Rick Warren - The Purpose of Prayer

Hi everybody, I'm Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church here

in Southern California, author of The Purpose Driven Life, and

welcome to 40 Days of Prayer. You know, over the

last 40 years, I have the opportunity of traveling to

about 160 plus nations around the world. One of the

things I've found that's universal is you can find an

ocean eventually connected to every continent. Something else I've noticed

is that on every one of those continents, people pray.

It's an inborn instinct in every human being. Now they

may not pray to the one true God. They may

pray to an idol. They may pray to ancestors. They

may pray to themselves. But everybody prays. Why is it?

Because we were made in God's image and we were

given the ability to communicate to God. Cows don't pray.

Dogs don't pray. Ants don't pray. Only human beings. In

all of God's creation in the universe, only human beings pray.

It is our greatest privilege, and it is our greatest responsibility.

And so for the next 40 days, we're gonna look

at how to do what God wired you to do.

We're gonna learn how to pray in different kinds of circumstances.

We're gonna learn some of the barriers to prayer, some

of the ways to see God's answers to prayer, some

of the ways to be persistent in praying, and all

of these as we looked at the pattern of prayer

that Jesus gave us. It's gonna be a great experience together,

and I'm glad you're here. Let's get started. Hello, everybody,

and welcome to 40 Days of Prayer. Did you know

that prayer was God's idea? If he didn't want to

hear from you, he wouldn't have made you the way

he did. God created you to pray. It's really part

of your human makeup. Everybody prays. But we don't all

pray to the same God. Some people pray to idols.

Some people pray to their dead ancestors. Some people pray

to some kind of cosmic force. The followers of Jesus Christ,

we pray to the living God, our creator, our healer,

our provider, our savior, our heavenly father, and our friend.

You know, prayer is so simple that even a child

can do it. So why is it that we as

adults struggle so often not knowing how to pray? You know,

we have a hard time knowing what to say or

how long to keep praying about something. And we wonder

about the kind of prayers that God answers. What kinds

of things can we pray about? How do I know

that God hears me when I pray? How do I

know that God even cares? And what is the secret

to answers to prayer? Well, for the next 40 days,

we're going to focus on your personal prayer life and

we're gonna answer these tough questions. We're going to learn

how to pray in a crisis. We're going to learn

how to pray for a breakthrough, for renewal in your life.

We're gonna pray and we're gonna look at the parts

of prayer like fasting and why sometimes we need to

keep on praying persistently, sometimes for years. before we see

the answer that we've been asking for. Now by the

end of this 40 days of study, you'll be praying

with more confidence, I'm sure of this, and with greater

faith than you've ever had before. So, are you ready?

Are you ready for God to add his power to

your prayer life? Then let's get started now. Now in

this session, I wanna talk about the purpose of prayer.

Why do we pray? And why is prayer so important

to God? Why always determines how, when, and how long.

It's the most important part of prayer, knowing why you pray.

Now remember, prayer's God's idea. If he didn't wanna hear

from you, he wouldn't invite you to pray. God wants

to hear from you because he loves you. And he

cares about every critical detail of your life. There is

nothing too big or too small for his attention. In John,

John 14 · chapter mention

chapters 14 to 16, Jesus was giving his final instructions

to his disciples before he went to the cross. And

seven times in this last conversation with those he loved

the most, he talked about prayer. Now in this passage,

Jesus gives us four primary purposes for prayer. You might

wanna write these down in your study guide because they

explain why we pray. First, Jesus teaches us that prayer

is an act of dedication. Prayer is an act of dedication.

Prayer is an opportunity to express our devotion, our dedication

to God and our dependence upon God. It is an

act of dedicating ourselves and saying, God, I need you.

I'm looking to you for the answers. I'm counting on you, Lord.

I'm dedicated to you. Now, do you know what's the

biggest hindrance to prayer? In your own life, it's pride.

It's pride. It's self-sufficiency. We think we can do everything

ourselves so we don't feel a dependence upon God. We

don't think we need his help. And ever since Adam

and Eve, we have vastly overestimated our own abilities. We think,

you know, I don't need to pray because I can

handle my problems myself. Really? How's that working out for you?

I mean, really, how's that working out for you? If

you're going to pray, it's gonna cost you your pride.

You have to be honest to God and admit, I'm inadequate,

I'm helpless, I need your help in this situation. As

long as you think you're self-sufficient, as long as you

think you've got it all together, prayer is not gonna

have much meaning for you. But somebody once said, it's

only when you come to the end of yourself that

you come to the beginning of God. So prayer is

an act of dedication. It's a dedication of our dependence

upon God, it's saying, Father, I'm declaring my declaration of dependence.

