Arena and did not know what to do have you ever found yourself at a new job maybe and you're like oh my goodness I'm overwhelmed by this or maybe you you decided I'm gonna stop being an employee I'm going to start being an entrepreneur and as soon as you open up your business like okay now what do I do next or how about this one you got married and all of a sudden you went from being this person who's on your own and now you have a wife and like I don't know how to be a husband or I don't know how to be a wife or oh how about this one you get this really you you get you're married you got this new baby and you don't know how to handle this new I remember when my kids were born like people say well let me hold the baby oh and then I start oh I haven't done this before why you asking me to hold my baby okay you haven't done this you don't act like you're gonna drop him anyway I got a little attitude about it give me my baby back right um and you get this you get this child and now you're responsible for turning this person into an adult reasonable responsible human being and you don't know how to do it well today I'm going to talk to you about how to pray when you lose your way let's go First Kings chapter um First Kings chapter three one of my favorite stories I I believe that this prayer has changed my life as much as or more than anything I've ever prayed um because it speaks to like understanding how life works so I'm going to read it to you first we're going to start with verse one First Kings chapter 3 verse one and Solomon made an Infinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt to Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had made it into the building of his house in the house of the Lord and the wall of Jerusalem roundabout only the people sacrificed in the high places because there was no house built into the name of the Lord until those days and Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statutes of David his father only sacrifice burn incense in the high places and the King went to gibeon to sacrifice there for that was a great high place and a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon the altar in gibeon the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a Dream by night and God said ask what I shall give thee how many all like for God to wake you up hey wake up I got something for you right and says I'm going to give you whatever you want have you ever thought about if that happened to you what you'd asked for wow right uh well if I can have three of these photos two in green four two in blue right and we start asking and we'd ask for all this stuff Solomon didn't do that you know why because Solomon understood the purpose of Prayer most people mistakenly think that the purpose of prayer is to get God to do their will but that's not the purpose of prayer the purpose of Prayer is to get yourself in tune so you can do his will to get myself in tune so I can do his will so so that's why by the way the the prayer that people mistakenly call The Lord's Prayer because it's not the Lord's Prayer Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom and come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts we also forgive our debtors at least not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom of the power and the glory forever amen that is not the Lord's Prayer how do I know well forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors he didn't have any deaths to forgive Christ would have never prayed that prayer but notice what he said in Matthew chapter 6 and I think Luke chapter 4 when he was teaching the disciples how to pray he said after this manner therefore pray you so it's not the Lord's Prayer it's the model prayer it's the prayer model this is It's the prayer pattern but it's not the Lord's Prayer are you all right the Lord's Prayer is in John chapter 17 where he said I pray for them for them which thou has given me for they are thine and all thine are mine and mine are thine and I am glorified in them John 17 is The Lord's Prayer okay but Matthew 6 is the model prayer for us well I want you to notice in the model prayer it doesn't start with you and it doesn't start with me and it doesn't start with the stuff I want the model prayer he said after this manner therefore pray Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name you are worthy holy is your name for Thou Art Worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and Power Revelation 4 11 for thou Hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are or they exist and that's why they were created so everything was created to please God which brings us back to Genesis chapter one and God said and it was so and God saw that it was good you see how you full circle the whole Bible keeps saying the same thing over and over and God's saying it in different ways trusting that eventually we will get it right okay so so Our Father which are in heaven Hallowed be thy name Watch what it says next thy kingdom come the first thing you're supposed to ask for is the kingdom to come in your prayer what does that mean dear Jesus please come back today that's not what that means it's not what that means the kingdom of God coming is not the kingdom of God doesn't need to wait till Christ comes back to establish his Earthly Kingdom for his kingdom to come his the word kingdom is a compound word it means it comes from King and it comes from the word dominion what is Dominion Dominion is when you have authority over and access to everything in your kingdom it belongs