[00:00:10] Speaker A: Everybody, it's Rick and Rob. Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor podcast.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: How you doing?
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Good, good. How about you?
[00:00:15] Speaker B: I'm great, man.
It started out as kind of a crappy kind of day.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: It's only going to get colder from here throughout the weekend.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Yeah, seriously, I think it's supposed to get down to two.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Like Saturday night, it's supposed to be like two degrees. And I'm thinking, I'm not riding to the clubhouse on a motorcycle.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: I saw a club canceled tonight's dinner.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Yes, I did. I was shocked.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: So was I. I was like, whoa, really?
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Okay. I was thinking, that's highly unusual for this.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Is it going to be that bad? That's what I thought. Well, I guess so.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: But then again, those guys in that house, it's sometimes hard to heat that house.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Oh, that's probably true.
I hope it's not pipes bursting type of thing.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I do, too.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: I keep looking at my. I have an app on my phone that checks the temperature of my rv.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Yeah. So I check it every couple of hours. I feel like.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Yeah, but now you have the four season.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: I do have a four season, yeah. And I got my furnace blowing right now.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: The last time I looked, it was like 66 degrees inside.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: So it stays pretty warm.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Right now it's going to tell me here in a second.
Maybe it's not going to tell me. 65.6.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: And it will actually text me if it gets below 45.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Really?
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: That's crazy.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah, well, because that gives me enough time to get to it and do anything that I would need to do.
My furnace is electric or propane, and I have it on electric, but if the power goes out, then I need to go switch it to propane.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Propane?
[00:02:09] Speaker A: It gives me time to get there.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Yeah, but your water lines and everything, you keep those insulated.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Oh, I have heated water, you know, so it's a no freeze hose. It'll never freeze.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: It plugs in.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: But there was a funny story about that when Rebecca and I left Mount Juliet before we moved to Portland several years ago. This has been like, 2015.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
I thought you lived in, like, Castilian Springs.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: We do now. Okay, well, we were living gallatin. But anyway, when there was a time when we were renting that we were going to try to buy a house, and that's another whole testimony thing. But anyway, the house sale fell through and we literally had nowhere to go. So my dad said, hey, I'm going to bring my fifth wheel over. This is where we bought a camper.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: So he brought his fifth wheel over and we parked it at Bledsoe Creek State park.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: This was on New Year's Eve.
Right.
And then on January the eigth or 9th or something like that, we got eight inches of snow.
Here we are in this rv.
We didn't have a heated water hose, but I'd seen where the weather was coming in, so we just filled up the.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Yeah, just fill the tank up.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Fill the tank up. Right. The bad thing about it was living in an rv through January because we were there for 32 days.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Living in an rv in January without insulated hoses or heated hoses, like, even when you're draining the gray water and the black water tank, that hose freezes.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: Yes, it does.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: And then it is a mess.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Yes, it is.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: It is a mess.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Talking about living in a camper for 32 days in the winter is a perfect segue into talking about prayer.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: It really is.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: And so that's really what we want to talk about today is talk about prayer and what the Bible says about prayer and kind of your prayer life.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Do you want to start? How do you want to do it?
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Well, first of all, let's talk about some different ways. First of all, that we can use prayer.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Let's just kind of give a broad discussion of different ways that we can use prayer. All right.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Let me hear it.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Right. So I would start off with the way that we pray in being thankful to God.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Okay.
When Jesus taught us how to pray and going back to the end of the sermon on the mountain.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Matthew, Matthew six.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Matthew six. Yeah. He says in verse nine, this then is how you should pray. Our father in heaven, hallow be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
Be thankful, first of all.
And look for what God is going to give you.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Recognize his holiness and look for what he's going to give you.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Yeah. And so after being thankful, what does he teach us?
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: So he's asking us, he's telling us, he's saying, first of all, be thankful for what you have.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Right. Recognize his whole.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: Recognize.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Recognize him. Yeah.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: And then ask for forgiveness.