Not independence, dependence. It's our way of saying, this proves

that I'm depending on you. The more you pray, the

more dependent you're gonna be on God. The less you pray,

the more dependent you're gonna be on yourself. Now in

John 15, Jesus was talking about dependence when he says,

I am the vine and you are the branches. If

you remain in me and I in you, you'll bear

much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing.

Notice not a little, he says nothing. If you do

not remain in me, you're like a branch that's thrown

away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into

the fire and burned. But if you remain in me,

in other words, if you stay dependent upon me and

my words remain in you, you can ask whatever you

wish and it will be given to you. Now that's

like a blank check from God. He says, if you

really put your dependence in me, you can ask whatever

you will and I will give it to you. That's

an incredible promise in prayer. But it's all based on

dedication to God. Staying connected to him like a branch

on a vine. Now here's the second purpose or reason

for prayer. Prayer is an act of communication. Most of

our problems in life, if you think about it, are

communication problems, right? I mean, communication with your spouse, your

wife or your husband, your parents, your friends, communication in

your business. In fact, most of the problems in life

come from poor communication. The Bible actually says that. You

can't understand anyone, your spouse or anybody else, unless you

communicate with them. Now the same is true with God.

You can't understand God, you can't know God's will for

your life unless you communicate with him. So it's vital

in your personal spiritual life that you learn to communicate

with and to God. Prayer is an act of dedication,

it shows my dependence, and prayer is an act of communication.

It shows I'm in contact. Now you can't know how

to communicate with somebody unless you know your relationship to them.

Think about this. You can't know the right way to

communicate unless you know the relationship to the people you're

trying to communicate with. So let's ask this question. What

is our relationship to God? Well, in John 15, Jesus

says this. This is one of the most amazing verses

in the Bible. I no longer call you servants, because

a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I

have called you friends. For everything that I've learned from

my Father, I've made known to you. You did not

choose me, but I chose you, and I appointed you

to go and bear fruit that will last. Then the

Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Do you think about that verse? Jesus says the reason

you can ask anything in prayer is because we're friends

with him. Isn't that amazing? That the God who created

the entire universe says, I don't wanna treat you like servants.

I don't wanna treat you like slaves. I wanna treat

you as friends. Now, we have an even greater invitation

than that. If that was enough, God just says, you're

my friend. You can have access to me anytime. We

have an even greater invitation than that in this exact

same passage. You are invited to converse with the creator

of the universe, and that's going straight to the top.

In other words, you're not working with some little bureaucrat

in heaven. You're not going through an intermediary, an ambassador.

You don't need a middleman in your relationship with God.

God says, I'm the king of kings. I'm the Lord

of lords, and you're my friend, so you have direct

access to the throne room, and I want to talk

to you. That's what prayer is. What a privilege. Let

me give you the third why, the third reason, the

third purpose of prayer. Prayer is an act of supplication.

Supplication is a Bible word that simply means make a request.

In the book of Philippians, the Bible says, do not

be anxious about anything. Don't worry about anything. But in everything,

by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be

made known to God. And The result, the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your

minds in Christ Jesus. Now get this, when you learn

supplication in prayer, how to ask, how to make a request,

the result of your supplications or your ask, your request

in prayer will be peace of mind. Doesn't that sound good?

In John 16, Jesus says, my father will give you

whatever you ask in my name. He says, until now,

you've not asked for anything in my name, but ask

and you will receive and your joy will be complete.

Did you get that? Motivation is he wants you to

be full of joy. He wants you to be happy.

He wants you to have a great relationship to God.

God says, you're going to be happy because you're going

to ask and I'm going to answer. Wow. The fact

of the matter is prayer is God's chosen method of

meeting your needs. That may be one of the more

profound things that I say. It's very simple, but let

me say it again. God's chosen method of meeting your

needs is through prayer. Now, the Bible teaches us that

there's some things that God has promised to do only

if we pray. Some people think, well, you know, God

knows what I need. He knows what I need even

before I know it. So I don't need to ask.

He'll just give me what I need when I need it.

You know what? That's not true because God's more interested

in relationship to you than he is in meeting your needs.

And God has decided to set it up in his

plan that there are some things he's only going to

do in your life if you ask him. There are

some things he's only gonna do in your life is

if you pray and make a supplication, make a request.

