Participants: Jason Bradley (Host), Nadine Joseph-Collins PhD
Series Code: TMP
Program Code: TMP000005A
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00:34 Hello, and welcome to The Missing Piece,
00:36 my name is Jason Bradley. 00:37 And our primary host for this program 00:39 is Dr. Nadine Joseph-Collins. 00:42 Nadine enjoys sharing her experiences of faith 00:44 and answered prayer with others 00:46 with the sole aim of empowering and inspiring them 00:50 to want to have a more effective prayer life. 00:53 Before we jump into today's topic, 00:55 let's have a word of prayer. 00:57 Dear heavenly Father, we thank You 00:58 for the opportunity we have to commune with You. 01:02 We ask for Your presence to be with us. 01:05 We asked for the presence of the Holy Spirit 01:07 to lead, guide, and direct our conversation. 01:10 And please help this program to be a blessing to all those 01:14 who are viewing it. 01:15 In Jesus name we pray, amen. What is our topic for today? 01:20 Our topic for today is why God says no? 01:25 I remember I had a little problem saying no. 01:28 When others would come to me with 01:30 what they brought to me as a perceived need, 01:33 it was a little challenging for me to say no to them. 01:36 And at some point, at one of my jobs 01:39 we had resident psychologist, 01:41 who was also a very good friend. 01:43 And one day we had a little session, 01:45 and the whole aim of that session 01:46 was the help me to learn to say 01:48 these two words effectively, no. 01:50 Later on when I was in college 01:52 one of my colleagues said to me, 01:54 "You know, Nadine, no is the word 01:55 in the English vocabulary, you know." 01:58 And so no is a response that most people dread hearing. 02:04 I would recall in my own experiences, 02:06 times when I would have gone to friends 02:08 or present a need to somebody that I had at the time 02:13 and I would either get that no response 02:15 or get no response at all in terms of them 02:18 not saying no, 02:19 but they just not replying to your requests. 02:22 In either of these cases to me is the same thing, it's a no. 02:25 And I remember the hurts and the embarrassment, 02:27 sometimes even feelings of rejections 02:29 associated with getting that no response. 02:33 So it is something that 02:34 most people really do not like to hear. 02:37 But here today, we are going to be examining 02:39 why God actually says no to our prayers. 02:43 And because there are only three recorded instances 02:46 in the Bible 02:48 where God actually answered no to people. 02:51 So there were like two in the Old Testament 02:54 and one in the New Testament. 02:55 And the first one is when David's baby died, 02:57 and that's recorded in 2 Samuel 12. 03:00 Then we see in 2 Chronicles 28, when David had asked 03:04 God permission to build the temple. 03:06 And God said to him, "No, you won't build a temple, 03:09 your son will do it." 03:10 And then in the New Testament, we see the story of Paul 03:15 requesting for God to remove that thorn in his flesh. 03:19 Whatever that thorn was we don't know. 03:21 But in 2 Corinthians 12:8, 03:23 he asked God to remove the thorn in his flesh 03:25 and God did not remove the thorn in his flesh. 03:27 So here we are seeing that the majority of the times, 03:31 God would have answered people, 03:33 that's about 3 times out of 100 times. 03:36 And there we have seen God answering 03:38 these prayer requests with a yes most of the time 03:41 because we see these exceptions. 03:43 And so we want to know, "Hey, how can I get 03:46 a better track record in my prayer life? 03:47 How can I get a track record where God answers me, 03:50 you know, with more yes's than no's? 03:52 But before we could even get there, 03:54 we need to examine why He says no in the first place 03:57 and that's what the purpose of this program is today. 04:00 So in as much as we hate to be told no when we pray, 04:03 I believe to an extent that God Himself 04:06 would prefer to answer us with a yes, 04:09 and we need to see why we get these no's. 04:12 And when we look at Matthew 7:11, 04:15 the Bible says, "If you, then were evil, 04:17 know how to give good gifts to your children, 04:20 how much more will your Father 04:22 who is in heaven give good things 04:24 to those who ask of him!" 04:26 So He does not really like to say 04:29 no to His children unless of course, 04:31 when He does tell us no, He knows what's best for us. 04:34 But then why do we have a track record that is not like 04:37 what we see in the Bible. 