Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy.
[00:00:56] Good morning.
[00:00:59] How are we doing this morning?
[00:01:01] Good. Awesome. Hey, how we feeling? How we feeling? How. What's the grief level right now with. Yeah. Panthers losing? What's. How are we feeling?
[00:01:11] Huh?
[00:01:13] Keep. Keep out. Pounding. Did you say keep pounding? I don't know. I think it's done, man. I think it's. It's over.
[00:01:19] We can keep praying because we're doing a whole series on prayer, but apparently you guys don't pray well enough, so.
[00:01:27] No, the whole city. That's the problem.
[00:01:30] Maybe it's talent. Maybe it's just. Whatever it is, it's all good. It's all good. But, hey, glad you guys are here. You're joining us online. We are in a series about prayer, and it's interesting because everybody's got a relationship to prayer, right? Some of us, we're like, you know what?
[00:01:44] I just don't do it. I just don't do it. I don't do it in public. It's at home. I don't do it. Or when I get called on to pray, I try to avoid it or whatever. And there's somebody in your family, I'm sure, right? There's somebody in your family that always gets called on to pray. Anybody? Are you that person? Anybody in the uk? Yeah, I am, because I get paid to pray. You know what I'm saying?
[00:02:08] Literally this holiday season, someone's like, hey, they're waiting for me. They were waiting for the food. I was like, let's eat. And they're like, why don't you come pray? I'm like, it's not even my house. It's not my house. You know, it's all blessed. Go, go. Someone Else do this. Okay? Just. Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for this food. We can do this. Okay. But it's interesting, right? Prayer is so not interesting. Here's why. Here's why. Cause let me just be honest with this. Let's be real. Prayer seems like you're gambling, like, rolling the dice, right? I hope I'm lucky.
[00:02:40] If I were to ask you, how lucky are you in prayer? Some of you who grew up, you know, religious, you're like, I'm not lucky, buddy. I'm blessed, I'm favored. Others of us were like, we are super unlucky. Super unlucky. Like, I'm. I feel like I'm not lucky in prayer requests. I'm lucky in parking spots. I really am. I really am. I'm convinced that I can always find a parking spot right up. Like, if, like, you ask my wife, I ride up to wherever we're going, right up there, and. And I just believe she's like, you always think there's gonna be a spot for you. And I'm like, I'm mostly right.
[00:03:13] There is a spot for me because Jesus loves me more.
[00:03:17] That's what it is.
[00:03:19] But, yeah, how do we get better in prayer? Because we've got some stuff, right? We all have some stuff. Like, we've got some stuff that's painful, that's complicated. We've got people who are not doing that well. We've got maybe even a relationship. You're like, ah, this is good. But that. That one is not really that great. And there's things we're all praying about some things. And you look around the world, you look around your world or the world, you're like, my goodness, how do I pray for even this? You know? And sometimes when people say, hey, pray for, you know, whatever country, or pray for this, need, or pray for this, you're like, ah, that's just a post. You know what I'm saying? Pray for this, pray for that. I don't know if we're actually making a difference. And the reason is because it seems like it doesn't either work, as in you don't get the answer. But is there more to prayer? And I believe there is. So when we kicked off the series, we talked about how Jesus really redefined what prayer was because he was talking to a Jewish people. Jewish people who grew up in the Torah grew up with a lot of religion, and so they grew up with, like, going to temple. And this is how the prayers were. They read the prayers and all that. And they had a history and the History was in the Old Testament, it was bad. And then there was good because Moses let them out of Egypt. And then they were no longer slaves and God was doing some amazing things and all that. And then fast forward, fast forward, fast forward, they get kings. And then after the kings, the kings went south. And then there's a time like 300 years of like, nothing. And then Jesus, hello, Christmas, he pops up.
[00:04:55] So that's how it happens. And then he starts talking to them about praying to God. And I just want you to know those are people who are like, you know what? We kind of did our thing and God has stopped talking to us. God is not talking to us because he hasn't talked to us for generations. It seems like before they were prophets and now I'm not quite sure. So I just want you to know their prayer life was like, you know, super lacking.
[00:05:17] And they were maybe, maybe that, maybe you can relate to them. Maybe life was good at the time, some time ago. But now I'm like, I don't know, I don't know. We're not sure.