to you it's yours or your tracking so when I'm praying for God's kingdom come in my life when I'm saying thy kingdom come I am literally asking God to be the Sovereign King Of My Life when I'm asking God's Kingdom Come Lord Lord let my mind think the thoughts you wanted to think let my eyes behold the things you want them to go let my mouth speak the words you want them to speak but let me speak what does it speak let my hands do the Deeds you want my hands to do that you want my hands to do let my feet try the past that you want me to try when I'm asking for the kingdom of God to come I'm asking for God to be the king of my life that's really hard for Americans you know why it's hard for us as Americans because we don't live in a kingdom and we've never had a king and so we don't know what we don't know we don't understand how a king operates I remember I was in I was in London I think it was the first time I was there with Bishop Wayne Malcolm back in 2008 and um he said to me he said um brother Myron we used to have a much nicer building but the queen took it and that didn't make any sense to me so I said what you mean she took it then he said something to me was crazier he said she needed it for something so she took it and I said something something the Queen needed your building for something she took it and you're okay with that he literally backed up for me looked at me like I was the crazy one and then he said two words that I or the next phrase the next phrase he said I'll never forget he said it doesn't matter she's the queen then he said do you know why the Queen's pictures on all our money don't you I said no why he said because it's her money I said I don't understand the kingdom of God because when you grow up in a kingdom and you grow up under the authority of a kingdom you understand that everyone and everything in the Kingdom already belongs to the Royal Family when I'm yielding my life to God I'm not giving him something that's mine I'm giving him something that's already his I'm just doing my best not to steal it from him so when I'm praying for God's kingdom to come into my life I'm praying for God's way of doing things God's kingdom culture to come into my life so that my life represents his kingdom more than it represents my whateverness this is this is this is important okay so ask what I shall give thee what would you ask for God come I mean the god of the universe who owns everything comes and asks you I got a blank checkup here with your name on it I'm gonna give you anything you want what would you ask for here's what Solomon asked for this is how to pray when you lose your way when you find yourself in a situation and you don't know what to do I believe that you can find guidance by praying this prayer here's what Solomon said and Solomon said thou has showed thy servant David my father great Mercy according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and uprightness of heart now to me that's one of the most fascinating statements in the Bible because I'm thinking to myself okay let me ask you a question who was Solomon's mama Bathsheba who was her first husband Uriah who had him killed David and so I'm reading this I'm like I'm thinking which David you talking about I get it he was a man after God's Own Heart David blew it so bad that not only did he stay home at a time that Kings went out to battle which put him in the wrong place at the wrong time not only did he see a woman bathing on a rooftop by the way that sounds weird to us but in Israel it's not weird because they have walls around the roofs of their buildings and the only person who would be able to see on the top of somebody else's room would be the king because the palace is higher than the other houses but it came a time when the Kings went forth to battle David wasn't even supposed to be there see what happens when you end up in wrong places the wrong time my mom my mom and dad you say don't you don't you come in this house after such and such a time and when we were younger it was an earlier time where nothing good is happening out there after such and such a Time right okay anyway anyway so so then David brings Bathsheba sends for her and he commits adultery with her and then sends her home but they got a new problem now because that's what sin does it gives it gives birth to more sin now she's pregnant but her husband was out to battle when David should have been out there with him and David wasn't there and what happened David sent for him brought him to back and said oh well brought him to bring word or something okay you go you go home and enjoy the pleasure of your wife Uriah slept on the porch he said I ain't gonna go and enjoy my wife while my brothers in arms are out there dying on the battlefield he slept on the porch they brought word to David so David then as if that I love the fact that God doesn't hide the dirt on the good people on the main characters he shows us all the dirt why because a human is a human is a human is human and we have been tainted by sin God didn't keep it God didn't keep it he ain't interested in keeping your secret or mine okay anyway so David sends form again brings him to a party gets him drunk because he figures when he's drunk surely he'll cave to his Temptations then gets him drunk and then sends him home he still sleeps on the porch Uriah got more has more integrity and honor under the influence of alcohol than David had when he wasn't hmm and then David said well none of that work he just sent word to um job to have him on the on the battlefield