04:40 What are we doing "wrong" or what can we do better. 04:44 These are some of the things will be examined 04:46 in this program and future programs. 04:48 So EM Bounds a prolific writer on prayer, 04:51 he puts it this way, and I like that, 04:53 he says, "God's willingness to answer our prayers 04:56 exceeds our willingness to give good 04:59 and necessary things to our children, 05:02 just as far as God's ability, goodness, and perfection 05:06 exceed our infirmities and evil." 05:09 So we know for sure that God does not take pleasure 05:12 in a sense to be telling His children 05:14 no when we present this request to Him. 05:16 It is His desire to say yes to us, 05:19 but obviously there is something 05:20 that we are not doing right in order for us 05:22 to be able to pray in a way 05:24 that will have Him say yes to us. 05:26 And, you know, when He says no sometimes like 05:29 you're saying it's for our benefit. 05:31 like if I say we pray for the certain car 05:35 like the super fast sports car, 05:37 me personally I want to Maserati, 05:40 but we pray for this super fast sports car, 05:44 and God knows that if we get that car 05:47 we're going to step on that gas 05:49 and put that gas or accelerator all the way down 05:54 and we might get into an accident 05:55 and kill ourselves. 05:57 Well, that's not what He has for us, 06:01 and so He might say no to that plan. 06:03 Or we might pray for something 06:06 and it might end up leading us outside of the ark of safety, 06:11 meaning we will be lost as a result of it. 06:14 We pray for a couple million dollars, 06:17 and then we lose our dependence on God, 06:19 and we end up lost. 06:20 So like you're saying He knows the bigger picture, 06:23 so those no's can be a blessing. 06:25 And that is why we need to understand the principle 06:28 of why He says no. 06:29 And that's what we're going to discuss today, 06:30 the principle. 06:32 What is it in principle that causes God 06:35 to not respond to us in the way we desire Him to respond to us? 06:38 There's a principle in the Bible 06:40 that we're going to examine today 06:41 because God presents Himself as approachable. 06:45 He wants us to feel comfortable coming to Him. 06:48 And He assures us no uncertain terms 06:50 that He really want to answer us when we call. 06:53 And we can look at that in Matthew 7:7-10, 06:56 you see because there the Bible says 06:58 from the New Living Translation, 07:00 "Keep on asking, and you will receive 07:03 what you ask for. 07:04 Keep on seeking, and you will find. 07:06 Keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you." 07:09 It goes on to say, "For everyone who asks, 07:11 receives. 07:12 Everyone who seeks, finds, and to everyone who knocks, 07:16 the door will be opened. 07:18 You parents, if your children ask 07:19 for a loaf of bread, 07:21 do you give them a stone instead. 07:23 Or if they ask for fish, do you give them a snake." 07:25 Of course, not, so I like that translation 07:28 because it makes it so real. 07:30 So here we are given assurance from God, 07:32 a reiterated assurance 07:34 that God really does want to answer us with yes, 07:37 yes responses. 07:38 God does the want to set us up for no's. 07:40 He takes no pleasure in that kind of thing, 07:43 in our sufferings, in our pains, 07:44 in our disappointments. 07:46 When we believe, "Oh, I went to Father 07:47 and ask Him something and He didn't respond to me," 07:49 there's no pleasure in that. 07:50 So why are we getting all of these no's? 07:53 And that's where we need to head today. 07:57 So the biggest reason, or the fundamental reason, 08:02 or the principle upon which we need 08:05 to examine our prayer lives 08:06 and that no track record is for us 08:09 to look at the issue of self. 08:13 Somewhere we really do not like to go 08:15 because surely God does not have to say yes 08:18 to our prayers every time we pray. 08:21 And the occasional no's are really for our good. 08:25 So He really does want to set us up. 08:27 But there is a problem, the problem is simply self, 08:30 the premise upon which we can 08:32 begin to change our track record. 08:35 In our prayer lives 08:37 is to have a deeper understanding 08:38 of Galatians 2:20. 