You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.
Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. or my prodigal child for a long time and I don't see them coming back yet. Will you keep praying for them? Jesus says, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Don't give up and pray. Have you noticed that sometimes you'll click something on a website and nothing happens? And you wait.
But you know from experience, if you click a second time, then you've just ordered two lamps from blahblahblah.com. We may bring a similar hesitation to our prayers. Should I pray again? Would God be irritated? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings good insight on effective prayer.
Download a copy of this insight by going to harvest.org. Prayer is not an option for a believer. To be a growing Christian, you must have a prayer life. If you want God to speak to you, if you want God to provide for you, if you want God to help you to not worry, if you want to be ready for the return of Jesus, you need to pray. But there are times when God does not answer our prayers in the way that we would like. We'll even say God doesn't answer my prayers.
Wait a second. No is as much of an answer as yes is. Why don't you just say you don't like the answer?
Here's a way to look at it. If the request is wrong, God says no. If the timing is wrong, God says slow.
If you are wrong, God says grow. But if the request is right and the timing is right and you are right, God says go. So how can we have our prayers answered more often in the affirmative and hear more yeses instead of nos? Well that brings us to Luke chapter 11. And we're going to read a few verses that give to us what we often refer to as the Lord's Prayer.
Let's read Luke 11 verse 1. Now it came to pass he was praying in a certain place. When he ceased, one of his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. And he said, When you pray, say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now I want you to notice that before a word of personal petition is offered, I must consider who I am speaking to.
It starts with our Father who art in heaven. Too often we cut to the chase. And by that I mean we go straight to the grocery list.
Okay. Lord, here's what I need from you. There's nothing wrong with that.
There's a place for that. But it's not necessarily the first thing we should pray for. I begin my prayer with worship, adoration, and an acceptance of his will.
And then we bow our heads and we might bring petitions before the Lord and so forth. But the point is, is I'm contemplating the greatness of God. Have you ever noticed that when you see God in his power and his glory, you see your problems in a different way? Because when you have a big God, you will see that you have small problems. But if you have big problems, do you have a small God?
Maybe you need to see God for who he is. So Jesus says, after this manna, therefore pray, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. So just think of the awesomeness of God, the power of God.
And that brings me to principle number one. If you want your prayer answered in the affirmative, pray according to the will of God. If you want your prayer answered in the affirmative, pray according to the will of God. Jesus teaches us to pray, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Again, our Lord modeled this in Gethsemane. Remember when he said to the Father, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but what?
Yours be done. And so it's a submission to the will of God. Listen, the primary objective of prayer is to line my will up with God's will. Prayer does not change God's mind. Prayer changes my mind. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance.
It's taking hold of his willingness. By my praying, I'm instructing myself more than him. The objective of prayer is not getting my will in heaven.
It's getting God's will on earth. Number two, when I bring my petitions before God, this is something that I do after I've acknowledged the greatness of God. I mean, Jesus says, okay, now pray.
Give us this day our daily bread. Do you find it an amazing thing that this all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent God who created the entire universe has an interest in you and me personally? But the Bible says he does. God's concerned with the things that concern me. Why would he care about my daily bread?
I don't know. Job even asks, Job 717, what is man that you make so much of him? Why do you give him so much attention?
Here's a simple answer. Why does God care? Because he loves you. Why does he love you? That's a good question. But he does.
He does. He loves you with an everlasting love. In fact, Jesus said, fear not, little flock, it's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So the Father loves to bless us.
Here's another secret to answer. Prayer is really important. You must confess your personal sin. Jesus teaches us to pray, forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.
And listen to this. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, your prayers aren't going anywhere. I mean, you can pray piously. You can pray loudly. You can pray impressively. But if you have a sin in your life you've not confessed before God, your prayer life is going to come to a screeching halt. Because as Psalm has said, if I regard iniquity on my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So there needs to be that confession.