Right. Because we all struggle. None of us are right. But after you ask for forgiveness, he says, forgive others.
Vastly overlooked in today's society.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Hugely.
Because we're in a meism thing.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: Fix me. Fix me. Fix me. Fix me.
Give me what I want.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: This is what I should be having.
And then he goes on to say, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Guide me, show me how to live.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Guide me. Show me.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Show me exactly where the steps I should take to be closer to you.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: And protect me.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: And protect me.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Keep me away from those things.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Keep me away from the evil one.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: That prayer.
I think everybody who's read the Bible or has some walk has heard the.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Prayer, the model prayer.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Read the model prayer. But how often do we actually do it?
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Do we follow what's in the model prayer? Or how many times do we say the model prayer?
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Do we follow? Oh, right. Do we follow what's in the model prayer? I think a lot of times this is just me speaking. Right. I don't want to speak for anybody else, but I find that sometimes I get into this method of.
I just say, hey, thank you for the blessings that you've given me. Right.
Here's what I need.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: I'm always trying to be thankful first.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: True. Right.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: God, I want to praise you for the things that you've done. Right.
I said this morning. Right. You know, I. I recommitted to be very specific and intentional in my prayer life.
Right.
Not just, hey, bless this food.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: That's not intentional, not a routine.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Right.
I want to be very intentional in my prayer life. And so part of that being intentional is like, God, thank you.
Thank you for everything you've done, and thank you for everything I haven't seen you do.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: I think we overlook that part.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: You know what? I agree. I totally agree. We look past those things that God, because we take them for granted.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Oh, I know. I do. I know that I do. I hate to admit that. I hate to admit that I take anything from God for granted, but I do.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: I do, too.
I have learned over the years that in my prayer life, recognizing who God is, being thankful for, what he sustains me with and what he gives me, and what he blesses me with.
If I do not recognize to God that I have looked past some of his blessings, then I'm not truly asking for his forgiveness.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: And so I ask for that forgiveness for looking past his blessings or looking around them, are not looking for them at all.
In doing so, I'm not saying that that justifies me.
I want to acknowledge to him that I recognize my failure because he recognizes it.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Let me ask you this. I'm pretty sure I know your answer, but how and when and where should prayer occur?
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Everywhere, anytime. And all the time.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: That's right. And in any way.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: I think growing up as a little kid, you see the kind of kneel by the side of your bed, holding your hand, hold your hands. Right. It's the steeple.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: So every night, kneel down before bed and pray.
Now, look, I'm not saying don't pray before bed.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: No.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: I'm saying that sometimes, for me personally, my most moving and inspirational prayer time is when I'm on my bike.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: We've talked about this, and I am 100% agreeing.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: We have. And I think it's because there's no distraction in the conversation I'm having with God.
And notice I didn't say prayer. I said, in the conversation I'm having with God.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: My prayer time is not one way.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: No.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: And I think people misinterpret that maybe or don't understand it, to say that it's not one way.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: That it is a conversation.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: To me, it's like a conversation I'm having with you.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: True.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Right. Now, do I verbally hear him? No. Generally not, no. But in your heart, you hear, amen to that.
That's why I use the word verbally.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: It's not that I don't hear. Right, but I hear it the way he's telling me.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: How he's reaching out.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: So that's how the Holy Spirit is used in prayer.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: So when we pray, I'm saying we, as a body of Christ, when we pray, if we look for those times where there's no distraction, there's nothing to keep us from hearing what the Holy Spirit's telling us.
How much more fortified is our prayer life in that?
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Well, I think it's just astronomically more.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Right. I don't know that I could put a measurement on how much more it is.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: I don't think so either.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: And so I have this practice that I work in every day.
Some days I'm better at it than others, but I call it a first and ten. The first ten minutes of my day I spend in prayer and in a scripture reading.
Now, that first ten minutes may be in the kitchen, it may be in the bathroom, it may be out on the screen porch.
