Praying as a Child of God.

Steve Gentry

[0:01] Alright, go ahead and have a seat. [0:03] Welcome to Village Church. [0:04] If this is your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:06] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church and as always, I’m thankful and grateful [0:10] to see each and every one of you. [0:12] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans chapter 8.

[0:16] We’re going to be starting in verse 26. [0:18] We’ll not make it very far. [0:20] We’re only going to make it to verse 27 this morning.

[0:25] But Hebrews chapter 4 gives us this look into the life of prayer, into the life that [0:32] we are to live and our understanding of what it is to be in the presence of God and why [0:39] we can be in the presence of God. [0:41] It says that we can come boldly as if it’s a place that we belong, which is kind of [0:47] you would think about the presence of an almighty God, the presence of a king or even in any [0:55] type of literature that’s been written over the centuries.

[0:58] When you think of a God being, you think of someone that you have to cower before, someone [1:06] that you really, you just feel awful about how limited you are in his presence. [1:11] But then Hebrews chapter 4 gives us this different view and it says, come boldly before the throne [1:17] of grace, receive mercy in your time of need.

[1:22] And it kind of jumps off of what we’ve been talking about the past few weeks that God [1:26] in his sovereignty through the gospel has made it so that those who trust in him are [1:34] adopted into his family. [1:36] When the apostle Paul writes, so that we can come before him and cry Abba, father, this [1:43] is the same type of terminology that my children in that language would use for me. [1:49] They don’t have to request to come into my presence.

[1:51] Sometimes I wish they would, but they don’t. [1:55] They’re the most assuming creatures. [1:58] They just walk in like they belong. [2:00] It doesn’t matter where you are. [2:02] It doesn’t matter how much privacy you think you need or how many locks you install. [2:08] They’re thieves, burglars.

[2:14] The father said he’d come as a thief in the night. [2:17] They often come as a thief in the day.

[2:20] Wherever you are, they just assume that they belong there.

[2:26] That’s the comfort level that they feel with their parents. [2:30] Romans says that we feel that same presence with our Abba father. [2:36] He’s adopted us through our faith in Jesus Christ. [2:39] We belong in his presence. [2:42] We’re wanted in his presence. [2:45] In Hebrews chapter 4 tells us, it says that come boldly.

[2:50] Make no request to be there. [2:52] Just be there. [2:54] And there you can receive mercy whenever you need it. [2:59] And so when we think about prayer, when the apostle Paul here in verses 26 and 27 kind [3:06] of sets an atmosphere before us of the way that we are to pray and the way that we’re [3:11] to understand prayer and the way that we’re to experience what prayer really is like in

[3:18] this lifetime. [3:20] We need to have that mentality. [3:23] That God does not need us to set appointments. [3:26] He does not need us to to really do anything for him. [3:31] Instead, he has done everything for us and he just says, come be in my presence.

[3:42] No fancy words, no lingo, no password prompts. [3:50] Just be there. [3:52] And I think so often that is what prevents us from enjoying the presence of God is because [3:58] we struggle to feel as though we belong in the presence of God. [4:05] In many ways, our struggles with prayer, our struggles to believe the gospel. [4:11] In many ways, our struggle with prayer is a struggle to know God.

[4:18] To know him intimately, to know him relationally, to know who he is, because we know that if [4:26] he’s God, he knows who I am. [4:29] And because he knows who I am, clearly, I won’t belong in the presence of a holy God [4:36] unless God has done something to remedy that. [4:41] And what we believe about the cross is that God has done everything that ever needs to [4:46] be done to remedy whether or not we belong or whether or not we have a standing invitation

[4:52] to be in his presence.

[4:56] So what we need to kind of build a foundation here for prayer. [5:02] And it takes the apostle Paul eight chapters in the book of Romans to get to prayer. [5:09] So he spends eight chapters building a foundation for what we need to know and what we need [5:18] to believe about God before he ever says anything about coming before the presence of God.

[5:26] It’s not until he brings to us what is redemption, what is this objective reality of what God [5:34] has done for us in the gospel through Jesus, purchasing my life at the cost of the blood [5:41] of his own son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for my sins. [5:46] He lays that foundation and then he goes in and he says, there’s no condemnation for those [5:52] who are in Christ Jesus. [5:53] This is how you are to think about your life.

[5:57] Consider everything through faith, then live out your faith and then understand that you [6:02] will live a real life in faith where you will suffer. [6:08] You will feel real pain, just like the rest of creation feels. [6:14] And then at the moment of pain, Paul then brings the issue of prayer.

[6:24] Prayerlessness is the greatest mistake of many believers.

[6:31] You try to follow Jesus under your own strength without dependence on God in prayer. [6:38] But understand, friend, if in your life with Christ you are not praying, then you necessarily [6:47] are attempting to live under your own power, which is the very thing that the gospel tells [6:55] us we can never do and have any hope of experiencing salvation. [7:02] And I want you to understand this morning that what I truly believe and what I think [7:05] the apostle Paul is telling us, because he’s given us almost an insurmountable obstacle,

[7:11] which is his dealings with suffering.

[7:15] It’s like, I can’t get over that suffering. [7:17] I can’t get over that barrier. [7:18] I can’t believe God would put anything like that in my life. [7:22] It’s in that moment where we’re going to be the weakest that Paul introduces the topic [7:28] of prayer. [7:29] I want you to know that more is accomplished through prayer than any effort we could ever

[7:36] muster. [7:38] And this is really the antithesis to how many function in life. [7:46] But I want you to understand that your prayer life reflects what you believe about grace. [7:55] Prayer shows that Christianity is the opposite of self-sufficiency. [8:00] I mean, think about it. [8:02] How do you respond to all things that happen to you in your life, whether they’re good

[8:07] or whether they’re bad? [8:08] How do you respond? [8:10] And then how would the gospel lead you to respond? [8:13] How does the word of God lead you to respond to everything that happens in your life? [8:20] The answer to that should be, and under the lens of the gospel, as you view what Jesus [8:25] has done, the answer must be prayer.

