21 Days of Prayer: Week Two

Hey guys, this is John Stevens with Graceway. I'm really glad you're joining us for 21 Days of Prayer. I want to take just a moment to let you know how the devotions are going to work this year. Because of some upload limits on the app, we've grouped the devotionals into weekly sets. So instead of one devotional per day, you'll see one file that includes seven days at a time. Each day still has its own devotion and prayer focus. Just take them one day at a time at your own pace, there's no rush. The goal isn't to get through it quickly, but to meet with God daily and allow Him to speak to you. We're praying for you through these 21 days, believing that God is near, that He hears you and that He's at work in your life right where you are. But thanks for being a part of this. Let's pray and seek the Lord together. We're so glad that you are here with us for day eight of 21 Days of Prayer. Come on, give yourselves a hand, whether you're in the room or online. Big shout out to our brothers at Graceway Crossroads and Ozarks, I'm so glad that you are with us. Come on, make some noise for them as well. You know, I love that song, and this isn't part of my devotional, so don't start the time. I mean, please. But, you know, we sing that song about King of Glory, fill this place, and so often we think that we're just talking about the space that we're in, but I believe that we're talking about King of Glory, fill our hearts as well. So when you're crying that out, know that it's more than just a building, it's the hearts that the Lord wants to fill, amen? Amen. If you have your Bible, would you go with me to the Old Testament?

We've been studying through some of the names of the Lord, and we're going to look at another name of the Lord today, so if you have your Bibles, go to Ezekiel chapter 48, Ezekiel chapter 48, and as you are headed there, I do want to just give a shout out to, I know Pastor Tim did this, but our camp team, our Dream Teamers that went to camp, can we give them another shout out today? People say, people always want to celebrate my wife and I for camp, but we couldn't do what we do without having the team that we have. So they're with your students and your kids more during this one week than they are the whole year, so it is an art. So Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 35, it says this, the circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits, and the name of the city from that time on shall be, the Lord is there. Let me give you a little bit of background into Pastor Brandon. If you don't know who I am, I'm our student pastor here, and it's a privilege to be able to serve your families. When I was in about the fourth or fifth grade, I had the first significant loss in my family that I remember, and I remember sitting in my fifth grade class writing my grandma a letter as I was processing in real time that she was no longer with us. And then fast forward about seventh or eighth grade is when my family started unraveling, and there was a lot going on behind the scenes that seventh or eighth graders should not know about, and I thank the Lord that I didn't know about, but it's not the same for some that are in this room. Some of y'all at young ages know a lot more about your families at that age than I did. But in ninth grade, going into ninth grade, I experienced another loss in my family. My auntie, my godmom actually got killed in a car accident going into my freshman year of high school, and then later in the fall of my freshman year, I remember I was sitting in Geography watching a movie called Dances with Wolves, I don't know if anyone knows that movie, and I get a call to the attendance office, and there's another message that I get that my grandma, my dad's mom, nanny had passed away. And then just a few months later, I experienced another loss when I was playing, this was BC y'all, before Christ, I was playing Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, amen?

Yeah, robbing them folks, yeah. But my mom came in my room at that time and said, hey, I'm leaving. And I was just, I was kind of taken aback at what exactly what was going on at that time in my life, and by that end of the same year, I had totally decided to run away from God. I'm gonna fast forward a few years during my junior year of high school, I had an experience with the presence of God that no one can knock and no one can tell me it was not the presence of God. I experienced Him in a real intangible way that I felt His presence, that I felt Him draw me back to who He was and who He is, and I changed my life around. A few years later, I got to meet my wife, Taryn, we got married January the 4th of 2014. And over the last... The last 12 years, we had five kids. You know, I've walked with some of your families, I've walked with students, I've been there for some of the light bulb moments that have come on in their lives, and I've also walked with some of your families as you've experienced loss. Literally, I've been in hospital rooms with some of you, been at the graveside with some of you, done services for some of your families as well, and what I'm trying to get you to understand here is something that is not unique just to my story, but it's something that is a part of your story as well. And it brings us to this day, eight of 21 days of prayer, which we're walking through. Looking back over every chapter of my life, I can now say that the Lord was there. The Lord was there, and not only was he there,

he still is there right now. You see, this is a beautiful thing about this story. It's not unique just to me. He's Jehovah Shema, right? The Lord was there, or is there. Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 35, it introduces us this very incredible name of God, that the Lord is there. What's fascinating is that throughout much of this book of Ezekiel, Jerusalem is described in total devastation and destruction, and the temple had been destroyed, and God's people had been carried into exile or being taken away from their homeland, and everything that they placed their security in appeared to be gone. Yet, the Lord wasn't finished writing their story. The Lord wasn't finished writing their story because we see at the very end of the book, after promising restoration through a vision to Ezekiel renewal in a rebuilt city, God gave Jerusalem a new name. And the new name was, the Lord is there. Hundreds of years later, you might be saying, well, how does this apply to us today? Hundreds of years later, we see that promise actually took on flesh, right? It made us dwell in amongst his people when we see that his name shall be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us.

And even after Jesus ascended to heaven, he gave us his Holy Spirit so that God's presence would never leave his people. From Genesis all the way through to Revelation, which if you weren't in service today or didn't watch it, make sure you go watch it. Shout out Pastor Tim. In Genesis, we see how God walked with Adam and Eve. In Exodus, we see how God dwelt among Israel in the tabernacle. In Ezekiel, God promised his presence would return. In Matthew, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. In Acts, we see how the Holy Spirit dwells within the believers. In Revelation 21, three, we see that scriptures, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. You see, this is our greatest hope that life isn't just gonna be easy. Our greatest confidence isn't that we'll never experience loss again. And if you've never experienced loss or have never been through some things in life, let me just tell you then, life will life, right? Keep living, life will life. I'm not wishing ill on nobody in this room by no means, but what I am telling you is that life has a tendency of lifing. And maybe tonight, you've walked into this room wondering if God still sees you. Maybe you're wondering,

you've been praying for something for years. You've been carrying disappointment that nobody else knows about. The Lord is there. He's present in the midst of your pain. He's present in your waiting. He's present in your healing. He's present in your uncertainty. He's present in your family. He's present in the future. The Lord is there. And let me tell you this, if he's been faithful before, he'll be faithful again. And if he's been faithful before, we can trust and believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. And if he's been faithful yesterday, he'll be faithful today and he'll be faithful forevermore. Why? Because his presence never leaves his people. There's a Psalm that actually speaks to this. It says, where can I flee from your presence? There's nowhere that we can flee from his presence. He is always there. So whatever it is that you're carrying, maybe you're on the mountaintop right now coming back from a spiritual high or you're experiencing God's goodness in a real and powerful way. Maybe you're in the valley.