But the first ten minutes of my day is alone with God. To acknowledge him, to thank him for raising me up out of the bed, giving me a breath in my lungs, and to start my conversation with him for the day.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, Paul teaches us. Right. In Ephesians 618, he says, pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and request with this in mind. Be alert and always keep on praying for all of the Lord's people.
He's saying always, anytime, anywhere, any place. Anyway, always.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: So let me ask you a do you, how does Rick explain the scripture, pray without ceasing?
[00:13:45] Speaker A: It's to me personally, the pray without ceasing means never stop talking to God.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Okay. I buy that.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: Right. Never put a wall up between you and God.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Now, that doesn't mean every second of the day I'm going to be okay. God. Right.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: Dear heavenly Father.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: But in everything that I do, I should be having a conversation with him, and it isn't Lord, God, Father. God, please, today.
Dear heavenly Father, Father in heaven. It's not that.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: It's like, God. I'm fixing to take this turn.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: So I call those. I need you to just keep me on the straight and narrow. Right. Lord. I'm getting on this bike, right. Lord, there's a deer.
Please, God, don't let it jump out right.
To me. That's prayer without ceasing. It's not the I'm on my knees, I'm getting to God in the way. Air quotes that were raised as children to believe what prayer is, right.
Because I was raised. Prayer is at night before you go to bed, say your prayers before. Well, I wasn't really raised that way, but my friends were raised that way. Right. And so I heard it. I learned that. Right. And then you prayed before breakfast and you prayed before dinner and you skipped the prayer at lunch because you were at.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: You're in the cafeteria.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Cafeteria, right. You don't want to make anybody feel weird.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: I remember praying in school, though, like my first and second grade years in school, my kindergarten, first thing grade.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Well, we might have, too. I know we said the pledge of allegiance. I don't remember.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: We did. Every day. Yeah.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: I don't remember praying in school, but it wouldn't surprise me because I probably just blocked that out because I hated school so bad.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: I agree.
I was kind of the same. And the bad thing about it was my mom was a high school english teacher, but anyway, so I look at the pray without ceasing the exact same way.
So if my life is focused on him, so that everything. And I have this thing that I call Arrow prayers. Like, lord, I see this deer up here. Please keep me safe through this.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: I like that. Arrow prayers. Yeah, I like that.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Shooting that arrow up real quick. Or, lord, remind me what this command is to see if a t one is slipping in this router.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
But there's also that conversation that I have throughout the day where I'm praising him, I'm thanking him, I'm asking him, and I'm listening to him so that there's no doubt in my mind of where my allegiance, my focus, and my affection go to.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Yeah, let me ask this. I already know the answer. But for everybody listening, because I think it's important, is listening to worship music, praying without ceasing.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Um, that's another podcast.
Here's the reason why. Because what gets qualified as worship music is a whole lot of I and me.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: I agree with that.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: And not God.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree with that. To some extent.
I think it is dependent on who is listening.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Right. Because what you hear in worship music and what I hear or somebody else hears may not always be the same thing. Right. Because we're listening to it through different.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Ears, different message, you say?
Because I also hear sharps and flats.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: I don't hear all that.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I hear none of that. Rebecca and I were watching tv last night, and I've forgotten now what it was. Somebody was singing, and it was like, somebody's flat. Stop it. Snails on chalkboard.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: I don't hear none of that.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: See, I do.
But recorded music, obviously, is something that's able to be fixed.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Let me back up and answer that question this way.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: So for the message that you get out of praise music, because I believe there is praise and worship music, and then I believe there is positive reinforcement music that gets labeled as praise and worship music.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: I agree with that.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: And then there's some just flat, performance based music that gets labeled as praise and worship music.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: I 100% agree with that. And I'm not talking about.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: That.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: I know. But just for clarification purposes, like, if.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: You'Re listening to amazing grace, okay, is that praying? Like, are you having a conversation with God when that music is going on?
