Christian Boot Camp PT 2 - Prayer

Dale McDonald: Welcome once again to Atlin Family Church Engaged Faith. Hi, I'm Pastor Dale. Today I'm excited to continue on what I've started in the last message. It's a five-part series entitled Christian Boot Camp. And that title is one that the Lord corrected me on. I had a l much longer title and he said, You know what you're talking about is really more about Christian boot camp. And so As smart as I am, I went with that, which is, you know, hint, always go with what God says. It's just, you know, there's a a mini teaching in that. So I had originally my the concept that it came to me was five elements of Christian discipline. I know it's way too long for a title, but that's why God changed it. But it's simply one is faith, two is prayer. Three is hearing God, four is obedience, and five righteousness and holiness or holy living. And in the last message I talked about faith and how it's so important that we take from our initial faith when we're first born again and hear the word of God so that it grows so we don't stay an immature Christian or like the scripture that I referred to. Where it says, even the demons know there is one God and they tremble in fear. We have to take it from the point where we realize and we know and understand that God exists to God wants to work through us and He has a special plan for you and for me, and it's up to us to develop our relationship with Him so we know what that is, and so we can start to step, one step at a time. towards the fulfillment of that plan. That's when we become blessed and we bless those around us. So the second element of Christian discipline is prayer. Like the boot camp example, soldiers go to a boot camp to learn and to develop discipline, renewing their minds to the what the world taught perhaps, developing their skills and how to react to certain situations, developing their physical body. there's a lot of similarities to boot camp. and Christian discipline. It's about developing and honing in our skills and gifts so that we can be used and an asset to God. And, we don't want to overcomplicate prayer. many do, and we'll see in scripture that God is right to the point in how He expects us to pray and communicate with Him. to jump into the message, prayer is communication with God. Let's not complicate it. that's what it is. It's talking to God, our Creator. and and here's the key that I really want you to get. Prayer is not talking to God. It's talking with God. Now, and what I'm trying to say, to get this point across, it's two-way communication. I mean, how rude would it be if you your best friend, you sat down for coffee, and all you did was talk at them. Like just on and on and on, and everything was about you. That'd be pretty rude. Well, it's no different with God. He already knows our thoughts and what we're going through. So, let's just sit down and have a conversation with him. See what's on his heart. here's the reality. We only have a part of the picture of what we're going through. He has the whole picture, all the information, the solution. And the anointing and tools that we need, the gifting, everything, the weapons to get through the situation. So how about we give them the time to communicate that with us? Gonna be real. that's me. you know, I sometimes I rip the the band aid off really quickly, but it's okay. really my heart is that you get this and that you grow in this and that as you develop then God can really use as he wants to use you. So again, prayer is two-way communication. It's talking with God, not just at him. But the other part of that is also listening for the response. Giving him time to hear our concern, yes. But give him the time to respond to our questions or to our concerns or inquiries, however you want to put it, that's part of building relationship. so again, prayer is two way communication, talking and listening for the response. And that's a building process. It's how we build a relationship with, our friends, as I'd mentioned, but with the creator We you know, as we communicate with him, then we get to know him. We get to build on that relationship, which is what All Christians desire to know their Creator, to, be a blessing to Him And we won't know how we can be a blessing unless we listen and communicate with Him. And we see in the Word that prayer is not vain repetition or babbling. Gonna get real with you, but you know, this is actually coming directly from the Word. It's not my opinion. In Matthew chapter six, verses seven through eight. When you pray, don't babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don't be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need, even before you ask him. I mentioned that earlier. He knows our desires. So let's not talk at him. Let's be a friend, let's be respectful and let know our desires, but give them time to respond. That's where we start to develop that relationship. if you're taking notes, prayer is not to convince God about anything. Prayer is to get God's wisdom on our situation or our decision. God has done everything He's going to do for us and for humanity. Now it's up to us to get His wisdom on that, on how we fit into the great plan of God for our lives and for those that we affect. So we need to get this. Every step we take will be conceived in prayer and born by faith. So again, if you're taking notes, I'll read it again, every step we take in Christ will be conceived in prayer and born by faith. And what I mean by that, everything we get from the Lord in prayer by listening, it will be drawn into our innermost being, into our spirit, and then that's the conception part of it. But it won't come to pass, it won't be manifest into the the world we live unless we use our faith. So like I mentioned in the in the last video, faith is the