Staying Focused When God Is Silent | Pastor Shane Idleman

Prevailing prayer, staying focused when God is silent. Staying focused when God is silent. So what happened is I was in the book of Acts, and Paul and Silas, they pray and they are delivered. And then I had a lot to share with you about what happens when God doesn't answer quickly. And of course, you can't talk about everything you want to talk about, or we'd be here a couple days straight. So I have to save some of the notes, go through them and save them for you now. So yes, it's a topical message, but it's an extension from where I was in Acts. That's why we call it Acts 67, the next message in the book of Acts about staying focused when God is silent. And it was on prevailing prayer. Prevailing prayer really lays hold of God and doesn't let go. And that's how, if I even look back over my life, that's how we get prayers answered. Having the right attitude. Persevering. Seeking. Not relenting. Not getting discouraged. Not getting frustrated. And it's the prevailing prayer, especially when God is silent. Anybody have a situation where God is silent?

Now, of course, we know He's not silent. We just open His Word. Right, we know that. But there are certain times where we say, Lord, I need to hear from You. Is this Your direction? Is this Your will? I need to hear from You. And so I want to pick up where I left off from that message. And so what I'm tying in here is prevailing prayer is often the catalyst of a genuine God-sent awakening. And I think we're realizing just how important we need a strong move of God's Spirit. I mean, there's no hope in politics, in California, Washington. Tomorrow morning, I'm supposed to, with some other pastors, Jack Hibbs put together, we're going to meet Steve Hilton and talk to him and ask him questions. It's great, but there's no hope. It would be much better than what we currently have. You know, because policies matter. Leadership matters. There's not a perfect candidate. They're not running for pastor-in-chief. They're not putting perverts in office. And they're not just letting everything go to waste. So it's important, but we need a strong move of God's Spirit.

And so what we do is we get ready for Ren the Heavens. It's coming up in October. I'm excited about this one. I think it's going to be hopefully one of the top ones we've had. But what we're going to do to kind of get ready, and I made it applicable to all and not too crazy. It's not like everybody needs to go on a 40-day fast. That would be tough. Especially water. I don't know how many would be able to fulfill that. So what I'm doing is Worship Wednesdays. Worship Wednesdays, and again, you have the dates. If you don't have the dates, you can get them. There's just two the month of September and two in the month of October. Okay, we're going to meet from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. for those who can make it. If you can't make it, that's okay. Come to the evening service. And yeah, go back to that. Worship Wednesdays. We have the dates up there for you if you want to take a screenshot. Do we have that? There we go. So, 9-9 and 9-23. It's not going to be a time of all of us praying.

It's going to be corporate worship. We're just going to put worship on and we're going to just worship the Lord. Oh, come, let us worship the Lord. Bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. And all the revivals I've read about, the majority of them, I can't think of one that began with preaching. But they often begin with prayer meetings. And the Spirit of God is compelled to ignite the area, ignite the church. For those who can make it, I'll be here. I'd actually love to talk to you afterwards if you have prayer requests or you need anything. We're going to come praying for healing, for revival, for the elections that are coming up, for prodigals. And we're just going to again worship corporately or even pray corporately, privately, but we're going to set apart these four Wednesdays. And I would encourage you to fast on those Wednesdays. You won't die. We have a lot of extra storage. That's what it's for. And I threw it out there. We normally have October fast, but a lot of people said I can't fast in October and September. So just the month of September and October.

Whenever you can do that, maybe fast, get ready for Ren the Heavens. That could be between you and the Lord. Maybe on Fridays. Maybe you go to one meal a day now and then, but you don't make it up later. and you're starving the flesh to be filled with the Spirit. And God will honor that. I've written about fasting before. I don't want to go into a fasting message. There's so many ways to do it. But in the Hebrew, in the Old Testament, it means actually fast, fasted. Fasting means shutting the mouth. So it's basically drinking water. You could try that. From morning to evening. You won't die. Talk to your doctor if you'd like, but I'm pretty confident you'll be okay. So we're going to do that on those four Wednesdays leading up to rend the heavens. And again, the reason is prevailing prayer is often a catalyst of genuine God-sent awakening. I want to read this before I get into the message because it's been burning in my heart for three weeks, actually two weeks now. It's in the book. The title is, In the Day of Thy Power.

