Embracing the Lifeline of Prayer: Cultivating a Heart of Surrender and Trust in God

Have you ever wondered about the true essence of prayer and its impact on your spiritual walk? Prepare to have your heart stirred and your faith deepened as we journey through the profound significance of prayer in our lives. From understanding the necessity of embracing our Savior, Jesus Christ, through faith rather than deeds, to the power of seeking forgiveness for those daily, often unrecognized, sins, this episode is a treasure trove of spiritual insights. We examine the ways our imperfections are enveloped in God's endless grace and how prayer serves not just as a request but as a lifeline.

As we face the battles of spiritual warfare, it's not by our might but by leaning on God's strength that we find victory. This episode takes you through the humility and dependency that biblical figures like Job and the Israelites in Leviticus exemplify, teaching us the true posture of a prayerful heart. You'll be captivated by the story of the centurion's faith, a poignant reminder that prayer is an act of faith. Our discussion underscores the necessity of prayer as more than a command; it's the shaping of an obedient and trusting relationship with our Creator.

We wrap up with an inspiring chorus of celebration for God's unwavering faithfulness, even amidst the storms of life. Through our testimony, we are reminded of the growth and purification that can arise from our trials, urging us to trust in God's providence and peace. This episode is a call to embody a lifestyle filled with truth, gratitude, and persistent prayer, encouraging you to recognize every moment as an opportunity to engage with our loving Father in Heaven. So, let this heartfelt discussion inspire you to weave prayer into the fabric of your daily life, discovering the peace that comes from continual communion with God.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We have to realize, as Christians, that we have the most ultimate resource in the world. We have God on our side. We have the creator of everything on our side. He can literally do anything that he wants to, and the best part about it is he wants to make you happy.

Speaker 2: 0:21

He's my salvation and my deliverance and he's my rock and my tower and all these things. And how much David praises, even though you know maybe the verse before he just got done, saying it's like Lord, I called for you and I can't see you, I can't feel you. But then he can turn around and say but I trust in you, you are my deliverer and I will praise your name. That's our job as Christians is praise God and to glorify Him Is he's good to us. Today we're going to talk about prayer.

Speaker 1: 1:12

As Christians, we, that is our, our biggest tool that we have in our bag to defeat temptation, to defeat the devil, to defeat anything, to live the Christian life. Prayer is the most well, one of the most important things that we can do as Christians. Before you can have fellowship with God, before you can have, you know, communion with God, you first have to know God. You first have to accept God into your heart and believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven. There's not by works, not by anything that we do. We see that our works are as filthy rags, we fall short of God's perfection, and so God requires a payment, which would be death. But Christ died for us in that place so we wouldn't have to go to our die and go to hell. So, after we saved, we then continue our relationship or fellowship with God through prayer and through reading your Bible.

Speaker 2: 2:12

So that's that you know, continuing in your fellowship with God, if you will, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Yeah, yeah. So after you know we become saved, after we continue to have fellowship with God. You know we're human, we're obviously not going to be perfect and there are going to be some circumstances that we do fall and fail God, and we're going to. You know, we're going to fall to temptation and we're not going to be perfect. We're humans and we're not ever going to be perfect until Jesus Christ comes again. But so, anyways, what I'm trying to say is we're going to fall and we're going to disappoint God and there's going to be sin in our lives.

Speaker 1: 2:53

That that happened and it's just the fact of life. We're sinners, it is what it is. But so because of that sin, there's going to be a hindrance, there's going to be a blockage, if you will, to God, and you know that fellowship is going to be broken. It's kind of like when you disobey your parents or do something stupid that you shouldn't have done, there's that fellowship, that friendship is no longer there. There's a there's a budding of heads like, ok, it's my will versus my parents will, and you know it could blow up and do this big whole thing.

Speaker 2: 3:32

It could be their will versus God's will.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Right. So you know, just trying to make it practical on a level like that, you know, we pray to God and we ask God for forgiveness and then that fellowship is then restored. So when we disobey our parents, we then, you know, get corrected and then we ask for forgiveness, like OK, yeah, I messed up, sorry forgive me, not like that, but you know, respectfully and humbly asking for forgiveness, and so most of the time, if God will always forgive you, but um, anyways, fellowship will then be restored and then we can.

