Participants: Jason Bradley (Host), Nadine Joseph-Collins PhD
Series Code: TMP
Program Code: TMP000004A
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00:34 Hello, and welcome to The Missing Peace.
00:36 My name is Jason Bradley. 00:38 Our primary host for this program 00:40 is Dr, Nadine Joseph Collins. 00:42 Dr. Nadine hails from the Island of Saint Lucia. 00:45 She is passionate about prayer 00:47 and has been empowering the prayer lives of people 00:50 around the world. 00:51 Dr. Nadine is an author, speaker, 00:54 and an affiliate of Sanare Life Ministries 00:56 where she works 00:57 alongside her husband Nyse Collins. 01:00 Dr. Nadine is going to make our prayer lives go, wow! 01:05 But before she does, 01:06 let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. 01:09 Dear Heavenly Father, 01:10 we thank You for the opportunity 01:12 that we have to, 01:13 even be able to commune with You. 01:17 Ellen White says that, 01:19 "When we pray we are placing ourselves 01:22 in Your presence." 01:23 We ask that You would fill this place 01:25 with Your presence, today, 01:27 that You would lead, guide, and direct our conversation, 01:29 and that you would bless those that are at home watching it, 01:33 and bless us as well in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 01:37 So, Dr. Nadine, tell us what we're talking about today? 01:41 Yeah, I want to ask a question first though, like... 01:43 Have you ever had a role model? Yes, I have. 01:46 In what area? 01:49 The area of life, just general role model. 01:51 Life coach. Okay. 01:54 Like business, personal affairs, 01:58 you know, everything. 02:00 Okay, because you know 02:01 psychologists and sociologists are saying 02:03 that if we want to be good at something, 02:06 we need to have a role model, a somebody, 02:09 which is really somebody who's good at the thing 02:11 that we would like to be good at. 02:14 And so today, we're looking at our perfect prayer example. 02:18 And our perfect prayer example in the Bible is Jesus. 02:23 And so today we are going to examine Him, 02:26 His prayer life, 02:27 and how it can be instructive for us 02:30 in developing the habit of praying every day. 02:32 Do you believe 02:33 that Jesus actually had that habit? 02:35 Oh, absolutely. Yes. 02:36 Absolutely. 02:38 And so having role models, 02:39 you know, and in anything we want to be good at, 02:42 it seems to be a good idea. 02:43 I never really understood that when I was growing up. 02:46 I didn't really have role models early in life. 02:50 But I later saw the benefits of it. 02:52 When I saw my friends 02:53 who had role models in the areas 02:55 that they were interested in, 02:56 like, those who loved the singing, 02:58 they had role models, 03:00 you know, those persons who were good singers, 03:01 and I saw how it impacted what they were doing. 03:07 And so when we examine our own prayer lives, 03:09 I think, if we can get good role models, 03:11 and there are many in the Bible. 03:13 I chose Jesus as the perfect prayer example 03:16 because we will see throughout His life 03:18 the habit that He had of praying every day. 03:21 Not just every day, but He prayed about everything. 03:23 So I think He is that perfect example for us. 03:26 And one of the first things I noted about His prayer life 03:31 is that He did not do a lot of public praying. 03:35 Yes. 03:37 So they are only recorded about three times 03:39 when He did public praying actually in... 03:41 Three times? Three times. 03:44 The first one was at the Tomb of Lazarus. 03:46 So your remember there in John 11:41-42 03:50 where He had actually prayed that, 03:52 you know, the heavens would open 03:54 and He ask God, 03:55 you know, "Thank You, Father, for hearing Me, 03:57 you always hear Me, 03:58 but I say it out loud for the sake 04:00 of all these people standing here 04:02 so that they will believe You sent Me." 04:05 So that's one of the first recorded times 04:06 that He actually prayed in public. 04:08 There was another time when He prayed in public 04:10 when He predicted His death in Gethsemane. 04:13 And we find that story in John 12:27-28, 04:17 and there He was telling His father, 04:19 His soul was troubled and He said, "Should I pray." 04:21 And then He prayed, 04:22 "Father, save me from this hour? 04:24 But this is the very reason I came! 04:27 Father, bring glory to Your name. 04:30 Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, 04:31 'I have already brought glory to my name, 04:33 and I will do so again.'" 