- Almost 22,000 families in our church, families, homes, and individuals have signed up and committed to be a part of 34 Days of Seeking God for a breakthrough, and that means we are praying three times a day, like Daniel did in the Bible. Five minutes a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. And we're asking God for breakthroughs in your life and in the lives of other people in our church. Now, I defined a couple of weeks ago the word breakthrough as when God does a miracle, when he miraculously solves an unsolvable problem in your life that you have no control over, there's some problems you can pray for, but you could really have some input, you could use your own ingenuity to solve those problems, but when God solves something that's unmanageable, uncontrollable, you have nothing to do with it, that's called a breakthrough, and we all have different breakthroughs in different areas of our lives. Now, and even though we've only been doing this for about a week, I have a huge stack of cards that people have sent me. Testimonies sharing their breakthrough story already. I wish I had time. I really wish I had time to read these stories to you. It would build your faith so much when you would read these stories. I've had people maybe who have never prayed before three times a day and got specific and started doing the things we've talked about the last two or three sessions and how God broke through in their lives in an amazing way. Now I just want to say this at the start. God did not bring you here to Saddleback Church during this particular season when we're studying how to have a breakthrough in your life by seeking God, he didn't bring you here to watch everybody else to have their prayer be answered. God brought you here because he wants to answer your prayer. God wants to do a breakthrough in your life. If he didn't want to do a breakthrough in your life, believe me, you wouldn't be here. But God wants to answer your prayer. He wants to have a breakthrough in your life. Now, it's not too late to sign up. We've only been doing this about a week, 10 days, and if you'd like to be a part of praying for a breakthrough in your life you could just write the word breakthrough on the flap on the bulletin, rip it off, and drop it in the basket. But you need to send me your email, because I'm sending material out, and we're sending two devotionals a day, Daily Hope and DriveTime Devotions. Today I mailed out 30 promises, one for each day between now and New Year's. Promises from God's word that you can pray, that you can claim. And if you're not signed up, you're not gonna get those 30 promises. So write the word breakthrough on a card, give me your email address, your text address, and I'll send you those, and you can join the 22,000 other people that are being involved. Now you know, when you look at the life of Jesus, he chose 12 men to be his interns, or disciples, or followers, and they followed him for 3 1/2 years. They saw Jesus do all kinds of amazing things. He healed people. He did flat out miracles. He calmed storms. He fed the 5,000 with a single lunch. He did all kinds of miracles, all kinds of healings. He raised people back to life, people who died. They saw this happen. He preached great sermons. He was an amazing man of miracles, 'cause he was obviously God in flesh. But when the disciples went to Jesus, they never asked him, "Lord, teach us how to preach. "We want to preach like you do." They never said, "Teach us how to teach." Never once in the Bible did the disciples, these interns of Jesus, say, "Teach us how to do miracles. "Teach us how to heal people. "Teach us how to do the spectacular things in life. "Teach us how to see you do great, great things." But instead the one thing they asked Jesus to teach them was this, "Lord, teach us to pray." Why? Of all the things they could have asked Jesus teach them after watching him for 3 1/2 years, they said, "Lord, teach us to pray," because they realized that prayer was the secret power behind the healings, behind the miracles, behind the spectacular, behind the great teaching, behind the way he handled processes, life. "If you teach us, Lord, how to pray like you do," this guy obviously prays in a very different way than we do, then we're gonna have the power of Jesus. You've heard me say this many times. Much prayer, much power. Little prayer in your life, little power. No prayer in your life, no power. And so they said, "Lord, teach us how to pray." Now the truth is if we were honest, if you're honest, I'm honest, most of us, we're not very confident about prayer. In fact, prayer is confusing to most of us. I've talked to a lot of men who go, "I don't know how to pray." And we find prayer to be very confusing, and we're not confident in it. We say, "I don't know what to say. "I don't know who to say it to. "I don't know how to say it. "I don't know what to pray. "I don't even know if this thing works. "I'm filled with doubt. "I'm filled with confusion." You know, "I'm filled with insecurities. "I don't know how long to keep praying." And so, most of us when we come to idea of prayer, we go, "I don't get it. "I know I'm supposed to pray, but I don't get it. "And I don't enjoy it. "I don't understand it." What I want to do for just a couple minutes in this service is take the worry out of prayer for you. When you leave here at the end of