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How To Pray When You Don't Have It All Together

Encouraging Prayer / James Banks
The Truth Network Radio
November 23, 2024 12:00 pm

How To Pray When You Don't Have It All Together

Encouraging Prayer / James Banks

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November 23, 2024 12:00 pm

In this episode of Encouraging Prayer, James Banks and Robby Dilmore, discuss how to pray when you don't have it all together. 

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This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything.

If we're honest, that's every day. If we try to go to God thinking, we have it all together, we are in trouble, and we don't even know it because God's Word tells us He opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. So what we mean by this, and I'll put it in the form of a question, is how do you pray when you're struggling to pray? How do you pray when you know that you're faith is weak, but you also know that you really need God's help? James?

Oh, that's a great place to start today, Robbie, because we really do live there more than we might like to admit. But the beautiful thing is that God's Word is actually full of examples of people who prayed like this. People like David and Jeremiah and so many others whose prayers, even though they weren't perfect, accomplished amazing things through God's kindness. And I was reading one of those prayers today in Psalm 86, and it kind of snuck up on me. David writes in verse 11, Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on fullness.

Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. So right there, David is basically saying that he doesn't know God's way, and that his heart is divided, because if it weren't, he wouldn't be asking for an undivided one. And again, that's why God, he's asking God to show him what to do. But then look at the very next verse, verse 12. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart. I will glorify your name forever.

Now think about this carefully. David has just admitted that his heart is divided. But what he's saying is, I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart.

So what does this mean? It means that when God answers his prayer for an undivided heart, he'll be able to praise him with all of his heart. And he wants to go there, but he's not quite there yet.

So Lord, I'm going to do this, but you've got to help me. He's saying that he's a work in progress. I see what you mean. I mean, David isn't filling out the page with religious talk asking for an undivided heart, but he's saying he'll praise God with all his heart. He's just really being honest with God about where he is. Yeah, I really do think that's what's going on here. And it makes me think of something I heard someone say once, that the church doesn't speak her lies, she sings them.

Here's what that means. Have you ever sung a hymn or a song in church and realized that your heart really wasn't quite there yet with what you were singing? I mean, take a hymn like, I surrender all, all to thee my blessed Savior. That's so easy to sing, and it sounds so nice to sing it, but the question is, do we mean it? I mean, everything in that moment, can we honestly say that to God in the moment? So when you encounter something like that, and you realize that maybe you're not being entirely honest with God in what you're singing, just tell him that and ask for his help. And if you do that, you're doing exactly what David was doing in verses 11 and 12 of Psalm 86. It's like, Lord, I want to be real with you, but I can't even do that without your help. You know, James, this really shows us how dependent we are on God, really, for everything, because even our best efforts for him are so often tainted with so much self.

Yeah, yeah, isn't that right? I mean, sometimes we have to look at ourselves and, you know, just shake our heads, but here's the thing. God meets us right there. He meets us right there. And, you know, he doesn't shout at us, get your act together. He really will come alongside of us through his Spirit and help us. So you mentioned other prayers like this in Scripture.

How about some of those? Well, one of my favorites is in Mark 9, where the man comes to Jesus with his demon-possessed son and says, if you can do anything, help him. And Jesus turns to him and says, if you can, anything is possible for him who believes. And, of course, the man responds, well, Lord, I do believe.

Help my unbelief. I just love that prayer. I do too. You know, it's so cool that God gives us an example of these prayers in the Scriptures, right? It's like he's saying, it's okay, you can really be honest with me.

Not only can you be, but you really should be, right? Yeah, I think that's spot on. And what we don't want to miss is that beautiful things often follow this kind of praying, like the healing of the boy that the dad brought to Jesus. And Jesus did what he was asking for in spite of his imperfect faith. And, you know, I think about another sentence in Scripture.

It was basically a prayer because it was spoken to one of God's messengers, an angel, by Gideon in Judges. And, you know, the angel comes to him and says, Greetings, mighty warrior, the Lord is with you. And Gideon responds, if the Lord is with me, why has all this happened to me?

And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? And I love that because, again, Gideon is just being real. And, you know, of course, God uses all of this not only to build Gideon up and make a mighty warrior out of him, but also to set his people free. So in the end, what this is really about is having a heart that is fully committed to him, so committed that you're going to be honest with him when you're not, and ask for his help. So praying like this isn't a justification of those areas where we're struggling and saying, well, you know, bud, what it is instead is a really good way to just let God in to all of that so that he can help us and lift us to another place. Darrell Bock Yeah, I love that, and you've taught it for years that, you know, when we don't feel close enough to God, it's, you know, God can help us get there by just simply asking, right?

Admitting, I'm not where I think I need to be, Lord, can you help me get there, because I really want to be. Darrell Bock Yeah, because he loves us like that, you know, that's what his heart is like, and that's what Jesus coming, you know, and becoming a baby and living and dying on a cross and raising from the dead. And I mean, it's what, you know, his heart shows us this, just he wants to reach us where we are. So let's, let's refinish up, Father, help us in this.

We need your help. But we praise you that you want to give it to us even more than we want to ask. And so, Lord, we just thank you that that is your heart, we worship you for it. And we look forward to greater closeness with you, because you will pull us close, because you are always faithful. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-23 12:16:07 / 2024-11-23 12:19:39 / 4

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