if you've been around our church for any length of time you would know that I love to eat and I don't like to work out anybody else with me does anybody else struggle with that tension every day I love to eat but I don't like to work out now don't get me wrong I love sport I love playing sport put a ball on a field and I will run after that ball but remove that ball and ask me to run and I think it's the stupidest thing ever the Bible says we do not run with the Lord we walk with the Lord so I don't like doing it but I understand that for the sake of my children I need to be healthy so that I can be around for a very long time I am planning on dying well into the second part of this Century isn't that weird think about that I will die in the second part of this Century my parents won't but I will isn't that weird I'm going to make the second part of this century and you may not my dad says he will I don't know I'm going to die in the second part of but I understand that in order to do that you know what I need to do I need to out and and here's the thing this is what every person that knows anything about Fitness or nutrients this is what they tell you you can work out as much as you want you can go to the gym you can pop the testosterone the steroids hghh whatever your choice is you can do all those things but honestly what really matters is what you eat now here's my problem right here's my problem here's my problem I don't like healthy food do I have any Witnesses in the play I feel like God created a cheeseburger so we should eat God created the cow we kill it we milk it then we kill it we get cheese we get meat and Bre well like I I I love to eat burgers I love to eat fries I love all the nice un just a good vanilla thick Shake who likes a good vanilla milk shake or I just I love all these things but because I understand I got to eat healthy this is what I do I will choose a meal to eat healthy right ah this is where the problem comes in I'll be like okay I'm going to have a salad right and I'll order a salad I have a salad it happens every now and then Kate be quiet so it happens every now and then here's my issue I'll order a a salad right I'll order a wrap okay a wrap I'll order a wrap I'm trying not to lie I'll order a wrap I'll order a wrap and it's a healthy wrap it's a healthy wrap no sauce it's just the chicken good protein and salads and lettuce to I'll order a wrap and my issue is as I eat that wrap it's like I'm giving up the nice food for the healthy food right now I am sacrificing enjoyment for health and I have this weird maybe you're with me come on some of y'all people are with me maybe you're with me that as I'm eating this wrap in that moment I'm expecting literally like one of my packs to pop out y'all know what I'm saying it's like as the health goes in my stomach goes in as well right like I I I I I want to wake up the next day and I want to see the effects of the salad I sacrificed for the night before come on is anybody else with me on this and what happens you wake up the next day and there is no effect of that salad because you need more than one healthy meal to get rid of that tire around your belly and this is how so many of us approach prayer so many of us look at prayer and we pray and we go oh I haven't seen anything what's the point why bother praying at all the title of my message today is why bother wow and I've had those moments why why bother eating healthy why should I eat I don't see the results why should I bother eating healthy and the problem isn't my healthy eating the problem is I haven't stuck around long enough to see the results here's a question I get all the time as a pastor why do I need to pray and fast if God knows what I need and if God knows everything that's going to happen and if it's all been predetermined since the beginning of time why should I bother praying about it and that is a great question and maybe you're here today or maybe you're watching and you have that exact same question it's a good question why bother praying if God already knows it if everything's going to happen why bother praying and there's a reason why you have that question and unfortunately it's it's not a great reason you may not understand the reason why you had that question but this is why you have that question because your Viewpoint of prayer has been shaped by popular culture and by religion see pop culture has actually sold us even in unreligious societies pop culture has has sold us this lie that when everything's bad I just need to pray and if I pray that God's going to come through for me and he's going to come and do it all religion particularly here in the Philippines has sold us this life that we can live and do anything we want and show up to church once a year and get blessed by the father and everything is going to be okay we hear preachers and we hear leaders in church and other Christians describe God as as if he's just waiting in heaven just waiting there for our prayer so poof he can just come down and he can give us some miracle he's just waiting for our prayers up there so he can come and give us some miracle and we hear other people talk like that and we think but I've never seen that happen in my life there's a great quote a lot of people said it but many people think it came from Augustine of Hippo that sayso not Pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sunshines see prayer is amazing but we got to get the right foundation of of why we should bother to pray and if we do it can lead to the most beautiful and fruitful relationship with God this is one thing I've really learned about prayer prayer is not a request line it is a conversation with god so I grew up I grew up I am a an on the older part of being a millennial I'm not a young Millennial I'm an older Millennial and so I grew up pre- internet does anyone remember life before the internet right so pre- internet we had this thing um it was called uh the radio anyone remember the radio remember when you used to listen to the radio right so we had this thing called the radio we also had things called cassette tapes and then