this service, I want you to be able to go, "I am confident. "I know how and what to pray." And you won't have that worry. You won't have that lack of confidence in your life. Now, in Luke Chapter 11, there on the beginning of your notes, "Jesus' followers said, 'Lord, teach us to pray!' "And then Jesus said, 'Well,'" and here's where he starts, "When you pray, "begin by saying, 'Our Father.'" "'Begin by saying, Our Father in Heaven.'" Now we don't realize how shocking that statement was, because up to this time in history, nobody called God Father. They called him a lot of other things, but Jesus said, "I'm here to tell you "that when you pray you are to call God Father." And he says if you understand this, it's gonna change the way you pray. You're gonna pray much more confidently. You're not gonna worry. You're not gonna be so insecure about it. What Jesus is saying is prayer is not about words. Listen to me, it doesn't matter what words you say. You don't have to be eloquent. A guy who doesn't speak much to anybody else, God's not expecting you to be very eloquent to him. Jesus says prayer is not about your words. It's about a relationship. And it's a very special kind of relationship like a father to a child. It's to be intimate, it's to be loving, it's to be casual, it's to be no barriers. A little child doesn't walk into the presence of her father and wonder about "How do I say this?" A little child just walks in and says it in the best language they've got at that particular age and stage of life. And God is saying here prayer is not about words, it's about a relationship. So he says when you start, you start with "Our Father." He's saying to be confident in prayer, you got to have the right relationship idea in your mind. God is not some impersonal force. May the force be with you. God is not some psychological or philosophical term. The unmoved mover. The ground of all of our beings. All of these phrases: The omnipotent, omniscient, unfeeling power, impersonal force. Now he says to pray you got to realize God is your Father. Now, if you're gonna be confident in your prayer, listen to me. You got to use the name that God has chosen for himself. And God chose the name Father. You have a right to choose what you're called by. You were given a name by your parents, but when you grew up if you wanted to shorten it or change it or whatever, you could. You have the right to be called by what you want to be called by. So for instance, if your name is Lori, you don't like it if somebody calls you Laura or Lauren or Lorna or Loretta. That's not your name. Your name is Lori. And God says, "I want you to call me Father." Not Mother, by the way. Not Mother, God is not your mother. God says, "I am your Father." Now we know, God tells us in the Bible, that God has both male and female qualities. And the reason why there are two sexes on Earth, male and female, is because God has both male and female qualities, and we were made in his image. And no one person has all the image of God. And the Bible says women need men and men need women, and that we need each other because together we project what God is really like. So God is a spirit. He's neither male nor female. But God has said, "I want you to call me Father." And he has a right to say, "You call me by what I want you to call me." And actually, Jesus even takes it further. As he goes into explaining this he says, "I want you call God Abba," A-B-B-A. Now, that's not the Swedish rock group (laughs). (audience laughs) It's an Aramaic term. Every child who's born in the Middle East, the first word they learn is Abba. It means Papa, Dada. It's like Momma, something very easy to say. And what Abba means is not even Father. It means Daddy. It's a term of endearment. It's a term of love. And God says when you pray, the first thing you got to get right is the relationship. You got to realize I'm not some CEO sitting up there in the sky waiting to judge your prayer. I'm your Abba, I'm your Daddy, and you can come to me in a loving, gentle, trusting, intimate relationship like a little child. Come to God and say, "Daddy." That's what he says to do. Now I realize that this is a problem for some people. Because Father is a negative term for some people. Maybe your dad was distant. Maybe your dad was demanding. Maybe your dad was demoralizing. Maybe your dad was abusive. Maybe your dad was absent in your life, and you have a lot of bad memories about that term Father. So when you say, "Well, if God is like my father, "no thanks, God, Our Father in Heaven." But God, your Heavenly Father, is unlike any father on Earth. Now, there are good fathers on Earth. I had a good father. I hope maybe you had a good dad. But every dad, including me, and those of you who are dads, we're flawed, we're imperfect, we make mistakes. Your Father in Heaven is absolutely perfect. He never loves you conditionally. He never loves you one day and not the next. He's not inconsistent. Some of you grew up with dads, you'd say, "I don't know if he's gonna hug me one day "or slug me on another day." But God is not like your dad. God is unlike any father on Earth. He's perfect. He always loves you. He always knows everything about you. He always understands you. My dad didn't always understand me. Your dad didn't always understand you. I didn't always understand my kids, but God knows what you think more than you know