You're still experiencing, you're living off of that mountaintop experience, but you're in the valley kind of struggling or maybe you're in between. No matter where you are at right now, let me encourage you one more time. The Lord is there. Every pain, every tear that you cry, the Lord is there. So as we go to pray. Here tonight, my hope and my desire, my prayer for us is that we would realize that the Lord is there. Father, we thank you for this day. God, we thank you for your goodness and for your mercy. God, we thank you for opportunity that we have to come together. God, that we have to walk through your names and what they mean to us, even to this day. God, and if your name still had power back then, your name still has power today, that Jehovah Shammah is here with us. The Lord is with us. God, and we thank you. God, that your presence is with us, God. So God, I pray that you would be with my family, be with my friends, God, as they process, what does that look like for them in their own lives? God, I pray that they would realize that your presence is right beside them. So God, meet us right where we're at tonight.

God, we pray that we would hold onto your promises that are yes and amen, that never will you leave us and never will you forsake us. Lord, we thank you for this time, God. Be here in this space, God. Not just this building, God, but in our hearts as well, Lord. We thank you for always being there. We love you, it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Hey, family, as always, we're gonna take the next about 30 minutes to pray, to seek the Lord. There's sticky notes all across the room. You can take time writing some prayer requests, put them on the boards. You can pray for requests. You can also take these red Post-it notes and praise God for what he has done for you in your life or family or someone else. Put it on these two side walls that are underneath the balcony. We also have prayer journals throughout the room, as well as communion out in the lobby if you wanna take some time. We do ask that you continue to press into the presence of the Lord and please be respectful of those that are around you that are really trying to hear from God during this time, amen? Amen, we'll come back in about 30 minutes. We love you guys.

Grab a seat. Man, what a joy to be here tonight. If I've not met you, my name is Jeff. I used to be the lead pastor for over 30 years until nine years ago when I retired. Pastor Tim came along and one of the great joys of my life is to still be an active member of Graceway and see all that God is doing, man. What a great deal. Tonight, we're gonna talk about Jehovah Jireh, if that's okay with y'all. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever come to a place in your life where it's just the end? Life is going to end? Okay, I'm not talking about a bad day. I'm talking about you really know there is no more life. That's where Abraham was living in Genesis chapter 22. You can look there if you would like. I think you all know the story, right? God has called Abraham to be the father of many nations, made him this wonderful promise, and then God asked the unthinkable of Abraham and asked him to sacrifice his son, his only son, through whom the promise is supposed to come, and what do you do in a case like that? Well, if you're Abraham, you say, okay. So Abraham takes his son Isaac. They go on a three-day walk, and can I ask you tonight to put yourself

in Abraham's spot for just a second? I mean, life as you know it is about to come to a crashing end. You're gonna take your boy up. You're gonna pierce his chest with a knife until he's dead, and on the third day, they reach the mountain, and Isaac asks his question. Hey, Dad, I see the fire. I see the wood. So where's the lamb? And Abraham answers with words that I'm sure he probably didn't even really understand yet, and he said, God himself will provide the lamb, my son. So Abraham builds the altar, binds his son, raises his hand with the knife, and then the world changes, literally. The angel of the Lord, in Old Testament talk, that is God himself, calls out. Abraham looks up, and there caught in the bushes is a ram. Now notice something. The ram was already there before Abraham went up the mountain, before Abraham built the altar. The ram was there. He just hadn't seen it yet, and so Abraham names that place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who will see to it, delivers the ram himself, and we learn a lot about God, and we learn a new name of God. So if you're in Genesis. 22, the heart of the story is here in verse 14.

So Abraham called that place the Lord will provide, Jehovah-Jireh, and to this day it is said on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. Jehovah-Jireh, most people translate that as the Lord will provide. And that's correct, that's good. But here's the problem. That's only a fraction of the meaning. It's impossible to translate into English the full pregnant meaning of Jehovah-Jireh. It comes from the Hebrew root word that means to see. And so what we're saying here is the Lord will see in the sense of, here's where the provision comes from, the Lord will see to it. Okay? But it also means that he will be seen. So you put all that together, the Lord who sees will see to it and will be seen. Now here's what that means in real life, okay? What that means is that divine provision flows from divine presence. Okay, let me say that again. God's provision flows from God's presence. And what that means is this, when your prayer is answered, when God shows up, he doesn't give you a call and say, check the porch, an angel left a package. He shows up himself. The angel of the Lord says, hey Abe, look over here. And there's the ram. Incredible truth.

Now just let that sink in for just a second. What a time this must have been for him. The second principle that I want you to see here that I want you to take to prayer tonight, God provides at the place of surrender, not before it. He doesn't give you the ram before you climb the mountain or before you build the altar, because if he did, you wouldn't. And this is not God being cruel. This is the architecture of trust. The provision is always already there. But it is that hard, impossible journey where it seems like it is the end that positions us to see it. Now that's the principle that I want us to understand. You know, it's easy when you read the Bible, you see a story like this and you say, well yeah, that was Abraham, man. That was in the Bible, okay. But hey, this is me, this is now, and I ain't seeing no ram. Right? So as I was preparing what I was gonna share with you tonight, I saw an obvious connection between this story about Abraham and my own life. I'm kind of embarrassed I'd never seen it before. Maybe it's because I really wasn't willing to see it because it was so raw. But I wanna share with you that I know something about a three day journey that appears to be the end. Civil War in El Salvador was at its peak.