04:35 So this is the second time He prayed in public. 04:37 And then, of course, 04:38 we know, when He prayed at the Last Supper, 04:40 that was one of the food or the last, 04:42 it was the food but the last recorded time 04:44 when He actually prayed 04:46 when He looked up to heaven and He told the Father, 04:48 "The hour has come. 04:50 Glorify Your Son 04:51 so He can give glory back to You." 04:53 And that's in John 17:1. 04:57 So while there isn't a problem really 04:58 with public praying, 05:00 a larger part of our prayer lives 05:03 should be what happens in the closet. 05:05 That's one of the very first things 05:06 we can actually take away from the prayer life of Jesus. 05:09 And that really makes a lot of sense 05:11 because, I mean, when you think about it, 05:12 you can cry out to God, 05:14 you can open and pour out your heart to God, like, 05:17 you don't want to do that in public per se. 05:21 Our prayer should be not long winded in public 05:26 and making everybody depressed 05:28 with all of our burdens in public 05:32 but that's why we have that special private time. 05:35 And, you know, in Matthew 6:6 the Bible actually tells us, 05:39 "When you pray, go away by yourself, 05:43 shut the door behind you, 05:44 and pray to your Father in private." 05:47 And that was where in Matthew? Matthew 6:6. 05:50 It says, "Then your Father, 05:52 who sees everything will reward you." 05:55 So there we have some evidence or something to backup the idea 05:59 that the majority of our prayer 06:01 should actually be private prayers. 06:04 And so Jesus as our perfect prayer example 06:07 demonstrated by His record 06:09 where He prayed just three times, 06:11 let's say out of a 100, 06:12 a little over 97 % of the time 06:15 He was doing actually closet prayers 06:17 or private prayers. 06:18 Okay. 06:20 And since He hardly prayed in public, 06:22 we still see the effects of His private time 06:25 in His ministry 06:27 because they were able to see 06:28 how He was able to heal the sick, 06:30 have the blind to see, and so on. 06:33 So the impact of His private praying 06:35 was demonstrated in His public ministry, 06:38 so we can see that. 06:40 Another thing about the prayer life of Jesus, 06:43 as our perfect example, 06:45 is the fact that He made prayer personal. 06:49 So in the Old Testament a lot of times 06:51 when we see people praying to God, 06:53 He was referred in very formal ways. 06:56 And one of the formal ways was also Father, 07:00 but the Father was actually used 07:02 in specific instances 07:04 but in generally, you know, very formal ways. 07:08 Now so we're friends now so if you want to call me Nadz, 07:12 or Ann or Neds, 07:13 you know, people have different names 07:15 that they call you 07:16 when they knew you for a long time. 07:19 In the Old Testament we see demonstrated people 07:21 praying to God with respect where there is no problem 07:24 actually that's what we should do pray with respect, 07:26 but it was very formal. 07:27 So now, you know, we talk about having a father 07:30 and some people having a daddy. 07:32 And we know the connotation is a little different. 07:35 Anybody could be a father, but it takes a real kind of, 07:39 you know, nurturing person for us to say, 07:41 "Hey, Daddy." 07:43 Now what Jesus does in His prayer life 07:45 is revolutionized prayer. 07:47 Unpack that a little bit, 07:49 how did He revolutionize prayer? 07:50 You see, He revolutionized prayer 07:53 from the formal practice of addressing God 07:56 formally as Heavenly Father or as Creator 07:59 which was the custom in the Old Testament, 08:02 and what He did in the New Testament 08:04 is that He brought in a new concept 08:06 instead of just Heavenly Father or Creator, 08:09 He began to refer to His Father as Abba 08:13 and that is translated 08:14 to mean daddy, dad, or even papa. 08:18 So there He was making 08:20 prayer familiar or more familiar, 08:22 in a sense, than just that formal thing. 08:25 Some people even refer to that Abba sense as, 08:29 you know, childish blabbering, 08:30 you know, when kids are small 08:32 and they try to say mumma or pappa, 08:34 that kind of a thing. 