Speaker 1: 4:11

God is a good God and he's ready and perfectly willing to forgive, and that's the truth, right.

Speaker 2: 4:17

And I'm thankful that he is, because it's like man we mess up so much. And it reminds me too. You know I've been doing a lot of studying recently too, and reading Psalms, and there's this one passage that says uh, Psalm 19, verse 12, through the end it says who can understand his secret errors or his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And it just reminds me that you know there's things that we do every day that are sin, that we probably don't even recognize, and the Lord is going to be the one who, number one, reveals it to you and, number two, he will forgive you of it.

Speaker 2: 5:10

You know whether he realized what it is or not. But the Lord also doesn't do things unless you ask him, and we'll get more to that later.

Speaker 1: 5:17

But now that we have found out that you first have to be a Christian or you have to be saved before we can have fellowship with God, and then we find out that sin blocks that fellowship. So, after all that, the question is what is prayer? You know that's. That should be a good, you know, place to start.

Speaker 2: 5:40

What is really prayer?

Speaker 1: 5:41

Yeah, so what's the answer, Jacob?

Speaker 2: 5:45

Probably one of the best passages to explain it, I would say, is what we have here. It says Luke, we're looking at Luke 11, verses one through 13. I don't think I'll read the whole thing here. Honestly, the best way that I can think of is asking and receiving. And and I mean that's on the very basic level, because if you go to Luke 11, verses five through 10, and it gives the example of, it says which of you shall have a friend and shall go into him at midnight and set out and saying unto him friend, lend me three loaves, For a friend of mine, in his journey, has come to me and I have nothing to set before him. And he, from within, shall answer and say trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given. You, Seek and ye shall find Knock and it shall be opened unto you, For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. In other words, I mean verses nine and 10 pretty much sums up that whole section there it's you know, ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Speaker 2: 7:00

Prayer is is asking the Lord for things, and you know him giving it to you. And to be honest, I mean it's something I've been learning this week the answer doesn't fall out of the sky, or you know. He may want you to wait before you understand everything, and that's okay, but he will answer. He always does answer, and sometimes the answer is he just wants you to be content right with where you're at. You know what I mean. You don't have to know everything.

Speaker 1: 7:30

And, yeah, most of the times that's the hardest spot to be at is not knowing exactly what the next step is, not knowing why you're here, not knowing is really a hard part in general, and that is where putting your faith in and your trust in God comes into play. And you know, maybe God's putting you in this position, in the situation to grow your faith, and we're going to get to that later, but maybe that's what this is all about. You know we don't understand the ways of God. They are, his ways are higher than ours and he does what's best for us.

Speaker 2: 8:07

He has our best interest in mind, whether we can see it or not.

Speaker 1: 8:10

We Right. We think that we know what is best for us and so we do whatever we want, but in reality we have no idea what we're doing. God sees the whole picture, god sees everything. The only thing we see is what's in front of us in the moment, in the now. We don't see what's going to happen in a year. We don't see what's going to happen in the next day. We have no idea, we're clueless. So the Lord, he's in control and we need to realize that he is in control and we just need to live by faith and trust Him. And so prayer is. My definition is prayer is asking things of God in faith. That's a good definition.

Speaker 1: 8:56

And well, you just look at Luke, chapter 11, which is the main passage we're getting all the stuff from, and it talks about the man going to his neighbor or his friend. He's like, hey, I don't have any food, I don't have any bread for these guys that came and visited me. And so he consistently and persistently kept knocking. He's like, hey, give me some bread, give me some bread. And so the friend is like, ok, just leave me alone, have some bread. And so we can look at that and say, hey, god is the one that has the bread. If you will, god is the one that he has it and we need to consistently pray and ask Him for it, and he's not always going to give it to you the first time you pray. It's going to take consistency. It's going to take repetitively asking Him for it and he's like OK, I see that you are earnest about it, I see that you're being consistent about it.

Speaker 1: 9:50

Yeah, it's not a joke, he'll give it to you. He'll, yeah, yeah, like he sees things, I was like I mentioned, he sees things that we can't, and right, and maybe these situations you know, consistently asking and consistently praying for it is growing. Your faith is, is, is it's helping you?