That was our home. That was where Cheryl and the girls and I had planted our lives and we had come back to the states for a brief visit. Now we're driving back south through Mexico in a Volkswagen van. It was a trip of three very long days. And everyone, family and friends, had told me I was out of my ever loving mind for taking my wife and kids back into the war. Dude, you wanna go and get killed, that's fine. Do that but leave your wife and kids out of it. And can I tell you, they were not wrong to push back. We'd been through a lot of stuff. I learned one afternoon walking into my house the sound of bullets, what they sound like when they go right by your head. One Sunday coming into church, I was just a few yards away when the son of a famous general had been targeted and assassinated with a burst from an Uzi machine gun while standing right next to Cheryl and our two young daughters. One night I looked down the open barrel of a 50 millimeter cannon on top of an armed personnel carrier. Now that's just a few of many stories that I could tell you. But I'm telling you that because I want you to know these were not abstract fears. These were not what ifs. This was what we were actually living.

And so now I'm behind the wheel, southern Mexico, almost to Guatemala, then crossing the border into El Salvador, and my brain will not stop. Really, God? I'm driving my family back to be killed? And not, I can't tell you how much that hurt. Like, not just me, but the people I love the most in this life. And then, somewhere in that van, somewhere on that road, there was a moment that I, to this day, I can't really put it into words, except to say that I'm sitting there in that pain, in that hurt, and there was a moment of complete surrender. Not resignation, no, it's different, but surrender. It's like, okay, must have been what Jesus felt in the garden when he said, not my will, but your will be done. A few hours later, we crossed the border into El Salvador. Seems so ridiculous now, looking back. We really did that? But can I tell you what happened? We crossed the border, and I saw the ram. I, I saw the ram. And there was that peace of God that Paul talked about, that just passes all understanding. In the second half of that verse, it says, to this day, it is set on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. So this became a proverb in Israel,

something that parents shared with their children, and from generation to generation, and it's future tense, it is forward-looking. It's not like, oh yeah, that's what happened back in Abraham's day in biblical times. No, this is forward-looking. This is what God will do for every one of us who climbs that mountain and builds that altar, and says, God, you do what you wanna do, I'm tired of telling you what I need. So let me ask you where you are tonight. Maybe you're at the base of that mountain, carrying something that has no name, seems impossible, and all you hear is silence. Can I tell you, the ram is already there. You just hadn't seen it yet. You know, there is a time to bear your heart to God and tell Him exactly what you desire, and that's what these Post-it notes are for right here. There's nothing wrong with that, man, put it down. God, this is what I'm asking you for, I'm trusting you for that. Lord, I'm wrestling with this, I'm struggling with that. Lord, I'm putting this before you, but can I tell you that there's also sometimes something so big, so impossible, we arrive at that point of no return, and there's only one thing to do, and that's to say, I give up, God. I'm tired of telling you what to do,

but it's your will, not mine. And when you come to that point, the red sticky notes go over on that board, that would be a time to put a red sticky note over there, because it's a testimony of thanksgiving for victory, because that's where God has been trying to get every one of us. You serve Jehovah Jireh, the God who sees to it, the God who shows up Himself, the God who provides on the mountain, not before it, but on it. And I want you to take that to prayer tonight. We've got prayer journals, we've got communion, we've got sticky notes, we've got just about everything you need to spend these next 30 minutes with God. So we're gonna break up, we're gonna, and as you go on and you're wandering around or walking the aisles, just be respectful, please, of people that are obviously in conversing with God, and give them space to do that. About 30 minutes from now, you'll hear the praise team come again, and we'll come back together, all right? We'll be right back. Hey, I just want to welcome every single one of you tonight. This is an honor and a privilege for me to be up here and hanging out with y'all to our brothers at Crossroads and Ozark Correctional. We welcome you guys, we love you, boys, and I promise, for me specifically, I will get out to see you someday soon.

Just like I said, y'all, I am honored and privileged to be here, honored to do life with y'all, and more importantly, honored to call Graceway my home church now. This is awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for welcoming me and my family this past weekend with open arms and receiving us well. It was absolutely incredible. For those of you that don't know who I am, my name is Clayton York. I am the young adults pastor here at Graceway. Appreciate it, brother, appreciate it, man. I am KC, born and raised, which means I love barbecue, and when football season starts, I can only count to 15, all right? Y'all get what I'm saying? It has been 15 years away from this city, and we back, baby. I'm excited to do life here in Kansas City again. It's been a long time since I've ran these streets, but this time, these streets have a whole new purpose and mission for me, and I'm extremely excited to see what God is going to do. KC needs Jesus, and if I get a front row seat to being a part of watching that happen, there's nothing more important than I want to do. I've been doing ministry for about 15 years now, but you and I, we have a lot of time to talk and connect over the next couple days, weeks, months, and years,

and so instead of me talking about myself, I wanna talk about a name that is far more important and greater than mine, the only name that matters. Can we do that tonight? In Matthew 6, 9, Jesus tells his disciples to pray, and he tells them to go into a room, shut the door behind them, and pray in private. Why would he say that? Here's why he says that. God will not show publicly what you do not give him privately. Too many of us want the public things of God when God is saying, you need to get behind a closed door and talk to me. God is not impressed by your accomplishments. God is not impressed by your accolades or your trophies. He is not impressed by the size of our sanctuaries or the sizes of our church. God cares about you tremendously and deeply. All he wants to do is hear you talk to him. So here in Matthew 6, he gives this prayer to the disciples as a model and base on how to pray, and he starts by telling them, he says, pray like this. Matthew 6, 9, our father in heaven. Everyone say it with me. Our father in heaven. Now, we've only got four words tonight, y'all, but those four words hold so much weight and power. They make our vocabulary so much stronger. He says, our father, not my father, not your father,