when I got a little bit older we had CDs but the thing about cassette tapes and CDs was they were very expensive anyone remember how expensive they were and then lime wire and Napster came along and everybody went to jail and so but before that right we had these things so you know what we would do come on I know there's some old people in this room you know what we used to do we used to wait for our songs to come on the radio and we would have the tape in there and then we would right at the same time and we would make a mixtape for our girlfriend from the radio come on right we do this but but we had these radio shows like radio DJs were Kings they were amazing and what would happen is is that people would call up the radio station to make their requests everyone remember this you'd call it okay we're taking requests all night tonight magic 89.9 Joe Domingo was there taking requests right I used to I used to call up I would spend some nights calling because I loved music and my parents um they didn't like me listening to non-Christian music anyone have parents like that and so I would just lie to them and tell them no I'm holding on to the end of the road is a Christian song about your walk with the Lord I'm holding i' call up I would call 20 times to get through and I remember one night I finally got through I'm I'm like they're like hey this is in Australia it was in Australia at the time and it was a fox 103.4 whatever it was radio like hey what you say and I'm like hi um hi I can I please I'd like to dedicate this song to Sarah um cuz I was 13 i' like to dedicate this song to Sarah my request is um can I have this song I Swear they like that's all right let's put that on for Sarah from James and I turn on be like I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky I'll be there I'll be there and and I and I loved it and people would call up and they would request because we didn't have songs y'all kids these days do not understand my children oh God I love them but they are spoiled brats hopes like Daddy can I have your phone I just want to pick a song I'm like pick a song I used have to wait six days to hear a song hopefully it came on the radio and so we had these request lines where we would call up and the point of the conversation was not to get to know the DJ the point was I want to request a song and I want you to play it instantly for me because we didn't get instant songs back then but that DJ had the power to instantly give me my requests and unfortunately this is how a lot of us see prayer that God is our spiritual DJ and my conversations with God are as short as myver ation with the DJ can I tell you the DJ didn't care about me and my love for Sarah at that point in my life they just played the song and moved on and a lot of us just come to God with our requests hey God by the way can you do this can you do this can you do this can you do this thanks by why should you bother to pray because the core Foundation of prayer is not actually requesting a miracle from God or as we might call him DJ God that's not the core Foundation of prayer the core Foundation of prayer is about drawing close to God and growing in your relationship with him through an intimate conversation and conversations are not just one-sided they're two-sided so let's go this is the most famous scripture and prayer Matthew chapter 6 verse 7 Jesus teaches us how to prayer he says in verse 7 and When you pray do not keep on babbling like pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him this then is how you should pray you ready for it come on anybody religious Our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingom come your will be done give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temption but Deliver Us from the evil one there there's people that haven't been to church in 35 years that can recite that so Jesus makes it really clear before he actually teaches us out of prayer he gives us he says Hey listen don't go on babbling don't try and make this spiritual don't make this about yourself don't try and say you know there's some people that pray God bless you I'm not having to go at you but there are some people that will pray for a minute and a half without any substance they're just trying to recite all the names of God that they know to be spiritual in front of oh God Heavenly Father oh El should I right je Raa right and you start naming all these things and Jesus is saying hey just drop the spiritual act it doesn't impress God he's he starts it off and he says this is how you should pray it should start with our father Jesus is saying this from the get-go prayer is relational DJ on the request line doesn't know who I am but God up there he knows who I am and so my prayer has got to be relational and so before I roll into God I need this I need this I need this I need this I actually need to stop and I need to make it relational I think about my own dad right so here's my dad my dad is here and I think about my relationship with my dad now there's been many things in my life that I've needed from my dad I got to ask things from my dad Liz move over please thank you there you go all right I was just going to make you move over Liz but obviously you just move chairs Okay so this is my dad right this is my dad I've I've asked for my dad and my mom have given me a loan to help uh pay for a house at one point uh they they helped me get through University they paid for different things it's been really good thanks Dad but but when I went and actually asked my dad for some things this is how I didn't do it ready kayin it's how I didn't do it God you look fit salad salad salad lots of salad salad lots of salad wraps steroids no don't say that okay we're online PBA draft okay um so when I've gone to my dad I haven't just said hey Dad can I please have some money thank you right now that's stupid and exaggerated hey Dad can I pleas have you you know what I've said if I wanted something from my dad I've looked at my dad and I've been like Hey Dad how are you doing [Applause] hey Pops hey Pops how hey how how you going how's your marriage