[8:30] The prayer, understand, and let’s be very honest, is a very difficult activity for many [8:35] of you. [8:37] It’s a very difficult activity in life because it’s different than anything you experience [8:41] and it’s different than anything else that you do in life and it’s different than anything [8:45] that this culture will program you towards. [8:49] The culture programs you to first modify behavior, put forth great effort, do everything that

[8:57] you can do in your power. [9:00] And then Paul finds us with the hardest thing to deal with in life and his first response [9:05] is prayer, which ultimately must lead us to understand that prayer is then needing [9:13] to be our first response to both the good and the hard in life. [9:19] Both that which we would say brings us great success and then that which we would say [9:24] brings us great pain.

[9:27] Look in verse 25 of Romans chapter 8. [9:31] Here’s what he says, if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it impatient. [9:38] So he’s just finished this section, he says in your suffering that you will go through [9:41] in this life, hope is the answer, hope in what? [9:44] Hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ. [9:47] And then he says likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

[9:54] To be clear by now what he said in Romans chapter 8, as he started in verse 9, he says [10:00] that when you’re living the life following Jesus, put your mind on the Spirit, follow [10:07] the Spirit, live in the Spirit, it’s going to be the Spirit that empowers you to obey [10:12] Christ. [10:13] And then he says in all of your waiting patiently for the gospel, understand that when you are [10:19] weak you need the Spirit.

[10:22] Because it’s the Spirit that’s going to endure, it’s the Spirit that’s going to help you [10:26] have hope in the gospel when all hope seems to be lost in everything that’s happening [10:29] in your life. [10:32] And then he takes a turn and he just assumes he’s talking about prayer. [10:37] Note what he says in the next sentence, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought.

[10:45] It’s almost like he drops and he’s like, oh, I’ve been talking about prayer, by the way. [10:50] And we don’t really know how to do it. [10:54] And then he says, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep [11:02] for words. [11:03] And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes [11:10] for the saints according to the will of God.

[11:15] It seems very appropriate that we would pause right now and pray. [11:18] Pray with me. [11:20] Our Father, this is Your Word. [11:25] Help us to trust it. [11:29] Help us to trust You.

[11:32] Lord, even in this moment as many struggle, not knowing how to pray, help them just to [11:39] trust that You do and that You are praying for them, Spirit.

[11:44] Lord, open our hearts and open our minds to receive Your Word today and by Your grace [11:50] may we be found faithful in living in faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [11:56] It’s in His holy and precious name that I pray. [11:59] Amen.

[12:01] In difficulty with prayer, what we see in our life is that this text is giving us an [12:09] answer to every weakness that we will deal with in life. [12:12] In chapter 8, if you’ve noticed, Paul seems to make a lot of very general statements, [12:18] just blanket statements with no qualifiers, as if this is the answer to this entire section [12:24] of your life. [12:25] Here’s how you deal with it.

[12:27] Let’s move on. [12:29] And so he’s been talking about what you believe in. [12:31] He’s been talking about the way that you think. [12:33] He’s been talking about the way that you live. [12:35] He’s been talking about the way that you react when things don’t go your way in this life. [12:39] And here he comes to a section where he sums all of everything he’s been talking about

[12:44] and everything you’ve been striving for with this great reminder, you’re going to struggle.

[12:51] That’s what weakness is. [12:54] It’s when you’re trying to do something and you find yourself incapable of doing it. [12:59] And so he’s just given us a command. [13:01] He said, wait for God. [13:05] Be patient for His deliverance. [13:07] Be patient for the day that He resurrects you, where He gives you the full redemption

[13:12] of your bodies in a resurrection to life, in heaven, in His kingdom, forever. [13:18] And you may respond, you say, that is very difficult because I’m going through this [13:23] or that.

[13:26] And then Paul says, I assumed that you were going to say that. [13:31] And so verse 26.

[13:34] Because the Spirit Himself will help you in your weakness.

[13:42] And then he never defines what that weakness is.

[13:47] And I think that’s because every one of us are going to be weak at a different point.

[13:54] See, every one of us are conditioned in this life in a different way to deal with different [14:00] things in life. [14:02] Some of us, it seems like we couldn’t do her a lot and never despair. [14:07] For others of us, it seems like hangnails lead us to despair.

[14:12] And so the experiences of life are somewhat subjective.

[14:19] And so what Paul wants you to know is no matter where your weaknesses are, no matter how [14:25] strong you think you are, no matter how strong you know you aren’t,

[14:32] the Spirit is the one that’s going to aid you, is going to help you in that moment [14:37] of weakness. [14:40] And the terms that he uses in this passage help us to understand point number one this [14:45] morning of what prayer really is. [14:48] You see, praying is only possible when we understand our weakness. [14:53] Praying is only possible when we understand our weakness.

[14:57] And that’s the last thing some of you really want to understand.

[15:01] Because this world conditions you to need no one, need nothing, and show no weakness.

[15:09] But the Gospel comes in and it reminds you over and over and over again that you are [15:14] weak.

[15:16] And he writes this in direct response to what we talked about last week. [15:21] He writes this in a response to pain that you will feel in this life. [15:27] I want you to realize that it is God who saves and it is God who endures the saved [15:33] through all of life. [15:36] You see, verse 25 gives us the hope of faith that there’s coming a day where our patient [15:41] hope will pay off when God delivers ultimately on all of his promises.

[15:47] And that trusting in Christ means trusting that he has a plan to make all things right. [15:54] And just as Jesus rose at the right time, God will deliver his kingdom at the right [16:00] time. [16:01] But the pain of this life will reveal every weakness that you never thought you could [16:07] possibly have.

[16:10] You ever had something come up in your life and your immediate thought was I did not prepare [16:14] for this. [16:16] I was not prepared for this to come into my life. [16:18] I was not prepared to experience this. [16:22] This is just to be a revelation to you all that none of us are prepared for everything.

