Transcript for:
All You Have to Do is Ask - Summary

what's good family listen I want you to know that the spirit of the Lord was Heavy in the place today was our prayer emphasis weekend and I shared a message entitled all you've got to do is ask I need you to know that if you hear this and you apply the word it is going to apply Supernatural outcomes to your life and to your experience so just do me one favor don't watch it by yourself and remember all you got to do is ask so so do me a favor I want to invite you to stand with me me to your feet as we make our excus less Covenant this afternoon that's going to come there on the screen and I want to invite all of those who are watching online to do some digital discipleship to be some electronic evangelists to be some online Apostles if you're on Facebook hit the share button if you're on YouTube copy the link and send it to somebody that they might be blessed as well today friends as we really just put a little emphasis on prayer we want to continue under our theme excus less because the truth is we don't have any excuse to not be calling on the name of the Lord what do you say church amen amen and so today uh let's make our excus excus this Covenant together today I continue the journey toward excus less living I recognize that excuses are Kryptonite to my soul and cancer to my calling I make a covenant to stop lying to myself about why I pray so little for fall so often procrastinate so frequently neglect my health live without structure and leave family outcomes up to chance I will add Focus to essential things and withdraw Focus from optional things I will focus Less on what I'm lacking and stand in the promise of God's Supply I will reclaim my time budget my energy and withhold oxygen from all excuses this is the season the time is now my help is here let the revolution begin I claim God's power to become excus less give your neighbor a little fist bump and let them know say stay excus less give the other neighbor pound and say no more excuses amen amen remain standing as we go to the Book of Daniel chapter n The Book of Daniel chapter n and we'll begin together at verse number one The Book of Daniel chapter 9 and verse number one and just for the sake of some context uh for there is no Miracle there is no obvious happy ending but there are some things that the Lord wants us to see in our text today here we find Daniel making intercession on behalf of the people of God as they are in the 69th year what year 69th year of their 70 years of prophesied Exile in the land of the Chans and Daniel is making a specific petition before the Lord Daniel chapter 9 and verse 1 when you get there just say Pastor I'm there amen the Bible says in the first year of Darius the son of azerus of the lineage of the mes who was made King over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his Reign I Daniel understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolation of Jerusalem then I set my what I set my face toward the lord God to make request by prayer and supplication with fasting sackcloth and Ashes and I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said oh Lord great and awesome God who keeps his Covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his Commandments we have what sinned and committed what we have done wickedly and rebelled even by departing from your precepts and your judgments neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our Kings and our princes to our fathers and all the people of the land oh Lord righteousness belongs to you but to us shame of face as it is this day to the the men of Judah to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel those near and far off in all the countries to which you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you oh Lord to us belongs shame of face to our Kings our princes our fathers because we have sinned against you to the Lord Our God belong mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord Our God to walk in his laws which he has set before us by his servants the prophets yes all Israel has transgressed your law and has departed so as not to obey your voice therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him and he has confirmed his words which he has spoke against us us against our judges who judged Us by bringing Upon Us great disaster for under the whole Heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem and notice the why of all these things as it is written in the law of Moses that This Disaster has come upon us yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord Our God that we might might return from our iniquities and understand your truth therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in my did y'all catch that church therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind the word says and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which he has done though we have not obeyed his voice and now oh Lord God who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made yourself a name as it is this day we have sinned and we have done wickedly oh Lord according to all your righteousness I pray let your anger and your Fury be turned away from your City Jerusalem your Holy Mountain for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us now therefore Our God hear the the prayer of your servants and supplication and for the Lord's sake cause your face to shine on your Sanctuary which is desolate oh my God incline your ear and hear open your eyes and see the Desolation and the city which is called by your name for we do not present our supplication before you because of our righteous Deeds but but because of your great what your great mercies again in your hearing verse 13 as it is written in the law of Moses All This Disaster has come upon us yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord Our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth today Saints I just want to talk for a little while under the subject all you had to do was ask all you had to do was asked let's pray together father in this little while would you please say much Lord I'm praying that you would make some things very clear in the hearing of your people and Lord I'm praying that as the word is declared that Faith would be made uh would M be multiplied exponentially in the hearing of the word and so Lord Lord would you allow me permission to join my human weakness to your Divine strength hide Me In the Shadows of the cross that at the end of this service today Jesus alone might be seen that Christ Alone would be heard and at the end of our time together Let Jesus alone be praised bless us to this end we