An Effective and Enjoyable Prayer Life | Abide Week 6

Take out your abide books. We are in week six of our series called Abide, where we are finding depth, the direction, and delight in being with God. You are created for connection with God, and your life really won't make sense. You will always feel drained if you don't learn how to connect with him on a daily basis. All of this comes from the book of John, chapter 15, where he says, abide in me and I in you. It's this mutual abiding, this as we connect with God, he's connecting with us. He says, a branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it does what? Abides in the vine. That word abide means to remain, to connect, to dwell. It's why we're created. He says we're created to abide in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. And then he gives this beautiful phrase, I am the vine, you are the branches. So this is where our source of life comes, of being with Jesus. Whoever abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit. I don't know about you, I wanna bear much fruit with my life. And he says, and apart from me, you can do nothing. That statement is a fact right there, that apart from Jesus, nothing significant will ever happen with your life.

That is why we're teaching you this lifestyle of connecting with God on a daily basis, of remaining with him, of connecting with him, and letting him be your source so that you can go out and do what God's called you to do. Today, we're gonna take it to the next level and tackle a subject that is very complicated, that everybody deals with, and it's in week six of this series. We're gonna talk about an effective and enjoyable prayer life. An effective and enjoyable prayer life. There is nothing more crucial for you to learn as a believer than how to pray. Prayer is how we communicate with God. And how many know, communication is the backbone of any relationship? You ever have a friend, you communicate with them, and they text back with like, K, fighting words. You know the relationship only grows as communication grows. Don't give me a thumbs up. You better give me a little emoji along with that. We need to communicate in this thing. Marriage, marriage only works when you know how to communicate. I used to go and do some things, and I'd ask my wife, I was like, hey, is this okay? And she'd say, it's fine. How many know?

It's fine, it's fine in marriage. You gotta learn how to communicate. It's fine means, that ain't a good decision right there. So you gotta learn, communication matters. How you talk matters. And how you communicate with God really matters. And our series has been designed to help you start this daily communication with God. And as you start this daily communication with God, you gotta realize that prayer is a vital part of how to grow in abiding with Christ. And I wanna teach you today about how to make it effective and make it enjoyable. James chapter five, verse 16. It says, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. I want to pray where things get done. Here's what's very important for you to understand. When we pray, things happen. Nothing has marked the life of the heroes of the faith more than prayer. It is when we pray that we push past our talent, our position, our influence, our insecurity, and we walk into the potential that God has for us. Think about it. Prayer has marked people from the very beginning. We see it in the life of Abraham. He prayed and God was willing to spare an entire city for the sake of the righteous. Jacob wrestled with God in prayer through the night

and he walked away with a new name and a new destiny. Moses prayed for a rebellious nation and God relented from destroying Israel. Prayer works. Joshua prayed in the middle of the battle and God caused the sun to stand still so that victory could be won. Hannah prayed in deep anguish and God gave her Samuel, one of the greatest prophets Israel would ever known. Elijah prayed and rain stopped for three and a half years. Then he prayed again and the rain returned. Prayer works. Daniel prayed three times a day, even when it was illegal. And then when he gets thrown in the lion's den, what did he do? He prayed and God shut the mouths of the lions. Nehemiah prayed before approaching the king and God gave him favor to rebuild the ancient city. And then we see it all throughout the New Testament too. When people prayed, God worked on their behalf. We see it through the life of Jesus. Jesus regularly withdrew to lonely places to pray. Before choosing his disciples, before miracles, before even the cross, Jesus prayed. The book of Acts shows us the early church was started. out of a prayer meeting. When they gathered to pray, the Holy Spirit fell and the church was born. The gospel went across the world through a church that prayed. And if prayer marked the lives of people who changed the world, prayer needs to mark your lives also.