[00:05:27] And the great thing about it is Jesus, when he shows up and he starts teaching about prayer, he reclaims what prayer is about. And so last week we talked about how Jesus told stories. He told stories about prayer. Not just points, he told stories. And the story that he told last week was about this, about how we need to shift our mind from praying to Yahweh, to Abba. Like for the Jewish mind. It was mind blowing. Cause all of a sudden now you're thinking that God is like a parental figure, a person who provides. He's your father. He's not the father of creation, but he is your father, which was so personal. And what we find is Jesus continues to redefine what prayer is and in fact, help us with our prayer life. And so I wanna read you last week what I kind of ended with the big idea. And the big idea was that Jesus told a story about this guy who needed something from his friend and he tried to wake him up in the middle of the night. And the guy did not want to get up, did not want to get up. And finally he did. And so here's what we read, right? The first verse here, he says, I tell you this, though, he would not do it for friendship's sake. If you keep on knocking long enough, right? The friend will do what? He'll what?
[00:06:45] He'll what?
[00:06:46] He'll what?
[00:06:48] Okay, I can't hear you. He what?
[00:06:50] Get up. He'll get up and give you What?
[00:06:53] Whatever you need because of your, what, Shameless persistence. Not because you're an awesome guy and he's your bestie. No, it's because you're being persistent. So Jesus wants to move us from our awkward insecurities about prayer.
[00:07:07] Right?
[00:07:09] Awkward insecurities about prayer. To what? To shameless. What?
[00:07:14] Persistence in prayer. Which is, again, it's a mind shift for so many of us. We're like, I have never thought about this, but God wants us to move out of shame, out of, like, focus on, okay, we're not good enough, and we're not. Whatever, whatever. To a persistence in prayer. And so this morning, I'm gonna move us, because when he ends that whole story, he ends with this passage here, let's put the next verse up here for you, okay?
[00:07:38] And he says, so I tell you, keep on what asking, and you will receive what you ask for. And then he says, keep on what?
[00:07:49] Seeking, which we're going to talk about today. Keep on seeking and you will do what?
[00:07:54] You'll find. You'll find. Okay, what does that look like? And then he says, keep on what knocking, and the door will be open to you. And that's next week. But this idea of seeking, how do we seek? How do we seek to find? Because we all were looking for answers. We don't want to seek God in prayer, honestly. We just want him to do what we ask him to do. Anything else? You're like, just make this happen, and I promise I'll do this. Let's make a deal. If you do this and I'll do that. Let's do that. But seek. He says, I want you to seek.
[00:08:25] What's interesting about seeking is I feel like I've lost the heart. I'm losing the art of seeking and searching out, like, right? Like, I've got Siri on my phone and I have Alexa at home. You know what I'm saying? I'll tell you what. I'm breaking up with Siri, though. Let me tell you why. She was great. She was awesome. It was great while it lasted. But here's the problem.
[00:08:47] The problem is when I ask Siri about stuff, you know, anything she'll respond to. This is what I found on the Internet.
[00:08:56] When I ask Alexa, which is now actually a pre programming, it's not Alexa, it's Ziggy. It's a cool dude.
[00:09:04] And he tells me what to do. He doesn't go, this is what I found. Read it for yourself. He goes, let me just tell you what it is.
[00:09:11] Tell me exactly how to cook salmon. He'll be like, okay, okay, okay, you ready for this? And he'd break it down for me.
[00:09:17] So I'm like, I don't wanna do this. Why? Because I've lost the motivation or the talent. Maybe I'm losing it. Of searching and seeking out, I think we have. Because we live in a world that just tells us, hey, this is what we want. We have huge search engines now that the searching is gone, we just want the answers, right? We don't want the math problem to show me how it's done. We just want the answer. And so in prayer, I think it's the same with Jesus. He kind of goes into the margins. He's kind of going to, let me tell you what's going on here. Let me, let me show you what's happening. And so this story that we're gonna get into is it basically talks to us about this idea of, hey, are we really searching?
[00:10:00] Are we committed to searching?
[00:10:03] Yeah. When it comes to our prayer life. So he jumps into the story. Let's jump in. If you got your Bibles, if you got your app, you can follow along as well. He'll put it on the screen. So it starts off and Jesus, Luke writes this and he says, hey, this is a story that Jesus used to illustrate something. He says, this is a story he used to illustrate to his disciples. Okay, to whom? To illustrate with his. Who?
[00:10:26] His disciples. To show them that they need to pray. What, all the time and do what?
