How Persistent Prayer Builds Unshakable Faith

TRANSCRIPT

Yeah, I'm excited to share this morning and I thought I would kick off by sharing a story 'cause I love to share stories and some of you in the room and some of you that are watching online will actually remember this and a few years. Actually I have to catch, it wasn't really a few years ago, it's actually more accurate to say over a decade ago now, but it feels like it was only a few years ago.

We were getting ready for this massive Christmas event and it was like. The finale to this two week Christmas program that we used to do, and it was being held up at what used to be Parkland showgrounds. Remember up at Southport? It's now the Gold Coast Uni Hospital, but it was this massive event we had.

It was months of planning, huge outdoor stage thousands of people coming. Rick Price. Pauline was particularly excited about the fact that Rick Price was gonna be the guest speaker that night. Remember Al Bato box? None. And the guys, they'd rehearse like everything was ready. There were camels, like there was a live Naivity, guys, it was going to be Epic.

And yeah, final soundchecks done. Crowds are streaming in and then. The clouds start to form directly above where we are. And back in those days, I sound really old when I say that, but back in those days we didn't have iPhones with weather apps. So you couldn't check the radar as you went. You just had eyes on the sky, faith in your heart, let's put this thing on, let's see what happens.

And so these dark clouds started to form and the conversations shift to. Safety concerns because the stage was not covered and there was a whole bunch of audio visual equipment and it wasn't looking good. So I remember staying there. I was the organizer of it along with a bunch of other leaders. And I remember so distinctly still to this day grabbing this sort of circle formation with a bunch of about 25 leaders and praying that God would make a way and.

My faith was so high that these clouds would disappear, that I even was imagining exactly what that would look like. So in the middle of the prayer, I just opened my eyes and I look up fully expecting to see one of three things. The clouds just miraculously disappear in front of my eyes. Number two, the clouds just get blown away with such force that it's like God himself was just blowing them back out to sea.

Or number three, and this was personally where I felt that it was gonna land, was that the clouds would form a ring and it would rain all it liked. Everywhere other than this little circle of oval that we were gathered on at the showgrounds. That's how high my faith was, that God was gonna do this thing because thousands of people were coming and they were gonna hear about Jesus and there were camels and carols like it.

It had to happen, right? Like Christmas miracle. So we prayed. We believed we joined our faith and the clouds opened up and bucketed down rain like I have never experienced before or probably will ever experience again. Powers out event is canceled. It is all off. It was just a Christmas event, but I had prayed and I had believed that he could and he would do something that he was able, but the result was not what I had hoped for.

And many of you, I'm sure. Know that same feeling. I know that in my lifetime, many times I've experienced that feeling and oftentimes it's about something so much deeper and so much harder than just a canceled Christmas event. And maybe you have too. Maybe you have prayed full of faith and hope and you've believed, but the healing hasn't come, or the womb is still waiting, or the relationship is not yet.

Restored. Maybe the child is still far from faith or the breakthrough is yet to come. The situation has not yet changed. You've prayed with faith and you've hoped, but the clouds didn't part and the rain still came, and maybe even in your situation, it still feels like it's raining. Maybe you have thought that prayer is about results that you prayed.

And if you prayed hard enough that the situation would change, that circumstances would shift, and sometimes absolutely the situation shifts and changes. We serve a God of miracles. He is faithful and he's able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can even hope or imagine. But other times the answer doesn't come the way that you hoped, the way that you expected, maybe in the timeframe that you imagined it would, and you might find yourself asking the question, does prayer really change anything?

I want you to know today that the answer that I believe with all my heart is that prayer changes things. Especially us. Prayer changes things, especially us. See over time and certainly through my lived experience, I've come to realize something. I've come to realize that when I am focused on changing my experience, my God is focused on changing me.

Sometimes the biggest change happens inside of us. What if prayer is not just about moving God, but God moving us and moving in us? We often think that the purpose of prayer is about getting results, but I wonder if the purpose of prayer is actually about us being renewed to grow in relationship with Jesus, the one who saves ourselves to have our character shaped.

To learn what it looks like to truly surrender more of him, less of me. Your will not mine. What if prayer isn't a transaction, but it's actually transformation? One of the biggest transformations that I have seen in my life as I've grown in my relationship with Jesus and grown in my understanding of prayer.

