ask, ask God that his kingdom would advance on the earth.

It won't happen if you don't do it.

And so pray for those things to happen because he has chosen to work with you to extend his kingdom.

And it's been consistent from Genesis 1 all the way through.

He has chosen to work through people in order to advance his kingdom and to advance his will.

That is what he's chosen to do.

And so that's why, why don't you just do this without us praying?

He's like, there are certain things I will do without you praying.

But for the most part, I have chosen, I have always wanted people who partner with me to do things in the world.

I've always wanted that.

And so why aren't you doing this without prayer?

He's like, because I didn't set it up that way.

Because I don't want to do it that way.

That's not my will.

My will is to actually partner with people who are willing to pray, My kingdom come, my will be done on earth that is in heaven.

That's how he wants to do it.

And so, what does this mean for our prayers?

For your prayers, this means that there is power when you pray.

There's power when you pray.

Not because your powers, or your excuse me, not because your prayers are magical, not because you have the right words or anything like that.

Your prayers have power because he's just set it up that way.

He's set it up to where the prayers of his people can shape the world.

We don't have this quote, but Walter Wink says that the History belongs to the intercessors, to the intercessory prayers.

History belongs to the intercessors who believe and pray the future into being.

And it sounds like there's no way we should have that much control.

And it's like, well, then you're arguing with God.

You're not arguing with Walter.

Like you're arguing with him because that's the way he chose to set it up.

Sky Jafani says, we are not merely passive set pieces in a prearranged cosmic drama.

But we are active participants with God in the writing, directing, design, and the action that unfolds.

Prayer, therefore, is drawing into communion with him, and they're taking up our privileged role as his people.

In prayer, we are invited to join him in directing the course of his world.

We are invited to direct the course of his world.

And again, not because like we're so, you know, perfect or righteous or special, like Jesus has just created the thing where we could be filled with his righteousness, clothed in his righteousness, and then made to be saints before God, sons and daughters before him.

And it's like, what have you always wanted to do with your sons and daughters?

I've wanted to partner with them to actually bless the world and extend my kingdom in the world.

And so now we've made a bunch of them to those who believe in Jesus, and now I want to do that through them.

And so sons and daughters who are absent or mute in their conversation with God and asking for his kingdom to come and his will to be done, they're not just pretty words, they are.

But ones who are mute and asking for that thing, like you're not going to actually live into what he's divinely, sovereignly set up for you.

He wants to work through you.

He waits to be wanted because that's the way he wants to function.

God has ordained it to function that way.

And so when Jesus asked us, or was asked, teach us to pray, what he chose to teach us to pray is like, make sure you pray for a bunch of different things.

Because prayer actually makes sure you ask for a bunch of different things.

But one of them that you need to ask for is you need to pray that God's kingdom come and invade the earth.

Because God is going to respond to the access that you give him.

And as your will aligns with his, all of a sudden you'll begin to see those things happening.

That's just the way that he set it up.

Alright.

Practically.

How can we pray these things?

Just pause for a second.

I really do hope that y'all like uh grasp this.

Not like you're stupid or something and you can't possibly grasp it.

To me, it is one of the most uh simplistic things that you can see in the scriptures that I just feel like got lost over the last 75 years of church history.

Of just people going, God's gonna do whatever he's gonna do anyway.

It's like, where did you get that?

Like, where did that come from?

Like, that's not a Bible verse.

There's no Bible verse there.

Like, but there's tons of ways like Jesus is saying, pray for this.

If you like, why couldn't this happen in the world?

And Jesus is like, because you didn't pray.

Like, that's why.

And so I want us to really do like understand the power that you have that we have been given, that we've been gifted in prayer.

And so practically, how can we pray for these things?

How can we pray for God's kingdom and his will to be done?

One, you can just pray those words and mean them, but you can just pray those words.

But two, you can pray for the qualities of God's kingdom to advance where they're absent.

You can just look around the world, and honestly, we live in the best city for this.

You can just look around the city of Memphis and go, that does not look like God's kingdom.

That does not look like God's kingdom.

That doesn't look like God's peace.

