Thank God for Prayer!

Alright. Thank God for prayer. If you turn to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. This morning, Philippians chapter four.

And we're going to read verses six and seven from there in just a moment. Should be a rather familiar passage to many of you today. Philippians four, six, and seven but before we read that, I want to read again the verse on the screen here. Hebrews four sixteen, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For your love, mercy, grace, for your son, Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb and the salvation that you brought to our hearts though undeserved Lord because of your grace and your love for us. We thank you Lord for your sacrifice. We thank you Lord for your invitation to be part of your family through faith in your son. Your invitation to bring our prayers before you as children of the king.

And Lord, the promise that you hear and answer them and Lord, I pray that we might be encouraged today and reminded and that indeed we would be more grateful for the privilege of prayer that is ours. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen. We are invited. You're invited.

You're invited to come boldly before the throne of grace in heaven. We're invited to come boldly before our God in prayer. To bring our requests before him, to come to him with the longings of our heart, the troubles, and the burdens that we bear, that we might receive what? Help in time of need. You will probably not be given such an invitation by the president of The United States or maybe even the governor of the state.

But you have been given such an invitation by the king of kings and Lord of lords. By the supreme God of the universe, the creator of all things. Invites those of us, his children who have received his son by faith to come boldly every day before his throne to receive grace and help in our time of need and we have times of need. We live in a sinful world. We all have times of need.

When we do, God says, I'm here. Don't forget me. Don't forget me. I'm here. You're invited.

You're invited to talk to me. You're invited to share with me. You're invited to make request of me. How incredible that is among the many things we have to be thankful for prayer should be at the top of the list. The privilege to come, to bring our burdens, to share our heart with the God of heaven.

Who has promised to hear those and answer them. Philippians four, six, and seven, and I do have it up here as well if you need it. Philippians four, six, and seven says, be careful for nothing. Now, that comes across maybe a bit confusing in English. It means be anxious.

Worry not. Be anxious for nothing. Do not fret or worry about what? Anything. That's what that phrase means.

Be anxious for nothing. But in everything, this is what don't don't fret about anything, but this is what you need to do with what? Everything. By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto who? Unto God.

Here's what you do with everything. Rather than getting all anxious and worried and stressed out, God says, bring em to me. Bring bring everything to me. There is nothing you can bring to me. Ain't that incredible?

The God of heaven says, I don't want you to be worried and stressed out about anything because you can bring everything to who? To God. To him. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus And God will give you the opposite of fret and worry and stress and anxiety and that is what? Peace.

So, let's just dig in a little further here this morning. Before we go, I I guess I preached my message but we got a half an hour. So, we're going to dig a little deeper before I let you go, okay? Point number one, don't fret or worry or be overcome with anxiety over things which are yet to happen. Or are out of your control.

And we do that all the time. Don't fret or worry or be overcome of anxiety over things which are yet to happen. They haven't happened yet. Or things that are out of your what? Out of your control.

And yet, we do that all the time. Stress is a killer. A major source of physical maladies in addition to emotional and spiritual ones. A lot of heart issues today are caused by anxiety and stress. High blood pressure, which I know several of you have, including myself, is, in many cases, a result of what?

Worry and stress. Insomnia is often the result of what? Worry and stress. And if you don't sleep enough, it causes other problems. I back ten plus years ago now, I had to have surgery on my elbow.

Just a few of you were here that far back. I got to the point where I couldn't direct music. I couldn't brush my teeth. I had to feed myself with my left hand, because my right elbow was all full of arthritis and stuff due to an injury I had occurred fifteen years prior. And I had about this range of motion in it.

And finally, my wife said, you have to have surgery. And I had never had surgery. And I didn't want to have surgery. That was not appealing. But it was starting to, you know, well, gone past the point at which it was starting to cause me trouble.