In the Day of Thy Power. It kind of pops when I say that word. That means the mic's too close. Right, Kevin? So, 1956. 1956. And you have the insert, in the springtime of 1938, a boy in his middle teens, think of teenagers, he stood in a little school room in a chapel in a small Welsh mining town. A strange feeling of awe and wonder filled his heart, for this was the very room, the very room that witnessed the beginnings of a great outpouring of the Spirit called the Welsh Revival of 1904. And I've read a lot about Evan Roberts, and then it sprang into the New Hebrides Revival about 40 years later with Duncan Campbell. It's just a powerful story of what God did. And so this young teenager, he listened to the guide, who himself was a convert of the revival. He spoke of those incredible days that the hardest hearts were melted by the presence of the Lord, when the hills and the valleys rang with the songs of Zion. It was almost too wonderful to be true, but it created questions deep down

in his heart for which he could find no answer. I have struggled with this question too the last few decades. If God can achieve such mighty things in times of revival, and if the spiritual labors of 50 years can be surpassed in just a few days when the Spirit is poured out, he wondered why is the church today so satisfied with the results of normal evangelism? In other words, if God did it then, why can't He do it again? Why are we not more concerned that there should be another great outpouring, an awakening, a revival of God's Spirit? Why do we not pray for it day and night? Here's what's interesting on this topic. There's two views. Many of you have that I have. We can press in like never before. Leave the results up to God. A farmer can't control the rain, but he can sure get that soil ready. And every time I talk about this, I get the negative Nelly's and judgmental Jerry's. Brother, haven't you read the book of Revelation? We're going down. There's nothing. Yeah, but that's not the right heart posture.

God can always bring a revival even in the midst of darkness. That's the history of revival. Hello? It always comes at low moments. That doesn't mean America's going to be utopia. All hell could still break loose, but in the midst of the hell, there's a piece of heaven because the Spirit of God is being poured down. That's biblical, historical Christianity, church. And the other view is, I don't know if that will happen. I don't really care. I'm doing good financially. I'll leave that to other people. But I think it's the group that presses in and really grabs the heart of God and experiences a spiritual awakening. And that word revival's been used. I mean, just have a meeting and you call it revival. Revival, it can't be marketed. It can't be actually planned. You can't say this Wednesday we're having a revival. That's not revival. You can pray for it, but it's when the Spirit of the living God comes upon a church or a group of people because they've prepared it. It's in His time, not ours. Revival is the inrush of the Spirit

into a body that threatens to become a corpse. From the book, In the Day of Thy Power. Let me read that again to wake you up a little bit. Revival is the inrush of the Spirit into a body that threatens to become a corpse. Spiritually speaking. And guys, you know it. You've seen it. One of the hardest parts for me is seeing multitudes of people week after week, year after year, they are dying spiritually. They're the frozen chosen. They're just getting to church or dragging it. They haven't led anybody to the Lord. There's no spiritual fire in their heart. Church is a checklist. Come tomorrow, they'll kind of forget about God. Sure, they might put on some worship in the background. Might get their little daily devotional five-minute study. Which is okay, good. But where's the fervency about the heart for revival and intent seeking God? Again, that's biblical historical Christianity. We're not supposed to be bored in our pursuit of God. Anyway, I left off at Acts 16. 25-26, and I won't get far into Acts because all the notes I had I want to share with you.

But it says at midnight, remember, but at midnight, they were locked in jail. They weren't getting out. They had the cuffs on, the feet as well. They were in the inner prison. There's no getting out of this. And I know you've been in those situations before. Maybe you'll go into one someday. But you have to remember this first word. But God. That changes everything. But God. California's going down. How can you stand to live there? God. And did you know the safest place is the center of His will? I'm not called to flee. I'm called to fight. I don't know about you. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison was shaken. And immediately, all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosened. And the jailer and his whole family were led to the Lord, as I begin to read from last week.

But here's what I want to talk about this morning. But what about when God doesn't answer? What about if Paul was staying in prison? Instead of suddenly answering, many of us are solemnly waiting. Have you ever been there? I mean, I love reading the Bible. It's like, God answer, God answer. Can you imagine? I mean, this is pretty brave. Elisha says, let the God who answers by fire, let Him be God. And He prepared the altar, and wouldn't you know it? Whew! And then Elisha, I believe it was, they come to get him, and he goes, are you the man of God? If I am the man of God, let fire come down and consume you. And guess what happened? Why doesn't God do that for me all the time? Red Sea parts. Many times, though, this suddenly happens and you need that sudden victory. If you're in the waiting time, it's not wasted time. Because God's not on our time clock.

There's something to be done yet. There's something to be done yet. He will deliver suddenly when suddenly is required. And you read Kings would pray the Assyrian army and they would wake up and the whole army was wiped out. See, it's these times when God must move that He will. But the majority of the time, it's a waiting season. Because we want deliverance now. Healing now. Comfort now. Convenience. Anybody pray because they want just better sleep and go to bed early? It's just convenience. But how do we stay focused when God is silent? And that's why we need prevailing prayer. It reaches into the future and it lays hold of the possibilities. It lays hold of God. And with prevailing prayer and getting our hearts back to prayer, another reason is the best method. Actually, did you know the best defense against the enemy? Well, it's not a defense. Yes, it's an attack.