08:41 Okay. 08:42 So you see there in Galatians 2:20, 08:43 the Bible says, "My old self has been crucified. 08:47 It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 08:52 So I live in this earthly body 08:54 by trusting in the Son of God who loved me 08:56 and gave Himself for me." 08:58 This here, that text Galatians 2:20, 09:02 is what needs to transform 09:04 the prayer life of every Christian, 09:07 the issue of self. 09:08 Clearly here when we look at this text, 09:11 an operation is taking place. 09:13 I, Nadine, I am crucified with Christ. 09:17 It is no longer I who live. 09:19 So if I am dead, Christ is now living in me. 09:23 So when I go to pray, who's praying? 09:27 Is it Nadine or is it the Spirit of God living in me? 09:33 And that's where the operation needs to take place 09:37 because the thing is self seems to be the biggest hindrance 09:40 that we have in having our prayers answered. 09:44 Self is the biggest hindrance that we have 09:46 in getting more yes answers to our prayers. 09:48 It is the very tool that the enemy uses against us 09:52 when we go to pray 09:54 because the truth is self can never pray 09:57 in the will of God. 10:00 You know, we have a tendency to block our own blessings. 10:04 You know, we pray for things but we're not living 10:08 according to the Word of God. 10:10 You know, it's like, and I'm not saying 10:12 we as in you and me 10:13 but just people in general will pray for something 10:18 but can block their own blessings. 10:20 I remember when I was in the world, 10:22 like if I prayed for something or whatever 10:27 where I wasn't really having that walk with God, 10:30 like that because I was out there, 10:33 I was seeking to do my own will, 10:35 and when I would do so like, a lot of things 10:38 weren't going right for me. 10:40 And that's because I was blocking my own blessings. 10:42 I was serving myself as opposed to God. 10:45 Yes. And that's what self... 10:47 When we go into God with self, 10:50 our track record will look a lot like 10:53 what many of us experiencing sometimes, 10:54 all of these no's, and these no's and these no's 10:57 because we are praying in self. 10:59 And that's why Paul says in Roman 6:6, 11:01 "That old self was crucified. 11:04 For we know that old self was crucified," 11:06 he said, "So our bodies no longer ruled by sin 11:10 because it's done away with 11:12 that we are no longer slaves to sin." 11:14 And when we are praying in self we are really praying, 11:17 really on to our own selves or not unto God. 11:20 Because Roman 6:6 is clear, 11:21 "It is no longer ruled by the flesh," 11:23 because self is really the desires of the flesh, 11:26 the desires of our hearts, the things that we think 11:29 that we want, right? 11:31 So we are no longer ruled by that, 11:33 so the desires and wants are no longer 11:35 ruled by the things of the flesh, 11:37 the lust of the eye. 11:38 And to break it down for our viewers, 11:40 it will be these things that we believe to be needs 11:43 and wants, and these things 11:45 that we think would be good for us 11:46 and we are praying in accordance 11:48 with those things. 11:49 The text really commands every Christian 11:51 to really examine this self so that we can see that 11:55 when we go to God in self. 11:58 Our prayers cannot be answered 12:00 because self is always going to be at odd with God. 12:04 Now we are going to look at that more, 12:05 self is a dangerous problem. 12:07 You see even on a personal level, 12:09 just you and I, 12:10 and let's see we have a few other friends here, 12:12 and each of us come here clothed in self. 12:14 We go to church, let's go to church now. 12:16 So I come to church clothed in self, 12:18 you come to church clothed in self, 12:20 other people come. 12:21 We are always going to clash 12:23 because the self in me will clash with the self 12:25 in you will clash with the self in somebody else. 12:27 And that's how we continue to have problems 12:29 in our churches, in our families, 12:30 in our marriages, in our relationships 12:33 because self is clashing with self. 12:36 But if we look at a different picture, 12:38 where I am dead 12:40 and the Spirit of God is living in me 12:42 and you are dead and despite of God is living in you, 12:44 and if we look at every other person, 12:47 talk about church members, 12:48 family members, and so on, and we are all dead, 12:50 and the Spirit of God is living in us, 12:52 when we come together we are going to get along 12:55 because the spirit of God 12:56 will get along with the Spirit of God. 12:59 So if self is causing these problems 13:00 in our personal relationships, you could imagine the havoc 13:03 it's causing in our prayer lives. 