[00:10:34] Never give up. I just want you to know that right now he's talking to those kinds of people. He's talking to disciples. Not everybody else, not the crowd. He's talking to disciples. And then he's telling them something. He's talking to them about the idea of them stopping.
[00:10:48] Stopping, praying about things.
[00:10:52] See, for some of us, we just need to know that right here God's gonna talk to us, the story is gonna talk to us about the things you have stopped praying about the things that just. You used to, but you just stopped.
[00:11:05] Why? Because he got discouraged. I get it. I mean, there are things in my life, I'm like, ah, I probably should start praying about that.
[00:11:13] I don't want to. Why? Because it's just nothing. What?
[00:11:17] Nothing happens. Nothing happens. You're like, ah, so the story that Jesus is going to tell, it's a made up story, by the way, but he's making up a fictional story to tell us about a true fact about who God is. He starts off and he says here, he says, in a city There was a what? There was a judge. It's like, okay, let's play along. Who didn't fear God or respect people.
[00:11:41] So what was his. What was his character? He did not. What? He didn't fear God, nor he what?
[00:11:46] Respected people. Which is interesting, because in this Jesus as a storyteller, he's making up stories. He's like, all right, this is what happened. All right? This is what the guy's about. All right, cool. It says in that city, though, there was also a widow. He throws in a widow. Okay? Now the new character in the story is a widow. Why widow, though? Okay, okay. So who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice.
[00:12:09] Give me justice.
[00:12:11] And then it says. It says for a while, the judge refused to do anything.
[00:12:17] Okay? But then.
[00:12:19] But then one day, he thought, this widow really annoys me.
[00:12:27] Could you imagine Jesus telling that story? And, guys, this is what he thought. He was like, this woman's driving me crazy.
[00:12:34] And he's like, can you guys relate? He's like, there's no women here. Oh, yeah, yeah, man.
[00:12:41] Yes, yes. Because he was just talking to his disciples. He's like, yeah, yeah. Oh, gosh. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then tell us what happened. Then he says, well, then. Then.
[00:12:53] Then he. Then the.
[00:12:54] Then the. The judge was thinking to himself. He's like, although, I don't. What.
[00:12:59] I don't fear God or respect people. Which is really interesting. I don't care for God and I really don't care for people. Okay?
[00:13:07] I just have to give her justice. I wanna do this. Otherwise, she's gonna keep what coming to me until she, what?
[00:13:16] Wears me out. I'm gonna. Oh, my gosh.
[00:13:19] Jesus telling the story. And this is about prayer.
[00:13:23] It's about prayer.
[00:13:25] And then they're all like, okay, what are you doing here? What are you doing? Let me just tell you. This sounds like, comical and it sounds like a little lighthearted, but this story that he just is telling is cutting to the core.
[00:13:39] In fact, when I break this down, it might even offend you guys, because it was offending them.
[00:13:46] Here's why. Because this is a Middle Eastern disciples audience. This is not us, in a sense, not living in this world. So then he says, then the Lord. Then God says, and Luke is saying, jesus said this. He says, pay attention to what the dishonest judge thought. Like, hey, you remember what I said about the story? That what he was thinking.
[00:14:13] Remember that? Remember that? And they're like, oh, no. Okay, okay, okay.
[00:14:18] And then he says, hey, Won't God give his chosen people, you guys, justice? When they cry out to him for help day and night, is he slow to help them?
[00:14:29] And he says. Then he says, I guarantee you that he will give them justice quickly.
[00:14:38] And then he stops for a second.
[00:14:40] I mean, Luke's next sentence is that. But he stops for a second, and then he says, and it gets serious. Because every time Jesus goes, and the Son of Man, you know, it's serious now. It's third person talking. You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:55] He says, and when the Son of Man comes, here's the big question. He says, but when the Son of Man comes, will he find what faith on earth?
[00:15:05] Okay, what is he saying? Here's what he's saying. He's saying, You're not the widow in this story.
[00:15:18] In fact, widows have it so much harder than you. The fact that you're my disciples and you have the ability and the time to spend time with me just means that you have a certain amount of privilege.
[00:15:30] You're not a widow.
[00:15:32] You're not a widow.
[00:15:35] I know that your struggles are real. I know they're real, and they're true, and they need to be met and all that. But I just want you to know, there are widows out there.
[00:15:45] You're not a widow.
[00:15:47] They wouldn't be in this crowd because they got to work.