not their father, but who? Our father. Why our? This isn't just a title or a tag, but reflects a new covenant reality that if you are in Christ, regardless of whether you are rich or poor, pastor or servant or ratchet and redeemed, he is our father, holy, our father. He is constant, without end, always available, and never far off. His throne is heaven, and yet with all authority and divinity that he holds, he is approachable and available. You have to understand that he is close enough to call father and exalted enough to rule from the highest place possible. And if you don't know who he is, can I tell you for a second? Y'all cool with that? Can I tell you who he is? He is our father, the creator of all things, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is before time, in the middle of, and after all. Do you know him? Can I tell you about him just for a second? Are y'all cool with that? Okay, he is self-existent, eternal, and unchanging. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Can I tell you about the God

that I serve just for a second? He is sovereign, holy, gracious, and merciful, faithful, and good. In fact, he loves you so much that when his son was hanging on the cross, he turned his face away from his son so that he could turn his face towards you. So don't you dare for a second tell me that he does not love you and care about you. He is our father. Our father shows relationship. In heaven, reveals his authority. Let's say that one more time. Our father shows the relationship. In heaven, reveals the authority that he has. So you and I have to understand and know that the one whose throne fills heaven is the one who invites you to call him father. Who is he? Our father. And where does he reside? In heaven. For the past couple weeks, my wife and I have been traveling across the country. We left Phoenix and we have made it back here, back home to Kansas City. And it is a different feeling for me being back this time around. When I was here last time, I was kind of wild in the streets,

like Pastor said this past weekend. And there's a whole new vision and mission for me and I'm excited about that. But on our way here, we have a three-year-old adopting. son who is who is from Kansas City and on our way here the entire the entire time even since we've been back he has been singing one song over and over and over and over and over and over and over y'all get what I'm saying can I sing it for you real quick so so this is what he has been singing he says daddy I love you daddy I love you daddy you're with me daddy I see you and the first time it was like the cutest thing in the world right but the 300th time I'm like kid pick a different song cuz this is wild but that's the song that my three-year old son is choosing to sing daddy I love you daddy you're with me daddy I see you and the more that I've began to sit back process this verse these four words and think about the words that are coming out of my son's mouth something hit me you see the reason he's singing that is because it reminds him of who I am and I reside I am daddy and I am with him and so much like that these four words tonight should do the same for you what song have you been singing this past week what song do you have ringing through your mind and in your heart what song are you singing are you caught up in the mundane and difficult moments forgetting who he is and where he resides or is your song and anthem that of a three-year-old boy who loves his father and knows where he is because you you know what I think sometimes it's the little reminders from a toddler that put me in my place and tell me exactly who he is oh man he's he's God he's our father and where does he reside in heaven don't forget that don't miss that what is ringing through your heart what's replaying in your mind and in your head you know the Bible says in in James 4 8 as we draw near to God he will draw near to us the word will is a promise it doesn't say he might or could or potentially or possibly he will draw near to us and so with that as we go into this next moment of praising and praying and worshiping and dropping to

our knees not before a stage not before anyone else but before a God who cares and loves us so deeply that he sent his son to die in our place I want you to think about those four words our father in heaven in fact would you say him with me one more time our father in heaven so as we take the next 30 minutes or so we've got post-it notes up here we've got communion if you want to come take communion by yourself or with somebody else come kneel come pray walk around the room but I want you to take this time and dive into what God has for you I want you to look deep within yourself because maybe there are some of you in this room that have just been holding on to something for so long then maybe God is saying would you just open your arms up open your hands up and give it pray in private tonight talk to God because I promise you he's closer than you think he is and he's listening and he's loving you and he's caring I'm gonna pray then I want you to feel free go post up on the wall put your prayer requests if you've got answered prayers put them on the answer walls to my right and to my left but can we take a second just to pray God would you do it only you can do in this room God I pray that as we take these next 30 minutes or so would you just move God I pray that this room right now would be full of people who are desperate and in need of your love and your love specifically of who you are you are God our father and you reside in heaven the highest place and that is beautiful enough God would you speak to the brokenhearted would you heal the broken people would you walk throughout this room God and as your word says God I pray that you would win the heavens and come down in this place tonight would it not just be a Tuesday night in Raytown, Missouri, but would this be a life-changing night for somebody in this room? God, have your way with us, Lord, we love you. Welcome, everyone, to day 11 of the 21 Days of Prayer. We're so happy to see all of you here. A special welcome to our online family

that is joining us tonight, and also to our friends at Crossroads Correctional Facility. We're so happy to have you with us. All right, I am excited for tonight. I don't know about the rest of you. Technology fails me, moving on. All right, for those of you I haven't met yet, my name is Nikki Gale Barnes, and I'm the director of Small Groups Ministries here at Graceway. All right, you guys ready to take a trip down memory lane? Okay. What I want you to do is to think back to a time you truly felt awe, when you were so overcome with beauty, vastness, or the sacredness of an event or space. Do you have it in your mind? Are you seeing it? Are you there? Okay. For me, it was a few years ago when my family drove through the Badlands on the morning of Christmas Eve. We timed the trip so that we would enter the park just as the sun rose. It took us several hours to get through the park, but because it was Christmas Eve, we only ran into three other families that were there that day. But in the quietness and in the stillness,

we watched the sun climb and the colors of the hills changed with the light as it grew lighter and lighter. Yellows and golds and vibrant oranges stretching as far as we could see across the rock formations. The only sound we could hear was nature itself. The buffalo were right up next to the road. The bighorn sheep were right there. We heard deer clacking their antlers together. It was truly an amazing experience. One of the things that we noted was just how still and quiet it was. It was uninterrupted by any of our modern distractions. We were able to simply bask in the raw beauty of God's creation. And all I wanted to do truly was to stand on one of the hilltops and just take in the wonder and the vastness of God's creativity. It was so beautiful. It was like watching a moving painting where the colors changed every time you turned around. Have you experienced something like that? All right, I want you to hold on to that for a minute. Last night, Pastor Clayton introduced Lord's Prayer and talked about seeing God as our Father in heaven. Tonight, we're gonna focus on the second phrase of the Lord's Prayer. Hallowed be thy name.