ask in The Wonderful Name of Jesus our lord let those who believe say together amen and amen you may be seated in the house of the Lord today again talking to you under the subject all you had to do was ask all we had to do is ask somebody's going to be a preacher when they grow up boy have some good lungs right there oh what peace we often forfeit oh what needless pains we Bear all because we do not carry Everything To God In Prayer and embedded within that sacred hymn is the truth about Mankind's reluctance toward prayerful living the idea friends is that we suffer needlessly we fail needlessly we stress needlessly because we are carrying cares that are God's responsibility to carry and there is a Bend towards self-sufficiency that keeps us trying to manage our own concerns until it becomes clear that we cannot handle them and what makes it lamentable friends is that God has has not made prayer complicated or difficult how many of us know that we can pray at any time you can pray at any place you can pray about anything and the promise is that his ear is not too dull to hear us when we pray in fact friends the word says that you have not because you ask not but Jesus says ask and it shall be given seek and it shall be found knock and it shall be opened unto you in Hebrews the word says let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find help in our time of need and the thing I need somebody to get is that Jesus never rebukes us for asking too much or too often the only rebuke the scripture gives is that we don't ask or when we do we ask too small and the problem with some is that we've made prayer Merit based so that we form the belief that you've got to be good or on a certain level morally in order to receive something from God but how many of us know that if you had to be perfect in order to receive something from God the only one that would ever be blessed was Jesus are y'all hearing me today in other words I need somebody to know that prayer is not for Perfect People prayer is for imperfect Sinners who need the Lord and the word for somebody today is that you don't have to get right to pray you don't have to be perfect to pray you don't have to be ideal to get something from God all you've got to do is ask are y'all with me today in fact let me say it this way I remember when my youngest son was a little bit younger upstairs there is a sectional and behind the sectional is a very small crevice where he would like to crawl behind the couch and play and we would often warn him son the older and bigger you get the smaller that crevice is going to become and eventually you're going to get stuck there and one day he crawls behind the couch and he falls just the wrong way where his head and hands are pinned in such a way that he cannot get out and after a while I get nervous because the house is too quiet anybody know that silence in a kidf fi house means something devilish is going on and eventually after a while I hear squirming behind the couch I hear a cry behind the Crouch I hear groans behind the couch but he never cries and ask me for help and it's amazing I'm sitting there waiting on him to ask but he's trying so hard to get out on his own and eventually I go behind the couch and I pull him from behind and I say son why didn't you ask for help and he says the reason I didn't ask Daddy is because I disobeyed it was because I was wrong that I didn't ask for help and I had to let him know that if I'm willing to help you when you did not ask don't you know your daddy is willing to help if you ask for his assistance and see there are some of us that won't ask for help because our Disobedience put us in trouble but the good news is that we serve a perfect and merciful father and the truth is that if God was good when you did not ask won't God be even more faithful if you ask for God to show up and I need somebody to be clear that you are simply one prayer away from seeing God move you're one petition away from seeing things change you don't need to necessarily make sure that everything is perfect in your world somebody needs to know all you've got to do is ask it of the Lord and so today I want us to go back quickly to Daniel chapter 9 as we unpack a few spiritual truths that I believe will help encourage your souls today now as you look at Daniel chapter 9 I need you to get that this is actually one of the more interesting prayers in the entirety of the scripture for in this prayer we actually find some of the tools for an abund abundant prayer life and yet this prayer is also an indictment on Fallen Humanity now to be clear Saints this is not some cursory or rehearsed prayer this prayer is fueled by a soul anguish that causes him to make his petitions known before the Lord understand friends that this is a prayer of desperation that comes from the mouth of the prophet if we were to look into Daniel's bed chamber you would notice that his robe fits Loosely from extended periods of fasting from food his lips are cracked and foam gathers in the corner of his mouth because he's fasted from long times from drink or water in the room the smell of smoke is there from the pot of Ashes that sit at his feet as sackcloth is draped across his shoulders and te tears fall from the prophet's face as he reconciles prophecies he can understand with those that he cannot comprehend you see in Jeremiah 25 the prophet had declared that the people of God would be dispersed for 70 years of Exile beginning with their time in Babylon but they formed a faulty idea that once Babylon fell the Exile would come to a inclusion and now Babylon is no longer in power the mes and the Persians are in control and yet the people of God are still in Exile and there is a faulty notion that somehow God has forgotten them and so the prophet now appeals to God for prayer and for direction and Clarity on the path going forward and understand friends the things that this text teaches us is the constancy of the goodness of God are you with me today Church you see the first thing this teaches is that the one constant in your life is God you see too often church we preach Daniel for youth days be because in his youth Daniel had strong character and he took great stands for his faith in Jesus Christ but by the time you get to Daniel chapter 9 he has been in exile for about 69 years and he is perhaps in his mid 80s as he makes this petition known remember he was taken as a teenager and raised in a land that was not his own and the thing I need somebody to get about Daniel is that his life is filled with trauma it's filled with upheaval it's filled with volatility it's filled with uncertainty in fact the most consistent thing