Because when we pray, God moves on our behalf. Can you give Him some praise today, church? Prayer works. I want you to think about it this way. Think about this fact, that you are one prayer away from a totally different life. You are one prayer away from a healthy marriage. You are one prayer away from healing in your body. You are one prayer away from victory over that anxiety. Prayer has the power to move us past what our potential can do and into the potential of God. You are one prayer away, and if you'll learn to step out in prayer, then you can see the hand of God move in your life in ways you can never imagine. And if prayer has so much power, then why don't we pray? I think many of us don't pray because we don't actually believe that prayer has the power to change things in our lives. If you knew the power of prayer, you'd pray more than you do right now. The prayer stats out there are pretty shocking. I found some of them to share with you. It says 68% of Christians say their prayer life is inconsistent or ineffective. 55% said they don't know what to say when they pray. 71% said they pray less than 10 minutes a day. And 80% admit to being distracted within the first two minutes of prayer. Let's be real, some of y'all in the first five minutes of the message, you've already gotten distracted. We all get distracted. We all have these moments that we don't make prayer as effective as we can. And here's the fact that really shocked me. The average Christian spends more time on their phone before breakfast than in prayer all week long. Houston, we've got a problem. And this is why the church is so ineffective and why believers are so weak. Because we haven't tapped in to what is possible through prayer. So let's look at a story today that gives us such a good breakdown of prayer. And it's a story of these two girls, Mary and Martha.

I want to show it to you in Luke chapter 10. And I think you're going to learn something today from it. Verse 38, it says, As Jesus and his disciples were on the way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. What was the woman's name? Martha. She came. She had a sister called Mary. Who was her sister's name? Mary. Very good. Who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. Just look at the breakdown of those two ladies right there. So you have Martha opens up her home to him. This is abiding. I want to host Jesus in my home. Mary, when the home is open, she goes and sits at the Lord's feet. So Martha had the right intentions. We give Martha a bad rap in this story, but Martha had the good intentions. Hey Jesus, you come into my home. Jesus, I'm going to be a good host for you. And then we see a major difference in the response when Jesus is present. Look at the next verse. It says, But Martha was distracted. Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and said, Lord, don't you care? Don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Now I have five kids and I hear this often. They'll come to me or Katie and they'll go,

Hey, do you know what my sibling's doing? We're like, listen, it's all about what they're doing wrong. Not looking at ourselves, not looking at what we can do better. She says, don't you care? And then she says, tell her to help me. And then Jesus's response. Now Martha's probably thought she's got it. I'm going to tell this to Jesus and Jesus is going to look at Mary and go, How dare you just sit here? All you're doing is sitting at my feet. You need to go out there and do some work. You need to get busy. You have to do, do you know who I am? Do you know what needs to get done? Martha, Martha, the Lord answered. You are worried and upset about many things. All right, let me just pause for a second. Get everybody's attention to every campus. That phrase right there. If you underline your Bibles, I would underline that phrase. You are worried and upset about many things. There is a direct correlation between how worried and upset you are by what's going on in the world and your lack of prayer. The more you pray, the less worried and concerned you are about even what's going on in the world out there. Because you understand I'm going to the God of the universe who's got everything under control. And if I'm sitting at his feet, it doesn't matter what's out of control out there. I know he's got it under his control. So if you find yourself worried and upset about many things

It's probably because you're more distracted than you are praying Get back at the Lord's feet and watch that at his feet you find peace at his feet you find rest at his feet You find comfort. Come on at his feet you find wisdom Aren't we grateful that we can come to his feet and at his feet? That's where breakthroughs found in our lives and he says Martha You're worried and upset about many things, but few are needed actually only one thing is needed and I would just challenge you There's a lot of you that you've got a lot of things on your agenda Very few things are actually actually only one is needed and you gotta learn how to pray He says that Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her Very interesting story. We see the contrast of the two people and here's the question is who are you when it comes to prayer? Who are you in the story? Let's look at the breakdown We have two people who could not have more opposite approaches to prayer you start with Martha who is stressed out She knows she's got a lot to go to do She's got a lot of worries and concerns, but Mary is not stressed. She's surrendered She's not focused on what's going on around her. She's focused on her surrendered heart before The master you have Martha who is very Distracted as Martha is distracted. She she's thinking about all these other things, but Mary is focused Focused on Jesus you have Martha who is hustling to get stuff done, but you have Mary who is listening You have Martha who's judging. She's judging her sister. She's judging Mary She's saying hey listen you you've got to do this thing better You've got a you got to step up your game. You got it and and and you have Mary who said no I'm secure and what Jesus has told me to do you have Martha who is Overwhelmed and you have Mary who's sitting there receiving I? Wonder when it comes to your times of prayer. Who are you in the story? Are you living a Martha life, or are you focusing on abiding like Mary did? Mary chose what is better, and if you'll learn to have a Mary type response in a very Martha world you'll see victory in your life, so how do we do it? Let me give you four things today, and I think they'll help you today number one How do we have an effective and enjoyable prayer life it starts with surrender? It starts with surrender you fix your prayer life by fixing your posture