starting point of everything God has for us and will do through us, but it's more than that, it's actually five parts. But the second part is we're talking about today is prayer. And, we talked about faith. They work together. and it's how God gets everything He wants for us. It's how we hear Him And then we apply our faith to what he has spoken to us. And we're instructed to pray with our understanding in the word. And praying in the spirit. And when we pray in tongues, our spirit prays the perfect will of God. So it goes beyond what we know about a situation. It really opens us up to being in direct communication with God. as we Pray in the spirit though, always give God a chance to respond and even ask Him, Lord, as I've prayed in the Spirit, give me the interpretation. And He will. He'll give you an understanding of what you just prayed in the Spirit. It will give him that time to respond. And it may not be in that same moment that we're praying. Sometimes we'll just finish up with worship or thanking him for all he's done and then some other part of the day it'll just drop in. there's the understanding. I've had that happen many times. I'm going about my day and it's like, whoa, God just spoke. he wants to get the information to us. He wants to share his heart. We just need to be open to it, trust him and expect him to speak to us. Let's look at Ephesians chapter six, verse eighteen. And it's referring to what I just mentioned. Pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. staying alert is is being expectant. It's being ready to hear his voice, expecting to hear his voice. And he will use us to pray for others as well, as it mentions here, that we to pray for all believers everywhere. So sometimes we won't know who we're praying for, but if we're willing, he will use us. Let's look at first Corinthians chapter fourteen, verse fifteen. I will pray in the spirit and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit and I will also sing in words I understand. so when we pray, what I like to do and I suggest you do as well, find scripture that confirms God's will for your situation, and then pray it out loud. We know that scripture is God's perfect will for the situation. so when we pray and use scripture, we know we're praying according to his perfect will and we're coming into agreement with his word so that we can have confidence that, as we pray we know God hears us, we're praying according to his will, then we can expect God will intervene on our behalf or work through us or work through others, to bring bring the answer to prayer, or whatever that may be. Moving on, let's look at Hebrews chapter four verses twelve through sixteen. The word of God is alive and powerful, it is sharper than the sharpest two edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. And he is the one to whom we are accountable. I read that scripture and it just really brings out, there's nothing I can hide from God when I'm praying. He knows everything. We are accountable to him. We may as well just be open with him, right? And trust that he has our back. that it's his love for us is only for our good and for the plan that he has for our lives. and as the word says we can be a friend of God, that's how we develop our relationship with him is through prayer and the confidence of knowing that, he's there for us. Like He is our high priest, we read in the Word. So reading on in verse fourteen, so then since we have a great high priest who has entered heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This high priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy. And we'll find grace to help us when we need it most. That's typically when people pray the most, is when they need help, right? I know there's been times in my life that, God help me. if I'd only prayed more before the situation, I wouldn't have been in that situation. That's the reality of it. but we all grow. So, by reading scripture like this We know we can come boldly to the throne. We don't have to try to be something that we're not. He knows us through and through, he knows our thoughts, our desires, all the things that we're working on, the junk in our life. So just accept the grace, accept his mercy and then confidently pray to our Father and expect him to to speak back as we give him time. And we listen for his response. also when we pray in the spirit, we need to trust that God is praying through us, he's hearing us, and that we're praying, as I mentioned before, according to his perfect will for our lives. that just gives us such a peace, knowing that he has given us the gift of praying in tongues according to his perfect will. And so when we pray, then we can walk in that peace that He has given us, knowing that we've prayed out the situation, God's got it, He's gonna work through us, He's gonna give us the gifting or the anointing to get through that situation or make that decision, or He will show us what we need to do, what our part is to overcome. Isn't He a good God? Let's read Romans chapter 8, verses 26 through 30. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. I'm gonna stop there. We like I'd mentioned before, we often, most often, won't know the big picture. We won't have all the details, we won't have everything whether it's a situation or decision, there's going to be some question marks. That's where Holy Spirit helps us. We're weak in that area. So as we read here, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father knows all hearts, knows what the Spirit is saying. for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. So do you love God? Well, God's working everything together for our good then, right? I mean, we see it in the Word, we believe it, we receive it, we build our faith on it. And we can confidently walk it out. He's working things together for our good, according to his purpose for us. That's our ministry. That's your ministry. And reading on in verse twenty-nine, for God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son, so that his son would be the firstborn among the many brothers and sisters, you and I. And having chosen them he called them to come to him, and having called them, he gave them right standing with himself, and having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. Thank you, Lord. as humans we can't comprehend what that means. it's too much for it's too much for my little brain anyway. he gave them his glory, his righteousness. Wow. when we pray don't go there like, in the victim mentality or the timid God don't don't beat me up, please if you have a moment, like maybe you imagine or you seen a movie of a beggar like, you know, please, please, more soup. No. We are to pray from a position of right standing. He has given it to us. He went to the cross on our behalf. So that's a big price to to pay. So that you and I could come boldly to the throne. So we pray from a place of right standing, a position of glory in him. We pray in the name of Jesus. He's given us that authority, communicating directly with God, our Father. it's an awesome, awesome privilege That our Creator wants to communicate directly with us. Wow. Like let's let's read Hebrews chapter ten, verses nineteen through twenty-two. Dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life giving way through the curtain into the most holy place. And since we have a great high priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts, fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. God hears our prayers. Let's look at first John chapter five, thirteen through fifteen I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life, And we're confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our request, we also know that He will give us what we ask for. What a loving father. when we begin to understand God's mercy and grace, it'll develop a confidence within us so that we can pray from that position and not a position of I hope this comes to pass. maybe God'll hear me this time, like one preacher that we we heard He was teaching it's like the gospel casino, you throw the dice and see what comes up. No, we can be confident that God hears our prayer, he knows what we're going through, he knows us better than we know ourselves, and that he will act on our behalf or show us what our part is, like I'd mentioned. And so, referring back to faith as I talked in the last video, strong faith in partnership with strong prayer equals God revealing his plan for our life. Both go hand in hand. And if one or the other is weak, we're just not going to fulfill the plan or, become the best version of ourselves. I use that term a lot. Like his giftings, everything that he has for us, the anointing, they're all made available. For the equipping of those who believe and receive. you know, that's our weapons. So getting back to the boot camp example, through boot camp, we're assigned the cache of weapons, everything we need to fight the war that's ahead of us. with prayer and communication, we get to know what those weapons are. We learn how to use them. it's all part of developing the maturity in our Christian walk that we will be successful in anything and everything he's called us to do. Very important. And to recap, when we pray in confidence, we go in to prayer into the presence of God, with sincere hearts, fully trusting him. Just just like the vision I just got as I was saying that. It's like a small child running to their father, and you know, arms open, jump into his lap. They fully trust that he's going to be there to catch them. to hold them, to you know, comfort them, whatever it is they need at the time. That's how we have to be as a child of God, running to the arms of the Father, praying, in the confidence that He has given us. As a teenager, how many of you went to your mom and dad's fridge, opened the fridge, knowing that it's okay. You go in, you you need a snack. You take what you what you need and it's all good. Well, God's no different. We go to him, we get what we need. he expects us, yes, even as a teenager, I was expected to do do my chores or I was expected to do what Mum and Dad asked me to do. That's a give and take. But I knew that, if I was really hungry, I could go at any time, open that fridge and take what I needed. we need to develop that relationship. So important in our Christian walk. to recap again and to end this message, if you're taking notes, remember prayer is not talking to God or another way to put it, prayer is not talking at God. you're not going to get the expected results with that type of a prayer or like the scripture mentioned earlier, babbling on and on and on. God knows what we need, he knows our desires, he knows what we're going through. So just trust him. Go in confidence, speak. He does expect us to express what's on our heart and then wait for him, listen for the response. So in my next message I'll be speaking on hearing from God. It's one thing talking with God, but we need to develop the listening, for what to expect when we do hear from God, what it sounds like, you know, the reality is God speaks to everyone. But such a privilege as a born-again believer, we recognize his voice. We can develop that relationship and learn, hey, that's my father speaking. That's not just a idea that popped into my head. So, What an amazing privilege to be a Christian, a born-again Christian, that we can communicate with our Creator and hear his heart and desire for us. Wow. I do hope you join me in the next message as we move forward and learn how to hear his voice, So, so wonderful. See you next message. Have a blessed week.

Romans 8:26–30