what you think. And so, we know that God says we're to call him Father. What kind of father is God? This is really important. If you understand this, then prayer becomes very easy for you. God is a caring father. He will never stop loving you. He doesn't have bad days or good days. He is unconditionally loving towards you. God is a caring father. God is a close father. Some of you had distant dads you didn't see. God is with you all the time. He's paying attention to you all the time. He has the ability to watch every move in your life. He knows every hair on your head. The Bible says they're numbered by God. He's caring, he's close, he's consistent. He's consistent. He's always the same. He's not one way this way and another way another. He is capable. When I was a little kid I used to say, "My daddy can do anything." When I grew up I realized he couldn't do everything. And when my kids were little, they used to think I could do everything, and then they grew up and realized that I couldn't. I'm not capable in every area, but God is. Your Heavenly Father's capable and he's close and he's consistent and he's committed and he's competent and he's caring. Now, Jesus has a lot to say about prayer, but this morning because we're going to have a children's reenactment of the Christmas season, this morning I want us to just look at one set of verses by Jesus. Just five verses in the Sermon on the Mount. And in this five verses, Jesus gives us five reasons, five reasons, that you can always pray with confidence no matter who you are. Did you hear that? No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter what your religious background is, Jesus, in this passage, gives you the five reasons. You can stop worrying about "I don't know how to pray," and how you can pray with confidence all the time. So you need to write this down. This will change your life. It'll change the whole way you look about prayer if you'll do it the way Jesus said. Now, in Matthew 7:7-12, this is in Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount, he says this up here on the screen: "Ask and it will be given to you; "seek and you will find; "knock and the door will be opened to you." This is a promise. Now, by the way, the verbs there, ask, seek, and knock, they're actually present participles. Jesus is actually saying there, "Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking." Don't just knock one time. If I told you go over to that house and knock on the door and when you open it up, when the door opens, they're gonna give you $1 million, you wouldn't walk up and go (knocks) and walk away. No, if you knew $1 million was behind that, you'd start knocking and you'd keep knocking and you'd keep knocking until the door opened. So God says, "Keep on asking, keep on seeking, "keep on knocking." Be persistent in your prayer. "For anyone who asks will receive." That's a promise. "Anyone who seeks will find, "and everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." And then Jesus says this: "For example, if your child asked you for some bread to eat, "would any of you fathers give her a stone instead?" Obviously, the answer is no, of course not. "Or if your child asked you for some fish, "would you put a snake on their plate?" The answer is obviously no. He is using this metaphor, this image of prayer is like a father and a child talking together. And he says this: "Now since even you as sinful, imperfect parents." I'm an imperfect parent. I don't always get it right. You're an imperfect parent. "As a sinful, imperfect parents, "you guys know how to give good gifts to your children." You're already planning it right now for Christmas. You're already making a Christmas list of gifts. Even though I'm often selfish, I'm often self-centered, I'm not perfect, I know how to give good gifts to my kids, and so do you. He says, "Even if you're an imperfect parent, "and you know how to give good gifts to your children, "how much more "does your good and perfect Father in Heaven "give only gifts that are good "to those who ask Him!" There's that image of parent and child. And then he says, "So," he concludes, "in every situation, always do to others "what you would want them to do to you." You're familiar with this. This is called the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Most of you didn't know that it's in the context of prayer. He's talking about prayer. "In every situation, always do to others "what you would want them to do to you, "because this sums up all the commands "and all the teachings in the Bible." All the law and the prophecies is summed up in this. Treat other people the way you'd like to be treated. Now, in that passage there, he gives us five reasons. You don't have to worry when you pray. You don't have to worry about what you say, where you say it, how you say it, how long you pray. You don't have to worry. You can be confident. Would you write these down? Number one, these will change your life. Number one, the first thing God teaches us in this passage is that God promises to answer if I keep asking. God promises to answer if I keep asking. He says, "Keep on asking, "and you'll be given what you ask for. "Keep on looking, seeking, and you will find. "Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened." "For anyone who asks will receive; "anyone who seeks will find, "and everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." Now what's the difference between asking, seeking, and knocking? It's just three ways of saying the same thing. If you take in English, the letter, first letter of each word ask, seek, and knock, what does that spell? Ask, yeah, he's just saying ask three different ways. But what he's saying here is proximity to your Heavenly Father makes a difference. Write this down. I'm not gonna go into detail on it, but let me explain it to you. When I'm close to my Father, I just ask. When I'm close to my Father, I just ask. In other words, if I'm a little kid and I'm at home and my dad's sitting there in the living room, and I have something I need from him, I don't write him a letter. I don't send him an email. I don't call him on the phone. If I'm close to my father, I just go, "Hey Dad, I need," and then I ask. And when you're close to God, then all you need to do is just ask, like the child asks the father. God I need this. Daddy, Abba, I need this. When you're close to God, you just ask. But sometimes I'm not close to my father. And sometimes you're not close to God. And sometimes I have something I want to ask my dad, and as a little kid I'd go well, he's not here in the living room. So I'd have to go seek him. I'd go look in the backyard. Is Dad in the backyard, I want to ask a question. No, he's not there. I want to go to the garage. Is Dad in the garage? No, he's not there. Is he in his little study area, his office at home? No, he's not there. Is he at work? If he's at work, I might have to call him. When I'm distant from God, I have to do a little bit more than asking, I have to seek him. I have to seek him when I'm distant from God. When he's not close. And then sometimes my dad is behind a wall, and I have to knock. And when a wall keeps me from seeing my Father, I knock. When he's in the room with me, I just ask. When I don't know where God is, when I'm distant from God, I seek. And when there's a barrier between me and God, I knock. I knock. And so, I want to ask as a little kid my dad something, and I look for him and I find out he's in his office, but the door is shut. What do I do, do I just give up? No, I just go up and knock on the door. And Dad goes, "Who is this?" It's me, Dad. "Come on in." There's no problem, no hassle, I just knock. Is it okay for me to come in? "Yeah, come on in, come on in." And so, what is he saying by this? Listen very closely. It doesn't matter how close you are to God or how far away you are to God. God still wants you to ask. Listen to this. Some of you think, "I'm not worthy to ask God. "I'm too far away from God right now." God says, "No, you can ask, you can seek, you can knock." It doesn't matter what the distance is. It doesn't matter whether you're close or far away. The very act of you asking is gonna bring you closer. So it's not like you got to clean up your life and then you can start asking God. He says, "Just ask. "No matter whether you're really close to me, "or you're trying to find me." Some of you are seekers. You're trying to find God. Or there's a barrier between you and God and you know it. God says, "It doesn't matter, you can still ask." That will give you confidence. That'll give you confidence. Regardless of how close or far away you are, you can ask for anything in prayer. Now, he says there, "Ask and it will be given. "Seek and you'll find. "Knock and the door will be opened." Sounds like I can just ask for anything. The answer is you can ask for anything. It doesn't mean God's gonna give it. God always answers every prayer. Always, but he doesn't always say yes. In fact, in a future message I'm gonna tell you the four different ways, next week, the four different ways that God answers prayer. And I'm gonna show you the conditions for answered prayer. But he says you can always ask, but there are some obvious qualifications. In other words, God has some things he wants you to understand about prayer. That leads us to the second reason that I can always pray with confidence. And it's this, write this down. God will never give me anything that's unhelpful. Now this is gonna help you build confidence, because you don't often know what to pray. You say, "I don't know if this good for me or not." God will never give me anything that's unhelpful. He will not give you everything you want, because not everything you want would be helpful. And in verse nine he says, "If your child," remember it's a father/daughter, father/son relationship, "If your child asked you for some bread to eat, "would any of you fathers give her a stone instead?" Now obviously it's of course not. Of course God would not do that to you, and you wouldn't do it to your child. If your child came in and said, "Mommy, I'm hungry," you would say, "Oh, here, have a stone, eat a rock." And by the way, this is humor in the Bible, you guys. (audience laughs) It's okay to laugh at this. This is Hebrew humor. Humor by exaggeration. Jesus has several laugh lines in the Sermon on the Mount, and this is one of them. He's going, "It's ridiculous to think "that a mother or father if they came and asked you "for some food you'd say, 'Well here, bite a rock.'" No, he wouldn't do that. Now, if you ask God for something good, he's saying here, God is never gonna give you something bad. He's never gonna give you something bad. If you ask for something worthwhile, "I want some