You are to focus on other things going on But Mary decided to do something different and when she's hosting Jesus She sits at the master's feet this would have been the norm for a rabbi a teacher This it's not a world where you're sitting there in the kitchen, and you're doing dishes, and you're going hey Jesus I'm listening, but I'm just getting this stuff done at the same time But isn't that how so much of our prayer lives are we've got so many other things going on I asked some people. I'm like hey. What is prayer life to you? You're like. Oh, well. I'm you know. I'm driving to work I'm like in the Tampa Bay area you're driving on these roads and That's prayer to you. Well. I just kind of think of like You're you're a Martha You've got a lot of other things going on you you got to learn how to surrender how to release control Release your agenda, and it's painful, but we got to come with the posture that I'm gonna sit at the master's feet What does surrender look like surrender looks like undivided focus the time Belongs to the Lord and while he's in the room. I'm gonna meet with him I'm gonna meet with him Matthew chapter 6 tells us how to do this Jesus says when you pray you go into your room and you close the door and Pray to your father who is unseen than your father who sees what is done in secret. He will reward you There are things that are keeping you from keeping your attention on Jesus So in our passage today. He says when you pray you go in your room and what you do is you? You close the door Some of y'all are praying with the door wide open Every distraction can come your way and what I have learned in my life Is if I don't wake up a little bit earlier, and I don't remove the distractions, then I don't really actually meet with God So What do you need to remove out of your life? That's a distraction. That's keeping you from connecting with God Maybe it's this thing right here This thing will ruin your prayer life right here So what the Bible tells us to do is you close the door on it. You're getting notifications You're you're sitting there scrolling on social media

You're you're figuring out what's going on the world and you're missing out on What we were created to do was just to connect with God so for some of you you need to take it and you need to close the door. I love how I asked my team to get an old phone and they got a Nokia. I didn't even know they made Nokias anymore. If you got a Nokia, you need to throw that phone out anyway, by the way, that's just a word for the Lord. So what do you do? You take it and you close the door. You remove the distraction so that you can focus on the Master. Some of you just got your schedule. You got, I got so much to do. I got things going on this week. No, no, no, no, no, not this time. Right now, my schedule is, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna throw that out. I gotta focus on Jesus right here. Some of you, your focus is all just on yourself. We just gotta take care of self. We gotta self-care. Our culture is so obsessed with self-care. It's everything, just take care of yourself. It's all pamper yourself, do this stuff. And so your prayer time has become your self-care time. It's like, I'm just doing my skincare during all this time. Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This isn't your time for skincare. This is your time to focus on the Master.

Sit at the, you gotta, less self and more of him. Some of y'all, it's just, you got, all you're thinking about is, I got some bills. I got some stuff to do. I've got a thing that I gotta, I gotta take care of. And you know what you're gonna do on these things? Just for a season, doesn't mean, you're not worried about eventually, you gotta close the door on it, all right? The creditor will still knock. You just gotta close the door on it, okay? All right. Some of you, you have some of these at home. I know, I know. Listen, this is our life. And I'll tell you, the solution is that you just. You just close the door. It's a baby doll, okay? All right, so. You know what that looks like? It looks like finding times to wake up a little earlier, find that time to just squeeze in that time, right with the Lord and give him your undivided attention. I promise you, it's worth it. The Bible is very clear. Submit yourselves then to God and resist your iPhone. Is that what it says? It should say that. Because that is where a lot of you are losing out on your prayer times.