put him on the front front line and put him at the front of the front line everybody yelled charge and then when everybody's charging everybody else Retreat and leave your eye out there by himself and your eyes dead then he takes Bathsheba to be his wife the first baby dies Solomon's the second baby after God judges David's house because David pronounced the Judgment the man has done this thing he shall be fourfold that's exactly how many fold he paid right because what happened Absalom tried to steal the kingdom and joab killed Absalom so one son one child died well first the baby died then Absalom died but before Absalom died amnon his other son raped his half-sister Tamar see how it's coming back exactly like the Seedy sound every deed is the seed that we are sowing into the garden of our future if you don't want to reap a nasty Harvest don't sow those nasty seeds okay so he he he one brother rapes his half-sister just like David took advantage of Bathsheba then one of the brothers Absalom kills amnon because David had Uriah killed the baby died the the baby from the adultery died and then um uh joab killed Absol fourfold fourfold but when Solomon is talking about his father he didn't bring none of that up now he wasn't Solomon was not confused and he wasn't stupid he knew who his mom was he knew who his daddy was but he wasn't so focused on the mistakes they made and the sins that they committed he was it was he didn't say that Solomon didn't do that David didn't do anything bad but he did recognize that even though he did some bad stuff he also did some good stuff and he honored his parents because that's what the scripture says to do honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the lamb which the Lord thy God giveth thee so Solomon's doing that okay so anyway verse 7 again and now O Lord my God thou has made thy servant King instead of David my father and I am but a little child I know not how to go out or how to come in thy servant is the midst of thy people which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted from altitude give therefore thy servant and understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great people huh that's a really interesting prayer so let me I'm going to put it in modern day of an accurate I'm going to say it a couple of times so Solomon is now the King by the way his brother out of Niger tried to steal the kingdom before David died y'all remember that right and adonaija was older than Solomon and so adonija pronounced himself to be the king and I think it was in uh First Kings chapter one maybe it was in yeah I think it was in first Kings chapter one and he had joab with him he had he had some of the people who were David's and then Bathsheba Etc go read the story I'm not going to give you the whole story anyway Solomon doesn't know how to be a king I don't know how to be a king I don't know how to I don't have know how to have a royal procession like do you under can you like how many times in our lives do we find ourselves right there I don't know how I'm supposed to do this thing clearly I'm supposed to do this thing but I don't know how to do it this is how to pray when you lose your way dear Lord give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on this Earth to do in a way that pleases you and serves the people you put me here to serve that's the whole thing right there change every The Prayer of Jabez that's great great prayer ain't this prayer dear Lord give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on this Earth to do in a way that pleases you and serves the people you put me here to serve what do I learn from that prayer two things do I learn more than two things but two things I learned two two mind-blowing things I learned is one God put me here to please him I find that all throughout scripture we see it in Genesis chapter one and God said let there be light and there was light and God saw that it was good right we see that in Revelation 4 11 for thou has Thou Art Worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and Power for thou Hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are or they exist and that's why they were created I was created to please God you were created to please God you say I don't even like God well you'll please him too because God hath made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of evil I mean for the day of even the wicked for the day of Wrath so God made even even those of you who don't like God and you hate God congratulations you're pleasing God whether you know it or not whether you like it or not it is what it is there is no escaping it it is what it is but when you recognize that that's why you're here and you yield to it instead of resisting it you yield to it and you say dear Lord give me the wisdom like I you made me a father I don't know how to be a father I didn't have maybe maybe you're a father you didn't even have a father to be an example of a father I don't know how to be a father dear Lord give me the wisdom to be the kind of father that pleases you and serves these children in a way you desire them to be served you're a mother same thing dear Lord give me the wisdom be the mother you put me here to be in a way that pleases you and serves these children you've given me to serve you're a teacher dear Lord give me the wisdom to be the teacher you put me here to be in a way that pleases you and serves these students you've given me to serve you're an entrepreneur dear Lord give me the wisdom to be the business owner you put me here to be in a