Is not just experiencing but actually living in his peace. And I have found often that prayer brings peace often before it brings answers. Would anyone agree with me with that? I'll say it again. Prayer brings peace before it necessarily brings answers. Let me ask you something. When the rug gets pulled out from underneath you in life and life throws you a bit of a curve ball, maybe you're feeling a little bit stressed, a little bit worried, a little bit concerned, what do you do?

Some of us start to scroll late at night. Some of us start to eat salt and vinegar. Chips and french onion dip are a good combination there. Let me assure you, some of us. Make plans, and then we make backup plans. And then we make backup plans for our backup plans. We love control, don't we? Oh, that's just me.

But Paul has some great advice for us and it's vi advice that's a little bit surprising, a little bit different, but it's pretty awesome when you think about this whole series and about making space to pray and con. Make contact with the connector of our souls. So I want us this morning to just go through this beautiful passage of scripture and unpack it.

Philippians four verses six and seven. Little bit of context here. Paul is writing this from prison. So talk about a rainy day. It is still stormy in his world. He has no idea at this point if he's going to be executed or released. Is he gonna live? Is he gonna die? Don't know. His future is completely unknown, and yet, this is what he writes.

He says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition and with Thanksgiving, make your request or present your request to God. And what happens? The peace of God, the passes all understanding, or which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Do not be anxious about. Anything. Do you know what? This is not a rebuke. When I was little, I used to think this was like this really strong rebuke, like just don't be anxious. But actually it is the most beautiful invitation. And Paul is not saying that you're never gonna feel worried, that you're never gonna feel anxious or stressed or worried.

He's not saying to ignore reality. He's just saying don't set up camp there. There's somewhere better that you can take those feelings. He's actually teaching us in this passage a spiritual response, how to make room for God in the middle of what we're facing. So he says, don't be anxious about anything.

But in every situation. In every situation, when should we pray? In every situation, big or small. Obvious or hidden, and you might think, but this is not a big deal. Or, but somebody else is dealing with something bigger. It doesn't matter in every situation, relational stress, financial stress, uncertainty, illness, just that nagging feeling of frustration, he cares.

About what you are facing, and Anita reminded us a few weeks ago about what it looks like to pray without ceasing. You don't have to wait until you've hit rock bottom. You bring your request to him, you keep the conversation going at the red light and at the school drop off and before the meeting and while you're holding the diagnosis, like it's a constant conversation that we're having with God in every situation.

So in every situation, by prayer and petition, and with Thanksgiving, we present our requests to God. Prayer is relationship. Prayer is a conversation, petition. That means like bringing specific requests to God and Thanksgiving. I love that he inserted that in because that is gratitude, that is being thankful before you even know the outcome of what is going to happen.

And we can come with Thanksgiving because we know his character and his power and who he is. He is good and regardless of the outcome, we know that his. Perspective is eternal and it's so different to ours. And so it will be for our good. However, this plays out and sometimes it looks like him changing the situation and other times it looks like him allowing, the situation to change us.

So we entrust our lives to the one who sees the bigger picture, the one who is. Infinitely more capable of solving our problems than we are. And so we come and we say, father, like I thank you that you are with me. I thank you for who you are. I thank you for what you've already done. And God, here's this thing.

Here's this thing that I have for you today, this concern. And so you can be specific. And you can be real and you can be authentic. He can handle your wrestling, he can handle your questions, and he doesn't need fancy words. He just needs you to show up and be real with faith and surrender. We don't demand, he's not a vending machine.

He is a father who cares and he is a father. Who listens. And so we present our request to God. We enter in the throne room, not groveling, but confidently because we are his. And so we do this. We present our request to God and what happens? The peace of God, which transcends understanding, and this is what I was saying before, what happens first, not necessarily the results.

But always the peace, not necessarily control, not necessarily a solution, not necessarily, but sometimes immediate change, but always peace and never just any kind of random peace that depends on your circumstance, but the peace of guide and it won't make sense because it. Transcends understanding. It's the kind of peace that the world can't give and the world can't take away.