Resist the devil, resist that temptation, and he will flee from you. Close the door on that and then look what the response is. Come near to God and look what he'll do. He'll come near to you. It's a promise that when you intentionally draw close to God, he drastically gets close to you. Here's what I want you to write down, because surrender positions my life to truly connect with God. And some of you have started with all these other things and you haven't just surrendered that time. Surrender that moment, wake up a little bit early. Your prayer life will be effective and enjoyable when you start with surrender. Number two, you gotta slow down. You gotta slow down because it has been part of our culture today to celebrate being busy. How are you? Busy. How's life? Busy. How are those kids? Oh, it's busy. How's your job? Busy. How's business going? Busy. How's school? It's busy.

Busy has become a badge of honor in our society and it's becoming our identity. And let me tell you, that is ruining your prayer life. Busyness is the enemy of your prayer time. I've heard it said this way, heard it said this way, if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. He can't make you sin, so he'll just make it where you can't sit down. And you're just constantly going, going, going, going, going. And what are we doing with this? We're so busy and so distracted, with even like Martha, with good things, that we're missing out on the great thing that God has for us. Connection with him. Here's why this matters. Because you cannot hear from God in a hurry. God wants to speak to you, but your life is too quick that you're missing out on what God has to say for you every day, say to you every single day. It's like my children, I'll tell them to do something. They're like, yeah, yeah, we got it. And they're running to the next thing. So sometimes you have to sit the child down and you have to hold their face like this and you go, you will clean your room. You know what I'm talking about? And then they're like, oh, okay, okay. Because they were thinking about a bunch of other things. Some of y'all, you just gotta slow down enough

and give God your attention for him to say, forgive that person. Release that bitterness. Let go of that situation. Trust me with the future. God's got an agenda for you, but you're going too quick to miss out on making prayer enjoyable and effective. My greatest prayer moments with God have always been when I drastically slowed down, released my agenda, Yated margin and connected with God. It's a long walk on a beach. It's sitting there in quiet. It's figuring out ways just to slow down. As the scriptures say, it says in Psalm 37, to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. That's where you'll find victory in your life. Like I'm waiting patiently for the Lord. I'm not going on to the next thing. I'm just creating more space. That might mean in your abide times, you gotta wake up a little bit earlier. You gotta take a little bit more margin. I love how Isaiah 30 says it this way. In quietness and trust is your strength. Look at that phrase. In quietness and trust is your strength. It's in that time that I find the strength of God when I quiet my soul and I slow down just a little bit. One more, Psalm 37, 46, 10 says, be still and know that I am God.

How do we know that he is God? We have to slow down. We have to be still. And that's really hard for me because I don't like to be still. I wrote it down this way. Just make sure, it's not in your notes, but it's a great phrase for you to know that hurry is the enemy to abiding with God. You wanna learn how to find strength and find connection with God? You need more time than you think you do. Slow down the connection. It's like any good relationship. It's we're not hurrying to get to the next thing. We're just enjoying this time together. Watch what God will do through your life when you slow down in prayer. Number three, you gotta share your heart with him. So how do we have an effective prayer life? We surrender, we slow down, and now we share our heart. You ever had that friend that comes up to you and it's like, hey, I wanna tell you something I've never told anybody else. You're looking at him, you're like, we are best friends now. You know what I mean? Someone's going, hey, have you heard the tea? I'm like, no, please do. Tell him, no, no, I don't want.

It's important. Why? It's something about real connection and real friendship grows when there's real transparency, when there's real connection, when there's real information being shared. And let's be real. So many of our prayer lives, we've been taught how to pray way too polished. I beseech thee, heavenly father of hosts. Like if my kids come in and say, I beseech thee, father. I'm like, they got some agenda. They want some money or something because this isn't real. Like I know that's not real. Like learn how to communicate with God in a way that there's true relationship there. Let me say it this way. Prayer becomes enjoyable when it becomes honest. When you get transparent and you get vulnerable before the Lord, that is where real connection and intimacy grows. And that's where prayer gets fun, where we pour out our hearts to the Lord. Psalm 62, eight says, trust in him at all times, you people, and pour out your heart to him. God wants to know what you're dealing with. And if you've got stuff that you're struggling with, listen, when you go into that prayer time, give it to him. I say it this way.