[00:15:50] Like, my sister is a widow. She's raising two girls. She's busy all the time. She doesn't have time for certain things. She doesn't have the privilege for that. We're all privileged in different ways. And I'm not putting any shade on privilege, because every one of us is privileged in certain ways. But he's saying, hey, just want you to know, you're not a widow. You're not a widow. You don't live the life that she does.
[00:16:15] See, this is cutting to the core of them, because they're. Because of where he ends, he ends. Remember where he ended with it. He said, here's the big question. When I come back, I wonder if I will find any faith.
[00:16:26] Cause he's about to.
[00:16:27] He's getting serious on this. He says, just so you know, just so you know, I know it's valid, your stuff you're going through. I just. You're not a widow. Like, it's like, for example, like, you know, I grew up in the Middle east, right? And I grew up with different lifestyle, different family, you know, different culture. My kids have no idea the kind of life they're living, okay? My kids are super privileged. They have no idea. They don't know the kind of. Like, they don't understand how amazing Ashley and I are as parents. They have no idea.
[00:17:01] No idea.
[00:17:03] For example. For example, okay, I asked the first service. I got a good response. Let's see what happens here. Okay. How many of you, you grew up and you got beat?
[00:17:11] You got a beating?
[00:17:12] Yes. Yes. See, you understand, for those of you who didn't, you don't want to get it.
[00:17:18] It's a jungle out there.
[00:17:20] You have no idea. I mean, I have people come up and say, oh, are you saying you need to beat kids? I'm not saying you need to beat kids. I'm not saying, hey, you should beat your kid. I'm not saying. But I'm just saying.
[00:17:32] I'm just saying some of us grew up.
[00:17:36] My mom. Oh, my gosh. When Ashley and I were dating, I was like, 19, 20, whatever. She slapped me in the face in front of her.
[00:17:46] And Ashley was like. She was like, I'm gonna call Child Protective Services.
[00:17:51] I was like, hey, it's all good. She's like, it's all good.
[00:17:54] I'm like, that's just how we roll. If she doesn't like what I said, I'm gonna get a slap in the face.
[00:18:00] I just am. I just am.
[00:18:03] My point is.
[00:18:04] You have no idea. You have no idea.
[00:18:08] See, I get to. Let me just tell you. I get to, like, I don't live in Pakistan, so I get to look at what's happening in Pakistan, or I get to look at what's happening in Iran, or I get to look at other countries in the world and talk about. And discuss their politics. That's a place of privilege. Other people are just trying to survive it.
[00:18:28] They're just trying to live through it. And so what I'm saying is not that my needs are not important. I'm just saying I'm not a widow.
[00:18:37] And maybe you actually are a widow and you were listening or watching and you're here. I get that.
[00:18:44] Yeah. But he's just saying.
[00:18:46] Just want you to know you're approaching prayer from a position of a little bit of privilege.
[00:18:55] Just saying.
[00:18:56] Okay. Then he goes on, and then he says. He talks about this cruel judge who. What? Who didn't fear God or what, respect people.
[00:19:06] And he says, okay, so is the point of the story, you're the widow. Okay. We don't. But not necessarily. Okay. Is God the cruel judge?
[00:19:18] No, no.
[00:19:21] The cruel judge is the character that we give to God when our prayers are not answered.
[00:19:32] He said that's what you think God is.
[00:19:36] The point of the story is not just pray more, annoy the junk out of God.
[00:19:43] He doesn't like you. He finds you low key, annoying.
[00:19:48] But he'll just do it because he wants to stop you talking and praying because you're wearing God out with all this crying because he doesn't respect you and he doesn't care.
[00:20:06] He said, this is not the point of the story. The point of the story is that you, some of you have lost faith and have stopped praying because you have put this character on God.
[00:20:20] So I wonder, when the Son of Man returns, will he ever find faith?
[00:20:25] Or will he find people who have been so just offended by God because the prayers that they prayed didn't get answered and they stopped praying, will he find any faith?
[00:20:39] Oh, all of a sudden this story got serious. They're like, uh, tell us the story about the other guy.
[00:20:48] Like, you know, the Daddy and the Father? No, the prodigal son. I love that one. Tell us that one.
[00:20:55] He's like, yeah, will I find faith?
[00:20:59] Will I find faith?
[00:21:01] So the question is, in what position?