You go after Him. You don't wait for Him to come after you. You lay down the groundwork now. You build the foundation now. You attack with prayer. We're not supposed to wait and wait until He comes against our family. We're in attack mode. I like when Chad spoke with, I don't think he mentioned it, but they call it in military a concentration of force. You're concentrating your force in a certain direction. Bring in the Marines. Bring in the army. Bring in the navy. Boom! Let's concentrate the force. That's a Christian's life. We're not supposed to be backing away and cowering back. Oh, woe is me. We're supposed to take it and to pray and to prevail in prayer and to come against the enemy with the sword. The sword of the Spirit and prayer. And that's why fasting is so important. It adds that extra element that we need. Carter Conlon. I don't know how many of you have listened to him. He took over David Wilkerson's spot

in Times Square Church. I almost borrowed his title. It was called Staying Strong When God is Silent. Staying Strong When God is Silent. He brought up some points that I could not wait to share with you because this is where the rubber meets the road. God has spoken and there's no need to constantly repeat Himself. Boy, that really helped me. I've already showed you. Just wait. Be patient. He's already spoken. God doesn't repeat Himself. And he gave the example. It was incredible. I've never thought about this before. When God created the earth and the universe actually, when He said, let there be light, the next day, He didn't go, and let there be light. And let there be light. He didn't repeat Himself. And if we were there, we'd say, oh, this is glorious, until the sun goes down. And we're like, uh-oh. What happened? What happened, Lord?

Our eyesight is not His. Number two, it could be a spiritual battle like in Daniel's case. God was silent in Daniel's case. It was a spiritual battle. There were demonic forces at work. Nobody knows exactly how this works, but in the book of Daniel, it talks about demonic forces keeping back Daniel's prayers from being answered. And that can happen in our lives as well. Number three, interior resistance. Interior resistance. Other voices are suppressing God's voice. So it might not be that God is silent. It might be that you're allowing louder voices to crowd His out. That could suppress His voice. Have you noticed that God doesn't scream very often? What is it? It's that still, small voice. That still, small voice of the Spirit. Number four, His silence helps to get our attention. How many of you have came back to the Lord or really increased your prayer life? Or really sought Him like never before when He was silent? Lord, I need to hear from You. Think about it. If He was a genie in a bottle, what do they call that?

You know, just every prayer request, every this, every that. No, it's a process. And the waiting time, really, that's when character is developed. That's when faith is strengthened. Because what that is is really trust in God, is it not? Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. And when we get dismayed and discouraged and critical and start to doubt God, that's not a healthy spot to be. The waiting time really positions our heart to where we can say, okay, Lord, I don't know, but You know, and I'm just going to trust You. I have faith. I have faith in You. And that pleases Him. That's what the Bible says. Number five, the silence might be a test. Anybody been in a test before? I love Psalm 105 I shared before. 19, until the time that His Word came to pass, the Word of the Lord tested Him. The Word that was given to Joseph was that you will be above and not in a prison. However, He was in a prison. And it says, until the time that that Word came to pass, the Word of the Lord tested Him. I've tested him. Most people, mature saints of God,

who you see, and maybe you even see worship leaders up here, maybe you see pastors, maybe you see whatever, and you don't realize what they had to go through to get there. You know, one of the ones that's blowing up right now, my son likes him a lot, and I'm glad of that. Anthony Mitchell, you know, out of Georgia. And I bet that guy's been through a lot. To have that strong of anointing, and you listen to his story, and boy, oh boy. Nobody knew him when he had 300 people at the church. And they say, oh, you don't want that unless you're ready. New levels. A lot more devils. A lot more criticism. He wants an attack. And God will tell people, you'll be that someday. But there will be a test. Do you hold on? Even when all hope is falling apart. So waiting time, until the time His Word came to pass, the Word of the Lord tested him. And I truly believe,

I know God's will, there's permissive will, there's perfect will, there's a lot of things. If God's going to want something to happen, it's going to happen. But there are things also to where I believe we can play a role in some of His will coming to pass in our lives. Or not coming to pass in our lives. Disgruntled, discouraged. I don't care. And you begin to reject God, and that's why a lot of my messages are to have the church come back to God. And remember, the test is not for God's benefit. God's not like, let Me test Him. Let Me see. I don't know. It's for our benefit. He knows. The test is for you, not Him. And we have to get through that and prevail through that. Carter Collin also said, a sword is formed on an anvil, not on a hammock. And then I added, in fire, not a gentle stream. In heat, not comfort. That's where true faith is formed.