Speaker 2: 10:11

rely on him, it feels like you're in your trust and dependence.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Yes, god does, yeah, yeah. So so that brings the question how do we pray to God? What is the magical formula? If you will and really there isn't a magical formula I would say there's not, if you will. But you know, yeah, I mean, there's principles for the purpose of this.

Speaker 2: 10:35

We're going to say that. I would say too.

Speaker 1: 10:36

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:38

Yeah, well, well, yeah, just before we get into it, I would you know some people have the mindset or at least act like they would. They act like prayer must be. Dear Lord in heaven, O thou of great, whatever word they want to put in there, and it's very fluffy and flowery and must be exactly.

Speaker 2: 11:00

You must pray for this first, and then the next thing, and if it's out of order, then, by George, you better get your act together. When, really, when you read the Bible and you look at Psalms and you look at Job, david and Job and all these people are like what is happening? God, where'd you go? Help me to depend on you, help me to trust on you. I want to do what's right, but I don't know how to do it. Prayer is simply talking to God. That's what he wants you to do and you know he knows when you're messed up.

Speaker 2: 11:34

He knows when you're having a hard time and he knows when you're having a great peachy time and he wants you to talk to him however you feel, and he understands you know. So, yeah, and that would just be something I would say before we get into specific things Just talk to God, yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Yeah. Well, here's another example, which actually me and a buddy were just talking about this, but he, because I'm a missionary kid to Africa, and so he asked me did your dad ever like perform an exorcism when you, you know, basically no, you cast out demons out of a person. Essentially, it's what it is, and my dad never did, but he knew of a missionary that did do it and you know, I've always been intrigued by that because I do believe in a spirit realm. I do believe that there are demons, there are evil spirits out there, and I believe that they should stay in that spirit realm and we should not mess with them. I know that much, yeah, and but anyways, he was basically telling me about the missionary and how he.

Speaker 1: 12:49

This was the first time that he's done it, but there were other missionaries that had done it before that were with him, so that was helpful. But basically, there were the missionaries that went into the house. There were the missionaries that went to the house with the little girl that you know had the demons, and he was outside. He hadn't gone in yet and basically he knew that it wasn't by his strength. He knew that. I mean, we're talking about spirits here and it's like, yeah, you have to realize you can't do anything about that.

Speaker 1: 13:19

That's all on God's side, like we have no power over spirits unless God gives us the power, and and so, anyways, he's outside and he just prays to God. He's like God, I need your help, I can't do anything. And basically he said are he prayed for a legion of angels to come? And he felt the presence of God. And the people inside knew that he prayed and they came running outside like did you just pray or something? Because you know, something happened inside out. I don't know what happened, but they, everyone, knew that the presence of God was there and they felt it and the, the, the demons, felt it. They know, they know who God is. God is the one that created them. But you know, just you know, using that for an example is we have to realize we have to depend on God. Like that, it's like we have no ability to live the Christian life through ourselves, we have no ability to do anything through ourselves.

Speaker 2: 14:14

We are just flesh.

Speaker 1: 14:15

We are just bones and blood. We are nothing. It all is relying upon God, and it should be. Yeah, that's how he grows our faith, that's how we live as Christians, how we should live. So, anyways, that's, yeah, another example. Let me jump in, but um.

Speaker 2: 14:35

Yeah, go ahead. Oh, I was just reading about in Job and thinking about things that he went through and how you know when you have you know cuz. Okay, so you were just talking about dependence and it made me, because I've been thinking a lot about dependence recently and it reminds me that One of the ways that God does teach dependence is obviously in situations like you mentioned, where you know it's not of your own strength but sometimes the Lord has to come along and humble you and Bring trials or situations into your life that help you wake up and realize that you can't do anything of your own power. I was reading in Leviticus, chapter 26, where it talks about when, basically, god saying, okay, what happens when you turn away from me? And he's listing out all the things that he will meet Out on them, and one of the things he mentions as one of the Israelite sin is their, their pride in their power, the pride of their power and depending on themselves and.