[16:28] No matter how much you try, no matter how hard you work, things always come up that [16:33] you didn’t factor into your equation.

[16:37] Whether it be emotional, whether it be physical, whether it be spiritual, whether it be financial, [16:41] whether it be material, there’s always an X factor right around the corner. [16:47] And what the text is attempting to do, it’s attempting to well up in us a response of [16:54] patient hope that there’s coming a day where that X factor will be eradicated forever.

[17:01] And then God says through the text, he says I know it’s hard. [17:05] And that spirit that was to control your mind in Romans 8-5, that spirit that was supposed [17:10] to control your life in Romans 8-9, that spirit that was to deliver you into a life of suffering [17:16] and that spirit that will ultimately deliver you out of a life of suffering, that is the [17:19] spirit that will endure you. [17:21] If you’re struggling in hope, stop trying to attempt it on your own and look to the

[17:26] spirit for that hope.

[17:29] To deny weakness is to lie to yourself and deny reality.

[17:38] What he’s really trying to get us to here is a posture of dependence.

[17:45] So when you’re raising children, at some point on your tax form it says how many dependents [17:51] do you have? [17:52] And you list how many dependents. [17:55] And as you get older, you are supposed to have less and less of those on your tax form. [18:01] And so somewhere in the teenage years, I assume, I think it was this way with my parents, [18:05] they actually started to look forward to the day where they could put zero.

[18:11] Thankfully, that day has come. [18:14] Just a few weeks ago. [18:14] No, I’m just joking.

[18:20] But we are conditioned in this life to look forward to the day of independence.

[18:26] To look forward to the day where someone that’s dependent on me can live on their own strength [18:32] or I can live under my own strength and I’m in need of no one, I’m in need of nothing. [18:36] And so we condition ourselves to be independent, self-sufficient, self-motivated, [18:44] which is the antithesis of what the Gospel teaches.

[18:50] While one thing may be good on the tax form or one thing may be good in your home life,

[18:57] it’s the wrong thing to think about the Gospel. [19:00] God is not conditioning you to be independent of Him. [19:05] If you are seeking to grow in your faith to the point where you can be independent [19:12] of the help of the Lord and take care of it yourself, [19:15] then what you’re actually looking forward to is the day that you stop believing the Gospel.

[19:20] Because it’s weird that as you grow in faith in the Gospel and as your faith is strengthened, [19:28] you actually come to understand how weak you are. [19:33] The Apostle Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians, starting in verse 12. [19:37] He puts it this way. [19:38] But he said to me, God says to Paul, he says, [19:42] My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

[19:47] Then Paul writes this. He says, [19:48] Because of what God has said to me, therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, [19:54] so that the power of Christ may rest on me. [19:56] For the sake of Christ then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. [20:03] For when I am weak, then I am strong. [20:04] And he says, that is contradictory.

[20:06] And Paul says, no, it’s not.

[20:11] Because Paul’s weakness gives God the opportunity to come in and show himself strong. [20:16] And so what Paul is saying here, the way that the world looks at life [20:20] and the way that the world looks at strength, you are not supposed to look at life that way. [20:25] You are supposed to look at life as how God is using every moment to his glory, [20:32] even and especially when it is a weakness exposed in your life. [20:38] And Paul says, therefore I will boast in my weaknesses.

[20:42] If it’s going to give God glory, then I will boast. [20:45] That is worship.

[20:48] When all that you want to give God glory for is how strong you are, [20:52] then you are not really giving God glory. [20:54] You are giving you glory. [20:55] You are the center of attention. [20:57] Therefore, God gives great humility through suffering. [21:00] God gives great humility through pain.

[21:04] Paul doesn’t just say, because people are giving me insults, [21:08] because I’m experiencing hardships and persecutions. [21:12] No, he actually then goes to calamities.

[21:16] There’s things that just make me weak.

[21:21] I’ll praise God for them, because they’re good for me, [21:25] because they show how strong God is. [21:28] Prayer is often treated as the last resort of helplessness. [21:33] But this text offers you the opportunity to understand [21:37] that the Gospel reveals pervasive helplessness in all of life.

[21:44] And prayerlessness then comes from a root of just foolish thoughts [21:52] about your own strength.

[21:55] Then when you are struggling to find a purpose for prayer, [22:00] what you’re really struggling to find is a purpose for God’s work in your life.

[22:06] God says prayer needs to be the defining factor of your life, [22:10] and that weakness is actually a pipeline of grace from God into your life. [22:17] I mean, if you were truly strong, if you were truly able, [22:21] if you were truly able to be this independent person, [22:24] then why would you need grace?

[22:30] You wouldn’t. [22:32] The Gospel tells us, become acquainted with your weakness [22:35] so that you can see where God is actually working in your life. [22:39] When you are weak, you are strong, because the Spirit then shows His great power. [22:46] Too many of you spend your life attempting to show how able you are, [22:52] with no realization that you are sapping your life

[22:55] of the power of the Holy Spirit because of your pride.

[23:00] The foundation of the Gospel in your life must drive you to a denial of self-sufficiency.

[23:07] It’s been said by many that prayer is the antithesis of self-reliance. [23:15] Because prayer is a moment where you actually put yourself into a posture [23:19] to admit that you cannot do it.

[23:25] That you are not strong. [23:28] That you were created to be dependent upon your Creator, [23:33] and that is what repentance in this life looks like.

[23:38] It’s constantly putting yourself into a posture of admitting that you need God.

[23:46] You need God far more than you think you do. [23:50] Every single one of us. [23:53] Secondly, this morning, the text leads us to understand that praying is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. [24:00] The Spirit helps us to pray. [24:03] This text actually gives us a glimpse as to why prayer is so hard. [24:08] Look at verse 26 again.