Here's another secret of answered prayer. As much as possible, stay out of the way and the place of temptation. Verse 4, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now you can't completely remove yourself from temptation. Even if you left the planet, you would still get tempted. Here's what we're saying, Lord, don't let me be tempted above my capacity to resist. I think we've all seen that bumper sticker that says, lead me not into temptation.
I can find it myself. Right? We do a pretty good job of that, don't we? And the problem of course with temptation is how we can rationalize it. How we make it seem okay in our life. Have you ever noticed that it's easier to find sin in other people's lives than in your life? Oh, they shouldn't do that.
That's wrong. But somehow in my life, I rationalize it. In other people's lives, that sin looks so stupid and foolish, but in my life it's a little bit different. And you know what that is? That is exactly what Jesus was talking about when he said, how can you pick out a speck in your brother's eye when you have a telephone pole in yours?
That'd be a modern update. Like you're so quick to nitpick in somebody else's life, maybe there's something worse in your own life. Here's what I think. I think the people that are the most nitpicky, that are always harping on things and coming down on others, are usually struggling with greater sin in their own life. So I'm not surprised when I hear somebody that's always condemning others and jumping down the throat of others and putting others down. Then one day it turns out they're guilty of some crazy sin. Yeah, that's why they were doing it.
Don't you understand? So let's be very careful about these things because these things can trip us up. Here's a little test to apply if you're not really sure if it's an enticement to evil. Pray about it in the clear light of the presence of God. So this thing you're going to do, pray about it. I don't know if I should go to that thing. Okay, just pray about it. You'll know really quick.
Lord, bless us as we go to this party to get drunk. Yeah, I'm not going to pray about that. See, you already have the answer. Hey, Lord, this guy I'm going out with that's not a believer in... Yeah, you know what, you already have the answer because it doesn't pass a basic litmus test. Here's another thing to ask. How would it seem if you saw somebody else doing that? You know, you say it's okay for you.
What if you saw another Christian brother or sister doing that thing? Here's something to remember. If you can't write hallowed be thy name over what you're doing, don't do it. So what are you going to do? We're going to go out to dinner. Can you write hallowed be thy name over that? Yeah, good. Go for it.
Enjoy yourself. Now we're going to go to church. Can you write hallowed be thy name over that? Absolutely. Now we're going to go do this other thing. Can you write hallowed be thy name over it?
Yes, I can. Then go for it. Well, I don't know if I can write hallowed be thy name over going to that movie. Then don't go to it. I don't know if I can write hallowed be thy name over that music.
Then don't listen to that music, you see. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship. It's a message from the Word of God.
You can watch it with your family, in your front room, or you can watch it on the go, on your tablet, on your phone, or your computer. Take it with you. Take the Word of God with you and join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg continues now with his message, what every Christian needs to know about prayer. And in a moment, we'll talk to author Sally Lloyd-Jones about a brand new children's book of hers.
Or get details now at Harvest.org. This is the last secret of answered prayer, if you will. Don't give up. Let's read a few more verses and we'll close. Verse five. He said, Which of you, if you have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come in from his journey, and I have nothing to set before him, and he will not answer from within and say, Don't trouble me.
The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't rise and give it to you. I say to you, though, he will not rise and give it to him, because it's his friend, yet because of his persistence, he'll rise and give him as much as he needs.
So here's the real kicker. So I say to you, Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. Don't give up in prayer.
This is really important. Sometimes we pray for something once and nothing happens and we say, Well, God said no. Lord, save the world. Amen.
That covers it. That's a worthless prayer. Hey, Greg, I've been praying for my non-believing husband for ten years and nothing has happened. Well, keep praying about it. Hey, I've been praying for my prodigal child for a long time, and I don't see them coming back yet. Well, you keep praying for them. Hey, I've been praying for a revival to come to the United States of America, and it hasn't come yet. Well, you keep praying about that. Hey, I've been praying that the Lord would heal me of this problem, this sickness, this illness, and I'm not healed yet. Well, you keep praying about that.