13:06 Because we are going to God, 13:07 asking Him to bless and sanction things 13:10 that are inconsistent with what He wants for us, 13:15 and that's really where we really want 13:18 to look at going today, 13:19 so we cannot go to God clothed in self. 13:22 When you think about the day you wake up 13:24 and you have not consecrated yourself to God, 13:27 sometimes you look back on that day 13:29 and you say, "Did I behave that way?" 13:32 And that is because I was clothed in self 13:35 or you were clothed in self. 13:36 But the days when we are in Christ 13:38 and we look back, we can see 13:40 how our behavior didn't reflect Him 13:42 because it was just self being edified on the days 13:45 when we have not given. 13:46 And I'm saying on the days because we realize that 13:48 if I pray to die to self today, 13:51 it's not going to cover me for later or tomorrow, 13:54 it is a daily thing, 13:55 every day we have to die to self 13:58 and allow the Spirit of God to live in us. 13:59 Yeah, and when we look at God and we look at Christ, 14:04 I mean, He's selfless, 14:06 like everything about Him is selfless. 14:08 He came into this world 14:10 and devoted His life to service. 14:13 You know, He sacrificed His life. 14:16 When you look at the cross and the things 14:17 that He endured for us, 14:20 that was self sacrificing, selfless love. 14:24 Now the devil on the other hand is selfish 14:27 and he seeks to exalt himself. 14:29 You know, he wanted to be above God, 14:32 he wanted to be worshipped and everything like that. 14:35 So I like what you're saying about 14:37 how we have to die to self 14:40 because even in our prayers 14:42 we can pray selfish prayers with those motives, 14:47 you know, with messed up motives. 14:48 And that's exactly where I was going 14:50 because you see the thing is 14:51 when we go to God praying in self, 14:53 we pray the most selfish prayers. 14:55 For example, we will say to God, 14:57 "Bless this relationship." 14:59 Even though I know for example 15:01 that you said I should not be unequally yoked. 15:03 So we want to go ahead and marry somebody 15:05 who is not of the same faith 15:06 and then we ask God to bless that. 15:08 I like that, so basically it's like we pray and say, 15:13 "God, I'm seeking your will, 15:17 really here's what I want is this." 15:19 Okay, if your will disagrees with mine 15:22 I'm going to go with this, I want this, 15:24 I want You to accept my will. 15:26 Basically is what those selfish prayers are, 15:29 that's the wrong way to pray. 15:31 Yeah, and we're going to touch on that. 15:33 What we're really doing is asking God to bless 15:36 or confirm to our will. 15:39 So this selfish person is saying, 15:40 "Lord," it's almost like saying, 15:41 "Father, I'm going to have this pork, 15:43 so bless it, so I can eat it." 15:45 So we ask him to bless jobs even though we work on Sabbath 15:49 and we have not had the courage to tell our bosses, 15:50 "Hey, I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian." 15:53 We ask Him to bless our kids 15:54 even when they're living outside 15:56 of what we have taught them and what we want, 15:59 know that God wants them to do, but we want them to prosper 16:02 even in the thing that doesn't honor God. 16:04 And sometimes we even go as far as asking Him, 16:07 and it's the weirdest thing, because I said it one day, 16:10 presented in the church on prayer, 16:12 and I apologized after 16:14 but got confirmation about that. 16:16 I was presenting and I'm saying 16:17 you know sometimes we go as far as asking God 16:21 to breakup somebody's marriage 16:23 so that we can be blessed with their spouse. 16:26 And I thought where did that come from? 16:28 And then after when the pastor and I was praying, 16:30 you know, we broke out into sessions. 