have you guys worked out your stuff yet have you you know how's you how you doing you know how you going on hey Dad I was really thinking uh you know I I had this and you and and you know what usually happens in the conversation my dad turns around and goes yeah how are you doing son go yeah good actually I'm I'm going through this thing at the moment I was wondering if I could get some help from you yeah no no of course but it it came out of uh relational conversation my dad is not an ATM that I just get cash from my dad is not the request DJ on the radio that that I just need you in fact could I put it to you that the reason why my dad has actually given me so much in my life has been birthed from the relationship and the intimacy that we have in our relationship rather than just the title of dad and when we go to God and we begin to pray Liz you can return back to your seat when we go to God and we begin to pray how many of us have just sat down with God and just gone God I need this I need this I need this I need this I need this and I need this Jesus is saying hey when you go to pray whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa cool your jets slow it down and before you get into what you need to get into you need to stop and you need to understand you're not praying to a statue you're not praying to some far off mystical being that you hope will hear your prayer we're not having to do a rain dance so that the gods won't Smite us today but we come into the throne room and we go Dad oh Dad you're wonderful Jesus is teaching us that prayer starts with intimacy and now now we are about to have a conversation with someone that we know some of us know him very well others we're just getting to know him but we need to set this Foundation before the requests even come in Jesus then goes on to say our father who is in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name hallowed is a nice fancy old word of basically saying holy is your name so hold on a second before I've even but Jesus I need this I need this and he's going wait wait wait firstly address Him Father intimacy relationship then before we even move into it as much as we're intimate as much as there's a relationship there let's just remember that we are talking to the creator of the heavens and the Earth and he's not just your little buddy hey what's up big G it's not that it's like whoa whoa whoa whoa we are still talking about a holy God here we are talking about the Creator we are talking about a God full of love but also a God who Jud judges he's not just your big G upstairs he is a holy holy God he is Dad but he is still holy I've been challenged in my prayer life recently my my whole prayer life recently has taken a big shaking uh and it's taken a shaking because I uh I recently discovered that you could walk and pray at the same time now again I hate physical activity with no purpose right like people that just walk around to walk around I'm like gross right people that walk on a treadmill even worse you're not even getting anywhere you're just like it's like where where are you going nowhere right I hate it but recently I was challenged because uh some of our staff they live in the same Village that I do and one of our younger staff uh uh Kate came and said oh yeah I saw Jay was walking around the village Jay who was up here before Jay walking around the village and he was walking and praying in the morning and I got really convicted and Paul does it as well he walks around and pray and I got really convicted I'm like what well Jay's doing it I guess I could do it right so I got out there and I started walking now listen I don't want I want to make this a big deal but Kate has been doing this for the 16 years of our marriage and has been telling me this for 16 years and as a good husband I have ignored her for 16 years and I want to just publicly apologize to you Kate for ignoring you and for listening to Jay dezman more than you even as I say that I hear the stupidity of that statement and so I love you so I went for a walk around the village and as I walked I I put in worship music and it just my prayer life I the last month I've been walking around a village and and I I just don't care there's drivers out the front there's people sweeping there's other people walking and I'm just the crazy white guy walking around I look like I have multiple personalities because I'm just I just talk to myself when I walk I'm like God I thank you they think I'm from Sweden or somewhere because I speak in Tong hey good more and then you have those awkward have you ever done these walks around and then somebody else is walking towards you and you're like how far away do I acknowledge when they're there is it just like a like this or you know so I've got it I'm like morning right morning I just go around I morning I see someone walking the same side as me who's going to switch to the other side so we don't all the these are all social implications of walking right so here's what I've been really challenged in myself to do is I've actually been spending the first 10 minutes now for some of you you will freak out by this because you would only be able to last 30 seconds but remember remember you don't see results straight away for the first 10 minutes I have been trying to set myself in a position of prayer where I'm not even asking God anything I'm not even praying about the my list that I pray for every day or the events or the things that are going on but I've been setting myself in this posture of our father my father oh you're holy and I've been praying recently we put something online and I sent it to a couple of my friends uh because I just I loved it so much it was our spontaneous worship that occurred at our conference in Pastor Phil session and we put it on YouTube a and and I sent it to a few of my friends and one of them uh uh Pastor Charles Chris auli who's actually coming to preach in a few months at our kids and at our church he called me up he goes man that was incredible he said I think you should challenge your church to pray that for 10 minutes put that on and