If I'm honest, this is part of the Lord's Prayer that I often roll through rather quickly. I've treated it like a polite greeting waiting to get to the meat of the Lord's Prayer. But as I've spent time meditating on the holiness of God, I've been genuinely humbled by the weight of these few words in this prayer. This phrase can also be translated, let your name be kept holy, let your name be treated with reverence, or simply, make your name holy. This phrase is doing two things at once. It's an act of adoration where we worship the holiness of God, and it's also a plea where we ask God to help us be holy. The Hebrew word for holy literally means separate or set apart. God is not simply a bigger, better version of us. He is other. He's not like the Greek gods and the great classics. He is above all things. He is without flaw. He is perfect in every way. He is set apart in a way we can barely comprehend. Think about Moses, who was allowed to see just a small portion of God's glory, and he came down off the mountain, and he was glowing in such a frightening way that the entire nation of Israel was afraid of him. Pastor Tim talked on Sunday

about John when he came into God's presence and how he could do nothing but fall flat on his face in front of him. Now go back to the moment that you were thinking about, your moment of awe, and as you remember how you were moved by part of creation imagine being in the presence of the creator of that creation. In our individualism and our hurry, I think we've largely forgotten awe. We're against institutions or positions, and we don't know what it is like. like to respect or reverence. We filled our lives with so much noise, we rarely stopped long enough to be in awe of the one who made it all. For most of human history, abiding in God's presence was almost impossible. Leviticus 16 takes 34 verses to lay out what it took to enter the Holy of Holies in his temple. Listen to these requirements. In the temple, there was a heavy curtain, and heavy, heavy, like thick as you can imagine, and it separated a sinful humanity from a holy God. This place could only be entered one time a year, and there was only one man who could enter that place, and that was the high priest. Before he could go in, he had to take a bath to make himself pure and holy. He had to take off all of his external fancy garments

and wear a cloth of linen to demonstrate his humility before God. Then he had to burn incense as he walked in to shield himself from seeing the mercy seat. He also brought with him a blood sacrifice to atone for his sins and the sin of the entire nation. And then this detail, which catches me every time, they tied a rope around his ankle in case he was found unworthy and died in the presence of God, so someone could drag him out and not risk another life. This was the risk of an unholy humanity coming near to a holy God. But then, there was Jesus. When he offered himself as a sacrifice, that curtain tore in half. His death atoned for our sin once and for all, for every sin committed in the past, the present, and the future. And now, instead of one man entering once a year, every one of us is invited to be filled with God's own presence through the Holy Spirit. We're not waiting outside a curtain anymore. We are always in his presence. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3, 16, and 17, do you not know that you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Sit with that for a minute.

The sacrifice, love, and grace involved in God's spirit in me is so humbling, it's almost overwhelming to imagine what it was in Leviticus and now what it is for me. I take it for granted almost every day. It also challenges me to pray and live in a way that's worthy of such an honor, to make his name holy through my life. I often forget that I carry God's name with me into the world. My choices, my attitudes, and my action reflect God to a world that desperately needs to see him as he truly is. So when we pray, hallowed be thy name, we're doing both things at once. We're bowing in reverence and awe before a holy God, remembering who we pray to. And we are also asking him to help make his name holy in us, in how we live, in how we love, and in how we carry his presence into the world. With the holiness of God in our mind, I want us to do something a little different tonight. Can you all stand up for a moment? Let's pray the Lord's Prayer together with his holiness in mind as we walk through it. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread

and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Okay, a few reminders as we go into prayer. Sticky notes are here, communion is up here, but let's also enter into this prayer time with reverence for the holiness that comes with entering God's presence. With this in mind, let's reserve the auditorium for that sacred silence of experiencing his awe. If you need to have conversations or greetings or corporate prayer, we just invite you to go out to the lobby and do that where you can speak and just not disturb that quietness. I just pray as we enter in that we will just be inviting his holiness to overtake us. And we will see you in about 20 minutes. Good evening, Gray Sway. Go ahead and take your seats. and join me as we settle in for day 12 of 21 days of prayer. Come on. Look, raise your hand if you're dead. Raise your hand if you're dead. Then like we just said, God's not done. God's not done. Come on, y'all, come on, that's great.

Hey, welcome, welcome. My name is Donovan Best. I get to be the children's pastor here at Grace Way. Oh, thank you. If this is your first time with us or you're joining us online, we are so glad you are here. Special shout out to our brothers at Grace Way Crossroads and Ozarks. Man, we are honored that you are with us tonight. We're honored you're with us. All right, go ahead and get your Bibles out. Join me in Matthew 6, verse 10. That's where we're going, Matthew 6, verse 10. We are continuing to explore what Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray, the Lord's prayer, the Lord's prayer. As you're going there, I know you all love this. I'm gonna share some of the Post-its that our Sky Kids have been writing during 21 days of prayer. Oh my goodness, it's great. Our preschoolers, they're not quite ready to write yet, but they can tell their teacher what they're praying for. So we're praying for our mommy and our daddy, our brother and our sister, Jesus, our teachers, and even horses, okay? So horses, all right? Our elementary Sky Kids, they're praying too. God, help me be prepared for school this year. It's that time of year.

