Participants: Mike Lemon (Host)
Series Code: SCS
Program Code: SCS000011S
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00:31 Chapter 11: The Privilege of Prayer.
00:36 Hello and Welcome to Steps to Christ in song. 00:38 Today, we're gonna be looking at the privilege 00:40 of prayer. Let me tell you a little personal secret 00:43 I used to be afraid to pray, I grew up in the 00:47 Anglican Church and there was a Reverend Blackstock. 00:51 They used to wear these big robes and he would 00:53 pray in a very formal way to God and so I thought 00:57 if I can't pray to God that way then he is probably 01:00 not interested in my prayers and there were 01:02 other people in the church, adults, 01:04 who would pray like that and so that's where 01:06 I formed this idea. So, as I came to different 01:12 situations, where I would have to pray always 01:14 be terrified. And so there was a situation 01:16 where I was asked to pray in public and I was so 01:20 terrified I refused and afterwards the person 01:23 who ask me to pray came to me and said 01:25 why are you so afraid to pray in public 01:28 and I told him that I was afraid not to use the 01:31 right language and that I couldn't pray like that. 01:34 And so he said to me something that I 01:36 would never forget, he said prayer is the opening 01:39 of the heart to God as to a friend and when I heard 01:42 that it made me feel warm and comfortable inside 01:46 like I could talk to God about my worries, 01:49 my fears whether I was happy or sad 01:52 and he'd be very interested, and so today 01:55 we're gonna talk about prayer and before we get 01:58 too far into it, I'm gonna ask Jennifer 02:00 if she will lead us in a word of prayer. 02:03 Could you do that Jennifer? Sure. Let's pray. 02:07 Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for the 02:10 privilege we have to communicate with you. 02:12 I ask this in your Holy Spirit to mend our hearts 02:16 as we learn more about our need for you, 02:20 thank you in your name, amen. 02:24 Understanding what I do about God's love and power, 02:27 I sometimes wonder why we don't talk to him 02:30 more often about our problems. 02:32 I mean talking to God should be like talking to a 02:34 friend, the difference is that this friend has all 02:38 the answers to all our problems. 02:41 Jesus says in Matthew 7:9 through 11 what man 02:44 is there among you who, if the son asks for bread, 02:48 will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish, 02:52 will he give him a serpent. If you then being evil, 02:55 know how to give good gifts to your children 02:57 how much more will your Father who is in heaven 03:00 give good things to those who ask him. God is on your 03:03 side and he wants you to be happy, 03:06 so why not ask him to help you find that 03:08 true happiness which nothing can take away. 03:15 My Jesus Knows When I'm Lonely 03:19 He Knows Each Pain, He Sees Each Tear 03:24 He Understands Each Lonely Heartache 03:29 He Understands Because He Cares 03:34 My Jesus Knows Just What I Need 03:39 Oh, Yes He Knows Just What I Need 03:43 He Satisfies And Every Need's Supplied 03:48 Yes, He Knows Just What I Need 03:53 When Other Friend Seem To Forget Me 03:57 When Skies Are Dark Can Hope Scenes Gone 04:02 By Faith I Feel He Surrounds Around Me 04:07 And Hear Him Say You're Not Alone 04:12 My Jesus Knows Just What I Need 04:16 Oh, Yes He Knows Just What I Need 04:21 He Satisfies And Every Need's Supplied 04:26 Yes, He Knows Just What I Need 04:31 Yes, He Knows Just What I Need. 04:41 In James 4:2, it says we have not because we ask not. 04:45 And even though Jesus knows what we need 04:47 before we ask him, he still wants us to ask. 04:51 Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to come boldly 04:53 before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy 04:56 and find help in time of need. But Rebecca what about 04:59 little children, does that apply to little children. 05:02 I think it does, when I was little me and my sister 05:05 really wanted a playhouse and so we prayed 05:08 and asked God to give us a playhouse, 05:09 but not just any playhouse. We wanted a playhouse 05:12 that had a deck, two windows and a door with 05:15 the handles, so we could open it and like 05:17 walk-in it. Specific details, yes, okay. 05:19 And so we prayed every night and asked God 05:21 and mom and dad, they prayed too but they're 05:23 kind of little bit skeptical because we had a lot, 05:26 we wanted specifics and, but we trusted that 05:28 God would, you know, listen and answer our prayer 05:30 and so we prayed and prayed and. 05:33 One night my mom and dad were looking through 05:34 the newspaper and they