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What a crazy statement to say.  It’s true we all want to know what God wants us to do and how He would want us to live, but do we really want to know God’s Will completely?

If we understood God’s will completely we might:

Know the disasters were going to hit and we would try to move the people.

Know when stress would hit and we would not put ourselves in that situation.

Know when sickness or death comes and we would try to stop it.

While we might be able to prevent bad situations or at least be more prepared for it, we would never learn or grow into the people that God created us to be.  If someone understood that they would get cancer and they were successful in altering their life so it did not happen, how could they then testify of complete healing God planned for them.  If we knew a disaster would happen and could prevent it, how could we testify of God’s blessings and provision through our pain.

I am not saying that life’s pain is God’s will, nor am I saying that it is something to enjoy going through.  I am merely praising God that He only reveals a little of His Will at a time, so that I can grow to be the disciple He wants me to be. I have learned more through life’s pain and disappointment then I could ever have learned in any school.  I am a better Husband, Pastor and Man because I have experienced pain and grown from it.  If I knew what God’s Will was from the beginning I would not have always gone the long way around to get to it.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

We must earnestly seek God’s Will if we ever hope to Impact the World, but stop asking God to lay it all out for you.  Focus on what you Know and Earnestly Seek to understand it more fully, but remember that sometimes God won’t reveal what’s coming around the corner because He is stretching you to GROW!

Have you ever thought that we wouldn’t understand fully if we knew God’s complete Will for our lives & would in turn not do it!

Take every opportunity to GROW, then use it as an opportunity to SHOW God’s Love!

R-    Repent

A-         Ask

Y-       Yield

The most difficult part of prayer for me is listening.  I get busy and sometimes my prayers are quick and I don’t really expect God to tell me something.  That is what makes this aspect of prayer so difficult, we have to first start with changing our expectation of God!  For more on expecting more from God go here or here!

The most important part of prayer is listening!  This is how we know when we are doing God’s will, this is how we grow in faith, this is how we know our purpose.  When we listen to God our lives change!  Two primary ways that God speaks that we will touch on are through His Word and through the Holy Spirit!

Through His Word

God gave us His Word to instruct us on how to live a godly life that honors Him!  We can go to the Bible to find direction, purpose, hope, strength, love, promises from God and much more.  His Word is a message from Him, for us.  In this way, God tells us how to live, love and do life with other people.

Through The Holy Spirit

God also speaks through the Holy Spirit.  The most important thing to remember about hearing from the Holy Spirit is that you will never be told anything that contradicts God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity and is therefore God inside of us.  The Holy Spirit speaks sometimes as a voice in your heart sounding like a flow of spontaneous thoughts.  This could be God telling you to talk to or encourage someone by bringing their names to your mind or it could be God tugging at you to do or say something.  It could be the Holy Spirit convicting you of a sin that you need to repent of.  There are lots of ways the Holy Spirit speaks to Christians.  For more on the Holy Spirit click here!

The important thing about Yielding or Listening to God is taking the time to do it.  Here are a few ways you can prepare your heart and focus your mind on hearing from God:

Go somewhere quiet

Spend time singing to God in worship

Journal your prayers

Close your eyes

Clear your mind of your busy schedule

R-    Repent

A-         Ask

Y-       Yield

The beginning of Prayer is praise.  How can we not come before God without first thanking Him and praising Him for His awesome magnificence.

“I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”

Psalm 146:2 

There are over 300 verses in the New International Version that talk about praising God, so one would think this is a rather important aspect of our lives.  There are even more talking about thanksgiving, worship and rejoicing in God and what He has done.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Philippians 4:4

Saying we should rejoice and praise God in all things is most of the time much easier to say than to do. For instance, when someone we love dies or we go through financial struggles praising God can be difficult.  But through the bad times we can know that God is with us.  God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and magnificent.  He created the world and He created you and because of that He deserves all the praise.

Even when it’s hard we must praise God, before we can repent, or ask God for anything; before we can even listen to Him we must show He the Honor and Praise He deserves.