Challenge and stretch themselves to pray for that entire 10 minutes and I'm like yeah yeah I'll challenge the church and I'm like that's my own Challenge and so what I've been doing every morning is is I take that instrumental and there's a little bit of talking at the beginning but for the rest of it there's no talking because I love worship music and prayer but sometimes I get distracted by the worship music has anyone else I'm like Jesus I just pray I'll sing the name name right I start walking around I sing name and and so I get distracted so I love that it's an instrumental so so I I actually want to get really practical this week is prayer and fasting week right I want to challenge us to if this sits with you or if you've got something else to it but I actually want to challenge you to put on this instrumental every day and for 10 minutes have it play in fact we're going to put it on the screen just because I want to make sure that you all have time to do it uh there you go you can scan you can take out your phones right now and scan it to make sure that you go to it or you can go to the website and see I I want to make this so practical today but this is my challenge is I want to challenge you for however long you can last because I know we got people in all different varying uh parts of your journey with God a minute is a long prayer time that's okay keep doing it you'll get to a minute and a half 5 minutes is a bit too long hey keep doing it you'll get to 7 minutes but I want to challenge you just put this on if you find something else that's fine but you can put this on and oh there you go someone's already playing it all right that's okay just put your phone on silent as you put it on download it when you're in Wi-Fi so you can play offline and just pray and and what's been happening is for me I've been walking around with this in my ears and it's an anointed not anointed free worship it's beautiful music music it's great it rises it falls it's but as I've been doing it I've been challenging myself father I love you God I love you my Father in Heaven oh you're so holy you're so holy you're so awesome and sometimes it's like okay you've gotten through every word that you have oh I adore you I magnify you know we are scraping the bottom of the barrel of our thesaurus oh God you are wonderful you are magnificent you are Mighty you are Mighty marvelous magnificent right you start to and and then so you know what I love to do I love to just speak in tongues as well in this moment and so as I'm walking around God I just you are my God you are my father I bless you and before I've even brought a request to God I'm setting the table of intimacy and honor so before we about to eat together I just want to set the table God ah I have intimacy with you and I want to honor you it clears my mind of the trash that I'm thinking about in my mind so I can begin to focus and then in my prayer life I get to my first request and do you know what my first request is every day in my prayer life it's what Jesus told us to do I pray God oh would your kingdom come and would your will be done whatever is happening in heaven right now would it come and be done in my life life right now I am beginning My Prayer by asking God hey I need your will to come and to begin to shape my will because it will affect the way I've prayed you know what I've learned is this is if you want a yes to prayer then you need to pray God's will if you want a yes to your prayers so many people are angry like God says no God says no God says no well maybe we're praying the wrong way maybe we're praying the wrong prayers when I pray God let your kingdom come and let your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven do you know what I'm asking him God with your will replace my will I want to give up my will my thoughts my desire every I want to give it over and God would you come and give me your will if I have God's will operating in my life then it changes the way that I pray and I have this confidence in approaching God that by spending time with him drawing close to him getting to know him through his word my prayers will begin to reflect his will for my life and not just my selfish Ambitions and desires some of you are like well can I why can't I pray for those things no no no I promise you you will pray for needs you will pray for Ambitions you will pray for desires that you have but those desires will be in line with God's will for your life and not just your selfish desires and you will not know the will of God if you do not know his word do not become a Christian that just praise and doesn't read your Bible I'm going to be preaching into this a lot in the next six months I just want to warn you but there are a lot of people that love a Jesus that they have formed that is not the Jesus of the Bible and the reason why is because they don't read their Bible and so they've just formed a Jesus you want to know what God's will is read his word his will is all throughout his word and it gets me to one of my favorite verses in the Bible 1 John 4 vers 5:14 this is the confidence we have in approaching God that we if we ask anything according to whose will according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we have asked of him here's the connection let your kingdom come let your will be done in my life as your will is being done in my life I will begin to pray your will and if it's your will you will hear it you will respond and it will be a yes I'm aligning myself with God before I begin to ask requests I'm aligning myself with God and then finally I get to the point where Jesus says all right now bring your requests would you give me my daily bread my daily bread is everything that I need in my life God would you give me and could I just put it to you as well whenever I pray for my daily bread I thank God for what he's already given me I I I'm very full of gratitude and appreciation God thank you for what you've given me but Lord we need this in our lives we need that in our lives Jesus is saying hey now it's time to pray what you need but make sure that it's set on the