The sword of the Spirit. And when Christians become mature and strong in battle, it's because they went through that test. Have you ever seen one of those made? You know what an anvil is? We used to have one at the workshop. It must have been 200 pounds. Big piece of metal. And you would heat metal on it, and then you put the metal on it and hit with a hammer. This large hammer. And you would shape that metal into what you want. So, swords were made. And the pounding and the heat, that's how faith is made in our lives as well. And God will often use the P-test to develop prevailing prayer. What I call that is the P-test comes from... Not what you're thinking. I probably should have worded that better. Well, too late now. It comes from the life of Joseph. It comes from the life of Joseph. And we can see in our lives as well that this is where the rubber meets the road.

This is where you'll be tested like Joseph. The P-test. I can't get out of this. He was in a pit. He was thrown in a pit by his brothers. Left to die. They pulled him out. But you will go through that and you'll be like, there's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. Any of you ever go through health crises or sickness? There's nothing I can do. Lord, this is completely up to You. I'm in Your hands. That's a test. You can try changing your diet, but it's good, but ultimately, it's up to God. You can try changing your lifestyle, but that's great, but it's ultimately up to God. I can't get out of this. You ever been in a court case? It's just like, I'm toast. I can't get out of this. And that would be an incredible test because you start to try to get yourself out by manipulating, by forcing,

maybe getting upset. God, you better. The P-test. That's a hard one. You ever been in that low spot? That will really test your character. And then the Potiphar test. False accusations. Actually, that's what's happening to the pastor I just mentioned right now. A lot of media attack on different things that I don't want to get into. Not really valid in my opinion, but lessons will be learned. But there's false accusations, harassment, people lying about you. Have you ever been there? Maybe from within? Family? Church? False accusations. And you're ready to go back at them. You're ready to hit them hard. It will test your character. It will test your faith. Can you answer softly? Can you be quick to listen? It's a very, very important test. And then the prison test. The prison test. I don't deserve this. Joseph in prison?

I know a lot of prisoners will hear this, but it's too late on the Pando app plug. But he ran from Potiphar's wife. She falsely accused him. False accusation. And now he ends up in prison for a long time. He tells some dreams. He says when you get out, make sure you tell them about me. They didn't for a couple of years. Like, oh, that's right, there's this guy in prison. That would have been the I don't deserve this. That's a tough one. Because you don't. And you're allowing God to take you through it. It's a very, very tough season. And it develops your character. It humbles you. How do you treat the people? How do you treat the people? It's vitally important. Let me read some excerpts from a book called Mighty Prevailing Prayer. Mighty Prevailing Prayer. He said this, "...prevailing prayer is normally possible only for the things in the will of God."

That's the key. That's why don't give up on God. If it's His will and He's put that in your heart, lay hold of it. If you're not sure if He has, I've been there, I'm still there on a few things, press in like never before. And say, Lord, show me. Show me, is this Your will? Is this what You want me to do? Is this what You want me to keep pressing in for and contending for? And, sometimes, oh, He's silent. Often. Lord, give me a confirmation. Let me know. And many times, there's not. You just have to keep pressing in and see what He will show you. Eventually, you'll realize if it was flesh, if it was ulterior motives, if it was a good idea but not a God idea. Anybody have those? Oh, gosh. That's a great idea and then a month into it, you're like, what was I thinking? Because you need to know God has put this on your heart. And that only comes through time seeking His Word. Does it line up with Scripture? Praying and fasting and obeying

and seeking Him and then it becomes crystal clear. I mean, for me, one of the hardest challenges, I've shared it before, was when we felt the call to plant the church. I mean, it was like months of wrestling. Like, Lord, what in the world? Remember, I'm going from big, heavy equipment. Cat excavators. I mean, I like that stuff. I don't want to go, mmm... Miley Knife Pastor. Meek and mild. There's a fire in my heart. And just praying, but God will begin to show me His will through confirmation of other people and different things I won't get into now, but I have before that as you go through, you'll see a certain thing is if it's His will or not. If it has to do with a saved loved one, you know, just keep pressing in. His will is for people to be saved. So there's things like that that you can really press in on and know what His will is in certain areas. And again, you know what? I hope it's okay to share this with you. David knows and we've talked about this many times, but I've been praying for years if God would ever want to plant in the Antelope Valley. Years, like a long time since we started this church too.

And I don't know. He hasn't told me. I can go find a building. I used to have a real estate license. You call the landlord. What are your tenant improvements? What's a lease agreement? What are the options? What are you going to put in? Or do you buy a building? What's the taxes? But that would be forcing something. It has to be, Lord, what do You want to do? Is this a good idea or a God idea? I don't know. Just being honest with you. Probably 10 years at least praying. You know I'm fine if I go to my grave and that guy didn't want to do that. That's fine. But because I don't know, I don't give up. I don't know what his will is for certain things. I do know when a church gets this full, that's probably where we'll stay unless we do another service. It's hard to reach people when you're this full because you're so crowded. That's a good thing. And so, those are just my own life experiences. God, will You heal? Will You heal?