way that pleases you and serves the clients you've given me to serve your your your husband dear Lord I don't know how to be a husband dear Lord give me the wisdom to be the husband you put me here to be in a way that pleases you and serves this wife you've given me to serve you're a wife you know I don't know how to be a wife Dear Lord give me the wisdom to be the wife you put me here to be in a way that pleases you and certain and serves the people you put the husband you put me here to serve do you understand your purpose in life is wrapped up in pleasing God and serving people here's where we get messed up most Christians think that the purpose of their life is pleasing people and serving God that's one of the biggest problems in modern day churchianity too many people think that the purpose of their life is to please people and serve God but the real purpose of your life is to please God and serve people do you understand God is not going to bring someone across your path that you're not supposed to serve at some capacity if you don't serve them anything but a hello and a smile I'm Blown Away by how many humans have the ability to walk past another person who's made in the image of God and not even acknowledge their God likeness by saying hello how are you today blows my mind but I'm self-conscious right that's the problem your self-conscious which means you're not serving conscious I ain't here for me God put me here by myself but he didn't put me here for myself God put me here for you he put you here for me he put us here for each other he put me here for my wife my wife here for me my wife and myself here for our children our children here for us but see my job is not to tell you to serve me my job is to yield to God please him and serve you and whether you serve me or not that's between you and God how many y'all tracking I am telling you you will not find a better way to live your life here's what's going to happen God's going to start showing you ways to serve people at higher and higher levels it changes the game forever like like I it's so funny like I just started out I'm going to be an entrepreneur what's that look like I don't know well for me when when I started it looked like selling insurance and Investments through a network marketing company and then selling Health supplements to a network marketing I didn't know that the reason I was going through all of those different iterations was so I could learn how to get better at sales so I could eventually teach it to somebody I had no idea by the way selling is a good thing because selling is a God thing in fact the same King Solomon that we're reading about right here here's what he said after God gave him the wisdom he said he said if you have something good you have a moral obligation to sell it to as many people as possible where's that at Proverbs 11 26 he that withholdeth the corn corn being grain he that withholdeth the crane corn the people shall curse him but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it oh that's not the only places in the Bible it's in it's all throughout scripture like selling is all throughout scripture it's in the book of Genesis when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream and then they stored up 20 of all the production for seven years and when people came to Joseph and they said Joseph we hungry Joe said I'll sell you some food but I ain't giving you none I'll save you some food so you think you fixed somebody's problem when you give them some money and you you go fix their problem for them like you're they're going to be way better off if you teach them how to fix their own problem I'm not I'm not opposed to giving stuff to people I give stuff I give I give charity I don't give back to charity I just give charity I give to charity I'm not giving it back I didn't take anything from them so I'm not giving it back I don't have to justify my wealth by saying but I give back do you understand the fact that I am wealthy blesses people there are people who have jobs there are 20 something people who can take care of themselves and their families because I have a business and I make a lot of money guess what when I didn't have a job I couldn't even take care of me so Jacobs Jacob was such a shrew businessman by the way Jacob is an Old Testament type of Christ hated by his brother and he was thrown down in a pit he went down into the prison he he arose as the prime minister type Old Testament type of Christ watch this Joseph was such a shrewd businessman that he sold the people food until they ran out of money and after they ran out of money they said Joseph we're still hungry we ain't got no money Joseph didn't say oh poor thing I'll just give it to you he said what you got they said we got some animals give me the DT animals and then I'll give you some food he sold them food until they ran out of animals and out of money that's true they came to Joseph we still hungry Joseph said what you got we got some land give me the deed to your land now Joseph owns all the food all the money all the animals and all the land by the way Joseph didn't Own It Pharaoh owned it the kingdom owned it the king that Joseph worked for owned it hmm that's fascinating on somebody level see my brain thinks too fast and so I got all these thoughts coming into my head and I'm thinking about the fact that Joseph literally preserved not just the human race but preserved the nation of Egypt through his plan and his willingness to sell them like the Pharaoh got wealthier and wealthier as people's needs got