bread," he's not gonna give you something worthless. He will never give you anything worthless. By the way, the opposite of it is true of this, too. If you ask for something good, God will never, never give you anything bad for your life. But the opposite is also true. If you ask for something bad, God's not gonna give you that either. Why? Because God is a good, loving God. He knows what you need better than you do. He knows what will make you happy more than you do. He knows your life more than you do. He understands what makes you tick, what will make you fulfilled, what will give your life meaning and significance more than you do. So both are true. If you ask for good, he's not gonna give you bad. And if you ask for bad, he's not gonna give you bad. Because he is a loving God. He'll never give you anything that is unhelpful. Now, why is that good news to you? It means I don't have to censor my prayers. A lot of times we feel incompetent or unconfident about prayer because we go, "I don't know if I should really be praying for this." I'm saying God, I'd really like to marry that person, but if they're the wrong person? Or God, I'd really like to have that job, but what if it was the wrong job for me? God says, "It doesn't matter what you pray, "because I'm the one who's gonna decide "if it's good or not, not you." You don't have to know, figure out, if the prayer's a good one or not, just ask. You can ask for anything. You can even ask for bad stuff, it's okay. Because as a child, a child might say, "Hey, Daddy, could I drink this bottle of Clorox?" And you'd go, "No." "Daddy, can I have, I'm four-years-old. "Can I have the keys to the car?" "No." And God knows what you don't know, so he says, "Just don't worry about "whether your request is a good one or a bad one. "You don't have to worry about that. "Just ask whatever you want. "I'll figure it out. "It's on me, it's my burden. "I will never give you something that is unhelpful." God will sort it out. That's a great stress reliever in prayer. Now the third reason, he says we can pray with confidence. He says first God promises to answer if I keep asking. Second, God will never give me anything that's unhelpful. That's confidence. And the third reason I can always pray with confidence is God will never give me anything that could harm me. Now he's taking it a deeper step, not just something's that unhelpful, but God says, "I would never give you anything "that would harm you or hurt you." As I said, if I pray can I drink this poison? No, the parents say, "No, no you can't." In verse 10 he says, "If your child asks for some fish." "Hey Dad, can I have some fish sticks? "Can I get a McDonald's fish sandwich?" "Would you put a snake on their plate?" (Rick laughs) That's humor. That's exaggeration there. No parent, no loving parent, would do that. What's he saying here? A snake's a little different than a rock. A snake can be dangerous. In fact, sometimes a snake could be deadly. But sometimes you might ask for something that's actually dangerous in your life, or you might ask for something that would actually be deadly and incredibly destructive in your life. God says, "That doesn't matter. "Just go ahead and ask, because I will never give you "anything that's deadly or destructive. "I'll figure it out. "I'll sort it out." "I'll sort it out, you don't have to worry. "I will take care of it. "I'm never gonna give you anything that hurts you." That gives me confidence. Well, I don't know, should I pray for this or not? I don't know if this is the right thing or not. God just says, "Go ahead and ask. "I'll figure it out, you don't have to. "You could be confident." Here's the fourth reason we can always pray with confidence. God will only give me what's best for me. He says that in the next verse. God will only give me what's best for me. That gives me a lot of confidence when I pray. And in verse 11, he says this: "Now since even you "as a sinful, imperfect parent, "know how to give good gifts to your children, "how much more does your good and perfect Father in Heaven "give only gifts that are good," circle that. "Only gifts that are good to those who ask Him!" Now this gives me a lot of confidence in praying, too. In the first place, you need to understand God is not a slot machine where you put in the prayer and you pull the lever and you get whatever the slot machine gives you. A slot machine gives you, can give you bad stuff. Or a vending machine even is a better illustration. You put money in a vending machine, you pull the lever, and you're gonna get stuff that has carcinogens in it and stuff that could harm you. God is not a vending machine. In fact, I've noticed that in vending machines it never, vending machines never have the best stuff. God will only give you the best. If you've ever had a donut in a vending machine, it's not nearly as good as another kind of donut. Or if you've ever had a sandwich in a vending machine, is it the best sandwich you've ever had? (audience laughs) No. God is not a vending machine. He will only give you what's best for you, he says that. And by the way, God is not your genie. Some people treat prayer like Aladdin's lamp, and you rub Aladdin's lamp and the genie comes out, and God says, "Your wish is my command." No, God doesn't serve you, you serve him. God is not your butler. God is not your genie. God is not your vending