in his life is the inconsistency of his circumstance in fact friends think back with me if you will he is raised by Hebrew parents yet he is mentored by the Pagan prelates of Babylon and Meo Persia if you recall when he first came to Babylon he serves under Nebuchadnezzar after Nebuchadnezzar there is Bel chazar after him it is Darius and later he will serve at the pleasure of King Cyrus and understand church that every time Administration changes guess what his co-workers change guess what his friends change his assignment change the times and the law change and so his life is filled with nothing but change as he is served at the pleasure of multiple different Kings understand the languages have changed the systems of worship have changed the consequences for righteousness have changed everything around him is in a state of constant flux and the only thing that has been the same is the goodness of God in his life and I think this is important for one reason today church because the truth is that if we live long enough everything in our ecosystem is going to change am I preaching to anybody today am I telling the truth that your best friend at 25 is not always your best friend at 75 in other words the job you worked at 27 might not be the job you retired from at 62 the person you married at 25 because of death and divorce might not be the same person you're married to at 70 the relationship you had with your kids when they were small might not be the same relationship you have with them as adults the health that you had 10 years ago might not be the health that you have right now and the word to somebody today is that if you live long enough everything around you is going to shift everything around you is going to change everything around you is going to be amended but the one thing you can count on is that when things around you change the goodness of God Remains the Same in other words folk I need to be clear that people are going to walk in your life and then guess what some are going to walk out of your life there're going to be some that love you today and then they're going to despise you on tomorrow there going to be times where the health is good and then they're going to be times where Affliction touches your soul there are going to be days where there is a Biden in office and there may come a day when a trump is in office there are some days where things are up and things are down but the thing that somebody needs to know is that when things around you shift you've got to know who to hold on to and other words you've got to have something or someone in your life that does not change that brings stability in a world of instability am I preaching to anybody today in other words that's why the hyw writer said on Christ the solid rock I Stand All of ground is sinking sand it is why the Bible says that God is our refuge and our strength a very present help in the time of trouble it is why David says even when mother and father forsake me the Lord is going to take me in the Bible says the grass is going to wither the flower is going to fade but the word of the Lord is going to endure forever and what I'm saying to somebody today in the midst of a changing World you've got to have your life rooted in the constancy of God's love because you've got to kind of have a foundation that does not change when circumstances do are you with me in fact let me say it this way I remember when I was pastoring in Mississippi we had tornadoes come through our town and level downtown in a series of neighborhoods and I remember there was this one brother who everything in his house was destroyed the roof was blown away the walls were blown away the piping and fix pictures were blown away the only thing that was left was the foundation and the crazy thing was that when he got ready to rebuild I noticed that they didn't dig up the foundation and pour down a new one because he was building the same type of house guess what they built on the same foundation and so I asked them are they not going to change the foundation he and he instructed me on something I'll never forget he says guess what the storm was a ble to take away everything but the foundation and he says if you got a good foundation everything else can be rebuilt on the same Foundation that would I survive the storm and what I'm saying to somebody today is that you got to have a foundation and it's got to be in Jesus because jobs can be taken away cars can be repossessed friends will exit your life help can change money can fly away but it can all be rebuilt on the foundation that is the Lord Jesus Christ can we praise him that the stone that the builders rejected has become our Chief Cornerstone are y'all with me today and so so the Bible says here in Daniel chapter 9 and verse three I want us to unpack some things together the Bible says in Daniel 9:3 he says then I set my my face toward the lord God to make requests by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and Ashes the Bible declares all right friends of mine the second thing this thing teaches us is that if you going to pray you got to have a determination to pray okay are you still with me Church no no no you got to have a determination to pray and see one of the things that Daniel shows us is that a strong prayer life is never contingent upon ideal circumstances see see I need you to know that you're not growing if you only pray when things are ideal you're not reaching maturity until you are as consistent in calling upon the name of the Lord when circumstances are less than favorable on your behalf and see why am I saying this because I need you to know that Daniel in many ways personifies what it means to have a strong prayer life but nothing in his situation is ideal see you've got to realize that when Daniel Walks from his place of work to the bed chamber where he lives he walks by statues to the son god Horus the notite that has been raised up there in the land of the mes and Persians when he walks through the corridors he walks by fountains that are erected in the image of the Moon Goddess ishar when he goes to his place of rest he walks through Vineyards and Court yards erected in the image of the male Persian God Marduk and understand that when Daniel closes his eyes to pray he's got to fight through the sounds of rry and partying next door he's literally got to pray through the moans of orgy that take place down the corridor and it is in this environment that Daniel begins his prayer with Thanksgiving and reverence and praise unto God and the reason this is epic is that he can begin his time of Praise in a situation that's less than perfect and can I suggest to