16:32 And I said to pastor, 16:33 "I apologize, I have no idea where that come from." 16:35 He said to me, "Don't worry," I'm Dr. Nadine, 16:38 "It's okay, because right now we're dealing with a case 16:41 right here in this church 16:42 where somebody is asking us to pray 16:44 that God would break up somebody's marriage 16:46 so that she can get the husband." 16:48 And so the thing is these are selfish prayers, 16:50 and we literally go to God 16:52 asking God to do these crazy things. 16:54 So could you imagine if God had to conform 16:56 to the will of our selfish nature, 16:58 what our prayer lives would be like? 17:01 And so these selfish prayers are the prayers 17:03 that we do not want to pray, 17:05 that's why we need to ask God 17:07 to remove self from us every day. 17:10 And when we are about to pray, definitely we do not need 17:14 to be praying in our own will, 17:15 that is why the spirit of God needs to be imposed. 17:18 The Spirit of God needs to be living in us. 17:21 And that is the fundamental upon 17:23 which we need to really build our prayer life 17:25 because selfish prayers will always be against 17:30 what God wants for us because the Bible says 17:34 that we are enemies of God, we are at enmity with God. 17:37 In fact Romans 8:5 says, 17:39 "Those who live according to the flesh 17:42 have their mind set on what the flesh desires, 17:45 but those who live in accordance with the Spirit 17:48 have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." 17:51 So that is why we kind of pray in self 17:53 because self will pray to want the things of the flesh. 17:57 Self will pray to want the things 17:59 that are not of God, 18:00 but when the Spirit of God is living in us, 18:03 we are going to be praying in accordance 18:06 with the Spirit of God that is living in us. 18:09 Because Romans 8:6-8 says, 18:11 "The mind set on the flesh is death, 18:15 but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 18:17 because the mind set on the flesh 18:19 is hostile toward God 18:21 for it does not subject itself to a law of God, 18:24 for it is not even able to do so." 18:26 This is powerful. 18:28 It says, "It is not even able to do so 18:32 but those who are in the flesh," 18:34 and those who are in the flesh, "cannot please God." 18:37 So when we are going to pray, if self is alive, 18:41 we cannot pray in the way that God would want us to pray 18:45 because we are not even able. 18:46 The Bible says, the mind set on the flesh 18:49 is not even able to do otherwise 18:52 because all we are going to be seeing 18:54 is the things that we want. 18:55 Our selfish motives will be pushed there 18:58 because our minds are set on the wrong thing, 19:00 but when the Spirit of God is living in us, 19:02 of course, our prayers are going to be different. 19:04 And so this is what we need to really focus on 19:06 when we talking about developing that 19:08 wow prayer life. 19:09 We cannot develop a wow prayer life 19:11 if we want to hold on to self. 19:14 We can't develop a wow prayer life 19:15 if we want to hold on to the things of the flesh. 19:18 We want to hold on to our own ways. 19:20 We are not willing to allow God to live in us, 19:22 it cannot work like that. 19:24 We can't serve two masters. No we cannot. 19:27 That's why Paul says in Romans 7:18, 19:29 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me," 19:33 remember that text? 19:34 "That is in my flesh 19:36 for I desire to do what is right, 19:37 but I am not able to carry it out." 19:40 So just imagine if we translate these texts 19:43 into our prayer life, 19:44 we cannot trust ourselves to pray 19:46 because the sinful nature wants to do evil all the time. 19:50 That's our nature which is just the opposite 19:53 of what the Spirit wants. 19:55 And that's what Romans, 19:56 in fact Galatians 5:17 talks about. 19:59 "The Spirit gives us desires to do things that are opposite 20:03 of what our sinful nature desires," 20:06 and that's why we need the Spirit of God living us 20:08 so that our desires can be different, 20:10 so our taste buds can be different, 20:13 because our natural inclination 20:14 is to want things that are not of God. 20:16 Our taste buds are marred, they are messed up by sin. 20:21 But now when the spirit of God is living in us, 20:23 He gives us new tastes, He gives us new desires 20:26 so that when we come to Him what we are asking 20:29 for will be totally opposite 20:30 to what naturally we would like or naturally we would want. 20:33 We need to love the things that He loves 20:36 and despise the things that He despises. 