[00:18:59] Speaker B: I believe in what we do in amazing grace.
We are praising the Lord.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: And extolling upon him the things that we see of his grander and his greatness.
So I do believe that because our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, is a praise to him.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: And so, in amazing grace, we'll say. We'll single that song out in amazing grace. I believe that could be a form of prayer.
Now, I have people in my life.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: So I might interrupt you just for a minute.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Because when I said I think I know the answer, I did.
I knew what you were saying. I knew where you're going because I asked it specifically for a reason. Because there are people who will say why. I listen to that. I listen to that song. I don't need to pray. Right.
Look, you should praise God in all things that you do, but it can't.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Be a substitute for.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: But that's not your prayer journey.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Right.
Exactly.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: That's not what the Bible tells you to do. Now, the Bible talks about sing and dance and praise God and do all these things. Right. But it also says pray anytime. Pray without ceasing. Right. Pray for God's guidance.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: Pray for the Holy Spirit to help.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: It doesn't say sing for.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: And so there are people in my life who would completely disagree with that and say that.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: Mine, too.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: No, prayer has got to be something that you specifically address God only.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: And you pray that prayer through Jesus.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: I don't disagree with praying the prayer through Jesus. I don't.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: No, not at all.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: I do believe that in extolling praise to God for God as an audience of one, that prayer is incorporated into that.
And I believe that in claiming how great we see of the evidence of God and what his works are and what his Majesty is and his beauty in singing something like amazing grace.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: I.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Don'T believe that's a substitute for prayer. That because we sang amazing grace, we went to pray today. I don't buy that.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: I don't either.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: I don't buy that at all for a second. But I believe that that can be an addition to what I think.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: It absolutely can be an addition. Right. That part of our prayer life is that praise.
Right.
I guess the best examples I could give is, like, there's sometimes when we'll be sitting in worship service at church and after a song has just really got to me, I'll pray.
God. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Just for everything. Thank you.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: Right. And so that praise music does that.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: To me as a worship leader, there have been times where the music that I have been leading people in praise to God with has caused me to direct the band to stay on the bridge and start praying.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Now, I'm not saying that's the mark of a great worship leader to be able to recognize that, but at the same time, how many times do we not thank him or do we not praise him in a moment of exaltation through prayer?
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: And I'm 100% with you on. There be times when, in the middle of a song or after a song or beginning a song or whatever, I'll break into a prayer sitting in the chair.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: I don't have to be on the stage.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: I think the praise and worship should elevate your relationship to the point. Like, not your relationship, but should increase the spirit in you enough to take that step of prayer.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: Maybe that's a better way to say it.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree.
Yeah.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: All right, so let me ask this, okay?
Because a lot of people ask this question.
Does God answer prayers?
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: I mean, it's a simple answer, right? Yeah, but there's some caveats to that.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: How so?
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Well, he doesn't always answer the way you want. Okay, he answers them, but I think sometimes people believe.
Right. Well, he didn't answer me. Well, were you really listening?
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Right. He did answer, or he will answer. He just hasn't yet.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: So we have to acknowledge that God's going to answer your prayers, but he may not answer it when you want and how you want.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Well, and that goes back to Paul praying to God to remove the thorn. That's right.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: Three times. And all three times he said my grace is sufficient.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: That's right. He said, you just need to relax.
Right.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: Just hold on. So for the people that wonder if God answers prayers, God answers every single one with either yes, no, or wait.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: I wholeheartedly believe that that's the three answers that God gives when a specific prayer is raised.
Yes, no, or wait.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Yes, no, or wait. Straight into the point.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
I mean, he's not the author of confusion.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: No, he is definitely not.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: So he's not going to go, let me give you just a little bit right here, and then the rest will come later.
He's not going to say, well, I think that's a good idea.
But what if we tweak it a little bit?
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
When it comes to prayer, I really like what it says in two chronicles 714.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: I like this verse. Hit it.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn away from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: So what's the key to that?