Lord, I pray over my parents and I pray they stay together. Jesus, please help me clean my room better. And then this one, dear God, I want a baby brother. Of course, one of our Dream Teamers had to ask, so is your mommy pregnant? Yes, there's a baby inside of her right now, but it's a girl. So that's a tough prayer for God to answer. But our Sky Kid went ahead and prayed it anyway. That's awesome. You know, but there was one Post-it just a few nights ago that spoke to me personally through one of our Sky Kids, and I've got it with me tonight. Here it is, here it is. Day four, this Post-it went up and it says simply this. I heart, heart, heart, heart, heart, all capital, food. I was like, yes, my kind of prayer. I heart food too. Where are my foodies? Where are you foodies? Raise your hands, where are you? Okay, there it is, there it is. Here's the deal. I believe this is a prayer of gratitude, thanksgiving for God creating delicious food, huh? Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, this was not what this Sky Kid intended. This prayer is not about that. In fact, you see night four,

we talked about praying to God about what we are struggling with. And so this Sky Kid, actually this Post-it means I heart food so much that it's controlling my life. I feel trapped and I don't know what to do about it. This hit me right in the gut. I've been praying for this Sky Kid and this Post-it since I read it. Look, I don't know what you're struggling with. I don't know what controls you. I don't know what makes you feel trapped, but I know that part of my faith journey includes my own lifelong struggles with food. I also know that the good news that Jesus Christ is, God's kingdom is a kingdom of freedom. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he included three very powerful words. Your kingdom come. This prayer is an invitation for King Jesus to bring his rule into every part of our lives. And wherever King Jesus rules, freedom follows. Jesus announced the arrival of God's kingdom from the very beginning of his ministry 2,000 years ago. In Mark 1 15, Jesus proclaimed the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus came to save us from sin through his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection. This, your kingdom come, freedom happened to me 37 years ago when I cried out, Lord, I know I am a sinner

and only Jesus can save me. Lord, I am so sorry for the people I've hurt, including you. Please forgive me of my sins. And finally, Lord, I am ready to follow you and make you king of my life here on earth. But here's the deal. That's not it. That's not it. There's more than just salvation to your kingdom come. In Luke 4 18, Jesus described what his kingdom would accomplish. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. Jesus did not simply come to establish a religion. He came to establish his kingdom. His kingdom brings freedom. How, how, here on earth, how do we do this? Paul explains what happens when we trust Jesus Christ in Colossians 1 13. He has delivered us from what the domain of darkness and he's transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. Notice the language. We aren't merely improved, made better. We are transferred from one kingdom into another. moved out of the captivity and into his freedom. This, your kingdom come freedom, began 18 years for me. 18 years ago, when I stepped on the scale and I weighed in at 286 pounds. That's some darkness right there. That's some darkness right there. This was a wake up call for me,

and I woke up and God and I got to work. Back then our church staff was doing like a weight loss challenge kind of thing. So you eating right, exercise, accountability toward others. I lost 50 pounds in three months, 65 pounds total. And it has stayed lost for these 18 years out of the darkness and into the light. Thank you, thank you. Praise God, amen. But that's not the end of the story. When we pray your kingdom come, we're asking God to not only save us, not only bring us out of the darkness, but to continue his work of bringing his reign into every part of our lives. Here and now, today and tomorrow, through all of our lives, we're inviting Jesus to replace every false ruler, sin, fear, shame, pride, addiction, anger, and even the control of food with his loving authority. Look, last 21 days of prayer, January, 21 days of prayer and fasting. Remember that y'all? That's exactly what I did, I fasted. And I've been regularly fasting for 18 years since I lost the weight. And the fasting was good, but something felt different. Something felt different. Shortly after 21 days of prayer,

God said, ah, thank you for your obedience to fast, but I'm not done setting you free from food. We're doing a different kind of fasting. And I was like, here's the key for all of us tonight, your kingdom come. Okay, I surrender, how? Wait, and while you're waiting, tell everybody you trust that I'm doing a new work. I'm setting you free from food. My family, my friends, pastors, small group, life team, God's doing something. There's a different way of fasting. I don't know what it is, but he told me to tell you. And through me telling my faith community, the answer came. One of those individuals said, I got it, let's do this. And he had a way. And I went, okay, coach, let's do it. And we worked it out. And here's the difference. This new way of doing it didn't focus on the weight loss, diet, or even exercise. The focus was loving myself enough to give my body the nutrients that it needs, the nutrients that come from God and come from God alone. And then giving myself the time to process on the inside, this food, this nourishment that I was taking in. So with a lot of prayer and obeying God and this coach over the next several weeks and months and up to today, I've been doing this, your kingdom come fast. And I can honestly say right here, right now,

it has completely changed my mindset about food. Why I eat, how I eat, what I eat, when I eat, how do I know it's worked? She's right down here. My wife noticed. If you ask Kelly right now, so in Donovan's life, what's gone? What's gone? And she would say this, number one, grumpiness. Grumpiness, the old farm boy, three square meals a day at this time of the day. If we're five minutes late, I'm getting grumpy. Gone. It's gone. Second, he's not whining anymore about getting that super sweet treat late at night after he's worked hard and he's deserved it. He's not whining anymore when he doesn't get it. And third and most important, what's gone is my wife's feeling the pressure to eat with me. And when I'm eating and what I'm eating, when I knew it cost her harm, it wasn't good for her. That's how I know it's working. So 18 years later, my wife and I are doing this fasting, your kingdom come plan together. And because of God's faithfulness to bring this future kingdom into my life, I no longer struggle with food. Food has no rule in my life

and Jesus now has complete control. Because of this example of prayer, your kingdom come, he has set me free. He has set me free. What's ruling your heart tonight? Is Jesus your king? Is Jesus your king in every area of your life? If Jesus isn't ruling in one of the areas of your lives, something is. Perhaps the other ruler is. Fear, worry, control, approval from others, bitterness toward others, unforgiveness, shame, or a secret sin. These rulers promise security, but only create bondage. Jesus offers something different. Surrender, obey, and let your kingdom come. As we prepare, I encourage you to ask yourself the same question I asked myself during your time of prayer. Jesus, what area of my life needs your rule today? And then listen, he spoke to me. He wants to speak to you. And when he speaks to you, simply say, your kingdom come. Surrender to that area, to him. And allow this faith community to help you with the answer and the work that's to be done. So as we go to prayer, I want you to remember, when Jesus is king, freedom follows. I encourage you to honor those around you with this time of prayer tonight by praying and only praying.