20:38 Yes. 20:39 And so many times I see, you know, 20:40 it's just the mercy and grace of God 20:42 that sometimes answers or seem to answer 20:45 what seems to be prayers that did not go with, 20:47 inline with what God wanted us to do. 20:50 I remember one time I was dating a young man, 20:54 and I know you like these stories, 20:57 besides it's a young man, and I remember, at first, 21:01 generally I would go to God first. 21:03 And when we started to date, he says to me, 21:06 "You know, God has given you, 21:07 you know, mind to think for yourself. 21:09 So if you see something good and you can ask Him for it." 21:11 So I went and I started dating him. 21:13 But a few months into it, I found it to be too perfect, 21:16 so I decided to fast and pray. 21:18 And so when I fast and I prayed, I told God, 21:21 you know what is His will for this situation? 21:24 And He said, "Get out." 21:26 And I thought to myself, "Really?" 21:28 Now at that time, I wasn't in love of the guy or anything, 21:31 but because I don't know somehow when God had told me, 21:34 you know, get out, 21:35 then I began to pursue Him more like, 21:37 "Lord, what are you talking about? 21:38 Why I shouldn't have this?" 21:40 And then I began to fight with God 21:41 about our relationship. 21:43 And I fasted and prayed a few months later 21:44 and He gave me the same message again, "Get out." 21:48 And I remember one day when I was going to church 21:51 and a pastor is preaching and he said, 21:53 "If God tells you to give up something, give it up," 21:57 and it was right on point. 21:58 And I still continued dating him 22:00 until one day a friend called... 22:02 I had fasted for whole week and I said, 22:03 "Lord," I was asking Him to change His mind 22:06 because I'm seeing this guy 22:07 seemed to be an outstanding person and so on. 22:10 And Friday morning, at the end of that week, 22:12 my friend called and says... 22:14 My middle name Ana, so she said, 22:16 "Ana, I was just praying for you 22:18 and God said to tell you, 22:19 He's not going to change His mind." 22:21 So the thing about it 22:23 is sometimes we continue need God for things. 22:25 We are fighting with Him for things 22:26 that He wants us to give up because the flesh wants it, 22:30 but He knows best for us. 22:32 And basically, like that no one in that situation 22:36 or that give this person up, 22:38 and that situation was still a blessing. 22:40 You know, your courtship wasn't a failure, 22:42 it was a success. 22:43 You found out that you guys weren't meant 22:45 to be together for a marriage. 22:47 You know, He could've saved you from something 22:48 that you didn't see down the road. 22:50 Exactly, and that's why 22:51 we cannot trust ourselves to pray 22:54 without the Spirit of God living in us 22:57 because we'll be contending and fighting with God 22:59 for things that really He does not want for us. 23:03 So when Jesus is living in us we do not ask things 23:06 according to the flesh, we'll not ask him things 23:09 that will please the flesh, 23:11 but we are asking Him for things 23:12 according to the Spirit that is living in us. 23:16 And that is really what we really want to focus on 23:19 as believers. 23:20 That's the direction that we really want 23:22 to take our prayer lives in, 23:24 you see, so we need to die to self. 23:27 We need to realize that we need to be dependent on God. 23:31 And the only way that we can have 23:32 that dependence as we looked at in the life of Jesus, 23:35 the only way that we can pray prayers 23:36 that in accordance with what God would want us to do 23:39 is when His Spirit is actually living in us 23:43 because self will always be at war with God. 23:46 We are enemies acquainted by enemies of God 23:48 and anything that we ask in our flesh 23:51 will be something that will be naturally opposing 23:55 to what God Himself would want us 23:57 to actually ask of Him. Yes. 24:00 And we have to spend time with the Lord like 24:02 we have to carve out that time, that time is so important. 24:05 And you know like we had a program on intimacy, 24:10 and prayer and intimacy. 24:12 And I mean in order to have that, 24:14 how do you develop a relationship? 24:16 How do you cultivate a relationship with somebody? 