somebody today that you don't need perfect circumstances to praise God you just got to know that you serve a perfect God that is greater than any circumstance that you face see see I need somebody to know that too often when we say the Lord has been good to me what we're talking about are the circumstances that we inhabit but if your praise is always based upon a circumstance guess what your appraisal of God will change based upon the predicament that you are in and see and that's why I love what David says in Psalm 34 he says I'm G to bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth it is why Paul cautions us to rejoice in the lord always and again I say rejoice it is why the Bible says that from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same that the name of the Lord is to be praised and can I suggest friends that we've got to get to a place where we recognize that praise is not a feeling praise is a discipline praise is my awareness that no matter what's going on God is faithful and it is a recognition that even when my circumstances are bad my God is still good why because all things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to his purposes so I need you to get friends that this is not the ideal circumstance under which to pray pray but one of the things I need somebody to be clear on is that your prayer life can never be driven by circumstance or deterred by circumstance you've got to be fueled by a burden for connection are youall with me today you got to be fueled by a burden for a connection that is greater than any circumstance that you might face in your life and so understand that when Daniel prays it's noisy when he prays there are distractions when he prays they persecute him because he prays they're antagonistic toward his open prayer life and dependence upon God and the reason that Daniel prays despite his circumstances is that Daniel understands that if prayer wasn't powerful it wouldn't be protested okay let me say it again see if prayer wasn't powerful guess what your prayer life wouldn't be protested can can anybody testify that whenever you have the mind to pray all of a sudden all kind of stuff start popping off in your life whenever you get ready to pray all of a sudden sleep comes upon you when it's time to pray the phone starts ringing when when it's time to pray somebody happens to stop by when it's time to pray notifications start going off when it's time to pray all types of chaos happens kids start knocking on the door your spouse starts acting like they ain't got no sense your co-workers start acting funny the roof starts leaking the hot water heater goes out the car starts breaking down why because the prayer wasn't powerful it wouldn't be protested and see what I need somebody to know is that sometimes the hardest thing to get done every day are your spiritual objectives and it is because the enemy knows that when you come out of that prayer closet he knows that when you come out of that war room there is an anointing that is upon you that he knows that he can't even fool with and so he's got to distract you before you go in he's got to resist you before you get on your knees he's got to keep you away from the altar because your prayer life makes you so powerful that he has to protest it in every way and what I'm saying to somebody today is that when your prayer life is protest it that's where you got to lean into it see the problem with some of us is too often we pray like Volunteers in other words it's something I can do or something I cannot I can't do in other words it's optional we don't see that it is consequential to the outcomes of each and every day of your life and the daily experiences which you have but I need somebody to know that the most important part of your day Lord I I would wish I had more than two two or three rows of church today the the most important part of your day it ain't getting to work on time it is not making sure the bills get paid the most important part is not your breakfast lunch or dinner the most important part of your day is making sure that you make connection with the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and that you have private time to call upon his great name are you with me today church and and see the reason this is critical is because sometimes we treat optional things like they are essential and we treat essential things like they are optional and see that's why every now and then if we just read it there in our text sometimes God has to allow some trouble to touch you so that you realize that your help it only comes from the Lord are y'all with me today friends and see and that's why the Bible says that Daniel set his face to pray oh God in other words he did not go before God with a weak willed petition that can be easily deterred by man some noise or Interruption the Bible says he set his face to pray and I love Malcolm because the scholars give different interpretations what it means to set your face to pray some believe admits that he set aside a time to pray that he set aside a place to pray that he minimized personal distractions to pray in other words he put a barricade around private time with the Lord so that nothing could interrupt his interactions with Jehovah and what I need somebody to get is that a strong prayer life is not accidental right it is intentional you got to make time to pray are y'all hear me today you got to find a place to pray you got to be consistent and you got to set your face to call on the name of the Lord and I love kind of what that word to set your face it has a particular connotation it has a certain word picture that shows up in the form of battle so that what would happen Dr Duan is that if you were a soldier in the war and if you were a Horseman or you rode a chariot you what happen is you would be led by the General on the lead horse or the lead Chariot and what would happen is you had to set your face in order to follow the general especially when they were going through Rocky or desert terrain because when the lead was going through desert or Dusty terrain his Chariot or his horse would kick up a bunch of dust in the face of those who were behind him and so what they could not do was turn away from the general they couldn't close their eyes they couldn't go their own path they had to set their face to make sure that no matter how many Pebbles flew up no matter how much dust was kicked up they had to set their face and keep their eyes stayed upon the lead General and I need to know do I have any believers that are going to keep their eyes on the lead General you're going to keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus and it doesn't matter how much dust the devil kicks up it doesn't matter how many Pebbles hit your windshield it doesn't matter how many distractions come I'm going to keep my mind stayed on Jesus are y'all hearing me today friends and so the Bible says here in Daniel chapter 9: 5 and 6 I want you to see something here in the word today Daniel chapter 9: 5 and six the word says it like this Daniel 9 we have sinned and we've committed iniquity we have done wickedly and rebelled even by departing from your precepts and your judgments neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our Kings and our princes to our fathers and to the people of the L or to the people of the L third thing that this teaches us friends is that sometimes chastening is necessary okay that was quiet amen sometimes chastening is necessary now I need you to notice something that Daniel confesses these sins and he writes these things down in a detailed and informative way because understand that this prayer is going to also be sent to the other Hebrews that are dispersed throughout the Chans and to the different lands to which they've been driven now now the one thing you see in Daniel's prayer about a prayer of confession one of the things you got to notice is that prayer can't be General prayer confession can't be General confession has to be specific uh I love how we come to God unsure as if we have sinned we come before God very highminded saying Lord forgive us if we have sined you know dog on well it ain't no matter of if you have sinned you will right there when you s come on and say Amen in fact the Bible says in the book of Moses that we have to be spe specific in the very thing that we confess unto the Lord and so Daniel is very specific and laying out his confession before the Lord he talks about how we have exited the Covenant he talks about how we rejected the Council of the prophets he talks about how we've disobeyed the Commandments and not followed your ways he is very specific and the way he confesses sins to God now this is crazy because what Daniel is doing is he's praying for the people but he's not praying on behalf of the people okay let me see he he's confessing sins on their behalf but Daniel is not mirroring their sentiments are y'all hearing me today friends see I need y'all to understand when you look at the Old Testament there is a particular imagery that is used for the children of Israel often Israel is stated as being like a stubborn mu that refuses to get it because of their hard-heartedness toward God are y'all still with me in other words I need you to get that this is not the sentiment of the people this is Daniel expressing the correct sentiment on their behalf in other words I need somebody to understand the reason that Daniel lays out the confession in such detail is that man God Is So merciful that the people don't even realize why they are there in Babylon they don't even realize why they have wound up in this particular situation now it's crazy because like we have this idea that in the New Testament God is merciful but in the Old Testament god is vengeful we have this wrong idea that somehow God was just mad all the time that he was just this volatile explosive God that exacted judgment every single time you sin but the Devil is a Lie in fact when you read the history of Israel do you realize that they would be in Rebellion for centuries before judgment would be inflicted upon them in fact sometimes God would actually Prosper them and grow them and protect them even while they were in Rebellion against God that's why Church you ought not see every success as confirmation that God is pleasing pleased with what you're doing see sometimes God doesn't bless you because of do I have a witness that sometimes God just blesses you in spite of and see what happens is because God has been so slow to get angry because he's blessed them in spite of their foolishness when judgment comes upon them they're like Lord what we did wrong they don't even realize that it is their sins and their transgressions that happen them in this position they have developed this idea that we can sin and still indefinitely Prosper so they don't even realize what they're up against they don't even understand why they are in this situation and see sometimes like Israel of old we struggle to see the correlation between said habit and said form of chastening we don't even understand why things aren't going like God promised they should go so that sometimes we don't see the connection between our financial ruin and our robbing of God sometimes we don't see the connection between the family tension and the destruction of the family altar we don't even see the correlation between our Mammoth pride and the destruction of all of our relationships we don't understand why the spirit of the enemy has been loosed in our home and the husbands and the leaders are not even taking stock of the amount of pornography and the spirits that are loosed in the house when you do so and what I'm saying is that there are times where we don't see the connection between said habit and said result and what happens is like Israel do you realize that in Israel before Daniel confesses their sins the people don't see anything wrong with their behavior they're questioning the faithfulness of God in other words they're saying Lord where you at Lord why have you forgotten us Lord why have you turned your back on us and Daniel is trying to help them know that God has not forgotten God is still on the strong God is still faithful but sometimes it requires some chastening in order for us to turn around and what I'm going to say is going to sound very crazy to you but I'm at a place now where I would rather have God's chastening than his indifference do you realize that if God was indifferent toward Israel all he would do was just remove his hand of protection do you realize that the other nations they didn't just want to enslave Israel they wanted to wipe them from the face of the Earth and so all God did was when he allowed the Captivity to take place he actually put them under Babylonian and Chalan Authority so even though they were enslaved to them they were still protected by them from the other land so I need somebody to know that even your chastening oh God is a blessing that even your punishment is for your protection you see if God was indifferent then God simply removes his hands and lets his enemy enemies have their will and what happens is they are no longer a people but how many of us know that chastening is this chastening is simply when a good parent allows a lesser form of pain to preserve you from a greater form of pain