saw an ad for a playhouse 05:37 and we read about it, but we weren't quite sure 05:40 if there was and so we want to go and look at it. 05:42 And we went and my sister and I saw it, 05:44 we were so excited because it had exactly 05:47 what we prayed for. Wow, it is a little playhouse 05:50 and had a deck, had two windows, 05:51 the windows opened, had a door with the handle 05:54 and then when you walked in there is a rainbow 05:57 inside and then up on the roof there is blue sky with 06:01 clouds and it was like absolutely amazing 06:04 and I don't know it was just a real blessing 06:07 because you know even though we were so little 06:09 we had that faith, yeah, and you know faith is the 06:15 key in the hand of, prayer is the key in the hand of 06:18 faith to open heaven's door house. And we had that 06:21 and God answered our prayer and 06:23 I just think that's what we need. 06:24 That's a good promise, prayer is a key in the 06:27 hand of faith to unlock heaven's door house. 06:30 That's true and I've experienced the same type 06:32 of thing. I've prayed for people in different 06:35 situations I remember one time with the elder 06:37 of our church, we went and prayed for a little baby, 06:40 who had had a number of operations on her. 06:43 She was, she had so many operations that she was 06:45 afraid of anyone wearing a white coat 06:48 because these doctors used to wear white you know 06:50 when they would come in and so we went to pray for her. 06:53 They, the doctors had given up and they said the next 06:56 day she would die and we just heard about this at 06:58 our church and so we went and prayed for her 07:00 and she was completely healed, 07:02 they didn't have to do anymore operations 07:03 and her parents came to us and they were just crying 07:06 and they said thank you praying for this little baby 07:09 and it wasn't us it was God who healed her 07:12 and just yesterday, I had an answered prayer. 07:15 I mean we had many answered prayer 07:16 that I could talk about, but this was yesterday 07:20 I was feeling this kind of an abdominal pain, 07:22 it was really a strange sort of pain, it was all 07:24 morning, it was going on for hours and then finally 07:27 I had to teach a class it was social studies nine 07:29 and before class I went to the cafeteria you were 07:34 there Rebecca and I looked for some charcoal 07:37 tablets to take away maybe or something I ate 07:39 or something inside, so I took these tablets 07:42 and about two or three minutes later 07:44 I was back in the class and I was in so much pain 07:46 I couldn't even kneel down to pray and before class 07:49 we always pray and I asked Benjamin to pray 07:51 and Benjamin prayed for the rest of the class 07:53 and then he prayed for me that I would be healed 07:56 and when I got up off my knees I was healed, 08:00 it was gone, it was completely gone. 08:02 Yesterday you know and it was an immediate 08:04 answer to prayer. Have any of you had lately an 08:10 answer to prayer to see how God was leading in 08:12 your life. Oh actually I have something I really 08:16 like to share do you don't mind I share it real quick? 08:18 Sure go ahead, Leighton. Well, okay being on the 08:22 Steps to Christ Filming Crew has been a big 08:25 blessing for me and just lately like 08:28 when we've been filming these Bible studies, 08:31 we had so many answers to prayer like the first day, 08:35 we were out here at the river, I remember that, 08:38 and yeah the wind was blowing and okay it would 08:42 not stop, we were just waiting for it to stop 08:45 and so we decided okay let's pray. 08:48 So we stopped and we prayed and like while 08:54 we were praying the wind stopped, 08:56 wow and I was like wow, you know, 08:58 and that was such an answer to prayer 09:00 and it was great, the second day we were filming, 09:05 we were going up to a lake and so we're driving in the 09:10 van and we're going up this hill and all of a sudden 09:14 the van just stutters to a stop. Yes, that's true, 09:17 I was driving that van, yeah, it wouldn't go, 09:19 it sputtered and then it just cut out completely. 09:23 Yeah and so one of the students that was with us, 09:27 he is like well we should pray, so we are like you 09:29 know that's a good idea. So we prayed and just like 09:34 as soon as we try starting the van again it fired 09:37 right up and just went like normal. 