It's the kind of peace that not doesn't come after the storm, but it comes in the midst of the storm, and it's the kind of peace that's gonna allow you to say, when someone says to you, I don't understand how you can be standing in the midst of this and you can reply, I'm not. But he's holding me up.

That's the kind of peace that he gives us. It's his strength and his peace that sustain us. You might still be in the storm, but the storm will not be in you because you walking in and you're experiencing his peace and that peace will guard your hearts. And your minds. You know what I think of, I picture when I read this little phrase, like an actual guard, like real military kind of guard, and he's acting like a soldier, guarding the very gate of my soul, protecting my peace, protecting my heart and my emotions, and protecting my mind and my thoughts, guarding my heart and my mind.

So we are not given peace. Those our hearts and our minds are not guarded by our positive thinking or by like good vibes. It's protected in the person of Christ Jesus. The source of our peace is never our circumstances. It's Christ Jesus. And Paul is not saying in this scripture here, pray and you will get what you want.

But he is saying, pray, and regardless of what happens, you will know my peace, you will experience my peace, and I will be with you. In other words, God's first gift is not always the outcome, it's his peace. And so our God, when we pray. He changes things and that change begins with us, and it starts with his peace and that peace comes when we ask.

And that's what Pastor Kev was helping us understand last week when he talked about the power of praying in the spirit and how the Holy Spirit begins to unpack the layers and. God doesn't always change our circumstances first, but he will always change you in the process. And as we allow the Holy Spirit and we give him permission to begin to unpack all of our layers of life and the things that have experience that we've experienced, that have shaped us into the people that we've become.

That moment is when we actually do our greatest and our deepest growing and stretching and faith building. As we grow in our faith and our understanding of the faithfulness and the goodness of our guide, we continue to discover that prayer is not necessarily about the results, but about aligning our hearts with his.

Aligning our hearts with his will. I could fill book after book with the prayers that I have prayed, and so many of my prayers have been answered miraculously. I've experienced his healing power, I've experienced his provision. I've experienced. Direction and his protection. And I know that we serve a God who is able and he is a miracle working God.

And some of my prayers I've discovered they didn't receive immediate answers. The answers were delayed. And there were many times where his answer for me was different. And. I think often about the fact that our perspective is so limited, and so many times I go to God and I say here's this situation, and God, would you do A, B, C?

Because my best thinking has enabled me to think that this is the best solution for, my, my problem or my situation, and. And so we almost extend to God our solutions, even though he is infinitely more wise and able than we could ever possibly be. And then sometimes we get disappointed when he solves it in his way instead of ours.

And yet in hindsight, I can see that every single time he has answered a prayer his way is always better. Always better and other prayers. I continue to pray year after year, trusting that he hears trusting that he is good and that he is faithful, and I continue to bring these same prayers with expectation.

And with hope that he's more than able and that he can and that he will do these things. But I always then say, but Lord, not my will, but yours be done. And over the years I've contemplated, and maybe you have as well, that if our God is all knowing and all powerful and he already knows. He knows the number of hairs on my head.

Why would I need to keep presenting to him this prayer? Like why keep pati petitioning if he already is all knowing and he knows what I need before I even say a word. So why pray? Has anyone ever wondered that? Or is that just me? There's a few. Yeah, there's a few of you. And I wanna give you a couple of reasons that I feel like I've learned along my journey about the importance of continuing to bring our prayers to God.

And number one is that prayer builds relationship, not just results. Prayer builds relationship. It's not a transaction. God's not interested in our religion or in our rituals. He actually really wants connection with us, and often we expect those instant results when we pray. But prayer is about ongoing relationship.

It's about this I don't know, like a daily conversation that actually begins to shape our identity and our thoughts and our peace and our outlook on life. It's not just about speaking to God, it's about creating space to listen. To what he has to say for us, and presenting our requests isn't about informing God about what's going on.

He's already very aware of what's going on, but it's actually saying, God, I invite you into the process. I invite you into the places where my faith is still being formed and I'm being stretched, and my trust is still growing as I depend on you. And I am no relationship expert, but there is one thing I know about healthy relationships and that is that communication is key.

Honest, authentic, real communication. That's what builds intimacy and deepens trust. And so prayer, as we're having conversations and communication with God, actually allows our intimacy with God to deepen. It builds relationship. It draws us closer to the Father, and it makes us more like Jesus, and it helps us stay in step with the Holy Spirit.