[00:21:05] If it's not privilege, what position is he pointing us to?
[00:21:08] He's pointing us to this position of like really being someone who searches, who searches the motives behind the prayers that we're praying.
[00:21:21] What are you really praying for? Why do you really want this to work out? What would truly happen if this does not turn around? What is your deepest fear when it comes to this?
[00:21:37] Are you gonna just totally lose? Are you gonna walk away if this doesn't get reconciled?
[00:21:47] What's really going on with you? See, prayer, prayer, when it comes to seeking, it's not like just.
[00:21:54] It's seeking what you don't necessarily want to find, because what we want to find is answers.
[00:22:04] We want answers.
[00:22:06] And so when he says seek and, and you'll find, he's not necessarily saying you'll find the answers. He's saying something else, which I will tell you. There are two things. One, he's saying, seek presence.
[00:22:20] When you find yourself in a place where you're like, ah, I just don't even know because life's gonna do that. You need to seek presence more than answers, more than understanding. I mean, we've all heard the phrase, right? Everything happens for a reason. And that's beautiful, that's great.
[00:22:39] But it's like, yeah, it's like, ah.
[00:22:42] Have you ever been in a point in time where you're like, I know I need to probably pray to you about this, but I really don't want to.
[00:22:51] Like, I don't even know what to say because you don't care.
[00:22:57] I don't know what to do. I remember having a moment like that because I remember I was actually in this auditorium. I was in this auditorium, there's worship going on and there was a song and you know, there are some songs, I'm like, this is great. And the lyrics of the songs are so profound when you just pay attention to them. But there was a song and I thought, I had this thought in my head. I don't know if I really believe that anymore.
[00:23:24] Like I don't know if I feel that.
[00:23:28] And then I thought, I don't know if I can sing it.
[00:23:31] And I will have you know that there was a time I would stand here every Sunday, stand in worship, and I just could not sing the songs.
[00:23:43] And the reason is, is because I had some serious things happen in my life. Like January is really hard. The reason is because the anniversary of my dad dying and on his first year anniversary of dad dying, my, my brother in law passed away from a heart attack.
[00:23:58] And we just had like. And then there's other things involved in January. And January is just tough maybe for some of you, you know what I'm talking about, it's tough for you.
[00:24:08] And there were times like that I was like, God, I don't know what to do, but I'm just gonna stand there. I'm just going to stand there because I don't know what else to do.
[00:24:18] I think sometimes God just says, hey, just seek my presence. Just come and stand next to me.
[00:24:25] Like, have you ever seen, you've watched movies before and there's like, I love action movies and all that and you know, all kinds of crazy movies and all that. And there's always a scene, you know, whether they're fighting the enemy or aliens. Aliens always fun. And the person says, stay close to me, right? You know when someone's gonna die when they say, let's split up, you know someone's about to die. I just, I'm like, dude, they gave it away. They gave it away. Don't split. Have you said don't split up, you're going to die?
[00:24:57] They just say, stay close.
[00:24:59] Just stay close. They stay close.
[00:25:02] I just think, I think sometimes in life, like I think what God wants us to do is just stay close.
[00:25:07] Just come, come and stand next to him. You don't have to say anything. God doesn't mind if you just stand or sit or stay in his presence and don't say anything. Because you don't know what else to say.
[00:25:22] He's good with that. See, Jesus would do this.
[00:25:25] He talks about this peace that he found that he had. And before he left, he said, I want to give it to you guys. And it says here in John 14, says, I'm leaving you with a gift. Peace of mind and heart.
[00:25:41] And the peace that I give is a gift the world cannot give.
[00:25:46] So don't be troubled or be afraid. What's that gift? The gift is his presence. He opened up heaven for us.
[00:25:55] See, Jesus understood this. There's so many times where Jesus would leave and just be present or was searching after God's presence.
[00:26:04] Luke 5 says, But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for what prayer? Mark 1 says, before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to a. What?
[00:26:19] Yeah, to pray.
[00:26:22] Matthew 14 says, after sending them home, like everybody else, he went up into the wilderness, into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was still there. Where?
[00:26:35] Just alone. Alone. It was him and God. Him and God.
[00:26:42] Luke 9 says, One day Jesus left the crowds. One day the crowds were so big and all that. But Jesus left to do what?
[00:26:51] To pray alone. Because when he's alone, he is in God's presence.
[00:26:58] And so maybe, just maybe, for some of us, we need to seek.