09:39 Yeah, it went straight up the hill, we went out 09:41 and we filmed and we came back, 09:42 there was no problem with the van after that, yeah. 09:44 And so, then the third day I was like wow we've had 09:49 so much answer to prayer and so we're out filming 09:52 actually here on campus and we're filming away 09:57 and everything was just fine and then we hear 10:00 this engine that was all the way across the river 10:03 and it fired out and we're like oh you know yeah 10:07 it was some guy on his motorcycle just winding it 10:09 out and it wasn't that loud, but it is just like 10:14 you know just enough to disturb our filming 10:16 and so we again we prayed and the engine 10:22 it stopped after I don't know it was a few minutes, 10:25 about a couple of minutes and when we were ready 10:26 to film it stopped, it was just totally silent. 10:29 And it's just been such a blessing, it has been, 10:32 filming here on the Steps to Christ. 10:34 So, those are real answers to prayer, yeah, 10:37 and thanks for interrupting the program to tell us 10:39 about that answer to prayer, 10:40 yeah, thanks Leighton. 10:44 God like a wise parent doesn't always give us 10:47 everything we want. He knows what will make us 10:49 happy and what won't. Paul puts it in this way in 10:53 Romans 8:26, the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. 10:57 For we don't even know what we should pray for, 11:00 nor how we should pray, but the Holy Spirit prays 11:03 for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in 11:06 words. So go ahead and pray knowing that your prayer 11:11 will be answered in a way that will turn out even 11:14 better then you expected, but remember God's first 11:17 priority is to get you into heaven. 11:20 So if you're doing things that you know are wrong 11:23 he makes sure to help you with those things first. 11:26 Trust in God, because he is much wiser and more 11:29 experienced than you are and in the end you'll be 11:32 eternally grateful that you did. 11:36 When we have close friends, we like to communicate 11:39 with them often, in the same way God wants us to 11:42 communicate with him often. So you can talk to him 11:46 anytime, even when you're busy during the day. 11:49 You don't have to say anything because God 11:51 can read your mind. So simply lift up your 11:54 thoughts, concerns, and questions to him 11:56 and he'll understand exactly what you are thinking. 12:00 In this way God can be your constant companion 12:03 and you can have the assurance that he not 12:05 only knows what you're going through, 12:07 but he is with you through it all. 12:12 Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; 12:19 Living with Jesus, a new life divine; 12:26 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine, 12:34 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. 12:46 Moment by moment I'm kept in His love; 12:53 Moment by moment I've life from above; 13:01 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine; 13:10 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. 13:22 Never a trial that He is not there, 13:30 Never a burden that He doth not bear, 13:38 Never a sorrow that He doth not share, 13:46 Moment by moment, I'm under His care. 13:58 Moment by moment I'm kept in His love; 14:06 Moment by moment I've life from above; 14:14 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine; 14:22 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. 14:35 Never a weakness that He doth not feel, 14:43 Never a sickness that He cannot heal; 14:50 Moment by moment, in woe or in weal, 14:58 Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still. 15:10 Moment by moment I'm kept in His love; 15:17 Moment by moment I've life from above; 15:25 Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine; 15:34 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. 15:51 The fact that God knows what I'm going through, 15:53 makes me want to be in his presence more and more. 15:56 The Bible says in Isaiah 53 that Jesus bore our guilt 16:01 and carried our sorrows. He loves us so much 16:04 and he hates to see us in pain or suffering. 16:07 So if we keep our eyes on him and listen to 16:09 what he has to tell us he'll see us 16:11 through any storm that we encounter. 16:13 That's true Robby and there are times though 16:16 when God answers our prayers in very 16:18 unexpected ways. I know that Jennifer told me a 16:21 story about how she was planning for her future, 16:24 where she was gonna go to school and she 16:26 and her parents were praying diligently 16:29 and she got an answer to prayer that was in an 16:31 unexpected way. Jennifer, since you're here, 16:34 can you tell us that experience. 