Prayer builds relationship, not just results. The other thing that happens when we pray, and we've touched on this already today and even last week, is that prayer aligns our hearts with his. And when you pray something in you really begins to shift. And as the Holy Spirit works and he peels back those layers, and you allow him to I guess really you allow yourself to be known by him, you begin to lay down your own agenda.

And you lay down your control. And sometimes the very act of just verbalizing the request that you wanna make, it actually helps clarify it in your heart. And it can sometimes cause a shift because you realize that what I think I need is actually not the thing that I actually most need. So there's this clarification that comes as we pray, we begin to move from my way.

To your will, and it's a real heart shift. It's a posture of surrender where we can come before a God who knows us and loves us, and we can come boldly and ask for all of the things that he has already done and achieved, but we trust fully in him that he knows best. Pastor Kev reminded us last week that prayer is not about just asking for what we want.

It's about aligning our heart. With his, it's about aligning our hearts with his will for our life, but also for others' lives. Prayer isn't about convincing God to do things our way. It's about positioning ourselves to follow his. So why keep praying when we've petitioned and we've cried out and we're in the waiting room waiting for what we absolutely know that he can do?

Because prayer changes us. And I have found this one to be particularly true. And as I look around this room and I think about the people that are watching online, there are ones of you that I know like me, continue to pray, persistent prayers believing for things. And I know firsthand that persistent prayer shapes us.

Luke I think it's Luke 18, Jesus shares. A beautiful parable about the persistent widow, and he shares this story to encourage his disciples and to tell them, like this widow, she just kept showing up. She was so persistent. She wanted justice, and she and Jesus actually uses this story to highlight her faith and to say, pray in the same way that the widow kept turning up.

Be persistent. Not because God is reluctant, he's not reluctant, but because we are being formed through the asking persistent prayer stretches and shapes our faith, and it strengthens our faith muscles and our spiritual muscles, and it teaches us perseverance and patience and endurance. And character, and it shows us where our hope really is based.

It's how we learn to worship in the waiting and not just after the breakthrough. It's how we learn to grow in our trust. We pray because he invites us to. And that completely changes the way that you approach your prayer life. Hebrews four 16 says, let us approach the throne of God's grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.

I want you to picture that verse with me just for a little bit. Picture a palace. Really grand marble floors. Massive doors, maybe golden ones. And there's guards everywhere. And there are people in that room and they are approaching the king with formality. They've been scrutinized, they've been security checked if they've even made it in at all, but suddenly.

These massive doors fly open and a child runs to the throne, straight to the king, and the guards do not even flinch. They do not move a muscle. Why? Because they recognize that this is the child of the king. And that child runs up straight into her dad's lap and she climbs up and she says, dad, I need your help.

And that is the invitation to prayer that each and everyone of us has that we are invited into the throne room of our dad, Abba. Father, when you pray, you are not knocking on a locked door hoping for mercy. You are not a servant or a stranger hoping to be heard. You are a child. Of the king and your father loves you and welcomes you into his presence.

You are already known and you are already loved. And that's the way that we get to approach our prayers with our Heavenly Father. And so as we make space to pray to persistently pray, we know that prayer changes things. And it especially changes us. When I think about how God changes things through prayer, I can't help but be reminded of three amazing people in the old Covenant, Shadrach, Ishaq, and AB Bendigo.

Anyone familiar with them? Couple of you are. Their story, I think, captures the tension that many of us. Even possibly today still wrestle with because there's this tension between, faith and surrender. And their account is recorded in January three, and they are living in exile underneath King Nebuchadnezzar.

And King Nebuchadnezzar has built this massive golden statue, and he has. Told everyone, commanded everyone that when they see it, they have to bow down. And these three young men, they refuse. They. They have said no, our loyalty is to our God, we are not going to, we are not going to bow down. And so the king threatens to throw them into a blazing fire if they don't do this, and this is how they respond.

They say, if we are thrown into a blazing furnace. The God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand. But then they go on and they say, but even if he does not, we want you to know your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of God of gold that you have set up.