Speaker 2: 15:42

And you know, it's just one of those things that and I think about Job too, and how Job learned, I'm sure, how to depend more on the Lord for his strength. And Sometimes the Lord does that by helping us realize that we do have pride of our power and we are depending on ourselves and not on him, and that's how he teaches you and, ultimately, I think a lot of prayer does come down and and hinges on Realizing our dependence on the Lord, because, think about it, if you don't think you need God, then you're not gonna pray, but if you realize you need God and you need his wisdom and you you know then you are gonna pray and you know sometimes he has to wake us up.

Speaker 1: 16:28

You know what I mean. Getting back to this formula, if you will. First of all, we find that God commands it. God commands it, commands us, as Christians, to pray. We find that and he's baked a parable unto them to this end that men I always to pray and not to faint. Now, if you look in the Greek, the word ought is translated Must or needs to it's. So basically it says that men must always pray and not to faint. So the Lord commands us to pray.

Speaker 1: 17:04

And we look at the, the disciples in Luke, chapter 11, where they asked you to To teach them how to pray, and I think that's a that's a pretty cool example, because you have the Son of God right before you and you're asking him how do I pray, how do I seek God, how do I get a hold of God? And it's like you're literally talking to God himself, you know in person, just in a human body, and it's like. That is amazing, that is like holy cow and you know the person's right before you and it's like goodness. But we have his word.

Speaker 1: 17:42

As Christians, we have what Jesus wrote, which is just as important, which actually it says that Jesus put his word above his name. So this is as important as God is. It is God's word, it is what he said, and so it's just as important. But God commands it. So and then we find that it takes faith to pray, and it it does take faith because you're asking God To provide something for you. You don't know how it's gonna happen, you don't know what's gonna happen, you're just asking God for it and it's like I need help. I don't know how this is gonna happen, I just know that God's gonna provide somehow, some way, and it's all through faith, and we can find that in Matthew, chapter 8, verse 13.

Speaker 2: 18:31

Yeah, I have it right here.

Speaker 2: 18:32

It says and Jesus said unto the centurion go thy way and as thou hast believed, so be it. Done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the self same hour. And so I mean that's just our first example of faith. It says you know God. Okay. So context of the story here because that helps is Jesus meets the centurion in Cupertium and the centurion wants Jesus to heal his servant because his servant is dying. And Jesus says in verse 7 I will come and heal him. And he says he's going to come. And then In verse 10 it says when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed fairly. I say unto you, I have not found so great faith no, not in Israel saying speaking that at the centurion, because the centurion had just explained. He says Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should have come under my roof, but speak the word. Only in my servant shall be healed. You see, the centurion had the faith to believe that God could heal him just by speaking the word. He didn't even have to come to his house.

Speaker 2: 19:30

And you know, let's just start an example of faith and the Syrian, the centurion, knew that God had the power to heal his servant and you know he believed him and you know it's just a powerful example to us. And you know we're talking to Christians. How many times do we, as Christians, say oh, you know, gotta be great if you can do this, but I know that's pretty impossible. You know we have that attitude a lot, and yet God is the one who can move mountains and impossible and we act like he can't. So Where's our faith Right? That's my question. I do this myself by name is.

Speaker 1: 20:10

And then another example we find in Mark, chapter 9, verse 23 and 24, which this is. It's awesome. Jesus said unto him if thou can't believe, all things are possible, it won't hold on. He said unto him if thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believe it. And straightway the father of the child cried out and Said with tears Lord, help, lord, I believe, help thou, mine unbelief. And it's just such a powerful, powerful verses right there. Yeah, so the context of this story is there's.

Speaker 2: 20:42

I've said that myself this week because the Lord.

Speaker 1: 20:45

Yeah, it's like.

Speaker 2: 20:46

Lord, I know you, I know I know this is what you want, but you're gonna have to help me get my head wrapped around it. You know, I know you can do what you want. You know, sometimes your feelings and your what's true don't always line up and the Lord has to help you get those things in life right.

Speaker 1: 21:02

Yeah. So the context of this story is there's a man who has a, a child who is demon possessed, and he is. This child is even possessed. He throws himself into the fire, he basically hurts himself all the time. And so he's coming to Jesus Christ because he he heard that Jesus Christ can heal people. And so Jesus like okay, I want to see your faith, I want to see that you believe that I can heal someone. And so the man's like when is it 25? So Jesus tells him if thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. So Jesus himself says just believe, that's all I want you to do, that's all I'm asking you to do is believe and all things are possible. And Straightway.