greater and greater well watch what happens next they run out of food I mean they run our food they run out of money they run out of land they run out of animals they come to Joe's we're still hungry Joe said what you got the only thing we got left is ourselves make us your slaves but please don't let us die of starvation now he owns all the land all the animals all the food all the money and all the people they say man what's your point here's my point the book of Exodus the first chapter it says There Rose a pharaoh who knew not Joseph what how's that possible isn't it amazing how fast human beings forget the good that was brought to them by someone else and then and then what happens you begin to believe your own press right you begin to believe all the good things people tell you about you even the ones you know ain't true I wish I had some help in here and so what happened Loop Solomon prayed a prayer where his priority was right what was his priority I want to please God and serve people dear Lord give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on this Earth to do in a way that pleases you and serves the people you put me here to serve can you imagine like the opportunities that God will bring across your path because by praying that prayer it reminds you of why you're here praying that prayer all day every day will remind you why you're here and it'll help you it'll cure your depression you know why you're depressed don't you because you're thinking about you that's not a judgment I ain't I ain't mad at you I ain't mad at you I'm just I'm giving you an insight you're depressed because you're thinking about yourself nobody's depressed who's focused on fixing somebody else's problem that's real talk depression is a symptom of self-absorption it doesn't make you a bad person it just makes you a person person one of them people one of them that peoples right I'm gonna read I'm gonna read it to you again now in that light as you think about what he prayed listen to it listen to it again as I read it watch this and Solomon said thou shown on David servant David according verse 7. and now oh Lord my God thou has made thy servant King instead of David my father and I am but a little child oh I am insignificant compared to the significance of the purpose of my life we're my people I know that ain't just me there's no way in the world I can do this and but a little child I don't know how to go out or how to come in and thy servant is in the midst of thy people Solomon realized that the children of Israel that he was going to Reign Over they were not his people they were God's people he said he really said I am in the midst of thy people these are your people whom thou has chosen I didn't choose them you chose him great people a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted from altitude so since I'm in the midst of these people and my job is to discern judgment give therefore thy servant and understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this life so great people here's what it says next when the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon asked this thing now I want you to notice a word when it tells us what what Solomon asks and God said unto him because thus asked this thing and has not asked for thyself huh so here's like even before I go any further this means that this prayer that Solomon prayed was not for Solomon Solomon was the one that prayed the prayer but Solomon was not the object of the prayer are y'all tracking he said because you've asked this thing and it's not asked for thyself long life neither hath thou ask riches for thyself hmm nor hath Al asked for the life of thine enemies but let's ask for thyself understanding to discern judgment you ask for something for me the god you're supposed to please and something that'll make you better at serving the people you're supposed to serve good like this is like this is this is like life skills 101 and 202 and 303 and 404. this is like the whole thing this is a whole shooting match I am here to serve you be about the business I am here to please God be about the business it's really interesting um I'm and the speech please the Lord Solomon asked this thing and God said because that's not us okay understand for thyself verse 12. behold I've done according to thy words lo I have given thee a wise and understanding heart so there was none like thee before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee and I have also given thee that which thoust not ask riches and honor so that there shall not be any among the Kings like unto thee all thy days and if thou will walk in my ways and keep my statutes and Commandments as I as thy father David did walk then will I lengthen thy days so God said because you ask for this and you didn't ask for this because you prayed like this and not like this I'm going to give you the stuff you didn't ask for that's what I mean when I say the money is not the success the money's just the bonus you know what the you know what the real success is discovering the thing you were created for the purpose for your life developing yourself for that purpose deploying yourself in that purpose this is how to pray when you lose your way you think see here why am I teaching this because you thought your inability was a good reason for you not to go on the journey you thought your inability your lack of ability your lack of skill your lack of knowledge well then that's just proof I shouldn't do it wasn't proof Solomon shouldn't do it gave him something to pray about dear Lord