And so, I went to the doctor, we scheduled the surgery. And I thought I was handling it pretty well, but of course, the surgery was six weeks out. So I had to wait six weeks for the surgery to happen. And I thought I was handling it pretty well but I would wake up in the morning and when I woke up, I had to take my jaw and go, because my jaw was almost locked in position and for three weeks, my jaw hurt all day. A matter of fact, I went to the dentist to see if I had a tooth that was like infected or something because my jaw hurts so bad.

Well, finally, the day came, I had the surgery and two days after the surgery, my jaw was fine. And it didn't hurt anymore. Now, why do you think was the problem? Probably, worry and anxiety that I didn't think I had but my jaw said I did because every night evidently, I went to sleep just with my jaw clenched and it didn't like that and that's what worry and anxiety do to us. God doesn't want us to live that way.

And Christians don't need to live that way. What is anxiety? It's stress bought brought on by fear. Why was I stressed out? I was afraid of the surgery.

I was afraid of letting put to sleep. Never been put to sleep before. Should I been afraid? No. Was I?

Yes. Evidently, didn't think I was but again, well, my jaw said otherwise. Why do we get anxious? It's a response to fear. We're afraid of something.

And that's why we get anxious. That's why we worry. Because we're afraid. Fear of man, fear of man, fear of what others might do or say to you can bring on stress and anxiety. I remember when I I first the Lord called me to the ministry I would get sick before I preached.

I was scared to death almost and scared to sickness anyway. I I had this stage fright that the Lord had to help me get over. Fear of man, the Bible says brings a snare and that snare kept me from answering the call of the ministry a couple years earlier than I did because I was afraid. Anxiety is often brought on by fear. Fear of men.

Fear of what others may think, what others may say. Don't allow the fear of man to keep you from doing what you ought to do and don't let it make you what? Anxious and all stressed out. That is a snare that fear of man brings. Anxiety is brought on by fear of failure.

What if I do this and it all what? It all fails. So many people are stressed out because they're afraid that whatever it is they're attempting to do, it's going to what? It's going to fail. So, they're afraid and they get anxious and they get all stressed out.

Fear of the unknown or the future. Don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You're right. Don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Is my anxiousness and worry going to change what happens tomorrow?

No, it isn't. Why why worry? Then again, if you're a Christian, should you be afraid of tomorrow? The answer is no. But fear of tomorrow often brings stress and worry.

Fear of failure. Fear of illness. That sort of goes along with my my elbow and my surgery. Sometimes, we worry and we get all stressed out over illness. Think back to two years ago when you first heard about COVID and we couldn't meet at church for a few weeks and you couldn't didn't want to go out the store and everybody wore masks all the time and everybody was what?

Worried and anxious and because we didn't know what was going to happen and we're afraid we were all going to get what? Sick. Well, guess what? Most of us got sick. And we're still here.

Sickness is something we deal with all the time. And it does cause us sometimes to worry. But we don't have to worry. We don't have to be stressed. Being ill isn't fun.

But you don't have to be afraid Fear brings anxiety. Anxiety is not what God wants for his children. We're told in scripture not to let fear have its way with us. We've been called to get control of our fears. Now, we do get afraid.

That's natural. Question is, do you control your fear? Does your fear what? Control you. Which is it?

If we allow our fear to control us, we get what? Anxious, worried, and all stressed out. We don't have to let fear control us. We, though we get afraid, can take our fears to who? We can take our fears to God and God will help us to control those fears and diminish those fears and the anxiety that goes along with it.

Paul said to Timothy in second Timothy one seven, and I suspect maybe Timothy was a little bit like me. Had a little bit of stage fright, a little bit of anxiety about being responsible for a ministry and so Paul told Timothy, he said, for God has not given us the spirit of what? Fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Quit focusing on the fear. Give the fear to who?

Give the fear to God. Trust him. He is not a god of fear. He's a god of power and of love, a sound mind. He's given us his power and his strength to do what he has asked us to do.