That's okay. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be open. Now, this is kind of a hard scene for us to understand, but back in this culture, you know, everybody lived in one house, okay? And usually they all slept in one room. So getting everyone to sleep was a big ordeal, so here's Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Harry and Aunt Matilda and the brothers and the sisters and the cousins and a dog or two, and you're all laying on this floor here, and you're all, you know, tucked in for the night, and some crazy guy starts banging on your door.
What? I need some bread. Someone came to visit me. Yeah, go get your own bread. But he keeps pounding on the door.
Well, if this guy doesn't get what he wants, he's not gonna leave you alone. So you step over Uncle Harry and step on your cousin and, you know, and you step on the dog's tail and you give him his bread so he'll go away. Now, Jesus is saying, if you would do that for a persistent person, how much more will the Father do it for you because he wants to do it for you.
By the way, the Lord's language is unusually compelling because of three verbs that he uses. Ask, seek, and knock. Ask, seek, and knock.
There is an ascending intensity. First of all, ask implies a request for assistance. We realize our need. We ask for help.
Kind of low-key. Father, we bring this need before you right now and we're asking for this in Jesus' name. Sort of like when you're in a restaurant and you want some more coffee and you're looking for a server. Why do they disappear and where do they go, you know? You know, at certain points, they're everywhere, constantly, you know?
They're wiping your mouth. Oh, I'm good, I'm good, you know? And they're interrupting and so, okay. And now when you need them, they're gone.
They've left and we don't know where they've gone to. And so you're looking for someone. Excuse me, excuse me.
Can I get a little more coffee? Excuse me. So you're asking. You're being polite about it.
So that's the idea here. You ask. But seek is different. It denotes asking but adds action. So this doesn't just mean I'm asking but I'm asking pretty aggressively.
Okay, now we come to knock. This includes asking plus acting plus persevering. It's like that person pounding on the closed door. Sort of a I'm not going to take no for an answer. So going back to our restaurant analogy. First you're asking, excuse me, excuse me. No one answers.
Then you find someone. Can I get some more coffee? Can I get some more coffee? Can I get some more coffee? And now finally you're just going to go up and get the coffee.
You pour it yourself. They don't like it when you do that. But that's the idea here. I'm taking matters into my own hands, okay. I'm not suggesting with God we're taking matters into our own hands. But what I'm saying is when we believe something is the will of God, we don't give up.
And listen to me. When you're praying for the salvation of a loved one, don't give up. And I'm telling you, you don't give up as long as they're alive on this earth. You know I prayed for my mom for years and years and years. I came to Christ and tried to bring her to faith and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. And she was hard against God for almost her entire life. And then at the end of her life she finally made that commitment to Christ. I mean I prayed for her for well over 40 years. That was a long time to pray for something. But God answered my prayer. And there's other people you pray. Boom. They just respond.
It's great. But you know don't give up. And when we look at our country right now we know we need a spiritual awakening in America. That's a whole message unto itself. But we just look at the state of our country right now. What's it going to take to wake this nation up to its need for God? So we shouldn't give up in America. And that's why we're so committed to doing these evangelistic events.
Because we believe that America needs to hear the gospel. So ask, seek, and knock and you shall receive. Much of our prayer has no power in it because there's no heart in it. So don't back down.
Okay so let's wrap this up. We've talked about praying. Do you know how to pray? Maybe you say your prayers. Sometimes parents will say to their kids, No say your prayers before you go to sleep.
Say your prayers. I don't think we want to teach our children to say their prayers as much as we want to teach them how to pray. Because you can say little prayers and never be heard by God. You know Jesus told the story of a Pharisee and a publican. Not a Republican.
A publican. Both went into the temple to pray and the Pharisee prayed, God I thank you I'm not like other men. And I fast twice a week and give tithes of everything that I possess.
And I'm not like this guy here. You know your prayers are messed up when you say something like that to God. And then the publican wouldn't even lift his eyes up to heaven. He just said, God be merciful to me a sinner. Jesus said, guess whose prayer was heard by God? The Pharisee, the religious guy.
No, no, no. God didn't hear his prayers. He heard the other guy. Because it was an honest, heartfelt prayer. And the other guy effectively was just praying to himself.