[24:10] Here’s what the Apostle Paul writes. [24:12] He says, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. [24:14] We don’t know what to pray for as we ought. [24:17] I mean, that should get like just as amen from you. [24:20] Because every one of us have gone to God in prayer, [24:23] and then less than 20 seconds later we were thinking about lunch.

[24:29] Yeah. [24:31] Less than 20 seconds later we’re thinking about something at work. [24:34] We’re thinking about something that we’re working on. [24:36] We’re thinking about just any random number of things. [24:39] And it’s just like, why does my mind keep trailing off? [24:42] I’m trying to pray about something very serious right now.

[24:46] Or you’ve got a great need in your life, and you go to God in prayer, [24:51] and you’re just stumped. [24:53] There’s even how to pray about it. [24:56] Well, I want to ask it the right way. [24:58] Well, I don’t want to seem selfish. [25:01] Well, I don’t want him to misunderstand me.

[25:03] And we treat God as if it’s the genie that gives us three wishes, [25:06] and we don’t want to get the first two wrong.

[25:12] God says, none of us know how to pray as we ought.

[25:19] And that should actually give us great hope, [25:21] because that’s a sign of weakness. [25:24] And the Spirit helps us in our weakness. [25:27] More than that, he gets more specific, and he actually says this. [25:31] He says, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

[25:40] So this word, intercedes, is used twice in this passage. [25:44] Verse 26, then again in verse 27. [25:47] And it explains how the Spirit helps us. [25:50] The term for help is a term that means the Spirit joins together with us in prayer, [25:57] and intercedes, explains the supernatural aspect of prayer. [26:05] It says that more is going on in prayer than you ever thought or ever imagined was actually going on in prayer.

[26:11] When you go before God, whether it’s before a meal, [26:14] whether it’s in the morning, whether it’s when you lay your head on a pillow at night, [26:18] whether it’s midday, whether it’s off in solitude in a lake, [26:22] or whether it’s in the insanity of your children running around the living room. [26:26] Every avenue and every environment of prayer is a supernatural moment [26:32] where the Holy Spirit Himself is interceding into and out of my life.

[26:39] For when I can’t even figure out how to pray, God is so strong and God is so powerful [26:44] that God actually says to the Apostle Paul, when you don’t know how to pray, [26:48] believe that the Holy Spirit does.

[26:52] And in those moments of weakness, the Holy Spirit’s already there, [26:56] He’s already working, and He’s already praying for things that you don’t even know are happening in your life right now.

[27:03] So every environment of prayer is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. [27:08] And that is how you are to come in the presence of God. [27:11] Sometimes the greatest weakness of our prayer is overthinking prayer, [27:14] thinking that we need to give 17 titles of God. [27:20] Oh, Father, Holy, Creator, Valiant, Warrior, Poet God, Father, Spirit, Son, [27:30] Es Númeno, Padre, Espírito Santo.

[27:35] We come before it, and by the time we’re done with the introductions, we forgot why we even came.

[27:42] So I know your name, but I have no idea why I came to talk to you.

[27:49] Why? Because we’ve been ingrained in us that don’t come before God in weakness. [27:55] So you may not be willing to say that, but that’s how you go.

[28:00] He’s already said, come before His presence and just say, Abba Father.

[28:06] Just come before Him like you belong, come before Him like He’s your dad, come before Him like He cares, [28:10] come before Him like He wants you there.

[28:14] I do not make my Son come before me and give me 17 titles before He actually tells me. [28:20] If He did, I would just be like, what?

[28:24] On with it, boy!

[28:29] We’ve all done it, don’t judge.

[28:35] God just says, come through my Son, come in the power of the Spirit, and come talk.

[28:41] And when you can’t figure out how to talk, trust that the Spirit that’s in you does. [28:46] There have been moments in the presence of God where I’ve said nothing, [28:49] and those have been some of the sweetest moments of my life, because the Spirit was doing all the work. [28:53] And I was in silence because I didn’t even know how to pray.

[29:00] Tim Keller writes this way about prayer, he says, all prayers are not alike or equally effective in relating to God. [29:07] The clearer our understanding of who God is, the better our prayers.

[29:14] You see, the reason it takes Paul eight chapters to get to prayer, I believe, [29:21] is because we need to know the God who we’re praying to first, the God who saves, [29:25] the God who redeems, the God who’s been sinned against and responds in great love, [29:30] the God who created all to give Him glory. [29:33] And then when everything in creation rebelled against His glory, [29:36] He’s a God that put forth a mission to save every creature in creation that would trust in Him.

[29:41] And that God is the one that we pray to.

[29:46] And when you grow in understanding, when you grow in your belief, [29:50] when you grow in your intimate involvement with that God, [29:53] you’re going to grow in knowledge about who He is. [29:56] See, some of the issues that some of you have with prayer is that you’re treating it as only experiential and not knowledge based at all.

[30:06] That’s the very same thing that ruins some marriages.

[30:11] It’s because you view it as nothing but an experience and no knowledge is required. [30:15] My wife would not think I loved her if I didn’t know facts about her.

[30:21] If all if my knowledge was limited to my knowledge of my wife, my very first date, 11 years later,

[30:31] then our relationship would be in the tank, man.

[30:37] Some of your struggles to pray, quite frankly, are rooted in a lack of knowledge of who God is. [30:44] Therefore, it’s very difficult to maintain a relationship when you don’t know one another very well. [30:48] Trust me, he knows you. [30:51] He’s giving you great avenues to grow in knowing him.

[30:56] And as you grow in knowing someone, I remember my first date, my wife was so nervous.

[31:04] I wasn’t. I was.

[31:08] But it’s just like you’re learning to ride a bicycle or something. [31:12] You really like this person and you want to impress them. [31:14] So you come with a lot of have truths that just make you look really good. [31:19] And you just you’re just trying to impress and you’re just trying to come up with something to say so that you don’t sound stupid. [31:26] So that when you ask them to go out again, they’ll say yes. [31:29] But let me fill you in. Over a decade later, I am past that.