He's given us a heart full of love to focus on love for those to whom we minister, to whom we care for, and not not fear. He's given us a sound mind to rightly divide the word of truth so that if you take the time and put in the study, you don't have to be afraid that you're going to say the wrong thing because you know it's the what? You know it's the right thing. And Timothy, you don't have to let fear have its way with you. Let God have his way with you.

And with your fear. Anxiety, stress, it's a result of fear. Fear that we allow to overcome us rather than fear that we overcome. Christian, you need not fear. God says, be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee.

Whether so ever thou goest. Don't be afraid. Don't be overcome of fear. Overcome fear. By God's grace.

So many Christians today are paralyzed by their fears. Don't be. You don't need to be. Trust God and make full use of your incredible privilege. God's invitation to prayer.

Now, this verse not only tells us, don't worry. This verse tells us what we can do so we what? Don't worry, okay? It's one thing for me to get up here and say, don't worry. We know we're not supposed to worry but we do, okay?

We get anxious. So, it's not just enough to say, don't worry and God knows that. So, God tells us in this passage what we can do instead of worrying, how we can cure worry, how we can overcome anxiety in our life, and that is in trusting who? Trusting God. I mean, that's that's what prayer is.

Prayer is trusting, trusting God. God says, don't worry. Don't be afraid. Trust me. Trust me.

Now, if just any Joe Blow walked up to you off the street and said, trust me. You might need to step back for a second and say, I don't know if I ought to trust you. Trust me with your investments. I can make them grow by tenfold in a year. Trust me.

You might not want to do that. But when God says trust me, that's a different story, isn't He has proven he is what? He's trustworthy. And we can trust him. He gave his son for us.

Just like he foretold he would. And he did. And he saved you. He's trustworthy. So, trust him.

Not just with your salvation. Doesn't have to end there. Doesn't need to end there. God wants you to trust him with those things that make you what? Worry.

God says, trust me with those two. Matter of fact, God invites us as we read here in Hebrews four sixteen to come boldly with those things before him, to bring our request before him. To him who can see the future. You worried about tomorrow? Well, don't worry about tomorrow because you can take your worry to God who sees tomorrow.

And you can trust him. He sees tomorrow. He knows what's going to happen. So, you don't have to worry. Trust the God who sees tomorrow.

To him who can forgive the mistakes of the past. One of the things we worry about are mistakes, sins, things we did in the past. That we worry might affect our future. Don't worry about the mistakes of the past God can forgive those and when God forgives, he forgives. You don't have to worry.

He's a forgiving God Go to God in prayer with those things to him who can change the hearts and minds of men. You worried about others about how they respond, about how they're going to deal with this or that? Take your request to the God who can change hearts and minds. I can't change hearts and minds. God can.

I'm a messenger to give you God's word and I pray God will use it to change your hearts and minds. And he can. I can worry all day long about this person and that person and this situation and that situation and when I first started out in the ministry, sometimes I'd get so so caught up in in this situation or this person, this thing, and want to change it. Sometimes, I wouldn't wait on the Lord like I should and I jump jump ahead to try to to change something that wasn't my response ability. It is was whose.

It was God's. Wait on the Lord. Go to him who can change hearts and minds. Let him do it. He does a good job.

I think back to the Old Testament and there was a king. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. He was the king of what? Babylon. Babylon.

He was the most powerful king of his day. He was a tyrant of tyrants. He could command the death of a person, a family, or a nation. By the words of his mouth. He had an army at his disposal.

That was the envy of the nations of his day and he was a wicked, brutal man. But then, God put someone in his life named Daniel and three friends who we know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And God began to work on the heart of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar learned to respect Daniel and his friends but he was still a wicked pagan man so he erected an idol and he commanded that everybody bow down and worship the idol and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, what? No.