table of an intimate relationship a conversation and an alignment to his will and your requests will look different they will begin to mature in fact fact I have found over the years that the more time I spend with God and the more I begin to pray that that it all prayer time almost becomes a mirror in my life that begins to challenge me and shape me to pray different prayers let me give you an example I'm a father I have three kids uh my three children are wonderful wonderful children that will all have an incredible impact in this world I I believe it I know it I prophesy it over them I speak it over them they're going to be amazing children but they are very strong willed children and having a strong will is phenomenal as an adult Sienna my middle child is honestly she could be a hostage negotiator the way that she negotiates with me now is unbelievable she has asked me every single day for the last two years if she can have a phone she goes Daddy I want a phone I want a phone I want a phone and she's good she goes Daddy give me a noia phone no Internet it's all good dad just give me a knock I'm like how do you even know that I'm like no Cenna she's like Daddy how about when I'm 15 dad can I get it when I'm 15 Dad when I'm 15 I'm like okay maybe when you're 15 great Dad how about when I'm 14 Dad how about when I'm it's like a reverse auction going backwards do I see 14 do I see 13 dad do I see 13 from you Dad do you see 13 do I see 13 13 going once go like like my children are so aan oh my gosh Alan is just he's he's wild he's incredible he is a phenomen Al leader at this age he's already an incredible leader the problem is he leads others into a path of destruction and not into good right now that's our issue right so so I pray I pray for my kids hope I'm praying for resilience thick skin for her right so I got all these things with my kids I'm praying for just like your kids and your future kids you'll be praying for them right and so I I began even recently to to pray I'm like God would you would you help Alan and this this is how I started my prayer right would you help ask that would you would you help fix what's in him right now like I started to pray these prayers of God would you would you change him would Lord would you change sien these these things or hope would you change hope here's what happened the more time I spent in prayer walking around my Village do you want to know what happened to my prayers as the Holy Spirit began to converse back with me my prayers began to change and instead of going God would you would you fix Alan's Behavior do you know what my prayers naturally without me even realizing it until it kind of hit me my prayer started changing to God would you help me parent him in such a way that would help his behavior God would you help my response right prayer began to shine a light on me on on my life and God used it in that moment God would you fix him God's going no I'm not going to fix him I'm going to fix you God and so now my prayers for my children every I have a list that I go through I pray for my wife every day and I never pray for God to fix her I never ever she is already fixed in jesus' name right I pray God make me a better husband right and I pray my prayers I pray I pray for my wife I pray for my kids but my prayers now are like God would you would you help me Teach Sienna how to hone her negotiation skills for good and not for evil would you help me mold and shape Asen into the leader would you help me with hope God would you help me as a dad provide such a safe environment that she builds resilience in her spirit every day I pray for Financial blessing not so that I can be spoiled and Rich but so that I can begin to bless people I'm praying for you know what already I'm not just praying God make me Rich I don't do that like God would you let finances flow through me because I'd love to send that person to school God I'd love to buy that person a car God I'd love to provide that God I want to build this building for favor church God would you bless man I am praying my prayers are not just these selfish prayers God fix that do that but God actually begins to put it on me and going okay Lord how do you want to use me and my prayers begin to align with someone who's praying the will of God why bother praying for it if God already knows well when we understand that he's not just the request DJ and it's not just about spiritual Babel then he will begin to lead my thoughts and he'll begin to speak back to me John 10:27 it says my sheep hear your voice and I I know them they follow me it's beautiful this is Jesus talking in order to actually know the voice of the shepherd the Sheep had to spend time with the shepherd to know the voice in order for us to know the voice of God we need to spend time with him now I want to make this really clear because some pastors will preach this and this move over and we sit there going what does that mean do they hear the audible voice of God let me be clear I've never heard the audible voice of God right never heard it I know some people have I've never ever heard it so when I talk about hearing God this is how I'm talking about it the number one way that God will speak to you is through his word some of y'all wait for once a year for the prophet to roll in town so that you can get your word from God and God's sitting there for the other 364 days of the year going would you just open the Bible because I want to speak to you every single day so some of you want to hear from God open his word it's there he wants to speak to you and the other way that God can speak is into your spirit a lot of times you go well is this the devil speaking or is it God speaking well you won't know what it is unless you have the word of God as your compass because the devil's never going to tell you to go and bless someone the devil's never going to tell you to lay hands and pray for someone to be healed in Jesus name those are all coming from God but the devil can take a little bit of Truth mix a lot of lies into it and if you don't know the truth then you can be a little bit twisted and not