[31:36] I’m past it. I go home as if I live there.

[31:43] You know, I eat dinner with her like it’s expected.

[31:51] Like I’m wanted.

[31:54] I belong.

[31:56] I talk to her as if someone that I know. [32:01] I know deeply on a level that I don’t know anyone else in this world. [32:05] That’s how I talk to my wife. [32:07] So she talks to me because the more I talk to her, the more I know. [32:10] The more we know about one another and the more time we spend together and more we learn about one another, the more intimate it gets. [32:18] And the more comfort that’s felt.

[32:24] You see, some of your struggle with God is really stemming from it’s almost as if you’re still in your first date with them. [32:29] You’re still trying to impress them.

[32:33] You’re still just coming with have truths. [32:35] The fact of the matter is, the more you grow in your knowledge of God, the more comfortable you will be in His presence. [32:42] Because when the Apostle Paul comes and he says the Spirit will pray for you with groanings, the same term that he used back when he said the creation itself groans in pain. [32:53] And so do you throughout this life. [32:55] He says that the Spirit is so intimately involved in your life that He has an empathy on an intimate level in every experience that you’re actually going through in life because He knows you. [33:06] Because the word dwell there means that He’s made His dwelling place or His home in your life.

[33:13] So He knows you. [33:14] So He prays for you. [33:15] So He cares for you. [33:16] So He empathizes with you. [33:18] So He groans in things that can’t even be expressed in words because of how much He loves for you, because of how much He cares for you. [33:24] How much He understands what’s exactly going on in your life.

[33:29] And God says, no me on that level. [33:31] Grow in your understanding. [33:33] Grow in your knowledge. [33:34] Keller continues and he says, prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through His word and His grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with Him.

[33:47] It will be so hard at first. [33:50] But eventually it will become a full encounter where you can’t imagine what your life was like without it. [33:56] If you trust. [33:58] See, in John chapter 16, Jesus explained that the Spirit’s power in our lives is better than if Jesus Himself had actually stayed here. [34:06] Here’s what He says in John 16, 7. [34:07] Jesus says, Nevertheless, I’ll tell you the truth.

[34:09] It is to your advantage that I go away. [34:12] For I do not, if I do not go away, the helper, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. [34:16] But if I go, I will send Him to you. [34:18] And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. [34:22] And He continues down in verse 12, where He says, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. [34:29] When the Spirit of truth comes, though, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority.

[34:35] But whatever He hears, He will speak and He will declare to you the things that are to come. [34:41] He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. [34:45] All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you. [34:51] So what He says is that as you experience the Spirit, He will declare the truths of Christ that are found in His Word to you. [34:59] And you will grow in your knowledge of God. You will grow in your relationship with God. [35:03] You will grow in your understanding of God.

[35:05] And that is how prayer is formed.

[35:11] So your prayer life needs a foundation, and the foundation is the relationship with God that is given to you through the Holy Spirit.

[35:19] And as you grow in knowledge, you grow in intimacy, you grow in relationship, the Spirit guides us into a life of and for the Gospel. [35:28] And He uses the Word of Christ and Scripture to teach us what that actually looks like.

[35:35] There are moments where you feel disconnected with God, and those are usually the hard moments of life where pain happens. [35:44] The Apostle Paul comes before you and he says pain is when the Spirit is actually the most active. [35:50] Because God knows our pain. God is not far off in our pain. He is experiencing it with us and in us. [35:59] The text means that in every moment of pain and struggle and doubt, the follower of Jesus can actually trust that God is with you in it. [36:08] The Holy Spirit prays for us in the midst of our pain, and He gives us grace when we don’t know how to pray.

[36:16] God wants you to come before Him even when you can’t find words.

[36:21] God simply wants you to rest in His presence. As you grow in your knowledge of God, you will grow in understanding how to relate to God. [36:31] But what you learn from this is that God doesn’t want you to wait until then. [36:38] God wants you to come now. [36:40] God wants you to come with whatever you know of yourself and however much you know of Him and experience Him at that level now. [36:50] That is how you are to live.

[36:54] There are times of prayer where you need to understand that all that you’re doing is talking to God. [37:01] And make it that simple.

[37:04] What I mean by that is don’t just come with requests.

[37:08] That’s what you really pray about. [37:12] God give, God can I, God will you, God do.

[37:18] If that’s all I ever had from a friend, I would think that our friendship was based on really something bad.

[37:25] You see, God doesn’t just want the requests. God wants you to talk to Him about them. [37:31] God wants you to explain them to Him. [37:35] And in that, God will begin to change what you are praying about to be conformed to the life of Christ. [37:41] Friends, there are many times in my life when I have been praying for something and God changes my desires in the middle of my prayer. [37:48] Because I actually talked to Him about it.

[37:53] And the power of His Holy Spirit, He convinced me that that was bad. [37:57] That was something that I didn’t actually want. That was something that I didn’t actually need. [38:02] Friends, that’s grace.

[38:06] God is after your heart. God is after your affections for Him. [38:11] The text tells us that He searches the heart. And this text is often misunderstood in verse 27. [38:17] It is not simply a text telling you that God knows what you are actually thinking. It is saying that, but it’s saying far more. [38:24] There is also a promise to cling to about your faith. [38:27] What He tells us here is that it is the Spirit who searches the heart and it is also the Spirit who is in the heart of the follower of Christ. [38:36] So how can you be sure that your prayers will be effective?

[38:40] If the Spirit is in you and leading you, then the same Spirit that is giving you grace and leading you in the mission of Jesus can be trusted to be in perfect accord with the will of God.

[38:53] The activity of prayer can be trusted to take you in the direction that God desires for your life. [38:59] Because if the same Spirit that is in your life is a Spirit that is part of the Trinity, then He knows the will of God.