it is where God simply allows an inconvenience to touch to afflict to disrupt the Comforts of life to actually preserve you from greater Calamity that is destined to come and see I know this kind of hard thing to Rejoice on but man the same way if you had good parents do anybody have good parents in this room now now good parents didn't just pray for you but good parents chasen you do I have anybody old enough to remember the days before time out come on and say Amen anybody remember the days before what they call gentle parenting where where because your parents loved you come on do I have a witness out there today they would stand up and say something you did not believe where they would say this is going to hurt me come on and it felt like a lie come on and say it's going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you and then and I didn't realize that punishing kids take so much out of the parents that's why your mama would make you get your own switch y'all y'all not hear me today she she ain't have the energy to do it and it's crazy because man in that moment the chastening was not good it felt unnecessary but when you look at your life and at some of your friends life and how it played out you look back on your life and you say I thank God for parents that chastened me and punished me and dealt with me and got in the way of my ideals and my hopes and what I need somebody to know that chastening is simply proof that God is still working on you and dealing with you and sanctifying you because if God didn't care he would simply stand back and let the devil have his way in your life but I am grateful that I have a God in fact the Bible says whom the Lord loves he chases that that's the one that he treats as a son I remember like one time we were at the swimming pool and you know the kids were running around right there on the edge and my daughter was there and I had to pull her aside and I had to let her know this isn't right this is very dangerous and there was a lady kind of watching this interaction and she said that must be your daughter right there and and she says man I said well you can you tell that she looks that much like me she was like no I can tell the one that's your daughter because your chastening is the proof of your concern and see I need somebody to know that God loves you too much oh God to let you be lost without a fight he loves you too much to let you keep straying without stepping in the way he loves you too much to keep letting you go down a certain path without any intervention and see this thing I need you to understand about chastening that sometimes chastening is not even God always just sending a punishment it's not God always sending a curse sometimes chastening is simply God allowing us to experience the natural consequence of certain actions and do you realize that God is so good that even that none of us even get the full consequence of our actions do you realize that Ellen White says that God is so faithful that even when our consequence should be this great that God steps in before the consequence touches you he reshapes it and he cushions it so that by the time it touches you it doesn't destroy you it actually blesses and it helps you out are you hearing me today friends last the fourth thing this teachers I'm bypassing one of the points is this is that it's teaching that some prayers are actually overdue some prayers are actually overdue okay y'all y'all looking at me funny verse 13 the Bible says as it is written in the law of Moses All This Disaster has come upon us watch this they've been in Babylon 69 years are y'all hearing this church they've been there 69 years All This Disaster has come upon us and yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord Our God okay God they've been in Calamity for 69 years and there hadn't been one prayer meeting there hadn't been one assembly there hadn't been one time where they said the Elders of the church let us come together and call upon the name name of the Lord in other words the rebuke of the prayer of Daniel is saying we should have been praying like this along time ago and this is the thing and this is my challenge to the body of Christ I promise you I'm not going to be here before you much longer today I need somebody to understand that there are certain prayers that are simply overdue in being prayed there is somebody that's dealing with sickness today you you go to the doctor you go to the pharmacy nothing wrong with that but the only problem is that you've never gotten between the porch and the Altar and offered up the prayer of faith and said Lord I need you oh God I need you to bring healing to my life there there is somebody that is struggling with a a miscarriage and infertility and you've gone to see The Specialist and you've gone to see the doctors no problem with that but you've done everything except what like Hannah did to go before God and the Altar and call upon the name of the Lord there is somebody that's in financial trouble you didn't borrowed it from your friends you didn't tried to get it from your cousin you tried to get the payday loone but you've called upon everybody except the god that supplies all of your needs according to his riches and Glory there are some of us that are dealing with enemies that are more and more M more than our allies and guess what we get even we talk bad about them we tell everybody about our enemies except God and see and that's why the Bible in Philippians 4: 6 says be anxious for nothing but pray about all things and see there's a very simple formula that the more I pray the less anxious I am so that if I pray about everything I'll be anxious about nothing but if I pray about nothing I'm going to be anxious about everything and see this is the word somebody today I need you to know cuz see see see there there are certain bible promises they seem so fluffy and so ethereal that we had even tried it the Bible says Saints be anxious about you know what that means Church it means that being anxious is optional and I need somebody to understand this with Clarity that when you call upon the name of the Lord see prayer doesn't just change things prayer changes your disposition see see the promise of God is this that when I pray about all things that the peace of God which passes all understanding is going to guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus and what I'm saying to somebody who's stressed out and anxious and overwhelmed and you can't sleep at night I bet you almost all the money I have is that the thing you worry about the most is the thing you pray about the least because I can't pray about it and be worried about