That doesn't look like God's righteousness.

That doesn't look like the rest that we're supposed to experience.

That doesn't look like the love that we're supposed to experience.

That doesn't look like the equality that we're supposed to experience.

That we should be able to look around the world, especially here, and go, does that represent God's kingdom?

No.

Okay, great.

Then I want his kingdom qualities to break into that area.

And he says that there's power in the midst of that.

That we can actually pray for renewal, we can pray for restoration and see those things come to pass.

And so look at those things wherever they're absent and just simply pray for them.

Tyler Staten again says, simply and clearly, ask that God's kingdom will come where it's absent.

You have friends outside of relationship with Jesus, needs in our city and world, troubling or challenging circumstances, physical or mental illnesses.

Ask for Jesus to come anywhere and everywhere you know God's kingdom of love and peace is lacking.

Just look around.

When you see an area of lack or you see it overrun by brokenness, just pray, just look at that and be like, God, I want your kingdom to come here.

And if you have chosen me to be an intercessor, to look out into the world and to see brokenness, and then to ask that your kingdom qualities would break in.

That is what I'm doing.

I am taking up my rightful place as an heir of Christ and as someone who is your son or daughter, and I'm actually doing this thing that you've called me to do by faith.

I'm just asking that your kingdom would advance in this space.

And so pray for the qualities of his kingdom to break in.

Take a prayer walk, just walk, take a prayer drive or whatever.

Just be intentional about like I'm just gonna drive around this city, I'm gonna drive into different places and see like it's the dominion of darkness, it still has agency here, it still has rule here.

There's still ground that it's taken here.

And to walk into that space or to drive into that space and be like, but I am someone carrying a kingdom in my heart, and I'm gonna be praying for God's kingdom to break into that thing.

Take something on, have a piece of ground that's yours, have a space that's yours.

I'm not just gonna do something in it, I'm gonna pray that God's kingdom break into it.

I have this, I made hats, pray for Memphis hats, not because I think they're the quality hat or whatever, but like I just wanted to be reminded.

This prayer has power, and I just I love this city, and I didn't used to, but I love it now.

And I want to see this city just experience a new narrative at some point.

Just to pray God's kingdom into this space where it turns into something very, very different.

So look around.

Pray for God's kingdom's qualities to break in.

This is why people preach at Pentecostal churches.

They're just louder and they're like, Amen.

And here it's very quiet.

So I don't know if you like it or hate it, but if you like it, I appreciate that in my heart.

Just text me later.

Here we go.

I don't actually want us to turn into a Pentecostal.

Anyways, it's never okay.

All right, next, you can pray the promises.

Pray the promises.

How much time I got?

I'm okay.

Pray the promises.

You know, if you're ever wondering, like, what is God's will?

Whatever he has promised.

If he has chosen to be faithful forever and he will always be faithful forever, that means anything that he promises, he's gonna do that thing.

That is definitely his will because he has promised it.

And he's like, I am not going to break my promise.

I will make sure that I will fulfill that thing.

And if you're like, I just want to pray in line with God's will, read the scriptures, be a student of the scriptures, read them, get them in you so that you know them well enough to be like, I know you have promised, you have said this.

John Wesley said, the best we can say to God in prayer is what he hath said to us.

God promises, or excuse me, God's promises as they are, are the surest guide of our desires in prayer, and furnish us with the best petitions.

So they are the firmest ground of our hopes, and they furnish us with the best pleas.

Thou said, I will do thee good, Lord, do me good in this matter.

And you're just saying, like, this is what you said, this is what you said.

You promised this, do this thing for me.

I know this is your will on the earth as is in heaven, because you have promised to do this thing.

And so pray the promises.

And just a handful of promises here that I just I was trying to put together for you, and this is only a handful of them.

These are just, I think, just a couple of them from the Old Testament, mostly from the New Testament.

But like, there are promises for comfort.

There's promises from freedom from the old self.

Um, there's promises of peace, uh, the promises for doing the miraculous work that Jesus did.

There's promises for uh rest for our souls.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest for your soul.