[39:09] And so your prayers then will be effective. [39:13] The Spirit that guides you is the Spirit that teaches you to pray. [39:18] And when you struggle, prays for you with full knowledge of what you are going through and how you feel. [39:24] You can trust that your prayer will be effective if the Holy Spirit is in your life.

[39:31] But thirdly, that’s not the limit. [39:34] So praying is also submission to the God you trust.

[39:41] Too often some of us treat prayer the way that we would treat a subject that was below us, an authority. [39:55] We command, we say, this has to happen. [39:59] We say that I have the victory. [40:02] We say that I have this or I have that thing. [40:05] Friends, that is a sinful way to pray.

[40:09] There is no submission in that. [40:12] Note how he finishes verse 27.

[40:15] Romans chapter 8 verse 27 he says, [40:17] He who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

[40:29] When you pray, you should pray if it be thy will. [40:35] Just like Jesus did.

[40:38] This is not a sign of a lack of faith. [40:42] That is not a sign of weak faith. [40:44] That is actually an expression of full faith. [40:47] Because it expresses that you know that your point of view is limited.

[40:54] And if you want in that moment something that God does not intend for you to have, [41:00] then what you want submits to what God will do. [41:06] To pray any other way elevates your will above God’s will. [41:11] That is idolatry and that is not faith.

[41:15] Therefore, we must pray in accordance with God’s will. [41:20] How can we know what God’s will is? [41:21] Well, in Romans 8.5, the apostle Paul wrote by way of reminder, he says, [41:25] For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, [41:28] but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

[41:34] See, prayer is about submitting your life and your will to the power of God, [41:40] for the will of God, to the glory of God.

[41:44] Is that how you mean it when you pray? [41:47] Is that how you wield your prayers?

[41:50] If you are, then it will change your life. [41:56] See, prayer is to build our trust in God, [42:00] not to build our trust in our will over his will. [42:06] You see, when we have the right point of view, [42:09] we will understand that just as a child who desires for his parents to move in some way for them,

[42:18] I mean, the child will come in humility, will he not? [42:21] The child will come in the spirit of Abba Father. [42:24] The child will come in submission to the decision and the matter of his parents. [42:29] That is ruthless trust.

[42:34] Why? [42:35] Are there times where children ask their parents to do things for them or give them things that would actually lead in their death?

[42:45] Yeah.

[42:47] Would it lead to hardship for them? [42:49] Yeah. [42:49] Would it lead to them doing something unwise? Yeah. [42:52] And if you say yeah to any request that your child has, the life expectancy goes so down.

[43:00] I had a friend when I was younger, down the street from me, [43:03] and he was just determined that jumping off of the roof would help his life so much. [43:09] I mean, he was not suicidal, that’s not what I’m saying. [43:11] He really thought, man, I am going to just, this is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, [43:15] because this is going to be some action hero or something. [43:19] He went to his parents, please let me jump off the roof.

[43:22] You cannot jump off the roof. [43:26] No. [43:27] Would anybody look at his parents and be like, why don’t you love your son?

[43:32] Give him anything he wants. [43:35] No. [43:36] His parents did love him, so they said no. [43:39] And when he did it, [43:42] in complete disobedience, he broke his leg.

[43:48] You see, friends, his parents were trying to prevent him from harming himself, [43:51] and quite often our God is preventing us from harming ourselves.

[43:57] What would the ultimate harm be? [43:58] The ultimate harm would be that if God did not get the ultimate glory for everything.

[44:04] You see, God’s glory is always loving for us, even if it means that we’re going through very hard times.

[44:11] Even if it means that the healing doesn’t come.

[44:17] Even if it means that the check never shows up magically in your mailbox.

[44:23] Even if it means you don’t get this job or that job. [44:25] Even if it means you don’t get that spouse that you’re praying for right now.

[44:33] Because usually it’s because God has something better for us

[44:38] to experience in this life. [44:41] But there are also times when God has an even greater glory on the other side that we don’t know about.

[44:49] But God promises us in verse 25.

[44:54] He says, if you wait in my kingdom, [45:00] even those things that you wanted in this side you didn’t get,

[45:06] you’ll see why.

[45:10] And you will see the glory.

[45:15] Prayer, friends, is something that is full of grace [45:21] and should be full of trust because of the Gospel.

[45:27] You see, trusting implies that the one trusted has a greater understanding of how to handle things. [45:34] How can we trust God?

[45:38] Ultimately, the only sufficient answer to that is found in the good news of Jesus Christ.

[45:43] You see, whatever you’re going through in this life, it can’t be that God doesn’t love you and it can’t be that God doesn’t care. [45:50] It can’t be either of those things. [45:52] The text reveals that. [45:54] He cares deeply and he feels all of our pain. [45:57] And we can believe that because Jesus lowered himself into the deepest depths of human suffering on our behalf [46:04] and overcame it all to rise to glorification,

[46:10] that God can be trusted with everything that comes into and everything that goes out of our lives, [46:15] even if it’s something that’s unexpected.

[46:19] When you pray, [46:22] pray to the Father you trust.

[46:28] Not to the false gods that you really want.

[46:36] As we close this morning and as the musician comes forward, [46:39] I want you to understand that in God’s great promise to trust him,

[46:49] he gives us this picture of the cross. [46:52] And I think it was a sovereign act that Jesus died on the cross. [46:57] I believe that’s the ultimate picture [47:00] of what it means to suffer in this life and what it means to be the sacrifice for all sin for all time. [47:07] There was no more painful death. There was no more worse way to die in this world. [47:13] The term excruciating actually means pain of the cross.

[47:19] This morning, the way that I want you to understand prayer is really marked by the Lord’s Supper Communion. [47:27] Something that we reflect on every single week.

[47:31] The broken body and the shed blood of Jesus are represented by broken bread in the cup.

[47:39] And in that, God is giving you a promise. [47:42] That promise is that no matter what you’re enduring in this life, God understands your pain.