We won't do it and the wicked king Nebuchadnezzar says, well, I'm going throw you in that fiery pit over there. If you don't do what I tell you to do, they said, well, sorry, we're not going to do what you tell us to do because that is against the laws of our God and we're going to stick with God. So, Nebuchadnezzar got mad. He had it turned up like seven times hotter and had him thrown in the fire. And of course, did they need to worry?

No. Fire didn't touch them. Who was with them? Jesus was. Matter of fact, God even allowed Nebuchadnezzar to see.

Fourth man in the fire but that wasn't the end. Nebuchadnezzar still had a little more respect for the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego but he still hadn't stopped his pagan ways and God warned him, if you don't stop bragging about your might and your power, I'm going to I'm going to knock you down a bit. One day, Nebuchadnezzar went out and he praised himself for all of his might and all of his glory and God so God said, okay, that's it. For his next seven years, Nebuchadnezzar spent roaming around his courtyard like an animal eating grass. Like a crazy man which he was for seven years and then at that end of that seven years, Nebuchadnezzar finally humbled himself before who?

Before the God of heaven. And he begged for mercy and God showed it to him and when Nebuchadnezzar ascended back to the throne of Babylon, he was a different man. And he praised the God of heaven. The true God, the living God, the almighty God, and he changed many of of his ways. Now, that was not something that any man could have done but it was something that who could do.

That God could do, who changes hearts and minds. Come to the God with your needs and burdens to him who can change the course of events. In Joshua's day, he made the son to what? To stand still. So, they could finish off the enemy and win the victory.

To him who can lead you in the best direction, in the paths of righteousness. Trust in him. Bring your burdens to him. Bring your questions to him. He's not going to lead you in the wrong way.

Correction. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Come to him.

He invites you to. To him who will never leave you nor forsake you. To him who cares for you, whose mercies are new, every morning. He begs you to bring your request to him. He's waiting.

He wants to help. If you will just let him He wants to to carry that burden. If you'll just trust him. He wants to ease that stress. If you will just just let him.

Matthew seven seven, he says, ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you. For everyone that ask it receiveth, he that seeketh find it and to him that knocketh, it shall be open. Or what man is there of you whom if his son has bread, he will give him a stone?

Or if he asks fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them? Which ask him. God says, I'm waiting Would you please quit trying to carry the burden alone? Killing yourself with worry and stress?

You can trust me. I'm trustworthy. I can see the future. I can forgive your sins, change people's hearts, change the course of events, lead you in the right way, give you wisdom. I'll never leave you.

And I'll always care for you. And he invites us. To come to him with those burdens. That is the remedy for worry. Not only to bring those but point number three but to bring them with what?

Thanksgiving in our hearts with a heart of gratitude. Thanksgiving for what? Thanksgiving for the opportunity of prayer. When you come to God with your request, come to him with a heart of gratitude that you're invited to do so. He doesn't have to make that invitation.

He is the creator and we're the creature and and we're not even a good creature. We're kind of a rotten one. But yet he still invites us by his grace because of his love. To bring our burdens to him. Be thankful.

Be thankful that he invites us, hears us, answers us, has bound himself by his love and his word to do so. So, take him up on his offer. Be thankful for the opportunity of prayer. Be thankful for what God has already what? What already done?

How forgetful we are. We are forgetful creatures. Somebody can do something really nice for us this week and next week, they tell us they're going to do something and they forget and all of a sudden, they're scum. Because they said they were going to do this and they didn't do it. And we completely forget how they went way out of their way to help us what?

Last week and we're all mad at them because they made a what? Mistake. Praise God. He doesn't make mistakes but we do and one of those mistakes is, we forget what he did last week and last month. We're all consumed about what's happening today that we forget about yesterday.

Count your blessings. Sometimes, we need to stop and count em and not forget we need to be thankful for his answers to prayer and then thankful for what God will do with our requests in advance. We can thank him for hearing and we can thank him for answering even before he what? Even before he answers. Why?