Or is my life, 2 Corinthians, my grace is sufficient? One or the other. But you pray until you hear clearly from God. But He will answer if it's according to His will. You just need to hold on. You must prevail in prayer for situations where God's will is being thwarted and where Satan is delaying and blocking it. That's when you want to go into a season of prayer and fasting. I truly believe that that verse, this kind cannot come out except by prayer and fasting, was God allowed it to be in the Bible. The reason I say that is some translations disagree. If you have what's called the older text and you have the majority text and tectus receptus, Acanis Codex, and all these different... Some of them don't have it. Some do, but you look at early church father writings. For me, the biblical principle's clear as well. That there are some things that you may not be realized until you tell King's stomach to shut its mouth, I'm going to seek the Lord. This kind does not come out. This greater demonic influence. Jesus said, by the way, also in the most famous sermon ever preached. Can we all agree it was Paul's sermon on the mount?

He said, not me. Don't get mad at me. When you fast. Why are we not doing that? Well, I fasted from TV. That's good. I did a Daniel fast. It's good, but you're still eating. When you pray, when you fast, and when you give. They're assumptions. The spiritual weapon of starving the flesh to be filled with the Spirit. It's actually not starving. Fasting's not starving. You're switching energy sources. Let's be honest here. Why would we want to starve ourselves? Listen, most people can go 40, 50, 60 days with our reserves. Not telling you to do that. There's dangers involved. I'm just saying, we love to make excuses by things we don't like, don't we? I think it was Leonard Ravenhill. Anything we read in the Bible that we don't like, we call legalism. So we can avoid doing it. You must prevail over yourself. I've also been praying about WCF worship

or WCF Academy. Starting things. I don't know why that came to me. But there's things where you're praying about things and you just don't know until God begins to do something. You must prevail over yourself. Some people have to prevail over personal laziness. Hmm... They are too undisciplined to find prolonged, prevailing prayer easy. They need to determine by the grace of God to learn to discipline themselves. I didn't want to put the quote up, but I think it's important. Because it's true. If you think I've got prayer mastered and I'm so disciplined in prayer, you've got another thing coming. That's not true. I struggle just like everybody else. Why am I praying for nothing that might not happen? Not talk about a waste of time. We're called to really press in. And you do develop. That's how habits develop. Any of you have developed habits now that are just so easy that were very difficult six months ago or a year ago? Never say impossible when you're praying for something in the will of God.

God is sovereign over nature and over people. Never rule out an intervening act of God. Never doubt the possibility of a miracle. And I truly believe we should come with the spirit of expectation. But Shane, what about if it doesn't happen? Your hope is not in it happening. It's not, Lord, now that it's not happening, I don't trust You anymore. It's like, Lord, I'm hoping, I'm expecting. But even if it doesn't, thank You. Thank You that You saved me. Do you know here on earth is like this? It's vapor compared to eternity. Yet, we worry about what's here and forget about eternity. Only God knows at which point of time there would be the greatest spiritual returns and the most strategic advantage to His Kingdom from your receiving the answer to your prayer. God's clock keeps perfect time. Rest in that. But as we're talking about prevailing prayer, actually, as we're talking about staying strong, even when God is silent, there's something that comes up I want to talk to you about under this heading. When do you embrace the thorn

like Paul did? Or when do you pray to remove it? I'm living this right now and I don't know how many of you are. If you're not familiar with the Scripture, let me read it. Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelation, Paul was given a glimpse of the glories of heaven, possibly saw Christ Himself. I mean, it was just incredible. Talk about... You'd be a little haughty. You come to church and say, hey guys, you should see what happened to me last night. And you would. You'd think I'm so spiritual. I'm God's man. There's arrogance that would happen. And Paul said, so to prevent this, a thorn in the flesh was given to me. A messenger of Satan to the Apostle Paul. So all the faith healers, I don't know what they do with this verse. Because even the Apostle Paul, most people think it was a sickness possibly. Some type of ailment or disease that God said, I'm going to keep this to keep you humble. And I heard one of these faith healers,