Let's just agree to push pause on the other conversations until we're done with our service tonight. There are tables around the room with Post-its and pens. There are pray first booklets around the room as well. Communion is down front here as well for you to take. Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time of prayer. Thank you for sending Jesus, our king. During the next 30 minutes, we pray, your kingdom come. Reign over every part of our lives. Make us aware of the areas of our lives that need your rule. Set us free from anything and everything that keeps us from fully following you. Help us live as people who have been transferred into your kingdom, the kingdom of your beloved son. And may others see the freedom of Christ in us for your glory and for our good and for our joy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's take the next 30 minutes and pray. Hey, Grace Way Church. To my friends at Grace Way Crossroads is Pastor Ernest Grant, and I'm so pumped to be with you here today for day 13 of our 21 days of prayer. You know, every one of us has prayed a prayer that we didn't mean, and the Lord thy will be done is probably the quintessential one. We've said it in churches, we've said it over caskets, we've said it in hospital rooms.

But if we're honest, half of the time we were hoping that his will lines up with our will, and we were just praying that prayer politely. And so today on day 13 of our 21 days of prayer, we're gonna sit with those three words, words that are the hardest for us to utter, the Lord's will be done. Let's read from Matthew 6, 9 through 13. Our Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Jesus has just taught his disciples to pray. He's given them a father to pray to, a name to hallow, a kingdom to long for. And now in verse 10, he hands them the line that will cost them the most. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here's the first point we have to remember. Number one, point number one is we must surrender. Praying his will is not resignation. Here's what we get wrong with this phrase. We treat thy will be done like a sigh, like giving up, like saying, well, whatever happens, happens. But if you look deeply, the verb that Jesus uses is not passive, it's an imperative. It's a command in the prayer form.

Jesus is teaching us to not to shrug our will at God's will. He's teaching us to contend for it, like let it be done actively and urgently, encouraging us to do so right now. And that changes everything. Praying thy will be done isn't a posture of a person who's given up. It's the posture of a person who has finally trusted the character of the one they're surrendering to. Think about Gethsemane for a second. The only place in scripture where this exact phrase appears on Jesus' lips in Matthew 26, 42, he's sweating great drops of blood in the garden and he says, my father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. be done. That's not resignation. That's the most active and costly obedience in human history. Surrender isn't weakness. Surrender is what happens when you trust the hand that's holding the outcome more than you trust your own grip of it. Point number two, standard. Heaven is the blueprint. I want you to notice the second half of the phrase. On earth as it is in heaven. That little word as is doing enormous work. Jesus isn't just asking God to do something on earth. He's asking for God to do it here what's already been done there. Heaven becomes the standard. Heaven becomes the blueprint. In heaven, God's will is done immediately. It's done completely and joyfully. No delay, no negotiation, no partial obedience. And Jesus teaches us to pray that same reality in our homes, in our marriages, our finances, our churches, and in our cities. This is why thy will be done can't just be private, personal prayer. If it's true that heaven is the pattern, this prayer has a scope of it. We're not just praying, God, have your way in my quiet time. We're praying, God, let our city look more like heaven. Let South Jersey look more like heaven. Let Kansas City look more like heaven. Let this region, every one of these counties, start to bear the fingerprints of your kingdom. Friends, that's a big prayer. And Jesus put it

right in the form of in this middle prayer so that we can live it, so that we can be taught by and grow from it. Here's point number three, security. His will is safe because his heart is good. Here's why most of us hesitate to actually pray this and mean it. We're not always sure God's will is going to be good for us. We've been hurt by people who claim to speak for God. We've watched prayers go unanswered in ways that have broken us in one way or another. So let's be honest about the fear underneath the prayer. What if his will costs me something that I don't want to give up? Well, it might. Gethsemane taught, tells us that it might. But look at what this phrase is surrounded by in prayer. It's not floating alone. It's sandwiched between our father and give us this daily bread. The will you're surrendering to belongs to the father, not a stranger. And the same God whose will you're submitting to is the same God who feeds you daily bread. You're not surrounding to faith or surrendering to fate. You're not surrendering to randomness. You're surrendering to a person who has already proven at the cost exactly how far his will will go for you. Romans 8, 28 says that all things work together for good for those who love God. Not all things are good, but all things are being worked by a good father towards a good end. And that's what makes it safe to pray these three words. So here's where I want to land today. Thy will be done is not a prayer of defeat. It's a declaration of trust. It says, I would rather have his will and my discomfort than my will and my chaos. I would rather have his plan on earth than my plan without heaven in it. I would rather rest in his good heart than white knuckle my own control. Here's the good news underneath that good news is the reason we can pray this prayer at all is because Jesus first prayed it and minted on our behalf. He surrendered to the will of the father so completely that he went to the cross for people who hadn't surrendered to him yet. That's the will of God on display, a father who gives his son so that rebels like us could become sons and daughters of God. And we could finally say our father and mean it. So friends today, as we part on our 21 days of prayer, I want to invite you to actually pray this and recite it because somewhere specific in your life, a relationship, a decision, a fear, a diagnosis, a financial situation, his name says, say it out loud, pray it over that situation, father, not my will, but your will be done on earth in my life as it is in heaven. That's not surrendering to nothing. that's surrendering to someone who has already proven he's worth trusting.