16:37 Sure, well, I was home schooled at that time 16:40 and I was in junior high and both my parents had to go 16:44 work. So, I was alone most of the time and I needed to 16:49 find an academy to go to, so I was the age for it 16:52 and I didn't know where yet, so we just prayed about it 16:56 nothing really came up, so I just stayed at home 16:58 and then one day, is this was Sunday and my mom came 17:07 in, I was on the computer. My mom comes in and 17:10 informed me that a man from our church had passed 17:12 away that morning, did you know that man? 17:15 Yeah, I know him pretty well yeah, 17:16 and I was shocked because I just seen him at the church 17:21 the day before and came closer at the time of 17:25 funeral and the day before I got asked to 17:27 play my violin. So I told my word and then after the 17:34 memorial and after the dinner. My mom needed to 17:38 go to the church to do something and so my dad 17:40 and I are waiting for her and while we were waiting 17:43 the daughter of the man that had died came up to me 17:46 and thanked me for playing my violin, and she said 17:49 that her daughter also plays violin and then she 17:53 asked me what grade I was in I told her junior high 17:55 and I was home schooled and so then just out of the blue she, 18:02 she started to tell me about a school that her 18:04 daughter is going to up in Montana and, 18:08 you were interested because you were looking 18:10 for a school to go to, yeah. So, I was in Washington, 18:16 so this was like two states away maybe 18:19 and just this couple ran the school and at the most 18:26 they take 10 students. So, when my parents 18:31 listened and they didn't think much of it 18:34 they just thought it is pretty neat, 18:35 but when we got home I told my dad that this school 18:39 would be kind of, I might be interested in going 18:42 to this school. He looked to me and he was, 18:45 he was like are you serious, I don't think you 18:47 would be because it's too far from home and yeah, 18:51 out in the middle of nowhere, and look why 18:52 can't, I'm not interested. So, we got on the phone 18:56 right away contacted the lady and she told us 19:00 more information and gave us the phone number, 19:02 so we contacted the school and they send some 19:05 information and the more I read about it, 19:07 the more I liked about it, and at the end of that 19:10 month this was in April, I, we drove up to check out 19:15 the school and when we got there and looked at it, 19:21 we're all very impressed with it and I wanted to go 19:24 there, but there is one problem and that was 19:28 they had a waiting line, wailing list, 19:31 but I wasn't the only one in line, there was 19:33 another girl that wanted to go there too. 19:35 And the day that I was gonna come back home the guy, 19:40 the school told us that he would have accepted me 19:43 right on the spot except the had to be fair with the 19:45 other girl they think about it at least for a few more 19:48 days, so they told me that they have let me know in 19:52 one week. So, exactly one week later, 19:54 this was Tuesday night, so just before 8:30 19:58 we got a phone call and my mom picked it up 20:00 and pretty soon I heard her say, oh thank you, 20:04 I'll tell her, I tell the whole world then 20:07 you're right, then I had been accepted. 20:10 That's an answer to prayer, but it was totally unexpected 20:13 the way you had expected. You didn't know this man 20:16 was going to die, you didn't know that you were going to 20:17 meet his daughter and all those other things that happened. 20:20 So God is interested in, and he answers our prayers, 20:24 not exactly the way we expected, but he still answers our 20:27 prayers. Thank you for that experience. 20:31 There is a very important part of prayer 20:34 that's often neglected. When we are in trouble, 20:36 we naturally cry out to God for help, 20:38 but how often do we praise God for his constant 20:41 faithfulness. Prayer is not just about asking 20:45 and receiving, it is just as important to acknowledge 20:48 God for all he has done for us. You see, the main 20:52 purpose of prayer is not to convince God to bless us. 20:55 He already loves us and wants to give us all good 20:58 things. Matthew 6:8 says, your Father knows 21:02 exactly what you need even before you ask him, 21:06 but the purpose of prayer is to make a change in us. 21:09 Prayer helps us recognize how much God loves us 21:12 and does for us, even before you receive the 21:15 answer to your prayer you can thank God 21:18 because you know he is trustworthy and will do 21:21 what's best. So, why not thank God right now as this 21:25 psalmist says for his goodness and for his 21:28 wonderful works to the children of men. 22:00 Thy loving kindness Is better than life 22:20 My lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee 22:32 I will bless thee as long as I live 22:43 O I will bless thee as long as I live, 23:04 My lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee 23:15 I will bless thee as long as I live. 23:29 My heart shall make me and I shall be, 23:39 give me understanding that I may obey, 23:49 O, Lord the man blesses because I love thee. 24:00 I will bless thee as long as I live. 24:43 You know we can praise God for his loving 24:45 kindness towards us even at times 24:47 when the road of life that we were traveling 24:48 along seems to take some strange twists and turns. 