I think I shared this before, but it bugged me so much I want to share it again. He was being interviewed by his granddaughter recently. And this verse came up, and he goes, well, Paul's thorn was his burden for the churches. What? But see, he has to say that. Because the Apostle Paul can't be sick. I don't mind the fact that Timothy takes some of this drink for your stomach. Because God doesn't always heal all the time. It's not based on our faith all the time. If it was our faith, He'd be a genie in a bottle. A butler. Okay, faith is important. Belief is important. But also is the sovereign control of God's will. He uses some of these things to keep us very humble and very broken and trusting on Him. For example, think about this. What would be more beneficial or easier for God to heal him? He's healed. Or, God says, I'm going to keep sustaining you. In your weakness, My grace is stronger. That's going to stay, but that takes more faith, more endurance, more perseverance. I would submit to you a deeper relationship with the Lord. So, he says here, it was given to me,

and concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And God said to Paul, I'm not going to heal you. My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. So to answer the question, when to embrace the thorn? Or when do I pray to remove it? Keep contending for removal until you hear otherwise. Lord, take this away. Lord, heal. Lord, set free. And you keep pressing and you keep doing it until you hear clearly that God says, hey, I've allowed this, and My grace is going to sustain you. You keep pressing in. And as we talk about this importance of prayer, let me give you the top three prayer hindrances. The top three prayer hindrances. Again, to recap, Paul was in a jail cell. They were set free that evening. But for most of us, 99% of the time, our prayers don't happen that quick. So how do we remain strong

when God is silent? I think I prayed, I don't know when it was, with diabetes, and I just said, yeah, you've got to trust the Lord, and you've got to do this, but as of today, you're stopping McDonald's. You're going to start getting 5,000 steps in. You're going to lose this weight. You're going to get off the sugar. You're going to start eating whole God-given food. See, that's wise. God will honor that. Because if the diabetes is being caused by that, lifestyle choices can reverse it. See, you're still trusting God, but you're not continuing to harm the body. And so it is a balance that you have to try to find. The doctor says my arteries are getting clogged and I need to go into heart surgery. Okay, trust the Lord and make sure He guides you. But have you tried a whole plant-based food diet for a while and fasting and losing that weight and seeing if God directs you to that? I don't know, I'm just saying. Because how many people have reversed it by that? Many, many, many people have reversed it. So you're using wisdom when you're trusting the Lord. Does that make sense? And so, I think the church is,

Lord, we're just going to trust You. And I think that pleases Him. Any fixers out there? Like I'm going to fix this? That's why it's always hard they say to just listen to their wives. Because in like a minute, I'll tell them, okay, I'll fix it. How can I fix it? What's there to be fixed? No, no, no, just listen. Just listen. Don't fix anything. There's nothing to be fixed. And the same thing with God. We all want to fix it. And God says just trust Me. And so that's what I would do with the thorn. I would contend to have it removed until you hear otherwise. That's biblical. How do we keep pressing forward when God is silent? Well, one thing we have to consider is there are things that hinder your prayer life. Did you know that? God's not always obligated to answer every prayer. Sometimes conditions must be met. Oh, that's a full screen there. You should take a picture.

Let me go through. Number one, of course, is internal. Besetting sin. Besetting sin. Look at Isaiah. Your sins, your iniquities, have separated you from your God, and He has hid His face from you so that He will not hear you. Now, I put this in here for some of you because you might have heard this or maybe you say this. Some people say, well, that doesn't apply anymore because it's the Old Testament. Well, that's a little risky. I understand they're not Christians. And prove it. Because all you have to do is look at point number two. God says your prayers will not be answered, even if you treat your wife like garbage. So there's your point that that doesn't apply anymore because yes, sin separates. When there's besetting, unrepentant, I'm not talking about you struggle now and then welcome to the club. Who doesn't struggle now and then? With pride or anger or something? You get a flat tire? Somebody cut you off? I'm going to avoid that mountain road

when it's busy NASCAR time. Because I'll pull over and let people... You have to be right there. You have to be right there. And I'll slow down on purpose. And by the time I'm at the bottom of that hill, I'm going to put this thing apart and go have a talk with them. And with my luck, they'll probably go to the church. And that's not going to work. But doesn't that happen? It's besetting sin. Unrepentant. If you've got a very critical heart and you don't repent, you come in critical, judgmental, arrogant. Other sins, of course, sexual sin and addictions, unrepentant. Unrepentant. God's like, you've got to deal with that first. Yes, you'll hear the prayer of repentance. Lord, help me. He hears. But if you're continuing in sin, unrepentant, it's like, hey, you've got to fix this line of communication. You've got to repent. That's what the Word says. It's an internal. It's a besetting sin. And then again, number two, you see that. This is attitude. Not treating people right

will prevent prayers. Trust me. You've got some renegade spirit of rebellion, some gossiping, slandering spirit, and you think you're walking closely with the Lord and He's hearing your prayers? Be careful there. Look at this. Husbands must dwell with wives kindly and graciously, giving honor to the wife as the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. Men, are your prayers being hindered? You think you're a mighty man of God, but you're treating your wife like a second-class citizen? Demeaning? Even little things, is it not? Even little things too? This week, actually, I told my wife, I'm going to work on something. Because sometimes when they ask you a question, you're like, obviously. I'm like, that's a little... I've got to work on it. I'm not going to say that. Because women, they don't understand things the same. Men, you're different. I'm like, obviously. Ah, hello.