Because he is a trustworthy God who loves us, always keeps his promises and if he says he's going to hear my prayers, he will. And if he says he's going to answer them, in the way that best benefits me, I can trust that he will. Even when it doesn't go exactly like I plan. Because sometimes I don't know what's best for me. And neither do you.

We can thank him in advance. I'm going to read for you from Psalm three and and just want you to listen while I read. It's just a few verses and I just want you to listen while I read from Psalm three and I want you to to catch something here as David's talking. It's a bit confusing at first but but let me read it. Lord, how are they increase that trouble me?

Many are there that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God, Selah. But thou, oh Lord, art a shield for me. My glory and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill.

Selah. Selah means rest a moment and take some thought about what was just said. I laid me down and slept. I awaked for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of 10 thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, oh Lord, save me. Oh my God. For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord thy blessings is upon thy people.

Selah. And and it's a bit confusing because I can't, as I'm reading through it, I'm thinking, okay, so David starts out with, oh, I'm getting buried here. You know, Lord, this this and and people are saying there's no hope for me and then David saying but I I'm I'm cry out to you and I trust you and you have defeated my enemies and I'm I'm not quite sure. Is he is this past tense or is this future? Is this something already happened?

Or is he or no, I think what's going on here is this, David is crying out to God for God to deliver him. He's in a cave. He's on the run from his son who is coming with an army to kill him. I can't imagine all the emotions that's going through his mind as his son is coming to kill him along with the fact that somebody's coming to kill him. But he cries out to God and then he speaks as though God has already what?

God's already answered and God's already done it. Why? Because God has done it before. And David knew that God would answer his prayer then and David was already praising God for what he would do in response tomorrow. He was already thanking God In advance, for what he trusted his God would do.

That's faith and that's prayer. Praying and bringing our request to God, grateful for the opportunity to do so, grateful for what God has done and grateful for what God will do. With what we bring before him. And all of that will result in what? Rather than stress, verse seven, it results in what?

Peace. David said, I laid my head down and I what? I slept. Because God was watching over me. And I could sleep.

How incredible? He could sleep. That's peace that passes what? All understanding. How could he do that?

Well, because he took his fear and his worry and he had fear and he had worry but he took those fears and those worries to who? To God. He took God up on his invitation. And he brought him before God. He trusted the God who had answered his prayers before.

The God that cared for him, the God that keeps all promises would do it once again. And he did. When we are able to trust the Lord and bring our worries and fears to him, he will give you peace. He will give us peace also. Contentment and rest because God keeps his promises.

Because God has the power to answer our prayers. And because he is a god of love. And compassion. And grace. So, what can you be thankful for today?

Be thankful for a god who hears your prayers. And show him that. By bringing your prayers to him. And trusting him. To help you.

Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for your love for us, for sending your son to die for us, for inviting us to become part of your family and hearing and answering our prayers day by day. Lord, the answers are so many and numerous we couldn't begin to count all of our many blessings and the answers of our prayers but Lord, help us not to forget. Help us not to be ungrateful for what you have done and for the opportunity we have. And help us Lord to take advantage of that.

You're waiting to hear. Lord, help us to trust you with those needs and Lord, give us faith so that we can leave them with you and not carry them back. But Lord trust you to help us, relieve us from our anxiety and fear and to use us to show the world what it means to be a Christian. Someone who doesn't have to be anxious and afraid. With someone who can have the joy of the Lord in their life even when things around them are not going.

So great. For Lord, as long as you are with us, you will not leave us or forsake us. Things are going. Great. Because we have you.

Lord, thank you. Lord, we pray if there's one here that's never trusted Christ. We pray they'd come this morning. We can share with them how to be saved. And I pray Lord if there's one or more that are are you're dealing with today, Lord, maybe we've allowed way too much anxiety and worry in our life because we just haven't been bringing it to you and trusting you as we should.

I pray that you would help them Lord. To trust you more this day. And in the days going forward. In Jesus name, amen.