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Turn away from their wicked ways.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Exactly right.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: There's two keys. Right? Humble themselves, turn away from their wicked ways, seek God.
Right.
To me he's saying, look, if you're just going to be a jackwad, continue to do what you've been doing, right? That's my politically correct term. Jack Wad.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Jack Wad and Jack wagon.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: But if you're going to keep being the same person that you were.
Live in the flesh, live in the world.
And then pray, why am I going to listen to that?
[00:26:49] Speaker B: So I want to give you a natural progression in that.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:26:52] Speaker B: So it says, humble yourselves. Number one. To humble yourselves, you're going to recognize that there are evil ways in your life.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Recognize there's a problem. Right.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: So you humble yourselves, you recognize the problem and realize that you've got to turn away from that. And the opposite of good is bad.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: And the opposite of bad is good. Right. So when you turn from your bad ways, you're naturally going to seek his face.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: So the key and all of that is humbling yourselves and turning because you realize when you humble yourself that there is an issue and God is the only one that can fix that issue, no matter what Dr. Phil says.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: No matter what Donahue or Oprah or Tom Cruise or anybody else says, God is the only one that can fix the problem, no matter what the problem is.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: So realizing that he is the one, that he is the key to all of it.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: And turning away from what you wanted to see, you're obviously going to seek him.
And so the key in that chronicles passage holds true when it was written. It holds true yesterday, today, and forever. Correct till the end of time.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: What do you say to the people that say, well, I'm a good person, though? What do you mean, turn from my wicked ways?
[00:28:27] Speaker B: Well, everybody, do you want to do the Romans road to salvation?
[00:28:37] Speaker A: I mean, at some point, probably, but, yeah, we will. But there's just so many people.
Maybe I've heard it more in my life, just growing up in Utah, I'm.
[00:28:49] Speaker B: A good person, so I'm going to.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: Because so many people just are so.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: Right.
That they're like, look, I'm a good person.
Why are you condemning me?
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Well, let's talk about what Jesus said.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Because when did I see you clothe the naked? When did I see you feed the hungry? When did I see. When did you do those and things?
[00:29:22] Speaker A: What if you do all those things but not in his name? What if you do all those?
[00:29:25] Speaker B: That's the thing.
It may make you a decent person, but that's not what.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: But decent people don't go to heaven.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Exactly. That's what I was going to say.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: I mean, I hate to say it like that. Right. It's about as blunt as it can be.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: True.
[00:29:40] Speaker A: Being a good person doesn't get you into heaven, right?
[00:29:43] Speaker B: That's not a qualifier.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: In fact, you can be a way better person than me.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: True.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: And not go to heaven. I'm not a great person. Let me just.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: No.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: Right. I'm not. I sin.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: I got problems.
[00:29:55] Speaker B: I got issues.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Fight with my wife. Right. I argue with her for stupid reasons.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: I do, too. Not your wife, but mine.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Right. I'm not a great person.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Right. I don't even count myself as a good person.
[00:30:09] Speaker A: I try to, but I'm striving to be a good person.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: But I know that through Christ, all is possible.
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: Right. All is forgiven.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: Everything.
[00:30:20] Speaker A: And so when we talk about God is going to hear you. It doesn't matter how good you are, if you're not talking to God, if you're not following Christ, there's something wicked in your life, sure. That is preventing you from making that turn. You haven't humbled yourself. It doesn't matter how good you are.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Right.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: If you haven't humbled yourself and turned, there's still something there.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: There is. And that's the thing that keeps you from being a good person or a godly person.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: That's right.
That's a big one, right?
[00:30:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:58] Speaker A: Am I good or am I godly?
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Yes. Let me text this guy back real quick.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: You're fine.
All right, so while you're doing that, the next thing is what we talked about is the requirements for prayer. But the one thing that I really want to go through just as quick as I could is just one verse, romans 826.
It says.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: The spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
I am.