08:36 So just imagine if that is how, 08:38 you know, if that's the context 08:40 with which it is really interpreted, 08:42 it means that, 08:43 "Hey, I'm really, you know, there with daddy. 08:45 I'm really dependent on daddy, papa," 08:47 you know, that kind of a thing 08:49 and that is what He did with prayer. 08:51 So He was actually the first person 08:53 to really demonstrate 08:55 what an intimate relationship with His Father looked like. 08:59 And that's what we did, you know, daddy, papa. 09:02 So because as we spoke about 09:04 that little difference between just a father and a daddy. 09:07 So He made it more personal, He made prayer something close, 09:10 something more intimate, 09:12 so He sets the example that prayer is something 09:15 that we need to make personal 09:17 just between us and Father or between us 09:20 and Daddy or between us and Papa, 09:22 you know, that kind of thing. 09:24 And throughout the Bible, 09:25 we see Jesus demonstrating that He had 09:28 that kind of relationship with Daddy, 09:30 that personal relationship, 09:32 that is why He had the habit of praying every day. 09:35 So He got up and prayed in the morning, in Mark 1:35, 09:40 the Bible says, "Very early in the morning, 09:42 while it was still dark, Jesus got up, 09:45 left the house and went off to a solitary place, 09:48 where He prayed." 09:49 So He had that habit of going to meet 09:52 with Papa early in the morning. 09:54 And Ellen White says, in Prayer, page 166 09:59 that we need to consecrate. 10:01 I'm sure we've heard that before 10:02 "Consecrate yourself in the morning, 10:04 make this your very first work. 10:07 Let your prayer be," 10:08 and she went into a prayer what our prayer should be. 10:11 And Jesus demonstrated that 10:13 this was His first work 10:15 every day to go out and meet His Dad. 10:18 He prayed in the evening time, and there are many texts 10:21 where we could actually read about Him 10:23 going off in the evenings. 10:25 Now usually evening time 10:27 is after a long day's work, right? 10:29 We usually, you know... 10:30 And, you know, He was also busy 10:32 so we go home after a long day's work. 10:34 Some of us will pray, we may try to relax, and stuff. 10:38 Jesus in the evening time after long day's work 10:42 would make it His business to also meet with Papa. 10:46 So let's say, for example, in Luke 6:12, 10:49 "He would gravitate towards solitude and delight 10:52 in be alone with His Father, 10:54 He willingly spends the whole night 10:56 in communion with God." 10:58 So not only did He just say a prayer 10:59 and then went to sleep. 11:01 "Now I lay me down to sleep. 11:02 I pray the Lord my soul to keep." 11:03 You know, that kind of a thing. Yeah, yeah. 11:05 He spends the entire night in prayer with His Father. 11:08 Another time in Matthew 14:23, 11:10 the Bible says, 11:12 "After He had dismissed them," 11:13 which were His disciples and all the people 11:15 who were listening to Him, 11:17 "He went to the mountainside by Himself to pray. 11:20 When evening came, He was there alone." 11:23 So we see there a habit, a trend, you know. 11:27 And I think another important thing 11:29 to note is the fact that He made it a priority, 11:33 you know, He set aside a special time for Him 11:37 and the Father 11:40 which is what we have to do on consecrating yourself 11:42 in the morning. 11:44 It makes sense to pray in the morning, 11:45 pray at night, pray throughout the day. 11:47 And, you know, we don't have 11:49 to just get on our knees and pray, 11:51 we could be driving in the car and talk to God. 11:53 We could be walking down the street and talk to God. 11:56 And the thing 11:58 that's so important about giving ourselves to God 12:00 in the morning 12:02 and talking to Him in the morning 12:03 is we need Him to order our steps, 12:05 we need Him to plan our day. 12:07 We shouldn't do anything without consulting 12:10 the one that sees the end from the beginning. 12:12 Exactly. 12:14 That's the thing about it, 12:15 you know, I realized from personal experience 12:17 that the days 12:19 when I rush off from praying are more difficult days 12:23 than when I actually spend time seeking God. 12:26 I had an experience last year when I was working on my book, 12:29 the first book I have in the prayer series, right? 