machine. God is not your servant. You are God's servant. You say, "Well then, why should I even ask?" Because he is your Father. He's not your vending machine, but he is your Father. And he loves you more than you even love yourself. And God says, "I am your loving Heavenly Father, "and I'm waiting to answer your prayers, "and I'm wanting to answer your prayers." So why are you all nervous about praying? He's just your Father in Heaven. You don't have to say fancy words. You say, "God I need this." That's a good enough prayer. And God will sort it all out. "And I will never give you," he says, "what's not best for you." God wants you to have a breakthrough. That's why we're doing this 34, 30, 40 days of breakthrough in praying three times a day. God wants to give a breakthrough in your life, but he says, "You have not because you ask not." I wish I could read this stack just for the first few days of our time together as a family, but I'll just read you one 'cause they're so inspiring. This one here, this one on top is about a financial breakthrough, and it's from Tom and Eleanor Coyle. And it says this. "Dear Pastor Rick, my wife and I are participating "in 34 Days of Seeking God for breakthrough "along with the rest of our church family. "And using the 10 fingers of praying," remember we talked about this, what to pray and how to pray and who to pray for, "I made a list, a sheet, "to remind me of how each of my fingers "could represent 10 topics to pray for "in each of my five minute prayer times. "It's been very helpful each day." And then, "And your explanation of how "our two smallest fingers," remember I talked about praying for yourself last and praying for material blessings. It's okay to pray for material blessings. It's just not the most important. It's the smallest thing. He says, "I learned that our two smallest fingers "could represent my needs and material blessings. "That made me bold in seeking God's guidance "and God's blessing each day before I begin my work." And then here's his story. "On Monday," this last Monday, "this past week I went to the Charles Schwab office "to request that my rollover from our IRA account "would be given to Saddleback Church." He said, "My wife and I wanted to "give it three different ways. "First, we wanted to use this money "to give God our tithe on this year's income, "then we wanted to give God a second installment "of our Daring Faith pledge from last year, "and then third we gave our end-of-the-year offering, "Thanksgiving offering and Thanksgiving to God "and as our Christmas gift to Jesus." Then he says, "Two days later," that's Wednesday of this last week, "Two days later on Wednesday morning "in my seeking God for a breakthrough prayer time, "I asked God to show me if he approved "of how I was investing our money "to build the retirement nest egg "and also to be able to give more to support "all that's good that we do at Saddleback. "Well, after my morning prayer time, "I opened up my computer, "and I discovered that my investment gains "were nearly double the amount "that we had given to God on Monday. "I was so touched by this that I was brought to tears. "So I called my wife in, "and I showed her the breakthrough that God had done. "And we both wept together "feeling so blessed by God's grace and breakthrough. "In gratitude, we decided that I should go back to Schwab "so we could actually increase our Thanksgiving offering "and give even more to God "than we had just two days earlier. "Then," he says, "another breakthrough miracle happened. "When I got home in just those few minutes, "I checked my investments, "and I was astounded in that short time "that I had been gone those investments had increased "nearly three times more "than we gave in our second Thanksgiving offering." Friends, that's called the breakthrough. No way could he have figured that out. He had no control over this. God just said, "Ah, I see what you're doing. "I'm gonna, you can't outgive me. "You can't outgive me, we're gonna play this game." And God did something. When you have a breakthrough, you know it, 'cause, you know, I didn't do this. God had to do it. "Now, Pastor Rick, you always say you can't outgive God, "and it's true, so thank you for teaching us how to build "the breakthrough habits of starting our day with God "with Bible reading and talking to God. "By putting God first. "By giving in faith. "By trusting God's timing. "Our first breakthrough in our home was financial, "and God replenished in a single day "what had been depleted over several years." That's a breakthrough. "God replenished in a single day this week," he said, "all that we had lost over the last several years." That's a breakthrough, friends. He said, "Now only God knows what other kinds of "breakthroughs he has in store for us," because there's many kinds, "and for our church family. "But every time this week that I thought about what God did "on one day when we had trusted him just two days earlier, "tears have come to my eyes again. "We're filled with great gratitude "and a deeper love for God and our church, "and we're continuing to pray now "for everybody else in our Saddleback family "who's asking for some kind of breakthrough." So this guy and his wife are praying for you. And I'm gonna teach you how to pray for each other. Now, have you noticed of these first four things why you can be confident in prayer