Just listen and don't do that because you pass it down to your kids too. And so just treating people with dignity and respect and listening, it really hinders your prayer life if you've got an attitude. You know those people who've got an attitude? Maybe some of you here. Maybe I should stay here for a minute. You've got that little chip on your shoulder. You've got an attitude. You're critical. You like to post critical things all the time. Your prayers will be hindered. Absolutely. Because the spirit of prayer is the spirit of humility. When you're a praying person, the fruit of the Spirit is more present than the fruit of the flesh. And when you're not walking in that, your prayers are actually hindered. Consider that this morning. Are you not treating people nicely? Are you gossiping and slandering? Do you know that will damage your prayer life? Number one, do you know something is true? Before you start talking about it, are you sure? Also, if it is true, does the person need to know? Hindrances to prayers are attitude.

And of course, the third point, there's many more. I could list a whole list here. Maybe I will during Around the Heavens. But arrogance. I think these are the top three. Wrong prayer focus. You ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Anybody pray for things because, again, comfort, convenience? Or you pray for things because you want the limelight. You want the Instagram to blow up or the Twitter to blow up or the followers. If I could be that worship leader. It's about, Lord, if You just put me up there, I'll give You all the glory. He knows Your heart. You're not humble yet. And that prevents answer prayer very, very often. Because we pray. We pray. According to what we think is best. Delusions of grandeur. Have you heard that term before? They are often not the calling of God.

What that is, it's a false, fixed belief that a person is far more powerful, famous, or wealthy than is true in reality. So many Christians, they have these delusions of grandeur that they're going to be the next Phil Wickham. Or the next pastor I mentioned earlier. Or the next TV reality. If I get into Hollywood, I'll bring the Gospel. If I could be the next Kirk Cameron. And there's nothing wrong with dreaming big. I think God wants to do big things. Because the more you lower yourself, the more He'll elevate. Size is not always, though, a mark of faithfulness. God often buries His men and women in the midst of paltry things. Oswald Chambers would say. No monuments are erected. They are in a place where they cannot be seen, but they are being used. Used by God. And I've seen a lot of prayers not being answered because our focus is wrong. And there's so many others I want to share. A big hindrance. A big hindrance.

Especially now is busy. Busyness. If you're too busy to seek God, you're too busy. Something's got to go. Because there will always be things being poured into your life that try to take you away from God. from Him. More opportunities, more relationships, more this, more that, more responsibility, more studies. Sometimes you tell people, hey, less studies, more seeking God. Because if you become a worker and it hurts your worship, it will do a very harmful thing to our heart. As with any other relationship, no time together equals no communication. That's what happens, guys. If we have no time for God, there's no communication. That relationship falls apart. Just like when spouses grow distant. The same thing happens. No time, no communication. The relationship is hindered greatly. So many things have access to our mind, we must starve them to death. So, in a nutshell, prevailing prayer

encourages you back to God. I'm not just talking about quick little prayers. They're great. We do them all the time. But there needs to be a season of prevailing prayer where you lay hold of the promises of God. Prevailing prayer is the catalyst to revival. It's the way to stay strong even when you're waiting on God. It's the foundation of faith. It's the sustainer of hope. It's the wellspring of wisdom. Prevailing prayer strengthens, it replenishes, it nourishes our soul. I saw a quote. I couldn't find who wrote it. It said, they prayed in the wilderness, in the dungeon, the arena, and at the stake. The early church. John Hus before he was killed, he said, have mercy on me, O God. O Lord, I put my trust in You. O Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me. Pauli Karp, may I be received among the martyrs in Your presence today as a rich and pleasing sacrifice. Tyndale. Lord, open the king's eyes. Lord, open the king's eyes. William Tyndale. Why was he killed?

Well, he decided to print the Bible so people could read it. What it does, guys, if we get back into that season of prayer and Wednesdays and you come expecting and you go into the prayer room and you turn off some of the social media and you begin to press in like never before, prevailing prayer, what it does, it rips the veil open and the Shekinah glory of God's presence pours into your heart. That's what it does. The more you press in, the more the power and presence of Christ is in your heart, because you're building that relationship. You're seeking Him. You're sustaining that. And when you don't do that, you drift off course. Again, stay focused on the prize and the promises. The prize is Christ. You stay focused on the prize and the promises. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find.