12:31 I had a lot of things to do 12:34 and I had my to-do list from the evening before. 12:37 But that morning I woke up and I began to pray 12:40 and I began to share with God everything 12:42 that I had to do because I felt so overwhelmed. 12:45 And while I was there in His presence, 12:47 He began to reorder my priorities list. 12:51 He told me what to do instead. And I felt so good. 12:53 I stayed there taking in everything 12:56 that He was giving me. 12:57 And it felt so good, I really didn't want to leave 12:59 because I just felt that sort of relaxed like, 13:02 yes, I have a lot of things to do, 13:03 but because God 13:04 is now reordering it in my mind, 13:06 I began to feel so much more relaxed. 13:09 You felt peace. Yes, I had peace, right? 13:11 That's what I refer to as now. 13:13 It's like this state where, you know, hey, 13:15 everything is going to be okay, 13:17 don't worry about all that stuff. 13:19 Then when I got up from praying, 13:21 I run to the living room, 13:22 and I began to write things down 13:24 in the order that He gave me. 13:26 You will not believe that the day 13:28 that I thought was not enough, was too much. 13:32 'Cause I got everything done so quickly 13:35 and then I got to do frivolous 13:36 other things like doing my hair. 13:39 At first I thought I wouldn't have time 13:40 to even finish my list. 13:42 And so I realized 13:43 that sometimes we shortchange ourselves 13:46 by rushing off from prayer. 13:48 Because when we are there, 13:50 He orders our steps so much 13:52 that what seems to be so overwhelming 13:54 becomes nothing 13:55 because now He not only blesses you 13:58 for spending time with Him, 13:59 but He sends, you know, minister, 14:00 and angels to help you. 14:02 And Hebrews 1:14 promises that, 14:04 "I will send minister and angels to help those 14:06 who are heirs of my kingdom." 14:08 And that is what happens 14:09 when we in His presence so Jesus knew that. 14:14 And another thing that we need to take note 14:15 about His prayer life 14:17 is that He prayed about everything. 14:21 He prayed, for example, 14:22 before important events like his baptism. 14:25 So, remember, there in Luke 3:21-22. 14:28 The crowds were there 14:29 where Jesus was going to be baptized, 14:31 and then He began to pray, 14:32 and that's when the heavens opened up 14:34 and His Father blessed Him and said, 14:36 "You are my beloved Son," and so on. 14:39 So He prayed before His baptism. 14:40 He recognized the need to invite His Father 14:43 into that event in His life. 14:46 He prayed before choosing His friends. 14:49 That's an important part of it. 14:51 You remember, in Luke 6:12-13 where it says, 14:54 "One of these days 14:55 He went to the mountainside to pray, 14:58 and He spent the night there praying to God. 15:00 When the morning came, 15:01 He called His disciples and He chose 12 of them, 15:05 whom He designated apostles." 15:07 Because, remember, 15:08 He had a lot of people following Him 15:10 and a disciple is anybody who follows. 15:13 Even we sometimes as human beings have disciples. 15:16 Plato, Socrates, and these guys, 15:20 they all had disciples. 15:21 Anybody who follows what you're doing, 15:23 they are called a disciple. 15:24 So Jesus had hundreds of people following Him. 15:27 But after He had spent time with His Father, 15:29 in the morning, 15:30 He called everybody and He chose 12, 15:32 and made them apostles. 15:34 So this is an important aspect in our lives 15:36 because many times 15:37 we go about choosing people to be now in inner circles, 15:40 choosing people to be in our lives, 15:42 choosing people to be our spouses and so on, 15:44 and we do not consult with God first. 15:48 And that makes a lot of sense 15:49 because you'll have people that are poisonous, 15:53 you know, you'll have people... 15:55 Everybody exerts an influence over somebody else, 15:58 whether it's for good or for bad. 16:00 So it's very important to seek God, 16:03 and who you're surrounding yourself with. 16:05 Yes, it's important 16:07 because the thing is God knows the plans that He has for you. 16:10 And so the enemy to an extent is aware of some of the plans 16:15 that God has for us, that is why 16:17 He tries at different points in our lives. 16:19 Sometimes, even before we're born, 16:21 for Him to kind of intercept. 