24:51 I know that Amy's parents had an experience 24:54 when the road that they were, 24:56 literal road they were traveling on didn't seem 24:58 to be exactly straight. Amy, do you wanna tell 25:02 us about that experience? Sure, back in May of 1990 25:06 my parents were going on a road trip to Yellowstone 25:08 National Park and they were from Alberta, CA 25:11 and they went down there in a little town called 25:15 Old Montana. They stopped for gas and when they 25:19 stopped for some gas, I was chatting away with the gas 25:21 attendant and they got the gas and they went on down 25:24 the road, we went to the next town about 175 miles down the 25:28 road and they needed to get more gas and my dad went to pay for 25:31 with the credit card which they needed on the road for 25:33 any little emergency expenses and the gas 25:36 and stuff. And he realized he didn't have his credit 25:38 card anymore. So, he had left it at the other gas 25:41 station 175 miles away, so he's got to go back 25:44 and get his credit card. So they paid with what cash 25:47 they had and then they pulled away from, 25:49 mom is there discussing whether we should go back 25:50 or not, well they prayed about it. 25:53 Mom just kept being impressed, we need to go back, 25:55 we need to go back and so they finally decided to turn 25:58 around and go back to 175 miles and, 26:01 so we went back and like this was late in the 26:04 evening and by the time they got back there is like 26:06 9 in the evening. In small town stores usually close 26:08 around 6 or 7 right and he was still open, 26:11 he was planning on closing two hours before, 26:14 but he got so busy that he just stayed open until 9, 26:17 like when they got back. Praise the Lord, 26:19 that's an answer to prayer. And he 26:22 also been thinking about destroying the card 26:24 and calling the bank and stuff and he decided 26:27 to wait just a few more minutes and my parents 26:29 came along and they were able to get their credit card 26:31 back and actually it was a real blessing 26:33 because a few days later they're in another town 26:35 and the car broke down and like if they hadn't had 26:39 the credit card they would not have been able to 26:42 afford the repairs and get back safely 26:44 and everything. Wow, that seems like a kind of 26:48 not the straight way to go they had to go 26:50 and then they had to go back to get the credit card 26:52 that it was a good thing that God had answered 26:54 their prayer in that situation, thanks Amy 26:56 for that experience. You know we used to have 27:00 this little plant in our kitchen window 27:03 and every morning when I'd wake up it look like 27:06 it was kind of leaning outside towards the window 27:08 and so I would move it around because it look kind 27:11 of awkward and throughout the day it would 27:14 stand up straight, but the next morning guess 27:16 what it was leaning towards the window again. 27:19 Why was it doing that? Because the light that 27:22 was streaming in through the window from the 27:24 sun was attracting this plant and like all good 27:28 little plants it was leaning towards the window 27:30 and to the light, that little plant reminds me 27:34 of Jesus. In Mark chapter 1 verse 35 it tells us 27:38 that very early in the morning while it was still 27:41 dark Jesus would get up and go to a solitary place 27:45 and there he would pray. Now if Jesus the creator 27:49 of you and I needed to pray what about you 27:52 and I as weak sinful mortals. We also need to pray. 27:57 Let's take sometime right now to pray. 28:00 Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege 28:03 of prayer and we pray that you will convict our 28:05 hearts of our great need to be drawn to you 28:08 anytime or anywhere to be in the place of prayer, 28:11 in Jesus name we pray, amen. 28:20 Steps to Christ in Song is a 13 part series. 28:23 Designed to be an easy Non threatening way to 28:26 share the good news about Jesus Christ with friends, 28:29 relatives and co-workers. 28:31 Order your copies now by calling 28:33 1-877-490-4141 or visit us 28:39 online at www.fountainviewproductions.com. 28:43 Steps to Christ in Song is also available at your local 28:48 ABC Christian Book Store. |
Revised 2020-10-27