This is going to sound a little like a dissertation.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: Okay, go.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: This is not a carte blanche key to speaking tongues.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: It's just.
And I'm trying to hold back on this, okay? Because otherwise this will be an hour and a half podcast, and we don't need to do that. In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness, period. He helps us out when we don't know what to do. We don't know what we ought to pray for. But the spirit himself intercedes through wordless groans. The Holy Spirit is taking care of speaking directly to the Father.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: On our behalf.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Correct. Now, this is my every man's Bible, right. You know, I love.
This is like my go to.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Right.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: But I want to read to you because it's a study bible, and I think a lot of people, and I think what you're trying to avoid, I think a lot of people misinterpret that to agree, or whatever it may be.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: But I want to read to you the footnote in the every man's Bible.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: It says, prayer is one of the ways we draw closer to God and preserve our spiritual gains. Paul assures us that the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is at work within us as we pray. We are not left alone.
We are not left alone to work out our problems. As we entrust our lives to God, he directs the events of our lives, even the painful ones, for our good. He can turn even our mistakes into the means for our growth and blessing.
So.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Cutting this off at verse 26.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Well, you probably should go to 28.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: That's what I was going to say.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: The end of 28.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: That's what I was going to say.
Let's see. And he who searches verse 27, and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Now dissect this just a little bit. We're going to stay in prayer here, but I'm going to dissect this just for a second because we are in prayer. So verse 26 doesn't give us carte blanche key to pray in tongues, but allow the holy spirit to pray for us. He who searches our hearts knows the minds of the spirit. He's talking about God because the spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with God's will. Here's the key right here that I want to say. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who've been a called according to his purpose. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that that means that everything that we walk through God's going to make good for us?
[00:35:30] Speaker A: No.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: Why do people get that twisted?
[00:35:34] Speaker A: Hope.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: Hope in what?
[00:35:38] Speaker A: In the hope that anything they do, God is going to bless.
[00:35:41] Speaker B: So we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
I don't want people to.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: Is it almost like that's the potential prosperity use?
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: Yeah, we've talked about that several times.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: But I think it's important when you think of those. Right. Because in two chronicles it says humble yourself.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: Right.
But here, knowing that God works things for the good of those who love.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Him, who have been called according to his purpose.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Right. Not your purpose, my purpose. That's not humbling yourself.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: Not at all. Not at all.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: That's not allowing yourself to turn from your ways.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: To seek his face.
[00:36:39] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:36:40] Speaker B: To seek him. To seek his ways. To know what he's about.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
The reason we've been jumping around from different scriptures when we talk about this is because I think it's sometimes easy for people to cherry pick scripture.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: And misinterpret it.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: Right.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: That's why I say, okay, it is one verse, but what's it mean to you? Right. And then you're exactly what I thought. Hoped you would say, well, let's read a couple more.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: Yeah. We needed to delve into that just a little bit deeper to get some more contextual reference there. But at the same time, when you talk about people that like to cherry pick or like to.
Well, it says right here, we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. He's going to work it out for my good.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: He also says for his purpose, not your purpose.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Right.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Read the end of the verse.
Read into the.
And sometimes it's not as simple as just reading the end of the verse, but backing out and getting an overview of what's going on.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Sometimes you need to read 20 before and 20 after.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Right. It's like sometimes you'll hear people quote John 316, for God so loved the world, he said, his one only son.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: And that's it.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
Or Jeremiah 20, 911 know the plans.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: That's right.
But what about the. For whoever believed in him?
[00:38:16] Speaker B: Exactly. Well, read John 317.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: Don't just stop there.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:38:27] Speaker B: I remember as a kid, we had this thing in church where our church challenged us to be what we call daily Bible readers.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: So at the end Sunday morning, you'd go into Sunday school or whatever, and they'd say, all right, I need to see show hands whose daily Bible is hands go up.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: My little brother was a daily Bible reader for like weeks in a row. But he was reading like, what is it, psalm 118. It's only got two verses in it.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: So he's reading that every day.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: Reading that every day.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm a daily every day.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Every day I read it.