If it's on your mind, it belongs in your prayers. God wants to know. God wants to hear what you are battling with and you can present it to him. I used to feel guilty about this, thinking I have to come to God and talk about his agenda and talk about what he wants. And okay, I guess we got to talk about what's going on in the Middle East, God, because that's a big concern. And I guess we got to talk about what all these other things that are happening. And then I had children. And I realized, man, as a father, when my kids come to talk to me, it can be about the dumbest stuff and I'm interested. Because you know what I want? I want relationship. Hung out with my son the other day for a while and he talked for an hour and a half about superheroes. I mean, an hour and a half. We're on Chat GPT together, creating new superheroes. This is our entire life. Listen, I had wisdom to pour into that man. He didn't ask me for any of it. And all we talked about is these superheroes we're creating. And you know what? I love every bit of it. You know why? Because I want relationship.

And that's what God wants for you. You come to the Lord, and if you're battling something, present it to him. God wants to hear about it. Here's what's interesting. No matter what is going on in your life, if you'll pray about it, God'll work on it. If you're stressed about work, pray about it. God'll work on it. If your kids are struggling, pray about it. God'll work on it. If you have pain in your body, you pray about it. God'll work on it. If your finances are tight, you pray about it, and your God will work on it. If your marriage is not great, you pray about it. And watch how God will work on it. If you're worried about your future. Sure, you pray about it and God will work on it. If you are contemplating divorce, pray about it and let God work on it. Don't hold the burden to yourself. Give it to the God of the universe and watch how he'll work on it as soon as you pray about it. Can we give him a little bit of praise? That's our God who moves on behalf of his people. Pour out your heart to the Lord. I would have those times in my prayer life where I'm sitting there and I'm praying and then my mind is wandering.

And I realize, man, as my mind is wandering, I used to be so guilty. Oh, I need to go back to God. No, and then I'd just go, okay, whatever my mind's wandering to, Lord, I'm gonna pray about that. Because this is a relationship. He wants to know what you're dealing with. Number four, we'll end with this one. It's then now you seek out an assignment. This is a huge part of abiding in Christ, that God has an assignment for your life. Every day, as we go to the Lord and we meet with him, we surrender, we go, God, I'm sitting at your feet, I'm slowing down, I'm sharing my heart with you, I'm telling you what's on my mind, and now I'm asking, hey, what is that agenda you have for me? And I love it even with my kids. As they pour out their heart and we're on a little date and we're doing this. Eventually, they get to the assignment, the reason I'm here. And there's a plan that God has for you every single day. And this is where you wanna get in prayer, where you really are leaned in, you've poured out your heart, and now you've created margin going, now God, what do you wanna do with me today? Sometimes God reveals that through his word.

Sometimes it's being led by the Spirit, like we talked about last week. Sometimes God will just put a thought in your mind. Here's what I want you to understand about prayer. Is prayer isn't just connection, it's also commissioning. It's hearing God and his agenda for your day so that you can move forward with a plan that God has for you. There is an assignment that God wants to get done through your life. There are people that need to be impacted. There's ministries that are gonna be started. There is lives that need to be changed. And it starts with God's people hearing God's direction in prayer. Being led by the Spirit into what God has for us. So what do we do to seek out the assignment? Ask the Lord some questions like this. I put them in your notes. What is God asking me to change in my life? So while I'm praying, and I get to this fourth part of prayer, I'm going to God, God, what is it you wanna change in my life? What is it that you're directing in me personally? What's your assignment today? And maybe God will reveal that through his word. Maybe it's through his Spirit. Maybe he'll convict you. Number two, who is God leading me to pray for?