R-   Repent

A-           Ask

Y-         Yield

When it comes to repentance I think we have a twisted view.  We say, “Oh, sorry God I told that lie.” or “Sorry that I forgot to read my bible.”  But I think that repentance is much bigger than just saying “I’m Sorry.”  When we come before God in prayer we have to remember two things, who we are talking to and what we are talking about.

Who We Are Talking To:

When we approach God we have to consider the reality of who God is and what Jesus did for us. So who is God? Isaiah 6:3 says it clearly, “And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”” He is HOLY!  In the Old Testament we see God as the creator of all living things, the liberator of nations, the protector of His people and the Holy One of Israel.  If you were to look on His face you would die.  We are so unworthy to even speak of Him let alone speak to Him.  With that in mind we must approach God with great reverence.

But Mark 15:37-38 shows us how Jesus changed our relationship with God. “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This tearing of the veil is significant if you understand that for Old Testament Jews, God was unapproachable by the common man.  Only the High Priest could enter the Holy Of Holies in the Temple that was divided by the veil we found torn in Mark.  The High Priest had to go through ritual cleansing to even enter the Holy of Holies and his robe had bells placed upon it as well as a rope tied to it in some cases as a precaution so those outside could know if he was still alive and if he died they could pull him back out.  They understood that entering God’s Holy presence could result in death.  The tearing of the veil opens God’s presence through Jesus so that we may approach Him.  Through Jesus we can speak to God in a way the Old Testament Jews never could.  That doesn’t make Him any less Holy or deserving of our honor, it makes His accessible to common sinners like me.

What We Are Talking About

“But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15)

How can we even ask for forgiveness without first giving it.  Jesus says we must forgive others if we want to receive forgiveness, so when we approach God to ask we must first reflect and make sure we have forgiven others.  Mark 11:25 says “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” It is a common thread through out the entire Bible that we must have reconciliation.  We must seek reconciliation in all our relationships no matter who they are with or what has hindered them.

That is the key to true repentance, forgiveness of others!

So when you approach God to pray, remember He is Holy, praise His awesomeness, reflect on who you need to forgive, then ask God to forgive you.

In Jesus we have forgiveness, take hold of that and share it!

Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”

R-    Repent

A-         Ask

Y-       Yield

One of the most common aspects of prayer is the idea of asking God for things.  This is a Biblical principle, but I think we have taken it too far.  There are two main ways we taking asking God for things too far, first we ask but do not expect Him to answer, second we ask without doing the other aspects of prayer.

We Ask But Do Not Expect Him To Answer

When we pray and ask God to do something we must believe that He will actually do it.  If we do not then we are only giving God lip service.

For more on Expecting things from God you can read here or here.

We Ask Without Doing The Other Aspects Of Prayer

When we ask God sometimes we just ask, ask, ask.  Like God is our daddy and we are His spoiled brats.

We have a bad habit of continuing to ask God for stuff without giving Him praise or repenting.  How dare we ask God for anything while in the same breath harboring unforgiveness in our hearts or refusing to receive forgiveness.

I know we I probably don’t say it enough, but our Summit Kidz Team Rocks!

What an awesome privilege Kellee and I have to work with an incredible group of people who are sold out to sharing Christ with kids!  God is radically changing the lives of families in our community through amazing people on our team.  Without such people Summit Kidz would not survive.  So to all our dedicated Teachers, diaper changers, security team members; to all our patient preschool teachers and our gifted organizers; to all the Summit Kidz Team members we want to say a

HUGE THANK YOU!