24:19 By spending time, and getting to know them, 24:21 getting to know their likes and their dislikes. 24:23 Well, all that stuff can be found in the Word of God. 24:26 But if you're not opening it up, 24:28 if it's just sitting there collecting dust, 24:31 you're not going to know what God wants. 24:33 Exactly, and the thing is, 24:37 the reason why we do not spend time with Him 24:40 is because we trust ourselves more than Him, 24:43 because we believe that we know what's right. 24:46 Sometimes we weigh the pros and cons and we make decisions 24:50 and we think you know 24:51 that's a good way to make decisions. 24:53 And I think that the best way for us 24:54 to make decisions is to really be seeking God, 24:58 being at His feet, "Lord, what do you want me to do? 25:01 What will you have me to do?" 25:02 And we're going to focus more on that 25:04 in another program 25:05 because at the end of the day 25:06 anything that I'm going to ask Him, 25:08 as we have already established, 25:09 will be what I want unless I spend time with Him 25:13 to know what He wants. Yes. 25:15 So when you're dating somebody, 25:16 like when we discussed intimacy, 25:17 unless you spend time with them 25:20 you will not know what that person really like. 25:22 You will not know the proclivities. 25:23 You will not know, you know, their preferences, 25:25 their favorite colors, and these different things. 25:28 So when we spend time with God, 25:30 obviously we will know that we need to die 25:33 because we will see that we are so opposed with Him 25:36 that we have nothing in common in a sense 25:38 because I'm sinful and He's all righteous. 25:41 So now we will want to be more like Him 25:44 and we will be desiring to die because we are knowing that, 25:48 "Hey, this relationship can't work 25:49 if I hold on to self," 25:52 because the two cannot walk together unless they agree. 25:55 And so in order for me to be able to have that 25:57 nice relationship, 25:59 that awesome relationship with God, 26:00 I need to die because we need to agree. 26:02 And I know for sure that if I die to self 26:05 and He's living in me, 26:06 then you know things are going to be better 26:08 so that is why we need 26:10 to really allow the life of Jesus. 26:13 We need to allow, you know His perfect example, 26:15 in addition to the fact that we need for sure, 26:18 we need to die to self 26:19 so that we can ask things to God. 26:22 We need to go to God in accordance with the spirit. 26:25 And so the take away points we can have is that 26:27 there are times when we cannot trust ourselves to pray, 26:30 that's for sure. 26:32 You know there are times 26:33 when we are even too wounded to pray, 26:34 you know that is when we really need to die to self. 26:37 And when we are too wounded to pray, 26:39 it's a good thing knowing for sure that, 26:41 "Hey, the Spirit of God will pray for me 26:44 because the Spirit of God is living in me." 26:46 And it can be a blessing because we are depending 26:48 on the Spirit of God to actually pray for us. 26:51 And we need to also remember that we cannot depend 26:54 on the Holy Spirit to pray for us if self is alive. 26:57 The Holy Spirit will not pray our selfish prayers, 27:00 it cannot prayer our selfish prayers. 27:02 That will go totally opposite to what God would want us 27:05 to pray for, 27:06 so we need to remember these points. 27:09 And I would like us to just say a prayer 27:10 as you know we've spoken about this topic about self. 27:13 Lord, teach us how to die daily. 27:16 May we allow ourselves to live 27:19 and work so that you can live in us, 27:22 that we can remain dead to self. 27:24 Father, we ask that You would keep self under subjection, 27:27 so we can experience a prayer life 27:29 that is effective. 27:31 May we continue to allow You to live in us 27:33 so that our prayer life can take a different flight. 27:36 And the experience and the testimonies 27:38 that the God can be a blessing to us 27:40 and to others we pray, in the name of Jesus. 27:43 Amen. Amen. 27:44 Thank you for that insight that you've provided us with today. 27:48 We pray that you were blessed by today's program. 27:51 Remember that even when God says 27:52 no to some of our prayer requests, 27:54 it's a blessing. 27:56 Be sure to tune in next time when Dr. Nadine shares 27:59 more information to supply The Missing Piece. |
Revised 2018-02-14