It's interesting, in my times of prayer, how many times the Lord, in this assignment time, where God'll put a name, he'll put somebody in our church on my mind, and I'll just start praying for them. It's amazing how powerful prayer is, and maybe your assignment for the day is just to pray for that person. Number three is, what is that step of faith that God's telling me to take? So maybe there is a business to start. Maybe there is a act of generosity to make. Maybe there is someone that God's calling you to forgive. What's that step of faith? Remember a family member of mine was struggling a few months ago, and I was just in a time of prayer, and God put them on my mind, reached out. She went to go and visit, and got to pray with them, and I think there's just a moment where we realize that, man, God wants to accomplish his mission on the earth today, and he uses his people, but are we available for him? I wanna pray the prayer of Isaiah 6, where he's in the presence of God, and God speaks, whom shall I send? Who's gonna go to the hurting? Who's gonna go to the broken? And Isaiah responds with that beautiful response,

here I am, Lord, send me. This should be the response to our prayer times every day. God, prayer is fun and enjoyable because he gives me an assignment, and here I am, you can send me out. So many times in life, we've just got it all backwards. We've got our stuff to do, but as Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, says it this way, don't start your day with the task of the world. This is not what abiding is. Abiding's not starting with the task of the world like Mary was doing. No, we begin with God, and you will receive your task from God. So why do we pray? Why do we connect with him? Because we have that relationship with the God of the universe that created us for connection with him. Don't get distracted by all these other things that are pulling your attention away. Abide in him, and watch how, as you connect with him, he'll bring you into the purposes and the plans that he has for your life. Maybe you've never done this before. Maybe you've never had a rhythm of prayer. Well, we created a five-day prayer and journaling program for you over this next week. It's connected with the YouVersion Bible app.

It is a global Bible app that people. are using all over. We wrote it off of this sermon right here and off of this sermon, off of the points of this sermon, we're gonna take you for the next five days and just learning how to slow down in the mornings and being a Mary, a person that can sit at the Lord's feet. So let me give you about 30 more seconds because I see hundreds of phones taking this, scanning this QR code. I want to make sure that you take a time this week. We did this with our Bible reading a couple weeks ago. Hopefully it got you in a rhythm of reading God's Word. This one gets you in a rhythm of just prayer every day of slowing down. It gives you a task to do every single day of just connecting with God. About 10 more seconds, still see a lot of phones. We'll put it on social media too to make sure you all got access to it. You can connect with God. Let me close the story with this because I want to give you some good news. Martha kind of gets a really bad rap for this story. You know she's so busy and some of you are like man I feel bad for Martha. I mean she was just trying to do the right thing. Don't we all do that? We have good intentions of hosting Jesus, but we just get distracted. We think that's the end of Martha's story, but here's good news. Martha shows up two more times in the Scriptures after this. Martha's end of her story is not a rebuke from Jesus because just a little bit later we see that Lazarus dies. As Jesus shows up on the scene four days later, you know who runs out to meet Jesus first? Martha. And the Bible says she falls at the master's feet. What a beautiful picture. She was distracted in our passage here, but then during this next time she shows up she's learned her lesson. I'm not letting the moment pass me by. I know where to find myself. I'm at the master's feet. And then we see her again one more time right before the crucifixion where she's at. She's again at the master's feet. I don't know what's distracted you in the past. Your story's not over. Jesus is inviting you yet again to get at his feet. And watch that. At his feet. That's where breakthrough comes. That's where peace is found. That's where victory comes in our life. You can find your life at his feet. Let's all pray across Tampa Bay. Lord, we take a moment right now and

first of all we just take a moment to repent for being so busy that we've missed out on being at the master's feet. Lord, forgive us for being so distracted with even good things that we're missing the great thing that we're called to do, which is to abide in Christ. To find life in you. Help us even as we take this challenge to pray. To connect with God first thing in the morning. Lord, that as we wake up even tomorrow morning that we would find a moment of surrender. To slow down. Lord, to pour out our heart to you and to receive an assignment from you for your glory and your honor. In Jesus' name we pray. Well thank you so much for watching Radiant Church YouTube channel. Don't forget if you haven't already done so, subscribe to this channel right now. You can click the button so you don't miss anything. You can support the ministry by sharing this message with a friend or by clicking the Give Now button that you see on your screen so that we can continue to see lives changed for Jesus. Thanks for watching. The best is yet to come.