16:23 And so choosing people in our lives, 16:26 especially very close people, like His disciples, 16:29 the people who would be with Him every day. 16:31 And in our context choosing people, like, 16:33 say to be our spouse and so on is important 16:36 because Ellen White says 16:38 these types of decisions are heaven and hell decisions 16:41 because who we choose to be in our space, like, 16:43 you see could influence our character, 16:45 could influence our behavior, 16:47 could influence the direction of our lives 16:49 in terms of us being more committed to God 16:51 or us being less committed to God. 16:53 And He demonstrated, 16:54 "Hey, we need to spend time doing that." 16:57 He prayed before He ate. 17:00 And I remember in primary school and stuff, 17:02 I went to all Adventist schools so far, 17:04 and we would always pray that God would bless our meals. 17:08 We do, what we call grace before meals. 17:11 That's a concept that was developed from Jesus 17:13 because you remember 17:14 when He had to feed the multitude 17:17 with the five loaves and two fish, 17:19 He prayed and blessed it, that's how it was multiplied. 17:22 And even when we look at the Last Supper, 17:24 He also prayed as well, so He prayed before He eat. 17:27 And one thing I like about Him, which is comforting for me, 17:29 many times, is He prayed within His busy schedule. 17:33 Many of us are so busy 17:35 that we do not get time to spend with God. 17:38 You know, but Jesus had did that in Luke 5:15-16, 17:43 "The news about Him had spread so the crowds came, 17:46 people came by to hear Him 17:48 and to be healed of their sickness. 17:50 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." 17:54 So while the crowds were coming, 17:56 while people were running Him down 17:57 for healing, for blessings and for all of 18:01 what was going on around Him, 18:02 He still just moved out some time 18:04 so He can pray. 18:05 In Mark 6:31 and 33 it says, 18:09 "When they were coming," same thing, 18:10 "He went by Himself in a quiet place, 18:12 He went to get some rest. 18:14 But many who saw them leaving recognized them 18:16 and ran on foot." 18:18 That's going after disciples but after leaving them 18:21 He went to the mountainside to pray. 18:23 So even after that heavy day, that busy day, 18:26 and even during the busy day, 18:28 He withdrew because, I guess, He needed to be rejuvenated 18:31 and the only way our souls can be refreshed and renewed 18:35 is when we spend time in the presence of God. 18:38 And it's interesting too, like, 18:40 when you look at how much time Jesus spent in the prayer, 18:44 you know, and this is Jesus we're talking about. 18:46 He spent so much time in prayer, 18:49 He recognized His need for the Father, 18:51 how much more do we need to pray every single day. 18:55 Exactly. 18:56 And we need to recognize our need 18:58 for the Father but, 18:59 you know, some of us are in 19:01 that that Laodicean state, you know. 19:05 It's sad that we do not recognize 19:07 and that's why we need to look at Jesus 19:09 as our perfect prayer example. 19:11 Recognizing that if Jesus was part of the Godhead, 19:14 can see the need to spend all that time with His Father, 19:17 all the time with Papa, all that time with Abba. 19:20 If He needed that so much, we are much more in need of it. 19:24 Absolutely. 19:25 Another thing about His life is that He prayed with tears. 19:29 And I bring up that point 19:30 because sometimes we do not recognize 19:34 that even our tears are prayers. 19:37 So Jesus in Hebrews 5:7, the Bible says, 19:40 "While Jesus was here on earth, 19:41 He offered prayers and pleadings, 19:44 with a loud cry and tears, to the one 19:46 who could rescue Him from death. 19:48 And God heard His prayers 19:50 because of His deep reverence for God." 19:53 So He prayed with tears, 19:54 and I'm going to focus on that in a few minutes. 19:56 He also prayed about the same thing three times 19:59 which is something that's also important. 20:01 Many times we go to Him and because we believe, okay, 20:05 we ask one time, that's it. 20:06 I'm sure there were times when you were growing up, 20:08 you'd have ask your mom for stuff 20:09 that you'd have had to go repeatedly to ask, 20:11 it's not like she didn't hear you for first time. 20:12 Oh, yeah. 20:14 But it's like, we just want to remind Him, 20:16 "Hey, I'm asking, the same you'd ask your parent. 