So friends, I pray that would be your heart and your hope today. Why don't we pray together? Father, it is in the name of Jesus that we come to you today, Lord saying, thank you. We don't take these words lightly. We know that it costs something. It costs Jesus something to pray them in the garden. And we know that it may cost us something, but we trust your heart. We trust your character. We trust that your plans are greater, that they're better than ours. We trust, and we will not give up. And so Father, let your will be done in our lives. May the goodwill of the Father, which we so often run from, be the great will in which you do something mighty and miraculous in our life. Lord, we love you. We cherish you. We honor you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, friends. We'll see you tomorrow for the next day of prayer. Grace Way, thanks for joining us for day 14 of 21 Days of Prayer. My name is Michael. I'm one of the pastoral residents here at Grace Way. And today we get to continue our walk

through the Lord's Prayer in Luke chapter 11, where Jesus had an answer to the question when his disciples asked, how should we pray? We clearly know it's very important to you. You're always going off on your own to pray to the Father. So how should we be praying? And Jesus gave an answer. And he gave what we now refer to as the Lord's Prayer. And in verse three, he says to pray, give us each day our daily bread. And the immediate context there is really simple, right? Jesus is calling his followers to come before God and ask him every day for the things that they need that day. God's desire for us is that we would regularly come to him for the things that we need. And that's pretty straightforward, right? Especially when we have things that we immediately need to see God do. When we're facing things that we don't know how to get through ourselves. Many of us in the congregation even today might feel like we are at the end of our rope. We're in a situation that we can't get out of ourselves. Something miraculous needs to happen and only God can provide. So we ask him to do that. I know that's where many of us are. The walls of the auditorium have testified and we've heard online how many of you are praying

for healing, you're praying for restoration of things that are broken, that look like there's no way back from. But what I wanna remind us of today, in addition to all of that, is that this prayer isn't just for our lowest seasons. Praying, give us our daily bread is not just about knowing what we are lacking and asking God to meet that lack. We are instructed to call on God every day for his provision and the ultimate goal of this prayer is not simply blessing. Like all of the other parts of the Lord's Prayer we've walked through, it's about surrender. So far as we've walked through the Lord's Prayer, we've seen how each step takes the focus off of ourselves and places it onto the God that we're praying to. We start by praying, our Father, hallowed be your name, acknowledging that God is all powerful and he's also all loving. We have the privilege of coming before him as our Father and he's holy and he is good. We pray your kingdom come and your will be done as a practice of putting ourselves in the posture of humility and submission before God, acknowledging that he has the authority, that he is good. And this is all not just like a nice prelude to getting to kind of the meat of prayer, what we actually care about, the stuff we want God to do for us.

Give us our daily bread is still not really about you, it is all about him. I've been taught a lot throughout my life about the value of discipline, about making wise choices. There's stuff that I'm supposed to do all the time that's gonna ensure that my family is safe, that we are provided for. I'm supposed to. take care of some things, so that my relationships are healthy, so that I'm doing well, so that people around me are doing well, and it's a wonderful thing, right, when we submit to God's ways of doing things and it causes things to work out for us, right? That ought to be something that glorifies God and that draws our attention to His goodness, but so often, particularly when we don't have big, dramatic things that we're bringing to the Lord, that we're feeling desperate for Him to intervene on, we can forget all about how God has walked us through to the very blessings that we're enjoying today. We can start to feel like, I've got this, I'm in control, I've done the right things, and so things are gonna go right for me, and then one thing goes wrong and panic is back, right? The truth is, even if we can do all of the things we're supposed to do right all the time, which we can't even do, even then, we are still never truly in control. The prayer that we pray in the Lord's Prayer, give us our daily bread, is actually an acknowledgement that we're never going to have all of the things in life that we need held in perfect balance, but the point of give us our daily bread is not to anxiously come before God to try to resolve the things that aren't right. We're not desperately seeking for our problems to go away. Praying this prayer commands your soul to acknowledge that in every season, our hope is not in the blessings, it's not in the stuff that we want from God. Our hope always is in God Himself, because whether we feel in control or not, God always is, and any peace that I feel from confidence in my own

choices, from how good or bad my circumstances might be going now, all of it is only as good as I am, and it can change at any time, and so we can get into this spot where we're carrying around this anxiety about what happens when and if we ever lose control. God says, stop doing that. He says, put it all on me. Remember that I am in control. Remember that I am the source of blessing, and let go of the idea that you maintain your life. Because of Jesus, we are free from the pretense that we are self-sufficient. I don't need to become enough. I don't need to find all of the answers to everything that I'm facing right now. Jesus tells us that we need a regular practice of admitting that we need God to provide. Each of us have things that we need, so ask God to give. I know that many of us are having things happen right now that you don't know how to deal with, and this prayer is a bold invitation to bring all of those things before God, your Father, who loves you, who wants to hear all of it, and who wants to walk side-by-side with you through everything that you're facing. Or maybe today that you just need a practice of submitting to the idea that you are not the one in control, that your life is not your own. And so today is an opportunity to exercise that the God who has been faithful to you in the past is the same God that you pray to now. And assume the posture of humility and understanding that we are all fully dependent on God's provision, that He is faithful, He is just, He is a loving Father who cares for His children. So let me pray for us, and we'll continue in prayer today. God, we love you. God, we thank you that we get the opportunity to come before the God of the universe and submit to you, God, the things that we need. Lord, whether we are in a season right now where our need is obvious and painful, God, we have the opportunity to invite you into all of it. God, we ask that, God, the God of all peace would come alongside of us. God, we ask that you would do miraculous things. We ask that you would see everything written on the walls of this church. We ask that you would hear everything your people cry out to you. And God, you would intervene on our behalf for the children that you know you love. And God, for those of us who are...

In a season of blessing, God, we ask that, Lord, you would be drawing near to us. God, we pray that you would be using this time of corporate prayer that we walk through as a church to bring us into a posture of God's humility before you. God, that at all times and in all seasons, we would be acknowledging, God, our complete dependence on you. God, that we would be submitted to you. And now, God, we would acknowledge that every blessing comes from you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you so much for joining us in prayer.