understand what it is but the more time I spend with God and the more time I pray the more I'm able to really Define ah that is what the Lord is saying so when I feel the Lord prompting my heart to do this or do that is this God is this not when I see it happen and God comes go oh that was the Lord and I begin to hear the voice of the Lord Lord and I know and I know that I know that it's him the first time I really felt the Holy Spirit talk to me was when I walked into my parents' church when I was 18 years old and they had just taken over church it was a terrible church it was hard the people were mean I walked in the music was terrible it was terrible I don't know if Jesus was glorified in that church that's how bad it was right and I walked in and I didn't really know how to play I loved music but I played four chords on the guitar and I remember s going oh this is terrible the music and for the first time I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and just put this impression on my heart if it's so terrible why don't you do something about it and let me tell you that was from the holy spirit because I had no desire to ever serve in church doesn't God have a sense of humor God spoke to me over time so you know what happened as I begin to learn what the voice of God was and I began to hear the voice of God in my prayer in 2013 when I get off a plane and I walk into Nia and instantly I hear this whisper in my spirit your home the reason why this church exists today is because I heard in my spirit your home and the Sheep knew the shepherd's voice well enough that's literally why this church exists is because the Sheep knew the shepherd's voice and when the shepherd whispered your home welcome favorite Church 10 years later from that moment 11 years later from that moment because the Sheep knew the shepherd's voice but how do you know it by spending time with him in prayer fasting and praying is more about what God is doing in you rather than what God is doing for you so many times we just think prayers about God I need to do this I need to do this if we get the revelation of the foundation of prayer we'll realize it's actually about what God's doing in US rather than through us but gee what he does through us is a beautiful fruit that comes from it and if I can get this right foundation then it will stop me from falling into the Trap that so many of us can easily fall into we got to make sure that we don't compare our break breakthroughs with others one of the toughest things about a corporate week of prayer and fast in a church and let's just call it what it is I love acknowledging the awkward things and the tough things in our relationship with God and I think one of the toughest things about a week of prayer and fasting corporately is seeing other people get the breakthroughs that I'm praying for what's worse what's worse is man when they celebrate it isn't that annoying like you've been praying for a new job and someone goes I just praying and God just gave me a job on the first day of fasting and in our hearts we're like praise God praise praise God praise God praise God for you praise God for you up you come on now who here has ever been jealous of God answering someone else is prayer in church come on so hey you've been praying for that car someone else shows up God just gave me a new car he's so good and you're like oh yes to you come on hey this is this is the real talk for a church Community let's not overp spiritualize this we got to be real about this sometimes we're praying we see other people their prayers get answered I Pastor wam this week he actually wrote me a message and we were talking about this subject with our staff and I love what Pastor wam said he's our pastor in Korea he said that I found that breakthrough in weeks of prayer and fasting that breakthrough is p primarily in the spirit versus in the physical and I really love that of course this week don't get me wrong I am praying for breakthrough in finances I'm praying for breakthrough in healing physical healings in relationships for all those things I'm praying for that breakthrough but but honestly as much as I'd love to see all those things happen the biggest breakthrough I'm praying for is that God would help me break through the barriers that hold me back from the fullest relationship I can have with him that to me is the greatest reward of a week of prayer and fasting it's not more money in the bank it's not a healing over all those things are nice don't get me wrong I like all those things but if none of that happens I will not be disappointed because that's not my goal of prayer my goal of prayer is intimacy God I love you man when you give up food and again go on the website learn what fasting is oh you know people go I'm fasting social media that's good you should do that but I want to encourage you if you're physically able fast food as well because a Biblical fastes to do with food and if you're physically able to check with your doctor I don't want to put pressure on you but when you give up up food and come on we're Filipinos we love God and we love rice amen we love a good Leon right you love it you love but when we give that up we go God are you giving that up because you want your prayer answered or are you giving it up because I want to be closer to you because I promise promise you if your motivation is just to get prayers answered the way you want them answered and I tell you your prayer will be answered but be prepared for God to say no God always answers prayers I'm like God doesn't answer my prayer yeah he always answers prayers just sometimes it's a no yeah but is the motivation of my prayer just to get him to to Genie in a Bottle please give me my three wishes make that or is it ultimately God okay I'm praying for this but even if it doesn't happen Lord thank you that I'm closer with you I I will feel physically weak this week but I love what it says in Isaiah 40:29 that he gives strength to the weary and he increases the power of the week I will feel weak in my physical body this week but I know my spirit this week is about to get