20:18 Mom, I'm asking for this. 20:19 Dad, I'm asking..." 20:21 So we would repeatedly ask for the same thing 20:23 not because it's a belief that, " 20:25 Hey, my parent is deaf or God is deaf," 20:27 but because we want to remind Him, 20:28 it keeps us in constant contact. 20:30 He also prayed for others 20:32 which is another important point. 20:34 You remember, Peter? 20:36 When they were at the Last Supper, 20:37 and everything was going on with Judas, and Jesus, 20:41 and all of the other disciples discussing 20:43 who was the one who would betray and so on. 20:44 Jesus was having 20:46 a little private conversation with Peter and He said to him, 20:48 "Simon, Simon, 20:49 you know, the enemy is trying to sift you as wheat. 20:51 But I have prayed for you." 20:53 And then He gave him, of course, an assignment. 20:56 So the thing is we could actually ask Jesus. 20:58 I love that, you know, 20:59 we could ask Jesus to pray for us. 21:02 That's like one of the most comforting things 21:05 from the Bible for me, 21:06 is that when I am too wounded to pray, 21:08 when I'm too tired to pray, 21:10 when you don't know what to pray about, 21:12 you can actually say, "Jesus, my big Brother," 21:14 you can claim that to Jesus, 21:15 "Say a prayer for me, 21:17 say a prayer for me just like You did for Peter, 21:20 say a prayer for me." 21:21 So many of us do not recognize that Jesus is that good friend 21:25 that He is that loving big brother, 21:27 and He wants to make it clear by His examples 21:29 that, hey, we should also invest time 21:32 in praying for others. 21:33 Just as He prayed for Peter, 21:34 and that's the blessing we mentioned earlier 21:36 about being able to intercede with others. 21:40 And whenever you feel 21:41 that you kind of pray for yourself, 21:43 we also need to remember that the Holy Spirit, 21:46 the Bible says will pray for us. 21:48 So not only does Big Brother Jesus 21:49 could pray for us like He prayed for Peter, 21:52 but the Bible says in Roman 8:26, that, 21:55 "The Holy Spirit helps in our weaknesses. 21:59 For example, we do not know what God wants us to pray for. 22:04 But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings 22:06 that cannot be expressed in words." 22:09 And sometimes, these groanings like 22:11 the groanings of Jesus are tears. 22:13 We are crying and I am saying to people sometimes, 22:15 "Hey, listen, even your tears are prayers 22:18 because the Holy Spirit translates your tears 22:21 into prayers 22:22 so the Father can still hear what you have to say." 22:26 So it is clear that Jesus 22:27 is our greatest prayer example, 22:30 He is our greatest role model 22:32 because He had the habit of praying every day 22:35 about everything. 22:37 And, you know, Jesus prayed with such faith and conviction. 22:42 He prayed and He knew 22:45 that His Father was going to answer, 22:47 He knew that His prayers were going to be answered. 22:51 Yeah, He knew that 22:52 because He would have been 22:54 spending so much time with Daddy, 22:55 that He knew 22:57 what Daddy wanted Him to pray for. 22:59 And that's why we sometimes shortchange ourselves, 23:01 we're not spending enough time with God in the first place. 23:04 So we could know 23:05 how He wants to lead us to pray. 23:07 Jesus did not overlook His need for His Father at all. 23:11 And many times we go through life thinking 23:13 that we can make decisions on our own without Him. 23:17 But Jesus knew for sure, 23:18 "Hey, I cannot do this, without Him. 23:20 I cannot go through this life, 23:23 this journey without my Father being there." 23:25 And that's why He prayed in the morning, 23:27 and He prayed in the evening, and He prayed about everything, 23:30 because there was no aspect of His life 23:33 that was not touched by His Father. 23:36 And even us now, we need God to touch 23:38 the different areas of our lives, 23:40 the different aspects of our lives, 23:42 and that's why He prayed so much. 23:44 And if He made prayer such a big part of His life, 23:46 I think we can really learn a lot from that. 23:49 It's really instructive for us to know that, 23:52 "Hey, if Jesus made His Father such a big part of His life, 23:56 what am I doing? 