But he started feeling convicted about it, and he started feeling guilty in that conviction.
And so he goes to my dad, tears in his eyes like dad I did, but I lied about it. Dad said, what do you mean? He said, well, I read the same scripture every day for weeks in a row now. He was seven, eight. He was young.
He's 51 now. But anyway, here's the thing.
Because of the conviction in his heart and the way that he felt, even though he was doing good as what we talked about before, he realized that that wasn't God's way, that wasn't God's purpose.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: It wasn't God's purpose for him in his life.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: And so knowing that all things work for the good, that God works, the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, Roger understood what his purpose was in trying to fulfill that challenge of being a daily Bible reader wasn't just about reading the shortest two verses in the Bible or the shortest chapter in the Bible.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Yeah. You're like, okay, read one book of the Bible every day. Well, I'm going to read Jude or Philemon.
Philammon or whatever. Right.
[00:40:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: It's a five minute read.
[00:40:42] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[00:40:44] Speaker A: That's what I'm going to read.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to do that today.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:47] Speaker B: So here's my point, and this is where I think we need to go with this.
In order for us to be effective in prayer, we have to understand, number one, what prayer means.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: We have to, number two, understand how to use prayer and what prayer is designed for. And number three, we have to understand what the purpose of that prayer is in our life.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: I agree when I said I recommitted to God to be very intentional in my prayer. Right. My prayer isn't God. Give me this.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: It's, Lord, I'm coming to you today, humble.
What do you need from me?
Show me where I need to go.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Show me your desire. Right. It's not about me as much as I want it to be about me.
[00:41:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:49] Speaker A: I really do sometimes.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: But break my heart for what breaks yours.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Yeah, show me.
[00:41:54] Speaker B: Yeah, that's powerful.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: Yeah, it is.
[00:41:59] Speaker B: That's very powerful.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: It's been amazing, as always.
[00:42:03] Speaker B: It has been. And I have thoroughly enjoyed talking about prayer today especially. And we talked about it this morning a little bit. And the things that being a recommitment and some of the things that we want to change in our prayer lives. And that's just a testament of us wanting to grow.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:28] Speaker B: That's just evidence in our lives of us wanting to grow.
[00:42:32] Speaker A: Amen to that.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: So, folks, we thank you for being with us today. We thank you that you have taken time out of your day, of your schedule to listen to a couple of knuckleheads ramble on and we're on every single podcast platform and on YouTube.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: So you can watch us stumble over ourselves and you can see us roll our eyes at each other sometimes. That didn't happen today.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: You can listen to Batman's alarm go off his truck.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: And see the mistakes happen as they happen.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: Well, it wouldn't be authentic if it was all polished.
[00:43:20] Speaker B: True.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: True. We've never edited per se, podcast. Now, we've had to pause a couple of times because of a phone call or an emergency.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: Yeah, but that happens.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Alarm going off.
[00:43:32] Speaker A: Alarm going off. We did pause, but, yeah, we've never edited or cut anything out.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Yeah, true.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: And so if you're watching this or listening and there's a weird pause in the video, it's because we pushed pause to turn the alarm off.
[00:43:50] Speaker B: Right. Turn a truck alarm off. We had to walk over to the window and raise the blind.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what normally happens.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
Hey, we want to encourage you and invite you to send us some topics, send us some feedback.
We've got comments turned off on YouTube, so you can't comment on YouTube, but we encourage you to send us an email at
[email protected] and Rick and I will go through those. And if you have a prayer request, if you have a concern, if you have a topic you want us to cover, or if you have questions about something that we've already covered, please send us an email at
[email protected] we'll be glad to come answer those. And if it's something we need to address on air in a podcast or something like that, we'll do that as well. Or if it's something we need to do privately and personally, we can do that, too. So in the meantime, folks, thanks for being with us again. We want to remind you to love.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: God and love people.