it at the same time because the direct result of me calling upon the Lord is that before the situation changes before the bill is paid before the child comes back to church I get peace in the presence that helps me know that before it's all right outside of me guess what it can be all right inside of me and see this is why I share all the time I need you to know that prayer in peace play pray on the Seesaw together y'all y'all remember the old old playground toward the Seesaw where you when you mash down on one side it raises somebody up and when you mash down on the other side it raise the other partner up and I need you to know the further you go down in prayer the more you raise your peace the deeper you go down on your knees the higher your peace and Tranquility is going to be but the more you stand up off your knees the lower your peace is going to become and so you've got to stay in a prayerful posture if you want to maintain a soul peace and Tranquility see there are some of us that have this idea that says I'm going to try to manage it and I'll only pray when it starts falling apart why if we going to call upon God when it falls apart why not call upon God before it falls apart why not call upon God first it's kind of like this I don't know if you guys remember old school video game Pac-Man do I have any Witnesses in the 80s back in the day and you remember the game Pac-Man like in you know in the in each frame you would be ca chased by these Spirits or these ghosts but in the corners you would have these little power pellets these power Corners in the four corners of the frame and see there was one flaw in my game Jackie when I would try to play the game one of the mistakes I would make is I was actually try to complete the frame on my own and I would only go to the power Corner when I got in trouble and that would work on the first couple of levels but once you get to the higher levels guess what the spirits move with more speed and instinctively that the game was set up in such a way that you couldn't just wait till you got into trouble to go into the power corner you had to go into the power Corner first in order to reach the next level and what I'm saying to somebody today is self-sufficient may work on the first level of Faith you can wait till you get in trouble to go to your prayer closet on one level but when you get to the next level guess what these Devils move with more speed and more aggression and more intensity and you can't wait till you get in trouble to go to your prayer corner you got to go to your prayer Corner first before you make it the rest of the way are y'all hearing me today Saints but then I need you to get it as I'm closing I'm done the word says to us here in verse number 18 the Bible says oh my God incline your ear and hear open your eyes and see our desolation and the city which is called by your name for we do not present our supplications be before you because of what our righteous Deeds but because of your great mercies and it's amazing because essentially what Daniel is saying he's saying we don't have no standing we we we don't have a leg to be able to stand on we we have no reason and nothing within our behavior that would suggest that we are worthy of receiving anything from you so you know what he says he says we don't come to you with a list of what we've done right we don't come and lay out our spiritual resume we don't come and say these are the reasons and the causes that we deserve your blessings but he says we going to come to you solely and exclusively in the context of your mercies toward us and see I'm saying this on behalf of somebody who feels like I'm not righteous enough to pray and I'm not good enough to pray and I'm not done enough in order to receive the blessings and favor of God I need you to know that when you go before God don't go before God with a list of your spiritual good works or deeds don't come before God with your spiritual resume in hand because whenever we come before God we come as empty pictures before a full Fountain having nothing to offer having nothing to bring but completely dependent upon the full range of God's mercies and his grace and so there is somebody today go ahead that needs to recognize that man guess what you don't necessarily deserve the blessings of God but how many of us can testify none of us deserve them it is a result of God God's continuous mercies toward each and every one of us there's somebody that's afraid to pray that the Lord as as Dr newborn said would would add to your family or you're you're scared to pray for the the miracle that God would add to your your tribe because what you're focusing on is what you've done wrong and your past sins and how you've messed up in previous Seasons but Daniel says listen we messed up but guess what we come not on the basis of our own righteousness but we come on the basis of your mercies and your goodness toward us there's somebody that has a financial need and you won't pray about it because in your mind you deserve to be punished you deserve this lack but I need you to know that you can come to God with a need not on the basis of your goodness not on the basis of what you deserve but you can come before God on the basis of his mercies toward each and every one of us and so so the word of God to somebody today is that as we look to build a strong prayer life and experience with God one of the things you got to do friends of mine is you got to learn how to set your face to God when you pray you cannot allow yourself to be deterred or discouraged or overwhelmed or easily distracted you got to say I'm going to keep my face on the lead Chariot no matter how dusty my terrain gets there's somebody that needs to learn how to be specific in your confession before the Lord and realize that sometimes God allows some chastening not because he's mad not not because he's given up but sometimes the chastening is actually the proof that God is still at work in your life and there's somebody today there are some prayers that are just overdue for you to pray you hadn't prayed earnestly or consistently for the restoration of your home that there are some of us that we've fusted our kids and we've told them what they've done wrong and we've told them what's going happen if they don't come to the Lord but we have not really stayed before the Lord calling on his name just like Daniel interceding even for aant children like job making sacrifices for them knowing that in their hearts they may sin and curse God there are some of us that have never really even as last week we talked about forgiveness you heard it but you didn't go home and pray about it you didn't