23:57 How can I go 23:59 about making decisions on my own?" 24:01 And so we need to take an example from that. 24:03 And some of the takeaway points 24:05 I would like us to get today is, 24:06 that we have that perfect prayer example in Jesus, 24:09 our role model. 24:11 We need to pattern our prayer lives 24:12 after His prayer life 24:14 and not just pray in the morning 24:16 and pray in the evening, 24:17 but make it a deliberate aspect of our life 24:20 to spend time with God 24:22 like He would take time during the day... 24:24 You know, from His busy schedule, 24:26 you know, when we have our lunch breaks, 24:27 our tea breaks, 24:29 we can just have some time with God 24:30 because we need that to help us to carry on throughout the day. 24:33 And we need to pray about everything. 24:35 Don't take anything for granted and believe 24:37 that I am in a position 24:38 to make this decision on my own. 24:40 Jesus clearly shows us that, 24:42 "Hey, we cannot make any decisions 24:45 without Father being involved, 24:46 without Daddy being involved, without Papa being involved." 24:50 So we need to make those deliberate efforts 24:52 to pull aside to spend time with Him. 24:55 I'm glad that you said that because, 24:58 you know, if we don't study God's Word, 25:01 if we don't spend time in prayer, 25:02 if we don't constantly carve out that time 25:06 and prioritize our time with God, 25:08 how are we going to do everything 25:10 to the glory of God? 25:11 We have to spend time in His Word, 25:14 and spend time in prayer, 25:15 and Jesus being our perfect example 25:18 in all things did all of that. 25:21 I mean, when you look at how Jesus faced temptation 25:25 when he was, when the devil 25:26 was attacking Him super hard, like, 25:30 the devil went after Christ harder 25:33 than anybody on this planet ever could. 25:37 And when He was being attacked, He was able to quote scripture, 25:42 He was able to quote the right things 25:45 that applied to that particular situation. 25:48 And one thing that the devil does, 25:50 one thing that the devil loves to do 25:52 is he'll take maybe 99.9% truth 25:56 and then he'll take 0.1% of a lie 25:59 and throw it in there. 26:01 So we have to be prayed up, 26:02 we have to dedicate time to the Lord, 26:06 so I'm glad that you mentioned that. 26:08 Yeah, that's really the case, 26:09 you know, because if Jesus made prayer 26:11 such a big part of His life, 26:13 I believe that we need to recognize 26:15 and we need to make it 26:17 so much more big part of our lives 26:19 because our prayer lives can greatly improve 26:22 if we practice the habit of praying every day 26:25 just like Jesus did. 26:27 Because Jesus knew that the only way 26:29 that He could secure the heir of His Father 26:31 just like you mentioned the only way 26:33 that Papa could hear Him, that Papa could really, 26:36 you know, work on His behalf 26:38 was if He was in constant contact 26:40 with His Father. 26:42 And so this is really 26:43 what we need to keep in mind as we focus on developing 26:46 that habit of praying every day. 26:49 So we could say a prayer. 26:50 And I think we could... 26:52 It's good for us 26:53 to probably address Him as Abba, Papa. 26:55 So we can say, Abba, 26:57 we thank You for Your example of our big brother Jesus, 27:00 we are grateful 27:01 that He was such a great example 27:04 to model to us 27:05 what our prayer life should be like. 27:07 We pray, Dear Father, 27:08 that we can hold the example of Jesus 27:10 dear to our hearts 27:12 so that our prayer lives can greatly improve. 27:14 Give us, Lord, the spirit of commitment 27:17 to carry on in this lovely example 27:19 we pray in the name of Jesus, amen. 27:21 Amen. 27:23 Thank you so much, Dr. Nadine, for that wonderful information 27:27 about our perfect example. 27:29 We pray that you have been blessed 27:31 by today's program. 27:33 You know, I want you to do something for me, 27:36 I want you to get a pen out and get a piece of paper 27:39 and write down how you are spending your time. 27:43 You know, as we've been examining Christ's life 27:46 and how He spent His time, 27:48 everything He did was dedicated to service. 27:52 He was always seeking to glorify the Father. 27:55 Make sure that you prioritize your time and make Christ, 28:00 The Missing Peace. |
Revised 2018-02-07