none of them have to do with you? When he says God says, "I'll answer, you just keep asking." Okay? All you got to do is ask. There's no big deal about that. God will never give me something that is unhelpful, God will never give me something that is harmful, and God will always only give me the best. None of those have to do with me. So why am I worried about my prayer? All I do as a little child I just ask God I need this. If it's a good request, I'll get it. If it's another request, I'll get it in a different way. If it's a bad request, God's not gonna give it, because he's good and loving and kind. We'll talk about that more next week. Now there's one more reason that I can always pray with confidence, and it's this. God wants me to give to others what I want to get. God wants me to give to others what I want to get myself. Now this is the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And many people know that Golden Rule, but they don't realize it's actually connected to prayer. Verse 12: "So in every situation, "always do to others what you would want them to do for you. "This sums up all the commands "and all the teachings in the Bible." That doesn't sound like it has anything to do with prayer. But it does. Why? Have you ever had been asked by somebody, "Would you pray for me?" Probably, and you go, "Okay, they asked me to pray for them. "What do I pray? "I have no idea what to pray." When somebody comes up to me, and I get asked all the time, "Pastor Rick, will you pray for me?" I'm going, I don't know what to pray for them. What you pray for somebody when they ask you to pray for them, here's what you do. You pray whatever you would like people to pray for you. That's it. That's it. Would you like to have safety and security and success in your life? Yes. Then pray for safety and security and success in other people's life. Would you like the financial blessing of God in your life? Yes. Then pray for the financial blessing of God in other people's life. Would you like to have a healthy body? Yes. Then pray for the healthy body of other people. Would you like to have a better use of your time? Yes. Then pray for other people to use their time in the best way. Whatever you want God to do for you, he says, "I want you to do it to other people." And God says, "The way I treat you as my loving child, "I'm your Heavenly Father, "that's the way I expect you to treat everybody else." God wants you to treat other people the way he treats you. And when you pray for other people, what do you pray? You pray what you'd like to have prayed for you. Then you know instantly what to pray for you. What would I like to have in that situation? A guy says to you, "My wife just walked out on me." What would you want people to pray for you? Well, you pray that for others. You see how simple this is? And God wants you to treat others the way he treats you when you pray. Now why is this important? Because God doesn't want you to be selfish. I told you that in the Book of Job, it's in Chapter 42, verse 10. In fact, it's up here on the screen. It says this: "After Job prayed for his friends, "the Lord restored his fortunes. "In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!" Remember the story of Job? He was the wealthiest man in the world, and one day he literally he lost it all. All of his children were killed, his business collapsed, his crops were burned, he lost his home, he lost his health, he got a terrible disease and is miserable. And at the end of that book it doesn't say, "When Job prayed for himself and God heard him." It says, "When job began to pray for his friends, "God said, 'Oh, okay, you're ready now.'" God is looking for you to be unselfish. The more selfish you are, the more God says, "Well, you got a little more growing up to do." But when you begin to pray for other people's breakthrough, guess what's gonna happen in your life? Your breakthrough. Let's bow our heads. Would you say God, I'm sorry that I've been nervous about prayer. I've been confused. I've had doubts about it. I haven't understood it, so I didn't even know how to pray. But I thank you Jesus for these five things, that you promise to answer if I just keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Thank you that no matter what my relationship is to you, whether I'm close, or distant, or there's even a barrier, you want me to ask and seek and knock. Thank you, God, that you're never gonna give me something that's unhelpful. You're never gonna give me something that's harmful. You're never gonna answer a request that's a wrong request that's not gonna make me what I really want in life. Thank you that you'll only give me what's best for me so I can relax, and I don't have to worry about is this an okay request, that I can literally ask for anything, and you'll do the sorting out. Lord, that's such a great relief, a tension reliever. Lord, I ask you to help me to give away what I want to receive. Help me to give away what I want to receive so that you may teach me not just your blessings, but to teach me to be more like Jesus Christ. If you've never invited Jesus into your life, say, "Jesus Christ, come into my life. "Make yourself real to me. "I want to get to know you. "I want to learn to trust you and love you, "and I want to learn to talk to you all the time. "And I humbly ask this, "my Father, in Heaven, in Jesus' name, Amen."