If you are not heading to Jesus, you're missing out on a promise of rest for your souls.

There's provision for your needs, a bunch of them.

We're worried about our needs and things like that.

Like there are promises, like, He will not let your needs fall to the ground.

He will make sure those things.

Those are promises.

And they're from Malachi, they're in the Old Testament, they're in the New Testament, they're all over the place.

Wisdom, if you lack wisdom, just ask God who gives generously without reproach.

Restoration of the world.

This is what, these are verses I pray for Memphis.

Like, Lord, you say that you will restore the years the locusts have eaten.

Their locusts have eaten our city.

The enemy has eaten our city in certain places.

Like it used to thrive and now it's not.

There are things that are happening here.

Restore the years the locusts have eaten.

You said that you will do that.

That we will have plenty to eat until we're full.

And that we will praise the name of the Lord.

Isaiah 61, this is actually a verse about Jesus, but then it starts talking about those who would then believe in the Messiah, and it says that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

And then from those people, they will rebuild the ancient ruins.

They will restore the places long devastated.

Memphis, there are places in Memphis that have been long devastated.

They will renew the ruined cities and the desolations of many generations.

What are the people of God supposed to do?

And it's like, there's a promise that we would restore the world.

Strength and endurance from God.

My grace is sufficient for you.

My power is made perfect in your weakness.

Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.

This is just a handful of promises that are available to us, but like you can pray, like you can look into somebody's life and be like, Lord, they're in a space of weakness, but you say that your power is made perfect in weakness, that's a promise.

You can just pray for that thing.

I know this is your will, because this is what you have promised.

So pray the promises.

Then we can pray things, uh, pray for things that you see Jesus doing in the gospels.

Pray for things you see Jesus doing in the gospels because he said, the kingdom of God has come upon you, and then he starts doing a bunch of stuff, extending the kingdom.

And so when you see him extending the kingdom of God, you're seeing what the kingdom of God is actually like.

And so when you see him doing stuff, you're like, hey, I want to see that here.

Like you bring people that are completely alienated without hospitality, without friendship, like, and you bring them into community, like, I want that here.

You see people that are completely overrun by the enemy and just oppressed and addicted and just hurting themselves because of things, and like he restores them and brings them back to life.

Lord, would you do that here?

Like consistently just looking at what Jesus has done and then praying for the things that he did as he's advancing the kingdom, praying for those things to happen in our time.

These are great prayers because again, it's like this is his kingdom coming to earth.

Jesus is the king come to earth, advancing his own will in the world.

And so we can pray for those things.

And then last, I would just say this be patient and trust him when your prayers don't go your way.

We're literally standing in a room right now, and I'm telling you that prayer is powerful.

And I prayed for two people this week that died.

Prayed for them to live.

I did not pray for them to die, so my prayer was not answered.

And still, because I fall under the authority of the scriptures, I still choose to believe that there are plenty of power in our prayers, even when they don't go my way.

The apostle Paul, when he's praying, he has this thorn in his flesh, and he says, Be devoted to prayer, pray unceasingly, constantly pray, pray for this, pray for that.

He's constantly telling people to pray.

And he prays for this thorn in his flesh to be removed, and God says no, and he says, Look, here's why I'm saying no.

My grace is sufficient for you.

My power will be perfected in your weakness.

And basically, what God is saying is like, I'm going to do more to advance my kingdom through your thorn in the flesh than I would if I removed it.

And so Paul's probably going, like, there's no thorns in the flesh in heaven.

There's there's no torment.

I'm experiencing torment.

There's no torment in the heavens.

Lord, send your kingdom, bring your kingdom here and release me from this torment.

Bring your kingdom, may your kingdom come, may your will be done.

In my life, remove this thing from me.

I'm asking for a kingdom quality to be released in my life.

And God says no, because he says, I am going to advance my kingdom.

I am going to advance my will, but I can do that more with a thorn in your flesh here and now than I could if I removed it.

And so Paul receives that and moves forward, going, Well, I guess I'm going to be tormented by this thing for the rest of my days here on earth.

