When You Pray - Mark 11:23,24

In this captivating episode of we delve into the essence of spiritual growth through the practices of prayer, listening, and belief. On this first episode back after a long hiatus, Jai guides listeners on a journey to deepen their connection with God, revealing how prayer opens a heartfelt dialogue, listening attunes us to Divine guidance, and belief fortifies our trust in the unseen. This episode serves as a spiritual compass for those yearning to navigate the complexities of faith with confidence and peace. Are you ready for a this transformative experience? Don't forget to share the episode to inspire and uplift others in their journey towards a deeper relationship with God.

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Transcript

Jai: 0:00

the reason I believe most Christians struggle with this part of the scripture, with this aspect of their prayer. Because when we pray, we don't ask with a sense of conviction. And I think it's not because God isn't able to fulfill it But I think it's because we're afraid. We are afraid of the answer. Hello, my brothers and sisters. Welcome back to another edition of Eden's conflict. I'm your host Jai. And it's been a hot minute. I apologize for the delay in starting this season's episodes. I've been on a bit of a hiatus trying to learn quite a few things about running a business, but also trying to figure out just how is the best way to witness. Through that business to the souls that need to hear it. But we'll have more of that at the end of this message. Today, I wanted to get into something that I found really interesting. You see, one of the things that's fascinated me recently is a book about prayer. And I'm probably going to do a few episodes on this. There's been some pointers and things that I've been learning a lot about, but I wanted to bring something to your attention. Something that, that made me think about the order in which we pray, how we organize our thoughts, and what it means to pray. There is this trend going around on social media, a reel that I saw that just inspired me and I had to do something. I had to write something about it. And the passage goes like this, it says, When you pray, God listens. When you listen, God talks. And when you believe, God works. That's it. Pray, listen, and believe. These three steps, make a cool, Audio clip, something that's easy to remember and to help us, think about what should I be doing in my spiritual walk? I think hold key importance to things that we don't often consider.

Lilith: 2:39

Jeremiah 29, verse 11 through 13 says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me, and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.

Jai: 3:01

In Jeremiah's day, what he was going through what the city, the nation of Israel was going through this period of unrest where everything is falling apart. The king is worshiping idols. Jeremiah is calling him out. And God is telling his people, pray to me, cry out to me, call upon me, and I will listen to you. You see, in spite of the wrongs that they had done, in spite of the misleadings of the leadership in government, in spite all of the things that the people as a nation were doing wrong, God was still saying, I have not turned my back on you. Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever found yourself feeling overwhelmed with the sense of guilt and shame, overwhelmed with the sense of distraction and inconvenience that it takes to speak to God? There's too many things going on in my life, God. Hey God, I only have a few minutes this morning because I've got this stuff coming up today that's super important, but I need your blessing and guidance to help get me through it. So I need to make sure to pray to you before I start. We stand in our knowledge of God on the shoulders of giants. We stand at a time and place in earth's history where we have entire millennia of evidence that testifies to the glory of what God is doing with prayer of the humble. Of how God is responding and what he will do to those who are faithfully crying out to him. The knowledge that we have, the insight that we have is one of the most privileged things you could ask for. Imagine praying to God in Jeremiah's time or even further back. Let's go back to Abraham's time. There's no testimonies. There's no written facts. Jeremiah at least had the first five books of the scriptures and you could say the records of kings before that. But you and I have literal millennia of knowledge about how God answers prayer. But do we make the most out of that? Do we know that God listens? When we pray. Step number two when we listen, God speaks.

Lilith: 5:57

John 10 verses 26 and 28, Christ says to the crowd,

Jeeves: 6:01

But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

Jai: 6:15

If we know that God is listening, and we know that it is our responsibility to listen to God, the question is, how is He speaking to us? The analogies that Christ uses to connect the ideas of the simple minded to what God is doing on a divine cosmic scale is so beautiful. Have you ever watched a shepherd call out to his sheep, and there are videos of this, you can see where People try to pose as the shepherd. The shepherd calls the sheep and, and people are watching like, it's just because the sheep know what you look like. So the shepherd says, here, put my clothes on. Let's trade. You dress up like me, go out into the field and see if they listen to you. And so the people try it and the sheep have no interest in them. But the moment the shepherd calls out wearing a different outfit, the sheep come running to his voice. You see, we are sheep. We are the most vulnerable in the spiritual world, in a world of predatory entities that seek to mislead and misdirect us, that seek to take us from the hand of God. Yet Satan cannot force his way upon us, so he must convince us. He must dictate to us in a way that we disbelieve God's promises. And if he can't do that, he goes with the second best, which is to distract us, to get our attention so focused on him that we cannot hear God. Do you take time to listen to God? Do you take time to sit and contemplate the words of God? I don't mean to sit and watch a sermon or to listen to a good audio book that is spiritually based. I mean to literally just sit and think about God in what he says through his word. We talk to Him through prayer. He talks to us through His Word, through nature, and through the influence and council of others who are seeking him as well. Sometimes you might say God sends a divine providence, a divine message that says, Oh, this just spoke to me today. In a moment where I needed that affirmation or I needed that encouragement. God, you sent somebody who just said the exact words I needed to hear. Other times it's through the illustrations of the natural world. And the illustration here is the relationship between the sheep and the shepherd. And while the sheep are grazing in the field, they are always alert and always have their ear in tune, listening for the shepherd's voice. Are we making that same effort? Are we taking the time every day to sit down and cry out to God and then say, speak to me to dear Lord? And if you don't hear an audible voice, that's okay. Because oftentimes the way that God will speak to you is in a way that only you could be convicted by. This last part as we come to a closing, is where most people tend to struggle.