Speaker 1: 21:47

The father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And the father it became real to him, it became like he's right, it's true, everything he said is true. And he believed, he put his trust in Christ and he said I believe, help my unbelief, I can't do it without God. I can't believe, I can't Do anything on my own.

Speaker 1: 22:14

And we realize that it's so important for Christians to realize that Everything we do is in faith, is, should be believing in Christ and just trusting him, because, yeah, how can we not trust him? He can do anything, he. He created the whole world. He created, literally, you like, everything that there is is because God exists, because God said he wanted to do it. There's no other reason. And so, yeah, I, you know, as Christians, we need to realize that God wants us to, he commands us to pray to him, he wants you to ask of him in faith. And then, thirdly, it takes consistency to pray, in which we cover this a little earlier. But it takes consistency, which I mentioned in Luke, chapter 11, where it talks about the friend and so the Lord. He wants you to consistently ask and consistently just believe and trust in Him. And throughout all of these situations, he's going to provide, he's going to build your faith, he's going to show you things that you've not known before.

Speaker 2: 23:29

So, if you have, first, Kings, you can go ahead and read that it's a yeah so First Kings, 1842 through 44, it says so. Ahab went up to eat and to drink and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees and said to his servants go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said there's nothing. And he said go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. And he said go up. Say unto Ahab prepare thy chariot and get thee down that the rain stopped thee, not Now.

Speaker 2: 24:05

Just context for the situation. This is right after Elijah and the priests of Baal have their standoff on Mount Carmel and then Elijah prays for the rain to come and we can see here. You know he didn't just have to pray once, he had to keep praying and keep sending his servant to go see if the rain was coming. But God did send the rain and God will send what he wants or what he will send. He will answer. It just may not be in our timing. That's why we have to keep asking, right.

Speaker 1: 24:39

Yeah. So God wants to grow your faith as a Christian. God wants to grow your reliance on him as a Christian. And you know, like we've said throughout this whole thing, he's going to do certain things to you and for you in order that you do grow your faith. Because you know, we look at the things that Paul writes to the churches. Some of them he says you guys are babes in Christ. You guys haven't grown at all. You guys are, you know, carnal, you're doing what you want, you're not living for Christ and they're not depending on the Christ. They're not putting their faith in Christ until they're still carnal. They haven't grown. They just as you know they're. They're like they just got saved. There's nothing that has happened to them. And then in other passages he writes to other churches and he says I thank you, I thank God for you because you have preached the gospel, you have grown. I can see the fruits of your labor and they are sweet and they're great. And you can see the contrast between you know, people that have grown and people that put their trust and faith in Christ to grow. And that's what it takes faith to grow. And so God's going to do certain things for you in order that you do grow. So I have down here God provides, and so some personal experiences. I have, well, several.

Speaker 1: 26:07

But, um, you know, being a missionary kid, you're in a foreign country, you're in a land where you're not really welcome, you're really in a dangerous spot and I, we, as a family, you know, we always prayed that God would keep us safe. And he did, he, he did. There's really not any incidents that has happened to us, that we felt harmed, and I thank the Lord for that. And you know, um, another thing is malaria. Over there there's a lot of mosquitoes, a lot of malaria, and like it's rampant. And so we were over there for about 20 years um, at least my parents were. And then, um, so we consistently prayed and we asked God like, hey, can we not get malaria? You know, can you keep us safe, can you keep us healthy? And God answered that prayer. I, none of us, have malaria, and it's like God hears the prayers of his children. God wants to answer your prayers, but he also wants you to ask. He also wants you to put in the consistency, put in the work. You know, it's like that verse drawn I had gotten healed, drawn I had you. It takes work, it takes consistency, it takes faith to draw close to God.