[47:48] No matter what you’re going through in this life,

[47:52] God’s there with you. [47:53] And when you eat and when you drink, what you testify to is the fact that in all of those moments of life, [48:02] God is in you. [48:04] God is with you. [48:06] And he will continue to walk with you until the day he redeems you out of it. [48:12] And ultimately the day that he redeems us all out of this broken world and delivers us into his kingdom.

[48:19] If you believe that, if you trust that, [48:22] God invites you to his table and he says, come, eat, drink, be filled. [48:28] When you’re ready, come. [48:30] Alright, well a lot of questions came in during the sermon. I thank you for those.

[48:36] Every week, I neglected to say this at the beginning, but every week we’re going to be doing Q&A, immediately following the service. [48:41] Hopefully they showed you on the screen behind me. I have no idea whatever goes on behind me. [48:46] But hopefully they have the number up there throughout the service. [48:49] And so I just want to go ahead and jump into it. If I don’t get to your question, I apologize, but we are limited on time. [48:57] So if I don’t get to your question and you really want to talk to me about it, I would love to answer it. [49:02] Shoot me an email. I don’t know where these came from.

[49:05] And I even set up an appointment to meet with you and discuss this with you. [49:08] But the first question we’re going to deal with is, how do I know what I am praying for is what God wants for me? [49:15] And so this is really a question about God’s will for your life. [49:20] And really, is God’s will this little dot that you’re looking for and if you miss it or go by it, make a wrong decision, turn left where you should have turned right, you’ll miss it. [49:31] And I don’t believe God’s will is to be seen in that way. [49:35] The book of Psalms tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our heart.

[49:41] And so that’s not a text that means that if you come to church, he’s going to give you that boat. [49:49] What that text really means is that when God is the God of who you are, what you want and what you long for and your affections are for him, your desires are for him. [50:01] What he’s going to do is he’s actually going to change the desires of your heart to reflect his desires. [50:08] And so there are a few ways practically here to where if you’re praying for something and it doesn’t happen, OK, then God doesn’t want you to have it. [50:19] Sometimes it’s that simple. [50:21] I’ve been praying for checks to show up in my mailbox.

[50:24] God doesn’t want me to have them because they’re not showing up. [50:28] All right. But also understand that there are also times where we’re praying for something before God. [50:35] It seems to happen and then it becomes a nightmare. [50:39] And so then you say, oh, well, clearly I’ve gotten outside of the will of God. [50:42] Well, do not necessarily look to what God’s trying to do in your life by the circumstances alone. [50:49] But instead, look at how God wants you to deal with the circumstances.

[50:52] Because they clearly says that God creates calamity. [50:56] So God will bring unpleasant situations into your life to grow you as his follower. [51:02] Remember that everything that comes in your life and everything that goes out of your life serves the purpose to bring glory to God with how you grow in trusting him, obeying him and following Jesus Christ. [51:13] So the Bible is clear enough for us about what is the will of God for your life for you to spend all of your time focusing on those things. [51:23] And then the other things that you do in your life will be his will one way or the other. [51:27] John MacArthur put it this way.

[51:30] He said, I have memory serves me correctly. [51:32] He says that the will of God is found in obeying all that God has given us in scripture and then doing whatever you want to outside of that.

[51:42] Because God has been clear about what we are to do. [51:46] And as you grow, you will see your prayers begin to reflect that because God will change the core of what you’re after in life.

[51:55] If we pray for healing and it doesn’t come, does that reveal weak faith? [52:00] I don’t believe so. [52:02] I don’t believe so. [52:04] I believe that I have prayed for people. [52:07] I’ve actually seen it. [52:09] And I’ve used those prayers to bring physical healing into their lives.

[52:15] But there have also been times even in the life of village church where I have prayed for someone who was diagnosed terminally ill and God has chosen to take them home. [52:26] Did not reveal weak faith. [52:27] What it revealed was that God’s desire was not to heal him in this life. [52:32] God’s desire was to heal him in his kingdom. [52:34] And so whenever God withholds healing, when we’re feverishly seeking him for it, just like in all things, we are to look at it and say, God, how are you seeking to grow my faith through these specific circumstances? [52:50] Because you can face sickness with weak faith.

[52:54] And that’s why God wants you to endure the sickness. [52:57] To grow your faith. [52:59] Not to hinder your faith. [53:00] Sometimes God will heal to grow our faith. [53:03] But sometimes God will take us through very hard and seemingly dark circumstances to grow our patience and grow our longing for his kingdom. [53:13] The book of Revelation ends with Maranatha, even now, come Lord Jesus.

[53:19] It’s because John, in getting this great revelation, many parts which he didn’t even understand himself, God developed this longing for his kingdom. [53:28] And so John’s response, his conclusion was, even now, come Lord Jesus. [53:33] That’s the way you’re to look at this life. [53:35] That’s the way you’re to look at everything that goes through this life with an open hand. [53:39] Saying, God, even now, come Lord Jesus.

[53:44] What do you say to a Christian who has terminal cancer and claims God’s promise of healing?

[53:55] I’d say this is a difficult situation to go through. [53:58] I’ve been through that situation and what I would say is, is do it lovingly and do it kindly.

[54:05] But also understand that God’s promise of healing is not limited to this world.

[54:15] Isaiah chapter 53 is a text that many who will claim this as a promise. [54:22] A go-to. The text says, by his wounds we are healed.

[54:28] That verse in the Hebrew is not speaking about physical healing, but rather it’s speaking about our iniquity against God. [54:37] And the fact that through God’s crucifixion, through Jesus dying on the cross for us, the wounds that he took on his body heals our wounds of sin against God.

[54:50] The truth though is that you are to pray for healing. [54:54] God wants us to. God calls us to. God commands us to. [54:59] But the problem with claiming a promise as if it’s already happened is, is that we’re to pray, as I said today at the end of Romans 8.27, that the Spirit knows the will of God. [55:11] He knows how it’s all going to end. I don’t know how it’s all going to end for me and I don’t know how it’s all going to end for you. [55:17] And so for me to claim such a promise would be to place myself at a God-like level. [55:23] And I can’t do that. Because I’m not God.