James says it this way, you do not have, you

don't have what you want because you don't ask God

for it. In other words, you have not because you

ask not. Over 20 times in the New Testament, the

Bible commands us to ask in prayer. The Bible says,

ask and it will be given to you. Seek and

you'll find. Knock and the door will be opened. I

will do whatever you ask in my name. Ask, seek, knock,

and keep on asking. Over 20 times we're told in

the Bible to ask God in prayer. That's called supplication.

The very famous pastor, Charles Spurgeon, who was a pastor

of a large church in London in the 19th century,

he once said this, God never shuts his storehouse until

you shut your mouth. In other words, You don't have

because you don't ask. You have to ask. Prayer is

an act of dedication, it's an act of communication, and

it's an act of supplication. It's asking. So I need

you to ask more in prayer. We're gonna teach you

how to do this in 40 days of prayer. What

are you lacking right now in your life? Simply because

you've never asked God for it. You know, I've tried

a lot of other things, but you've never just stopped

and said, God, Can I have this? Would you give

this to me? Would you make this possible? What situation?

What can you ask for? Well, I'll tell you what

the Bible says to ask for. It says, ask for

what you want. Psalm 145, verse 19 says this. He

Psalms 145:19

fulfills the desires... of those who reverence and trust him. Notice,

not just the needs, the desires. He fulfills the desires, why?

Because if you reverence for God, because if you reverence him,

meaning you trust him with all your heart, that dependence part,

then your desires are gonna be right. Psalm 37 four

is another amazing promise, it says this. Delight yourself in

the Lord, and he will give you the desires of

your heart. There's that word desires again. If you're delighting

yourself in God, you're saying, God, I want you more

than anything. I wanna know you. You're trying the best

you know how to let God's spirit live in you

and live through your life. Then your desires are gonna

be in line with his will. So he says, delight

yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desires of

your heart. Now in Matthew chapter seven, Jesus says, which

of you, if your son asks for bread, will give

him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,

we'll give him a snake. That would be child abuse.

Of course, no loving parent would do that. And he says,

if you then, though you are evil, we're an imperfect parent.

You know how to give your good gifts to your children.

How much more will your father in heaven, who's perfect,

will give good gifts to those who ask him? God

actually delights in answering our requests. So ask. Now, let's review. First,

we said the purpose of prayer is it's an act

of dedication, okay? It's expressing dependence on God. It's an

act of communication. It's the way I make connection with God.

It's the way God has chosen to build our relationship.

It's an act of supplication, which is how I communicate

my needs and my desires to God. Finally, number four,

prayer is an act of cooperation. Now, this is the

most exciting thing about prayer. And you may have never

even heard this or talked about it. It's an act

of cooperation. Now, God has sovereignly chosen that we get

to cooperate in his plan by praying for his will

to be done right here on earth. We cooperate with

God's plan through prayer. Prayer is God's way of letting

us partner with him to accomplish his purposes on earth.

This is an amazing promise. Probably the most amazing verse

in the Bible is John 14, 12, where Jesus says this,

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in

me will do what I have been doing. He will

do even greater things than these because I'm going to

the Father. Now, I have to admit, That if there's

any verse in the Bible that I have ever had

a hard time believing, it's that verse. Because I didn't

see myself doing greater things than Jesus would do. And

you certainly probably didn't either. Now, how in the world

could that even be possible? I honestly had a hard

time accepting that verse until one day I read the

verse right underneath it. And then all of a sudden

it made sense. The next verse, Jesus says this. And

I will do whatever you ask in my name so

that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You

may ask me for anything in my name and I

will do it. Bingo, that's the answer. How is it

possible to do greater miracles than Jesus Christ? Well, it's

real simple. Because when Jesus Christ was here on earth,

he voluntarily limited himself by becoming a human being. He

could only be in one place at one time. So

he could only do one miracle at a time while

he's in one place. So he was limited to the

miracles within the vicinity of where he was. Jesus didn't

do any miracles in India or China when he was

here on earth. But prayer is not limited by time.

It's not limited by space. Your prayers can influence everything. nations.

You can shoot off a prayer like a ballistic missile

and go anywhere in the world. You can touch people

on the other side of the planet. Your prayers, as

I said, are like these little missiles. They release the

power of God into even the most hopeless situations and

the most difficult places. Prayer can penetrate that. You might

not be able to go to that place, but you

can send a prayer there And you can affect a

man or a woman in a country that's closed or

has a hardened heart of a skeptic, whatever. Prayer makes

the impossible possible. So prayer really is limitless in its power.