Speaker 1: 27:25

And, um, you know, just some more recent things that have happened in my life is, um, well, my school bell, for instance. I honestly had no idea how I was going to pay for school. You know, right after I came back from Africa, I got a job. I worked my tail off two jobs, 80 hours a week, you know, the whole summer. I have no idea how I did that, besides God's grace. You know, like it was literally torture. It was awful, but God gave me the grace, god gave me the energy, god gave me the strength and he provided for my first two years of school.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Okay, so now I'm a junior and all my money's gone right. So I'm like, okay, god, you want me to come back for four years and I don't have any money left. Okay, so I prayed God. I'm like, hey, I need a job, I need something, you know. And so the next thing I know is I have a job, I'm working. You know, in college, god provides, and it's like when God answers your prayer, it then grows your faith because you're like, hey, I asked for something and then God answered it. So it then encourages you to continue to pray and continue to put your faith and trust in God. And so you know, those are just some of my personal experiences, and I have several more, but I don't know if Jacob has any. I'm sure he does. But yeah, I have some, go for it.

Speaker 2: 28:54

And then, like you said, the list could go on forever. One of the first things I think of with God providing is back during COVID. Covid was a wild year, obviously, for a lot of us, but on top of that, my that was also the year that my dad got a shot, a nail in his eye, and you know, most people would be blind in the eye. But the Lord sent that nail in the spot where, if it had been a few millimeters to the left or a few millimeters to the right, he would have never seen out of that eye again. And yet now he can see. You know, I think it's almost, it's almost 2020. He can see out of that eye. You know the Lord provided for that and the Lord worked and he, you know that's a miracle.

Speaker 2: 29:41

To be honest, the Lord does miracles, you know that, and that's such a blessing he does. He can heal the sick, he can raise the dead, he can save you from sin. You know he can do great, mighty things that they'll know it's not, and sometimes it's hard to see that he is, but we don't know them anyway, and sometimes they're revealed later. You know the Lord moved the mountains. I was reading in in Job and in Psalms, you know it says you know, god's the one who destroys the mountains, he dries up the rivers and he creates the floods. He's the one who brings the storms and he's the one who burns the fire. God is powerful and he can do what he wants. He can destroy the earth and he can build it back again if he wants to. He's God and he's powerful and he knows what is best for us. And you know, he knows it doesn't always feel good. But you know it also says in Job something to the effect that whatever happens, I'll come forth as gold after it.

Speaker 2: 30:42

You know and that just reminds me that sometimes God puts us through things, or you know to, to show and you know to bring us, make us pure and closer to him and to grow us in him. And you know he also likes to provide for his children and and heal. And then just you know, personally and recently, you know something that's been building my faith is seeing that, although your, your body and your brain may be on a roller coaster, or maybe you know you're having a hard time thinking straight, the Lord can give courage and he can give peace. Whether you feel it or not, because it's not a feeling, the fact is that God has given us his peace. That's a fact. He's given us his Holy Spirit, the Comforter. That's a fact.

Speaker 2: 31:38

That doesn't change. God doesn't change and you know so I can just see in my life. You know that God provides the peace, he provides the grace for the day and the strength, and he wants us to depend on him and he can help us to depend on him. It reminds me of the verse we talked about earlier. You know, lord, I believe, helped all my unbelief. You know I've, you know I've told God things like that and it's like God, I know you can do it, but everything else in my body is telling me that, no, he can't do it, but I, it's not true, you?

Speaker 2: 32:16

know, and God can help you. Depend on him, he wants you to depend on him, and so he's going to help you and he's going to help you to do right. You know, my prayer is that God will help me to do right, no matter what happens, and to follow his will. And he's going to provide. He'll give the answers, you know, as we depend on him, and he's going to build us up. One thing I think, too, that's important, just before we keep going, is that it's important to praise God for what he's given us, and and praise God no matter how you feel, because you have to consider, consider the things that we have, consider we're so blessed. Whatever is going on, we're still blessed. I mean, I got a roof and I got clothes and I got friends, and you know everything as as as good as it possibly could be, and I don't deserve that, but the God, but God gives it anyway and we need to thank him for it. And you know it's just something.