And that had to be hard, but it's the same guy that consistently said, like, pray, pray, pray unceasingly, pray.

It didn't change his prayer not going the way that he wanted it to, it didn't change the what he believed about prayer.

And if you remember, like all of the apostles, all of these people who experienced incredible things in prayer, like saw so many things happen by their prayers, all of them died.

Like some of them died like tragically, people praying for them to live and they die.

And so, even in the midst of like, they've experienced incredible things in prayer, prayed for dead people to come back to life and they did, prayed for people to be healed and they did, prayed for things to happen, and they just watched these things unfold, prayed for demons to be cast out and that was happening.

They saw impossible things happening.

And yet those exact same people watched as all of them were martyred in many ways, and watched as these tragic things overtook them.

And again, it didn't lead them to go, well, I guess prayer doesn't work.

I guess God doesn't love me, I guess none of this matters.

They're like, no, these things uh live hand in hand.

And we need to patiently just trust the Lord that when it doesn't go our way, that he still knows what he's doing, that he's still ruling and reigning, that his kingdom is gonna advance, even though sometimes he doesn't answer the prayers that I want him to answer.

And so, as hard as it can be, I do think that we need to be patient and trusting.

And we'll we'll do well in this series, teach us to pray.

We will eventually do one on unanswered prayer, and we'll give a whole week to this, maybe two.

Because I want to talk about it because it's so it's so challenging.

Be like, prayer is powerful and it rends the heavens, so that God comes down and it's like, but not here, not in this space, not in my life.

And it can be really, really challenging.

There's a time where Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, uh, hey Timothy, you got a stomach ache, you need to drink a little wine for your stomach.

Uh, stop drinking water, drink some wine.

What he didn't say was, pray that your stomach ache go away.

And that's odd.

Because dudes healed some dead people.

Like, just you're dead, not anymore.

Come on.

Stomach ache is harder than the dead person?

Like, I'd be I'm just but there are just spaces where sometimes God chooses to do something differently than the way that we would want it to go, and in those spaces, none of them are going, so this doesn't work.

God doesn't love us.

God no longer answers prayer.

They don't get to that space, but it is confusing at times.

And so in those spaces, as I'm telling you prayer is powerful, and you're remembering, and the enemy is probably throwing things in your mind right now, saying, No, it's not.

Think of the what you just prayed for and nothing happened.

Think of that time you prayed for that thing and nothing happened.

Think of that thing.

That is also true of Jesus currently.

Jesus is living in unanswered prayer.

The Son of God has prayed for things that have not happened yet, or things that he prayed for that were said no to.

You share an allegiance to a man who gave his life for you, who rules over the cosmos, who also lives in unanswered prayer.

It is not unique to you.

It is just a part of what it means to actually follow the God who whose plans are different than ours, whose mind is not like ours in many ways, or ours just isn't like his.

And so we need to be patient.

We need to trust him in the midst of that.

And the last thing I want to tell you to do is just come to the prayer room.

Come to our prayer gatherings.

We meet on Mondays for this purpose.

I believe this so powerfully and so strongly, and every now and then I struggle to believe it, and then other people come alongside me to remind me that prayer is still powerful.

And part of that happens in the prayer gatherings that we're in.

And so Mondays at 12, we're gonna try and add a 7 a.m.

one during the week so that people on their way to work can pop in and pray.

But we believe in that.

Sunday mornings at 8:30, uh, they meet down in the fellowship hall to pray for our service and for our world and all the different things.

But I encourage you, if you don't know how to pray, come and pray.

Or if you do know how to pray and you're wondering, like, does this thing actually have power?

Yes.

Why does this have power?

And it has power because he's chosen to set it up that way.

Food to satisfy our hunger, water to quench our thirst, and prayer as the way that we partner with God to do things in the world.

That's just the way that He set it up.

And so, my encouragement to you is to become a person who just believes that, even when your eyes don't fully see it, believe that because the scriptures testify to it.

He has set it up that way.

I want us to close by praying the Lord's prayer together.

And so, worship team, y'all can come on up.

Let's say these words and pray this prayer together.

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 us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Amen.