[00:27:04] Not answers, not results, just seek presence. And what that means is, for some of you is, yeah, you take five minutes in the day and you're like, I don't want to. I'm not praying. I'm not saying anything. I'm turning on some worship music, or I'm turning on something, or I'm just staying quiet, and I'm just saying this. God, I'm just staying close.
[00:27:26] I'm just standing close. I don't know what to do.
[00:27:29] I'm just staying close.
[00:27:31] And guys, I'm telling you, the peace that comes from God will fill your hearts and minds.
[00:27:37] And it will give you more than answers. It'll give you perspective.
[00:27:42] So the second thing is seek wisdom. Seek wisdom. Seek wisdom. I mean, I know we like to. We love to make things make sense, right? How many of us like a good murder mystery? Anybody?
[00:27:56] Right? And you love it. And if you rewatch it with you guys, some of you guys are annoying, okay? Because you're like, I knew it. 30 minutes. Like, like, okay, whatever. Okay, whatever. Oh, I figured this out.
[00:28:09] I got a clue. Like, escape rooms. Those are from hell, people. Like, what. What is up with escape rooms? Can I just.
[00:28:17] Anybody likes escape. Okay, whatever. Everybody leaves. Actually, no, I'm Gonna lock the door, and you figure out how you're gonna escape.
[00:28:26] Escape room. People love figuring it out. You know what? I'll tell you why. It's not you, it's your brain. Let me tell you. Your brain is sneaky. Your brain sometimes is not your friend. It's not. Have you ever like, what is her name? What is her last name? And you're like, I know it. I just know it. I know it. I know it. And your brain's like, I'm not gonna tell you. I'm not gonna tell you.
[00:28:52] And then you're at night trying to fall asleep, and they're like, last name is.
[00:28:57] You're like, now you tell me.
[00:29:00] Now you tell me. When I can't even use it.
[00:29:03] Your brain likes to like. It's sneaky. It's sneaky.
[00:29:07] And so sometimes I know your brain really wants for all of this to make sense, but you are not all brain.
[00:29:16] Some of you guys who are, like, super smart, you're still not all brain.
[00:29:20] Your spirit, soul and body.
[00:29:22] And sometimes with God, your brain actually catches up to your heart, because God reveals something to you that your brain is trying to catch up and trying to make sense of it, and it's okay. And that's why you seek wisdom. And seeking wisdom is so important.
[00:29:43] Here's what wisdom looks like. Matthew 6. It says, Seek first God's kingdom and what God wants.
[00:29:53] Like, seek what is behind God's motivation. Like, what is he thinking about the situation?
[00:30:01] Have you ever, like, when people say, I'm praying about it, what are you really doing? Are you saying, God? What do you really want in this? Like, what do you want?
[00:30:12] He says, if you start doing that, if you start seeking wisdom, if you start seeking insight, I'll tell you, all your other needs will be met.
[00:30:20] But if you have to seek not answers, not seek prayer requests. No, you gotta seek what is God's will in this? And the problem is, we don't necessarily pray for God's will. We're actually praying for our will to be done. I mean, don't tell God this, but yeah, our prayers are not like, God, what do you. Whatever you want, man. Whatever you want.
[00:30:45] Make your dreams come true.
[00:30:47] No, make our dreams come true.
[00:30:51] Here's Proverbs 4. It says, Getting wisdom is what it is, the most important thing you can do. Whatever else you get.
[00:31:01] Whatever else you get. Get what? Insight. Insight. Get that. So my question is, if you stop praying, maybe just stop praying about the whole thing. Stand close to God and. And then start asking God God, what are you.
[00:31:18] Show me something that I am not looking for.
[00:31:22] Like Psalm 139 is my favorite one. It says, search me and know me. Know my anxious thoughts and see if there's any wicked way in me, and then lead me in the way of everlasting. Basically, it's a way to say, hey, I don't even know sometimes why I'm so anxious about this job.
[00:31:47] I don't know why. I'm just so freaked out about this relationship. I'm not quite sure why I do what I do. Have anybody else figured that out? Have issues with, like, figuring out why you do what you do?
[00:32:03] Why do I think this?
[00:32:05] Maybe that's what you need to do, is say, God, God, search me. Like, know me. Like, give. Give me wisdom. Show me something I'm not. I'm not. I'm not really seeing.
[00:32:16] So those are the two things we need to seek as we seek God in prayer.