[55:27] God has not, and I want to say this in just all honesty, God has not promised to heal every illness in your earthly life. [55:38] He’s not. And he’s a better God because of it. [55:43] You want to know why? [55:43] Because he has a beautiful kingdom waiting for us. [55:49] And as Wayne Grudem puts it, the last step of sanctification in this life, last step of growing as a child of God, is death.

[56:01] Because Jesus died.

[56:04] The last step before you’re glorified is that you suffer as Jesus suffered to the point of death. [56:11] Friends, everybody wants to be resurrected, but nobody wants to die.

[56:22] If prayer is about worship and submitting to God’s will, is it wrong to ask God to make parts of my life better? [56:32] No, I believe his name is Paul Miller. He writes this great book called A Praying Life. [56:37] I do recommend it. And he was speaking about, I believe it was his mother. [56:42] And she’s driving around in a city looking for a place to parallel park. [56:46] And she starts audibly praying for a parking spot. [56:50] And Paul, speaking from his perspective, he said, he looked and he says, Mom, do you think God really cares whether you find a parking spot?

[57:00] And she looks at him and says, I don’t really understand your question. [57:03] He’s like, Mom, do you really think you’re going to find a parking spot because you’re praying? [57:07] And her response was, well, I don’t know how else I would find a parking spot.

[57:16] You see, friends, oftentimes like our children come and ask us for outlandish things and we don’t rebuke them for the question. [57:24] So also we should go to God in prayer. [57:28] Ask him for everything you could ever want. [57:33] Ask him for every need that comes into your life. [57:38] I’m talking down to just I hope my paycheck shows up on time. [57:42] Pray for that. Because he cares for you.

[57:47] But also do it understanding that you’re a child speaking to the father. [57:52] And if the father doesn’t give you what you want, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you. [57:58] It actually means he does love you. [58:01] So you should always ask for something that you think is going to make your life better. [58:05] Emphasis on the word think. [58:08] God will give you what he knows will make your life better.

[58:14] Why would God want you to explain your wants or needs if he already knows? [58:20] Uh.

[58:24] Number one, because he says so. [58:27] And I don’t say that in just just silliness. [58:31] Of course, there is a little silliness to it, but not just silliness. [58:34] There’s something that we need to understand about life in this world, and that is that term that I ended the sermon on submission.

[58:42] Because sometimes we treat God as though we will obey him as long as it makes sense. [58:47] But if something about his sovereignty and his infinite nature doesn’t make sense to us, well, then I’m not going to do it. [58:55] That’s silly, because you’re not ever going to understand his infinite nature in this life. [58:59] Why? Because you’re limited and you’re finite, and he’s unlimited. [59:02] He says in the book of Isaiah, my thoughts are not your thoughts. [59:05] In other words, I’m smarter than you. That’s what God means there.

[59:09] All right. And so sometimes what faith demands is you do things because God says so. [59:15] All right. But then secondly, because that’s the way relationships work. [59:21] I can just tell you from my experience as a dad, I know what my son needs, but it feels really cool when he asks me for it. [59:28] It just it just it just says something about our relationship that he believes that I would provide for him. [59:34] And so a lot of it’s just about growing in your relationship with God, and that’s what God wants you to experience. [59:39] It’s for your benefit.

[59:43] If the Holy Spirit prays for us, then why do we need to pray?

[59:49] I revert back to my last answer. [59:52] That’s that’s the main reason. [59:54] But also understand that something supernatural is happening and you are able to take a part of it when you pray. [60:01] Think about the astounding grace of that. [60:05] That God doesn’t keep that from us. [60:07] You see, the Holy Spirit making our prayers effective is not just a matter of the prayer.

[60:10] It’s not just a matter of the prayer itself, which is what verse twenty seven is really telling us. [60:13] The Holy Spirit makes our prayers effective. [60:15] So that’s to give us comfort. [60:17] That’s to give us trust. [60:19] But the other side of it is, is that God wants us to come and be involved. [60:24] And that’s grace.

[60:26] That means God doesn’t want to keep a joy from me. [60:29] And God wants me to actually take part in how he’s going to make his will happen.

[60:41] Time is fleeting, so this will be the last one. [60:44] Should we only pray to God the Father or is it OK to pray to the Holy Spirit or Jesus sometimes? [60:50] The scripture tells us to come before the Father. [60:55] It says that in Romans, the book of Matthew, when Jesus says pray like this, you know, I pray the Father. [61:03] OK, the way that you need to understand prayer is, is that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are interceding for us. [61:10] Jesus so that we can be accepted in the presence of God and the Holy Spirit so that we could have the power.

[61:16] Understand that in prayer, there’s a huge amount of grace. [61:22] And there are moments where I thank Jesus for dying on the cross for me. [61:25] There are moments where I say, Holy Spirit, please fill me in this moment. [61:28] Give me discernment. [61:30] And what I think happens there is, is that as you grow in understanding the different functions within the Trinity, you can relate to the Trinity at more levels. [61:39] And so the normal thing to come before is the Father, because the Spirit and the Son submit to the Father.

[61:45] So should I. [61:47] But then also understand that the Spirit and the Son, they’re not some disconnected beings that are like, well, don’t talk to me.

[61:54] No, we have a Trinitarian God who lives in perfect unity with one another, and you can speak to each person in the Trinity. [62:02] I love you guys. Let me pray for you and let’s go. [62:05] Our Father, we come before you thankful.

[62:09] Lord, our time is so limited and we barely even broke a piece of ice off the iceberg of prayer. [62:16] It’s my hope that you will sovereignly lead every single person in Village Church and beyond. [62:22] Take us to live your mission and to reach this community and beyond with the good news that Jesus saves sinners. [62:30] In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. [62:33] Thank you. Have a great day. [62:35] Amen.