give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on this Earth to do in a way that pleases you and serves the people you put me here sir by the way do you know what this reminds me of and I'm gonna it reminds me of Matthew 6 33. which people take out of context like I I I it blows my mind when people quote this to me not because I'm always doing it but because like I know what it's saying here here's what you said Jesus said don't worry about what you're going to eat don't worry about what you're going to drink don't worry about what you're going to put on those are the things the Gentiles worry about then he said and they said take no thought for the moral don't be anxious about tomorrow don't waste Today's Energy worrying about tomorrow's problems he said but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added into me so it's funny because I'll be teaching somebody I'll be do a video on YouTube about you know how to make more money people say but seeking first the kingdom of God is righteousness okay but that's only half the verse then it says and all these things will be added unto you all what things the things you used to be worried about you don't have to worry about them anymore if you seek the kingdom of God but what does it mean to seek the kingdom of God I seek to yield my life to God as a sovereign King Of My Life this is the this is what the kingdom of God is I yield my life to God as a sovereign King Of My Life and then I rule over my assignment as The Sovereign king of that assignment and then I used that assignment that I rule over to serve every human being whose path I cross that's what it means to seek the kingdom of God it's not some ethereal distant future Heavenly experience it's it's not just that granted when Christ comes back he's going to rule and Reign on the earth for a thousand years I get that but he's supposed to be ruling and reigning in my life right now today today tomorrow the next day this week this month this year let's go let's be about yielding to God as The Sovereign king of our life his kingdom coming into my life means he's the king and he has Dominion and when I yield to that guess what God's going to do when I'm yielded to the king guess what he's going to do well he's the king of kings that means he's going to make me the king of my thing ladies are good news for you when you yield to God as a sovereign king of your life he will make you the queen of your scene and then you will use that assignment that he's given you to serve the people you come across and I'm telling you there is no better experience of Life on planet Earth than that yeah you might make some money maybe not hey I was happy when I was broke because I was yielded to the king I wasn't happy that I was broke I don't want anybody but I was happy when I was broke and by the way I'm happy now that I'm rich by the way I'm not happy that I'm rich it's just a Bible it's a byproduct it's all these things being added unto me just like God said to Solomon because you didn't ask for these things I'm going to give you what you asked for I'm going to give you the wisdom to please me and to serve people and then all those other things I'm going to add to you they're bonuses and then the next chapter goes on to tell us that Solomon was wiser than all the men of the East all the men of Egypt and alcohol and all he starts naming all these people his wife's within all men he's so wise that all of the kings of the earth came to Solomon and paid him to learn what he knew I am so glad that God revealed this scripture to me over a decade ago and I said Lord I'm going to yield to you I want my life to be I want my life to be a continual burn offering for you this is this this is I'm gonna use all this right here all this right here all this whole all this breath I got all the strength I got all this cognitive cognitive ability I have I'm going to use it to serve God I'm going to use the please God I mean I'm gonna use the please God I'm going to use to serve people and by the way when I'm serving people I'm actually serving God because one of the principles in the Bible is God said how you treat other people is how you treat me that's what he said he said how could you say you love God who you haven't seen if you hate your brother whom you have seen that's a good question see you he said to the Pharisees he said here's what here's your problem I was sick you didn't Minister unto me I was thirsty you didn't give me anything to drink I was hungry you didn't give anything to eat I was in prison he didn't visit me they said well when did we do all those things he said as much in as much as you've done it unto the least of these you know the least of these are these are people that you serve who have nothing to contribute back to you I'm not just talking about serving people so they pay you I'm talking about serving people because they're made in the image of God and that's why you're here and that's why I'm here see I'm telling you the money is a bonus the influence is a bonus the the all the stuff you think you want those are just bonuses seek to be yielded to the king it'll change everything for you I hope this blesses you this is how to pray when you lose your way dear Lord give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on the earth to do in a way that pleases you and serves the people you put me here to serve I hope this blesses you'll be on measure in the meantime in between times stay blessed by the best and I'll see you all next Wednesday morning peace out Cub Scouts ain't God's word