John: 10:50

Mark 11, verses 23 and 24, Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that these things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Jai: 11:21

Throughout scripture, we see Christ constantly affirming this idea of believing that you have received. In the business world, there's this kind of similar idea, which is this envisioning, it's this idea that you empower yourself by what you choose to believe in, you perceive. Speak it into existence is how a lot of people will say it. I'm not completely in line with that, because As I've seen in scripture, the only one who can speak anything into existence is God himself. Now whether you want to get into a debate on if that's biblical or not, that's not what I'm here for. But what I do see here is a responsibility to believe that I have already received that which I ask. Even as I record this message. There are a couple of friends of mine who are facing the potential loss, of a loved one. while they ask and hope for this loved one's life to be spared, they also ask prayers for God's will to be done. And that is no easy task. When faced with a choice to give up something you know is good, the communion and fellowship with a family member, and to say, God, let your will be done, If it is your will, take them from beyond my reach into your loving embrace, into that day where we will be united in heaven. That can be a scary thing. And here is the reason I believe most Christians struggle with this part of the scripture, with this aspect of their prayer. Because when we pray, we don't ask with a sense of conviction. And I think it's not because God isn't able to fulfill it But I think it's because we're afraid. We are afraid of the answer. If you pray for patience, God will give you opportunities to be patient. If you pray for wisdom, God will give you struggles to learn from. And if you pray for happiness, God will give you trials. That when you overcome them, will bring you a joy that you did not know. Now that can be a difficult thing, because we know that there are things God wants for us in our lives, and we're afraid to ask because we're afraid of the experience that we might have to go through in order to gain those things. But herein lies the key. that we need to pay attention to in order to understand this passage on what it means to believe. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, but the evidence of things not seen. So I can have faith that God will do something, and I have evidence that He's doing things, but I don't see the reason behind why things are getting done. But belief, belief is different. Because while faith can be an experience that each of us can explain and every person can share in, belief is personal. Nobody can convict me to believe. I have to choose to believe. No matter what I say, I can never convict you, the listener, on why you should believe. You can only decide whether or not what I'm saying. is convicting to you, is supporting what you want to believe. And therein lies the desire. Therein lies the moment. God, give me a humble heart. I'm going to be humiliated, But do I want what is being offered? And is my desire to know God greater than my pride? If it is, then God, give me the desire to have a desire to know you. And now that I have prayed that, now that I have asked that, I believe that He is already doing it. Because the fact that I even had the inclination to ask Him. to give me what he wants me to ask is him. It is God that speaks in moments of faith where we are choosing him more than we want ourselves. And when we realize the aspects of our lives that are selfish, focused, inwardly focused, and, and self absorbed, These are the aspects of our lives that God can now begin to work on. These are the aspects where instead of asking for God to show some power, let us ask him to help us to surrender. For what greater power can be seen in this world than the transformation of a heart that is unwilling to change? And if you find yourself afraid of something you're asking for, then you know you're on the right track. Because fear does not come from God. Fear is the tool of Satan, and if you fear something to present to God, then you have found the places in your heart that Satan is most at work. And that is exactly where you need to surrender and believe that he is doing what he said he would do. In closing today, I hope this passage, these, these concepts have given you a little bit more of an insight. And so as we pray, let us come to God, knowing that he hears us. Let us learn to listen to his word. Knowing that he speaks through the scriptures and through the inspired messages of those around us and through nature itself. And let us believe in what we hear. Knowing that it is for our benefit. And when we do, will see his great work. Our Father in heaven, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for the opportunity and privilege of knowing you. Lord, we ask that your spirit would fill us with your goodness and grace, with your mercy and truth, with your presence. Father, let our lives be yours. Let our minds be made new. Let our hearts be set free from the world of shame and sin and misery. Amen. Not because we deserve it, nor because we have the ability to do it, but because there is so much in us that we fear the change and what that would look like. Lord, you have promised so often in your word that you will provide all that we need. You have provided it all through the gift of your son, and even now, your son is interpreting our prayers in a way not only which you understand. But then interpreting your response in a way that we will hear. So speak to us, dear Lord. That this day we wouldd come away with a insight and a knowledge of you that only you can give us. We thank you, Father, for hearing this prayer, and we praise you now through the gift of your Son. We commit these things to you in Christ Jesus holy name, Amen. Thank you so much, dear listeners, for tuning in to another episode. I hope to get back into this rhythm of making and recording little sessions like this, but until we should meet again, take care, God bless, and remember, God loves you. The words of Scripture are yours to claim, if only you would believe them.