ask the Lord God give me the strength Lord Give Me Not Just the information or the theology but give me the will to act upon the truth of your word there are some of us that have enemies and we need God to fight battles but we've never really really got before God and said Lord I need you to fight a battle that I cannot fight Lord I'm not going to repay evil with evil but I'm going to overpay uh repay evil with good and I'm going to leave room for your wrath God I need you to fight the battles on my behalf I I mean there's some things there's some prayers that are just overdue or maybe you prayed them but maybe there is just no perseverance in our prayer we we pray it every now and then but but do I have a witness there are some things that you got to pray about for some Seasons anybody ever had to pray for your children for months on end anybody ever had to pray for some physical healing and you had to to deal with a thorn in your flesh for a year before relief came any body ever gone through a long season of grief where all you could see is gray and as the psalmist says your tears were your meat and you thought the pain would never end and you just had to keep calling upon God until day broke in your life there's somebody that feels like you ain't going to never get out of school keep calling on God feels like you'll never overcome the sin keep calling on God feels like your kids will never come back to church keep calling upon god it feels like the the situation will never improve but I need you to know that man it will never improve until you kind of get that prayer out of the pages of scripture and you got to put it on your heart and set your face before God to make your requests known unto him we have not because we ask not and the word to somebody today is you don't have to be perfect you don't have to get it right you don't have to do it on your own all you've got to do is ask and so I'm going to invite you in just a little while to pray about some things to join us in a prayerful partnership but before I do that the the praise team is going to minister to us in song Come On can we sing that right here says what a friend we have in Jesus what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to Bear all our sins and to what a privilege it is to carry what aiv to car Everything To God In Prayer everything to come on Church you know the hym Can we sing it right there said oh what peace we often forfeit what peace we often oh what needless pain we bear what needless pain [Music] we all because we do not carry all because we do not care Everything To God In Prayer everything to God in pray the next verse says have we trials or [Music] Temptations we trials and [Music] temp is there trouble anywhere is there TR [Music] anywh it says we should never be discouraged should never be disc but we should take it to the Lord in prayer take it to the Lord in Hallelujah it says can we find a friend so faithful can we find [Music] the who will all our sorrow sh all my sorrow it says Jesus knows our every weakness Jesus knows our every weak Hallelujah come on it says take it to the Lord in prayer take it to the Lord come on can we sing that part one more time say can we find a friend so faithful can we find who all our sorrows all our sorrow because Jesus knows our every single weakness Jesus knows our every weak Hallelujah it says take it to the Lord in prayer it to the Lord come on L can sing it one more time Church wants to help us sing let's stand to our feet can we find and we if you're looking for a faithful friend if you need someone to share your Sorrows our sorrow sh Hallelujah his strength is strong is perfect he knows our every weakness come on we say the take it to the Lord take it to the Lord in pray say take it to the Lord in pray to the Lord PR whatever you may need from the Lord we take it to the Lord to the come on I don't know what you may be dealing with but you just need to take it to the father take it to take it to the Lord in pra last time take it to the friends of mine on this prayer emphasis Sabbath there was really essentially One goal of the message the children of Israel have been in in Babylon 69 years and the word says we had been there all this time yet we had not made our requests known unto the Lord and there are some that are just in a place where you got some prayers that are overdue there are some things that that we should have been praying about a long time ago or maybe there are some things that we haven't prayed about since a long time ago and today I going to invite you to partner with me and saying I need to make those overdue prayers known unto the Lord I I need my prayer for healing is overdue the prayer for reconciliation is overdue the prayer for Spiritual Deliverance is overdue I fight it I try to resist it I use willpower but I don't anxiously and urgently call upon the name of the Lord the prayer for you know what the crazy thing is you know we don't even pray for anymore Malcolm we don't even pray for the miraculous to occur in our lives anymore we we don't even make room for the miraculous anymore we don't even leave any latitude for it the problem is some of us we've simply accepted outcomes as permanent simply because they've been that way for a long time but do I have any believers that trust that God can still heal the body that he can still cast the demons out that he can still bring about reconciliation in home and marriages that he can still send provision from the mouth of a raven I need you Church to to to maintain a little unrealistic Faith where where you leave some room for the supernatural to occur in your life we we don't even expect for the hand of the Lord to open anymore and I need you to know that just because it's been that way for a long time there are some Saras and it seems like man it's past due it cannot happen but those things written for our edification let us know that just because it hasn't changed doesn't mean that it can't change I need somebody that has enough Faith to say I'm going to leave a little room for the miraculous I'm going to leave some room for the supernatural I'm going to trust God to do exceedingly and abundantly above all I can ask for or think praise God listen that word ministered to me I hope it ministered to you and I need you to know that sometimes the word of God is like medicine it may be bitter in the mouth but it's going to bring healing to your soul so do do me a favor if this message helped you I just need you to copy the link send it to somebody that they might be blessed and I look forward to seeing you same place same time next week as we continue our journey toward becoming excuses