stronger than it's ever been whether I see the Breakthrough that I'm praying for or not I will see my intimacy with the Lord grow this week and out of that intimacy you know what will help me do it will help me celebrate all your breakthroughs it will I will be able to celebrate what God does in your life what God does in your life what God God's answer in your prayer that new job that promotion that new car the healing of your marriage that prodical son coming home in Jesus name that cancer disappearing in man I can celebrate with you why because it's it's not a jealousy it's not an Envy it's not a comparison well God do you love them more no no I know God doesn't love them more than me because his love for me is found in my intimacy for him not just the material things that I get and when you get this what I'm saying when you get this when you get what prayer is oh you will be far less disappointed in your life so many of us have disappointment with God because he hasn't come through the way we thought he should come through but my prayers to God have really changed as I've grown older God I would like this please give this but Lord whether it comes or not I love you my father you're in heaven I love you Dad wow you're holy you're amazing let your will will come and God would it just change my own will to reflect yours and yeah I'd like all these things but God ultimately I love you that's what I value would you forgive me of my sins as I forgive others and there's more to the Lord's Prayer but I wanted to focus just on this bit why bother praying and fasting because just like eating healthy is good for you you but the reality is you won't see a result in a day yeah so why should I pray and fast you may not see the Breakthrough this week but it may set you up into a new level of relationship and intimacy with him that as you pray and as you fast and after the week is done as you continue to pray and fast like again don't turn this into a religious week you know our prayer meeting attendance skyrockets during our week of prayer and fasting and then you know what happens afterwards it comes right back down you know that only 10% of the attendants of our church on a Sunday show up to our Wednesday prayer in the morning and in the after in in the evening can I tell you that does not make us a strong church we are a growing church but we're not a strong church until we see the percentage of people value prayer in a prayer meeting as as much as coming to a church service on Sunday we're we're not a we're not a strong Church we're a growing church but we're not a strong church prayer oh this is one of the values of our church prayer we need to Value it and even though I may not see the result the next day if you do it for seven days I promise you on the eighth day you might just spiritually see that little maybe on the 12th day you might see a little more on the seventh month you might begin to see a little bit on the second year you might begin to to see a little bit in 5 years time you might begin to see I've been praying now for the last 21 years intentionally praying in my relationship with God and the things that I have seen and the things that I have grown in in the last 21 years I wish I'd had it 21 years ago but I couldn't it took 21 years to get here and where I'll be when I'm 60 years old oh God I wish I had that now but the only way I'm going to get that is by praying for the next 20 years and growing in my intimacy with him you may not see the result tomorrow but I promise you it's good for you keep doing it keep doing it keep doing it an intimacy with the father will come the only way that you can have intimacy with the father in prayer is if you have a relationship with him and Jesus said the only way that you can get to God the father is through him you can't get to God through paying for it buying your way into heaven even being a good person doesn't get you to God the father Jesus said the only way that you can come to God is through through me I am the way the truth and the life and coming to Jesus means that we come and we recognize who he is he is the only son of God that Jesus dying on the cross was not some just mythical madeup story but it was what was required to pay the price for our sin the Bible's clear you and I were born with sin and that sin separates us from God sin is all the things that we do say think that's outside of the way God would want us to live and that that sin separates us from God and a price needed to be paid for that sin and that's what Jesus did on the cross he paid the price through his blood that was shed he paid the price for our sin and he didn't just pay the price for our sin but he broke the power that that sin has in this world when he rose 3 days later supernaturally from the dead and today maybe you're here and you don't have a relationship with Jesus in a moment we're going to stand how we're going to finish this service is we're actually going to wait for it we're going to pray ain't that good if you can't pray in church you won't be able to pray anywhere so we're going and pray but before we do that I got to give you a chance to respond to Jesus Christ today whether you're watching or whether you're in the room could you just bow your heads close your eyes maybe you're here and you're saying James I've never ever done this before I need to come to a place where I acknowledge Jesus ask him to come in and to rescue me save me forgive me of my sin maybe you're here you did this a long time ago but you walked away life happened stuff happened and I'm not sure what it was but I'm just glad you're back in here today if today you want to say yes to Jesus when I count to three I'd love you to lift your hand nice and high because we want to pray for you right where you sit one 2 three right now all over this room thank you hands here in the middle hands here on the side hands up in the back many hands in the back hands up right in the back section over there thank you Lord anybody else would say yes to Jesus if you're watching online you can lift your hands here right in front of the camera thank you