People may reject your appeals to come to know Jesus Christ.

They may reject your arguments. They may reject your logic.

They may even reject you as a person. But people

are totally defenseless against your prayers. Have you ever realized that?

They've got no defense system. Because your prayers can go

straight to the heart heart of an individual. The Bible

says this, the king's heart is in the hand of

the Lord and he directs it like a water course

wherever he pleases. In other words, just like a river,

God can change the course of a person's life And

it can even change the course of history through your prayers. Wow.

Did you know that seven times in John chapter 14, 15,

John 14 · chapter mention

and 16, Jesus' final words to his disciples before he

goes to the cross, he says, if you will ask,

I will answer. If you will ask, I will do.

He says, your part is the asking, and my part,

God's part, is the doing. Now that's great, because he's

in a whole lot better position than you are to

make things happen, right? He has a few more strings

he can pull, a few more resources at his command.

God says, if you pray, I will do, I will

act on your behalf. This is the cooperation part of prayer.

Our part in cooperating with God's plan in the world

is through prayer. So the most important thing you can

do in your Christian life is talk to God. It's pray.

As an act of dedication and communication and supplication and

now cooperation. Now that's why we're studying prayer for the

next 40 days. I can't think of another subject that

has a greater possibility to change your life, do miracles

in your life, see breakthroughs, have renewal in any area

of your life. It'll give new hope to your life.

That's why we're starting this whole season with 40 days

of prayer. You may need a breakthrough in your marriage.

Maybe you need a breakthrough in your health. Maybe you

need a breakthrough in your finances. I have no doubt

some people listening need a breakthrough in their job or

their career or in a relationship. It's stuck. And breakthroughs

always begin with prayer. So hope and prayer go together.

Renewal and prayer go together. Let me ask you a

very personal question. What are you lacking in your life

right now? Simply because you failed to ask God for it.

You've never asked. What breakthrough do you need? The answer

is one word, ask. A-S-K, ask. God says ask. And

maybe you've never had an answer to prayer before. Well,

I don't want you to miss out on this. So

I want you to right now, everybody who's just listening

to me, Think of one specific thing that you can

pray for, that you can ask God for. And the

more specific it is, the more detailed it is, actually

the easier it is for you to see God answer it.

So what's most floating through your mind? What's the uppermost

concept on your mind right now? What's got you worried?

What's your greatest need right now? You say, well, you

think God would be interested in that? Delight yourself in

the Lord. He'll give you the desires of your heart.

What is it that you'd like to ask God for?

Just right now, let something pop into your mind because

I believe that of the thousands of people listening to

this right now, in all kinds of different situations, that

God wants to answer your prayer. And I believe that

God is going to answer your prayers in many, many

different ways in the next 40 days. I hope your

hope is building up in you right now because we're

gonna believe God together to answer your personal request. I

really believe that of all the series that I've taught

in purpose-driven lessons and courses and curriculum, that this series

can change your life forever. So are you ready? You

ready to ask? You ready to enter a new level

of prayer? Let's pray together, okay? Why don't you just

bow your heads right now and I'm gonna pray with

you and for you. Now, with your head bowed, just

pray this in your heart. Father, I wanna see breakthroughs

happen in my life, miracles, things that can't be explained

by my own effort. There are areas of my life

that I've lost hope. There are areas of my life

where I need renewal. There are areas of my life

where I need a breakthrough, a miracle. And I want

to see impossible situations made possible through prayer. God has

given many promises that we've looked at just in this

first session. We'll look at many more. But because God

has made these promises, I want you to ask right now.

Just say this. Right now, Father, I ask you for,

and you fill in the blank. Say, Father, right now,

because of your promises, I ask you for, and then

make your request to God. I don't want you to

miss out on this. Now I want you to pray, Lord,

help me to believe that you will answer my prayer

because I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, As

you go to your discussion time, I wanna encourage you

to do two things. And we're gonna do this in

each of these sessions. I believe God put you in

this small group so that you can pray for each

other and with each other. So for the next 40 days,

I'm gonna ask you to pray every day for the

request you have just thought of. And then I wanna

ask you to pray every day for each other in

your group. And if you feel confident in sharing your request,

do that with others. If you don't, that's okay. We

just know that everybody in your group has made a

request to God. Let's believe together that we're going to

see breakthroughs, new hope, and new renewal in each other's lives.

Thanks for joining me on this first session. Have a

great discussion time, and I'll see you in our next session.

God bless you.