[00:32:21] Now, lastly, as you close, you know when Jesus was talking to those group of people and reclaiming what prayer meant to them, there's a passage in scripture, it's in the Old Testament, and this is a guy named Jeremiah, and he was a prophet. And back in that time, God would speak through prophets and things like that. And so Jeremiah talks to a people group and he talks to a people group. And I gotta give you the context. This people group have gone through some pretty horrific things. I mean, pretty horrific things, meaning that they have been exiled to a different land. I mean, families, people have been destroyed. I mean, things have just been.
[00:33:01] It's a wreck. It's. It's like if God could intervene, God chose not to intervene. It's like it's an event that really scarred some people's faith. Because it's like, God, if you were real, if we were chosen, if you loved us, you would intervene, but you did not intervene. And what I'm talking about is this moment in history where the Jewish people were exiled into Babylon. They were exiled there, and they were going to be there for 70 years and people were going to die off there. It was just a bad scene. In the middle of that, Jeremiah talks about prayer and he says, hey, hey. God wants you to still, you know, not get offended by him and still have faith. And I want. You need to. This is what God says. He still wants to hear from you. So this is what he writes.
[00:33:52] He says, then you will call on me and come to pray to me. And I will do what. I will listen to you.
[00:34:03] And then he says something really interesting. He Says, when you seek me, you will find me.
[00:34:08] He says, when you seek me, you will find me.
[00:34:12] But when you seek me, with what?
[00:34:19] With all your heart.
[00:34:22] And, you know, the question for me sometimes is, and those people, too. And the reason why Jeremiah said this is because he knew he was talking to people who had their hearts broken.
[00:34:32] You see, it's hard to, like, seek God with all your heart when your heart is broken, when your heart is betrayed, when your heart is, I don't know, just a little darker, a little bit more cynical, when you just don't have a whole heart. You did, you know, but you don't anymore. And he says. He says God wants you to know that you will find God.
[00:35:01] But what I'm asking you is I want you to seek him with everything you have, with all your heart. The broken, the battered, all of it.
[00:35:16] The doubtful heart, the betrayed heart, the broken heart, the messed up heart.
[00:35:25] I don't want a perfect heart. I don't want a super holy heart.
[00:35:29] I don't want a sinless heart.
[00:35:33] I just want all of it.
[00:35:35] All of it.
[00:35:37] It's messed up.
[00:35:39] It's halfway there. I don't know. But just bring what?
[00:35:43] Just bring all of it.
[00:35:46] And so when you pray, the next time you pray, not when we end in prayer here, next time when you're alone, just know God is okay with everything.
[00:35:56] Even though he's gotta take this heart and kind of put it back together. Because you're like, this is it.
[00:36:02] This is all I got.
[00:36:05] But if you just give him that, you will find him and you'll find his peace, and you'll find insight and you'll find his presence. And if you do that, all the other things will start to start making sense.
[00:36:19] So that's my prayer over us today.
[00:36:22] Let me pray for you. Can I do that? Let's pray.
[00:36:26] So, God, we're talking about prayer.
[00:36:30] And so, God, we just. We take a minute and just breathe for a minute.
[00:36:37] And God, you know us, you see everything.
[00:36:43] You see the things we cover up. You see the things that are pretty well exposed. You see the anger in us. You see the love in us. You see. You see our potential.
[00:36:57] You see our pain. You see everything, God, you see who we could be.
[00:37:06] You see who we are, and you see us in the future.
[00:37:12] So, God, I don't know what else to say, but I want to surrender myself to you, who sees me from.
[00:37:25] From beyond time, from the beginning to the end.
[00:37:30] You know when I was born. You know when I'm gonna die. You just know everything you see, all of it. So I don't even know how powerful of a perspective that is. I. I just know that don't know a whole lot.
[00:37:47] So God, we come to you in these prayers.
[00:37:51] We're praying for a healing, praying for kind of job, praying for reconciliation, praying against some addictions, God, and praying for reconciliation with our loved ones, our kids and praying you just turn things around, God. I just pray that you remind us, God, that you're. You're with us and you don't mind us coming with our whole heart, whatever the condition might be. So, God, today we just come and stand close, don't know what to say. We just stand close and then we ask you to show us, show us what we do not see, God. I pray you do that as you respond.
[00:38:42] In Jesus name, amen.
[00:38:48] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:38:54] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