Come to Me all your weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest. God will keep them in perfect peace who keeps His heart steadfast on. You focus on those promises and you press in like never before and it builds you up and it strengthens you. That's for the believer, but I do want to close with one verse for unbelievers. I'm actually talking about this Wednesday, but I know a vast majority of you usually don't come on Wednesdays, so you didn't get out of it. I don't know if we have it up there. It's on John 4. John 4. Look at this verse. The whole passage is incredible. I'm speaking again on Wednesday and it's the woman who's at the well. And those famous words, woman, if you knew the water that I have, you would ask of Me for a drink and you would never thirst again. I mean, I just get whoa! Jesus the Messiah! A well sitting on a well. If you knew what I could give you,

you would ask of Me and you would never thirst again. I'm tempted to preach that message now, but I don't have time. Oh, it's funny, let me tell you how that message came about. Two weeks ago, I preached up in the mountains in the High Sierra Mountains, a small church. It was a blessing. At 10 a.m., and then I committed to our family drove down to Bishop and I preached at their 4 p.m. service. And I just can't, I just can't. And that just all day, living water, if you drink of this, you know when you just can't get something out? And you're just, oh, the power of that. You will never thirst again. Living water. And so I sat down, I opened John 4's at the park across from that famous Schatz Bakery that's crowded. So I knew my family would be over there an hour. And I didn't eat anything. I put this message together for Bishop. And I was excited to share it with you. And of all days, the Livestream was not working. So the pastor said, now you have to preach it in Lancaster.

I said, that's a good idea. I'm going to do that on Wednesday. So that's what's coming up. I'm excited about it. It's such a powerful verse. Long story short, towards the end, the woman said, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. And when He comes, He will tell us all things. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. But I realized, no versus no. And I've talked about this before, but somebody needs to hear this. Many of you could say, oh, I know Jesus. My mom talked about Him. Oh, I know Jesus. He's the guy that died for our sins, right? I was raised in the church. I come to church now and then with my mom and dad. Or I come to church and I go to this church and I know all about the Bible. I know about Jesus. Oh, I know. She knew. She didn't have a relationship with Him yet. We don't know where she's at, but she knew about Him. Oh, I know. I know intellectually.

Let me tell you, your intellect will not get you into heaven. It doesn't matter what you know here. It matters what you know here. And if I had time, I could actually break down the different no's. One is an intellectual knowledge. The other is a complete trust and hope and faith in. Even the demons know, believe in Jesus' knowledge. And they tremble. So make sure you have the right no. Make sure, are you trusting in what you know? Oh, I know about God. Of course, there's a God. Have you repented of your sin and said I need the cross? I need the cross. I am lost without the cross. I am lost without Christ. I need that like never. Lord, I need to know You intimately. And then now the Holy Spirit resides in you as a believer. And there's something, you are born again. A supernatural act of God where He puts the Holy Spirit inside of you and you are born again.

And now the Spirit within cries, Abba, Father. It cries, Abba, Father. It cries, I want to worship. I need to worship. I need to seek Him like never before. There's a desire. There's a hunger. There's some type of fruit, folks. If there's no fruit, what no have you embraced? And that's the problem with many people. Of course I know Jesus. And I'll talk to Shane. Here's the famous line. Shane, I've been going to church for 30 years. Or, I was born knowing God. I hear what you're saying. Or I get this a lot. Oh yeah, I'm a Baptist. Maybe you've heard this one too. Oh, I'm Catholic. Why do you have to...? And many who say that aren't Christian. They're identifying, I know, I was raised in this. I went through the protocol. I know about it intellectually, but they've never repented and believed and embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Because when you know Him personally, you can say absolutely He's correct because when you drink of that water, you will never thirst again. There's no other well I want. There's no other well you want. Nothing else is going to capture you. I'm not seeking anything else or you. I'm not seeking this or that or hope. I found the Messiah. I found the One who says, come to Me, all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will give you comfort. You are Mine and I will no way cast you away. What can separate Me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Neither height nor depth, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nothing can separate Me from the love of God which is because I know Him. Know Him, know Him, know Him. Some of you need to fully surrender your lives. You're believers, but you haven't fully surrendered. You've got God in the garage. You're worried that He'll get into the house and start cleaning the house. But it's time to say, Lord, have everything.

My marriage, my parenting, my finances, my life is Yours. Wherever You send me, whatever You want to do. Many people fear that because they think they'll end up in the outskirts of Africa and the faraway desert. And you may if that's God's desire. And you'll love that desire. He gives you the desires of your heart. Actually, when you fully surrender, you're allowed to fulfill the desires of your heart. Because He puts them there. And you want to do the things that He wants you to do. So maybe make that step this morning. Try to fully surrender. I haven't been following you. I haven't been leading my family. Many men are not leading their family spiritually. They're allowing their spouse to do that. They're not leading their kids. They're just kind of getting God in when they can. Everything else comes before Him. Travel, sports, this, their work, employment, corporate, this, vacation. Everything comes before Him. You need to put Him first and foremost. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