Speaker 2: 33:18

I've been reading in the Psalms a lot. You know a lot of the Psalms have to do with praise and it says I will sing unto the Lord. He's my salvation and my deliverance, and he's my rock and my tower and all these things, and how much David praises, even though you know he you know maybe the verse before he just got, saying got done. Saying it's like Lord, I called for you and I can't see you, I can't feel you, but then he turns. He can turn around and say but I trust in you, you are my deliverer and I will praise your name. That's our job as Christians. Yeah, Praise God and to glorify him because he's good to us and it doesn't matter how we feel. That's the truth. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it and I don't care if it's raining outside or it's sunny outside or how you feel or how everyone else feels. That's the truth and our lives should be based in the truth.

Speaker 1: 34:18

I think Christians take prayer and they make it. So. Thank you very much for singing. God bless you all. Prayer is an occasional thing, I believe. For some Christians it's like, oh, when I'm having a bad day, oh, when something's going wrong, when life is not going my way, then I'll pray, then I'll ask God about things and then, you know, I'll expect him to put everything back together and then, when he does, we're gonna forget about God and we're gonna do what we want again. Because who needs God? Right, and I think that's the mentality that a lot of Christians have. There's like there are a lot of people in general and it's like guys, what are we doing here? We're not here to serve ourselves, we're not here to do what our life is about. No, god put us here for our purpose and that was to glorify him. And how do we glorify him if we don't believe in him, if we don't put our faith in him? How we don't pray? Yeah, it doesn't work. Yeah, prayer is not just once in a while when I feel down.

Speaker 2: 35:23

No, prayer is an everyday thing, that we are seeking God. You know, some people do it just to check the box. You know what I mean. Like, oh yeah, I went through the list. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's as far as it goes. And you know, I think lists are good because that's how I stay organized. I got note cards and prayer lists and all kinds of stuff laying all over everywhere, you know. But it's not just like I prayed for 10 minutes and I checked the box. It's seeking God, like you said, and you may say this too. But it reminds me of if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them and I will forgive their sins and heal their land. And it's not a box to check. It's seeking God's face and His will. That's what one of the main things prayer is about.

Speaker 1: 36:13

You know, we have to realize, as Christians, that we have the most ultimate resource in the world. We have God on our side. We have the creator of everything on our side. He can literally do anything that he wants to, and the best part about it is he wants to make you happy. He wants to answer your prayers. You know, if we're consistently seeking God and we're consistently serving God, he's going to well, first of all, the things that he wants are going to become the things that we want, because we are searching him out and because our will is then turned into his will, and so the things that we ask for, the things that we pray for, are then going to be his desire and it's going to be his will, you know. And so he's going to answer those prayer requests because that's what he wants in your life, that's what he has put you there in that life for. It's for that specific purpose and that specific, you know, point in your life, wherever you are. And so God's gonna answer that prayer. He is because he's the one that put that prayer on your heart, essentially.

Speaker 1: 37:28

And you know, we have to realize that, as Christians, like we have the biggest and the best resource in the world, and what are we doing with it? We're not using it. What advantage is it if we don't use what God is giving us? And so let me encourage you, you know as a Christian, to pray every day, not just when life is sad and down and who knows what. Prayer is not just a miracle worker. It is, but it's not just when I'm sick, when I'm jobless, when things don't go your way. No, prayer is seeking God, is asking God. Prayer is how we communicate to God, it's how we grow our fellowship, it's how we grow our relationship, and so if we're not praying to God, we're not asking God for anything, right?

Speaker 1: 38:26

So just pray to God every day, and it's not a chore, it's like we mentioned. It's not this mysterious phenomenon that happens. No, it's a father that wants to speak to his children, and so be a good child and speak to your dad, you know. So, yeah, that's what we got on prayer and hopefully, it's been an encouragement to you because yeah, it has been us, that's for sure.

Speaker 2: 38:54

Yeah, and I was going to say too it's. I feel like there's so much more we could say. I mean, the prayer is such a oh, there's a ton more Because prayer is simple, but it's such a deep subject. At the same time, you know you could always go another layer down.

Speaker 1: 39:09

Oh, yeah, yeah, so maybe we'll have to come back again sometime All right? Well, we hope you enjoyed it guys. We at least I have enjoyed preparing for it, and I guess we'll see you on the next episode.

Speaker 2: 39:23

Thank you for listening to Young America. If you enjoyed the show, please consider sharing it with a friend, and if you want to see more content from us, please check the links in the description below and consider supporting the show. God bless America.