you can lift your hands online in your room God sees it that's what really matters wonderful so many hands lifted this is what I want you to do I want you to put your hand on your heart right now if you lifted your hand we're going to pray simple prayer the Apostle Paul in the Book of Romans in the Bible in the 10th chapter says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord you will be saved and so we're just going to pray a prayer that reflects that we're all going to say it together but those people that lifted your hands I really want you to mean these words with all your heart so come on say it with me say dear Lord Jesus come to you right now and ask you to forgive my sin I believe that you died on the cross but you broke the power of sin you broke the and you Rose from the grave so right now I ask now please come into my life make me a new creation let the old be gone and let the new come come please be my Lord and Savior in Jesus name I pray amen amen can we give God praise for all the people there was a ton of people that lifted your hands if you prayed that prayer in the room uh for the first time or you know maybe for the first time in a long time some of our team would have seen you pray that prayer and at the end of the service they're just going to come and say hi and we'd love to talk with you about the decision that you've made and just help you in what it looks like to take the next steps in following Jesus if you prayed that prayer online please contact us let us know we'd love to reach out and help you maybe find a church wherever you're located that you can go and get involved with and grow your relationship with God Amen is anybody ready to pray this is what we're going to do I'm not going to make anyone feel uncomfortable uh um but what we're going to do is I'm going to get a microphone and we're going to pass the microphone around to every person and you all have to pray a sentence I'm joking we're not going to do that it's totally fine chill out right this is what we're going to do we're all going to we're going to stand and you can either choose to stand you might want to kneel you might want to sit no rules with God but we're just going to spend a few moments and this is how I want us to pray I don't want you to pray for any requests right not that that's not bad but I just I just really want to ram this point home I want us to spend the next few moments in prayer focusing on my father my father Hallowed be your name now you're going to run out of words pretty quickly right some of you might start in the gal move to English move to ilano right but you're going to run out of words if you want to speak in tongues you can speak in tongues if you sometimes I just even just begin to sing how wonderful God is God you're wonderful God you're holy holy Lord you can just begin to you can do you can do whatever you want there's no rules but I want to challenge you for some of you after 30 seconds you're going to start to feel a little bit uncomfortable that's okay just push through it it's okay for some of you after a minute and a half you're going to be like really we're we're still praying really really yes we're still praying it's okay but that's okay together as a family when you're weak someone next to you is going to be strong and we're going to pray together as a f is that okay so all over this place come on Why Don't We Stand why don't we stand if you want to sit if you want to kneel do whatever you want if you're watching online you can do this and we're just going to pray and the and the band is going to play we're not going to sing I'm not going to pray on the microphone I'm turning myself off and just for the next few moments we are just going to pray and we're going to seek God and we're going to put our attention and our focus on oh my father come into a place James 4:8 says draw near to God and He will draw near draw close and He will draw close to you come on we are taking the step some people think we need to take the first step to God no he took the first step to us all we have to do is respond to him so come on let's just pray right now together thank you Jesus [Music] w [Music] oh n [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you know when I first started getting to know my wife there there was no awkward silences between us because we didn't know each other well so I would always try and feel the awkward silence or she would feel the awkward silence but the more time we spent with one another and the more we got to know each other and the more that we fell in love with each other we were able to just sit with one another and it didn't feel awkward and and just having her next to me whether it was in a car or just on a couch it was just we don't even need to talk right now it's just nice that you're with me there's this beautiful verse in the Book of Psalms that says be still and know that I am God Be Still sometimes we just need to be still and we just need to know you're God your father for some of us this moment might have just felt a little awkward like oh they're still going but they hurry up it's okay the more you get to know God the more you're going to fall in love with him and the more you're going to be okay we just like ah can we just have a couple more minutes can we just go a little bit longer God can we be still and no for some of you that have never prayed before being in an environment can I encourage you that you just prayed for seven minutes straight Isn't that cool some of you that was quick but for some of you I know that's like oh well you just prayed it you know what it tells me you can do it you can do it so this week let's do it tomorrow get that get the the spontaneous worship put it in your ears put put it in your house whatever and just I you can do it if you can do it here right now you can do it by yourself you can do it push through I start getting distracted I do too it's okay but I come back God you're holy you're good you're good you're holy you're good thank you God not my will God shape my will today to reflect yours and then I go into my needs amen [Music] n