That is bold and that is faith. Not just in what God can do, but in who he is, but it's also surrender. They were not unsure of God's power. They were just confident that his wisdom, even if the outcome was not the outcome that they hoped or imagined, that his wisdom was greater. Even if he didn't answer the way that they wanted, they would still trust him.

And sometimes I think that the greatest faith is not in the prayer that sees the mountain moved. But in the prayer that when the mountain doesn't move says God, I still believe. And so that's the kind of prayers that I wanna be praying. That kind of go beyond the asking and become part of the fabric of who I am.

That this prayer would be a part of my journey and my life and my relationship with Jesus that, he can and he will. But even if he doesn't, I'm still gonna believe. And for me, I guess that's where I feel like I am right at this point in my life. I wake every morning with complete expectation that God can do co complete hope like that just in a moment.

His miraculous power could be at work and things would change. And so I persistently pray and I walk in faith knowing that I serve a God who is more than able. And because of what he is already done on the cross, it's already done and it's established. Like we get to walk in that victory.

That's the boldness that we get to come and pray for, the things that are concerning us, but also surrender to his will and such contentment. In Jesus that I know that even if nothing changed, even if all of my prayers were answered, not in the way I hoped that my contentment in Jesus would be enough because he is enough.

And I feel like sometimes that's the tension where each and every one of us has to live. Praying with confidence and hope and belief and trust, but also being able to come and surrender with open hands. I believe you can heal, and I'm asking you to, I believe that you can restore this thing and I'm hoping that you will.

God, I believe you can, and I believe you will. But even if you don't. I will still believe, I will continue to trust you and I will still know that you are good and I will still know that you are with me and I will still worship. That's the surrender part. That's the trust because prayer is not just about getting our will done, it's about God shaping his will in each and every one of us.

Can you imagine? If as a community we were known, not just for what we pray for, but how we are being changed through prayer transformed daily imagine homes and hearts that were marked by peace, not by anxiety or by chaos. Imagine a people where contentment reigned over uncertainty, and where faith persisted.

Even in the face of uncertainty and in the middle of the storm. Imagine if we were a people who could make decisions, not based on our desires, but on the will of our Heavenly Father, guided by his direction. Imagine testimonies, your stories of God's faithfulness as you continue to make space. To build your relationship with him.

Space to stay close, space to stay connected to the very one who didn't just create us, but who saved ourselves. 'cause prayer does change things. And those testimonies and those stories are coming. And as we close this morning, I just really felt that. We should take a moment not to rush past what God might be doing in you in this very moment.

Maybe you've come here this morning and you are carrying something heavy, a prayer not yet answered, or a breakthrough that you haven't yet seen, or a longing, or a hope, a healing. You're still waiting or maybe you're disappointed. Because you feel like God didn't answer the prayer that you cried out the way, or in the time that you imagined he should.

Maybe you've just been busy, distracted and you just feel a little bit numb. I just want to give us the gift of just a couple of moments to pause, to take a breath and to. Simply open your heart before him. You don't need to find the perfect words. You don't need to pretend. You just need to come bring your requests and bring your questions, but also bring your faith and your surrender.

And the team are going to sing over us now. And yeah, I just. I just wonder that as they do that, if you would make some space let him meet you right here in this moment, not just to change your circumstance, even though he can, but to begin transforming you and starting with the perfect piece that he gives when you make your request known to God.

So heavenly Father, I thank you that your ways are higher than ours. And we pause right now and we lay down our burdens. God we lay down our plans, we lay down our way, and we wanna make room for you to do whatever you want to do in us. And we believe God, that you can do immeasurably more than we could ever hope or imagine.

And so we bring you our concerns. The things that are weighing on our hearts and we pray boldly trusting that you will do it. And I thank you, God, that in Jesus we find peace. Perfect peace. Peace that passes all understanding. And I pray that it would God our hearts, in our minds in him, I pray God that we would be a people who choose to make space, not just for requests, but for relationships.

Would you shape us, Lord, in the quiet? Would you continue to form us? Heavenly Father, help us to listen, help us to trust and help us to walk intimately with you. And may we be a people who can honestly declare that you can and you will. But even if you don't, that we will still praise you and trust you.

And follow you and worship you, and we surrender. Not our will, but yours be done in Jesus' name. Amen.