So you can pray your little prayers and never have your prayers go anywhere. Or you can learn how to pray. And that only comes through a relationship with God. Because you will never be able to pray effectively as long as there is sin in your life. And every one of us have sinned. And every one of us continue to sin. And that is why God took such drastic measures and sent Jesus Christ to come to this earth and walk this planet. And He breathed our air and He lived our life and then He died our death. And He paid the price for all the sin that we have committed. And if we will tell God we are sorry for our sin and ask Christ to come into our life, He will forgive us.
And we can start this wonderful prayer life and know that we are heard by God. Our Father who art in heaven. The only way you can come into this relationship with God is by becoming His son or His daughter. And the only way to become a child of God is through adoption. I was adopted by a man named Oscar Laurie. He gave me his name Oscar.
No, Laurie. But the point is He adopted me. And we are adopted into God's family. And He will adopt you right now. And you will know that you have a Father in heaven. If you will turn from your sin and ask Him to forgive you. And if you haven't done that yet, I am going to give you an opportunity to do it as we close in prayer.
Okay, let's all bow our heads. Father, I pray for everyone here. Everyone listening.
Everyone hearing. If they don't know you yet, Lord, help them to see their need for Jesus. And help them to come to you now and believe. So work with the power of your Holy Spirit in the hearts of each one. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Now, perhaps you missed a portion of today's message called, What Every Christian Needs to Know About Prayer. Well, you can catch up by going to our website, harvest.org.
Stream it while you're online or download an MP3 for later. That's harvest.org. And then we're excited to have Sally Lloyd-Jones with us today. We're making available her books called, Near and Babies Carry Along Bible.
Pastor Greg. Well, Sally, thanks for being on with us again. It's always a joy to talk to you.
And I love these resources that you've produced. Especially this new book called, Near. What inspired you to write a book really about the omnipresence of God? Well, it seems as if it came out in the middle of the pandemic. So you would think I wrote it because everyone wants to know that God isn't socially distant from us.
But I actually wrote it several years before. Because I thought, what's the most comforting thing to know is that wherever we are, God is with us. If it's a happy day, if it's a sad day, if we feel lonely, if we don't feel lonely. And I thought for children, it's such a beautiful way to express God's love because you can show them all over the world.
They could be climbing a mountain, they could be going down deep into the ocean. So visually, it's a very good psalm for children because it's so visual, you know, and concrete. And for a child to know that they're never alone, I think a child is so small and vulnerable. To know that they're never alone is maybe even more important for a tiny one to know.
Yeah, and we want to send that comfort your way. It's in Sally's new book called, Near. And we'll also send a second resource, Baby's Carry Along Bible. It's a sturdy board book a young child can carry with them, just like mom and dad do on the way to church. With comforting truths told in rhyme in Sally's own special way. So let us send both of these children's resources to you to thank you for your investment.
So Pastor Greg's teaching can continue to come your way each day. We so much appreciate your partnership. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.
Or go online to Harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg, as we get close to the end of today's program, we want to give an opportunity for those who'd like to, to make a change in their relationship with the Lord. Can you help them with that? I'd be delighted to. Listen, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now, and by that I mean if you would like your sin forgiven, and have the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die, would you pray this prayer with me? Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin, and rising again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, Lord, and I turn from it now, and I put my faith in you to be my Savior, my Lord, my God, and my friend. Thank you for loving me, and calling me, and accepting me. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer in a minute, I want you to know on the authority of God's word that Jesus Christ has just come to take residence in your heart. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen, we want to send you some resources that will help you grow spiritually.
So here's Dave with some details. And let me say, God bless you, and welcome to the family of God. And as Pastor Greg said, we have some resources we'd like to send your way to help you as you begin to live the Christian life. We call this resource collection our New Believers' Growth Packet, and we'll send it to you free of charge. Just write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words, Know God. Well, next time, Pastor Greg explains to us what happens when heaven comes to earth.
More insight from his Essentials series. Join us next time here on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others, or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.
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