Kellee and I are so blessed to have people who pour into us as we pour into kids together!  We are so encouraged everyday as we hear parents say, “My child got it!” or “My child convicted me of my sin by demonstrating what they learned in Summit Kids!”.  God is moving and strengthening our families and I’m so excited to share in the work together!  Be encouraged that kids are listening, you are making a difference, you are shaking the very gates of Hell with the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Of the 246 verses found in the New International version of the Bible, one of the most recognized in regards to Worship is John 4:24 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Of the 229 verses found in the New International version of the Bible, the most profound and hard to understand in regards to Prayer is 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray continually”

Why is this verse so difficult? It’s because we aren’t really sure how to continually pray.  Are we to walk around, constantly murmuring prayers?  Must we speak only to God, our every waking hour?  Or is it a deeper concept meant to focus our minds and hearts in a attitude of Worship?

When we pray we are worshipping God through four key ideas: Praise, Repentance, Asking and Yielding.  Easily remembered with the acronym of PRAY

P-     Praise

R-    Repent

A-         Ask

Y-       Yield

If we want to truly understand who God is and what He has planned for our life then we must pray!  We can no longer expect to get by with simple meal prayers and repetitive ramblings we have to fall before the feet of Christ and really talk to God.

The Church needs to step up and pray, we need to come together as the Body of Christ and pray.  Stop worrying about my church and your church and start being The Church!  If you really love God and want to change the World then get up and pray.

The World will never change, The Church will never change, your life will never change unless we pray!

So I challenge you today to fall before God and pray for our Pastors, Our Church, Our Community, Our World!

When you are in finacial trouble and you pray for a blessing…what do you expect?

When you are ready to give up and you pray for a miracle…what do you expect?

We all expect something in every situation.  When it’s raining and we walk outside we expect to get wet.  When we trip, we expect to fall.  But what if we didn’t; what if we didn’t get wet in the rain, what if we didn’t fall when we tripped?  What if we threw all our our expectations out the window?  The truth is we already have.

We only expect what we already know.  We know our car will start when we turn the key (unless it’s a junker).  We know when we tip a cup over the contents will spill.  When we don’t know what will happen, then we don’t know what to expect.  The problem is we have stopped expecting the unknown.  We have thrown our expectations out the window and are satisfied with what we know.  It takes no effort to expect the car to start, because based on our experiences it will.  So we aren’t really expecting anything at all, we are only experiencing what we already know.

So what’s the point?

We need to start expecting more.

What if God said “Hey, take your son and go sacrifice him on a mountain.”  Well for Abraham He did:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

(Genesis 22:1-7)

Abraham knew that God had promised him a son and he knew that God would make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Notice he said we not I will come back to you.  Abraham expected God to intervene and miraculously save Isaac, even in his response to Isaac:

Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

(Genesis 22:7-8)

“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Abraham was expecting!  God already said that human sacrifice was wrong, so Abraham was expecting God to show up and provide a lamb for the sacrifice. So Abraham continues:

And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

(Genesis 22:9-10)

Abraham’s faith in God caused expectations despite his human experiences.  If he relied on his own knowledge and experiences then Isaac would have died (or Abraham would have been disobedient) because Abraham wouldn’t have been expecting God to reach down and SUPERNATURALLY alter our know experiences.  But God did reach down for Abraham:

But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

(Genesis 22:11-13)

That is the awesome thing about our God, He’s Supernatural.  We can expect Him to answer prayer.  We can expect Him to transform our lives.  We can expect Him to bless us.  We can expect God to show up.

The question is, will we?

What area of your life do you need to Expect God to work in?

My hearts aches, because I know that I am the same way.  I’ve put other things before God and slipped so far from the true heart of worship.  “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) My life should be lived as a life of worship.  Everything I do should cry out to God as WORSHIP.

It’s time for a HEART check!  Are you living at the HEART of WORSHIP!

“Worship the lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalm 100:2)

“Worship the lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.” (Psalm 96:9)

“Exalt the lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.” (Psalm 99:5)

It’s time to rediscover the Holy Spirit.  It’s time to give it all back to God.  It’s time to give your heart, your desires, your dreams as worship to the Lord.

It’s time to get back to the HEART of WORSHIP!  Where it’s all about HIM!

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the lord our Maker”

(Psalm 95:6)