You've Got Me Going In Circles // Prayer - ology // Dr. Dharius Daniels

But something started happening in me back in June of last year, and over the past three months God's given me language for it and theology around it. And it's really revolutionized me, at least this aspect of my spiritual life. And so what I'm about to teach you about, many of you are going to assume you know about it already. I'm going to ask you to give your pastor an opportunity to maybe introduce you to a fresh look on a new thing. That you wouldn't assume that I already know this, and this isn't for me, this is for newer or younger believers. Maybe there is a new level in this spiritual discipline that God is calling you to. And my encouragement to you is to be open to a fresh look on a new thing. So for the next several weeks I'm going to be talking and teaching around this theme called prayerology, the art of third way prayer. And we're going to look at James chapter 4 verse 1, which says what causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but you don't have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. And when you ask, you do not receive because you act with wrong motives. That you may spend what you get on your pleasures. So I want to stop the reading of scripture there and talk from this subject in our time together. Family, the subject is simple. You got me going in circles. Clap your hands everybody, everywhere, if you're ready for God's word. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Mark Batterson in his riveting work called The Circle Maker introduces us to a concept I want to try to capture and summarize in a sentence. The sentence is simply this, winning in the realm you can see requires working in the realm you can't.

What I'm attempting to articulate in that quote is that there are spiritual realities that impact our natural outcomes. And if we want to see fruit from what we're doing naturally, then there must be some faithfulness on our part in terms of how we engage spiritually. And in The Circle Maker, Dr. Batterson tells a story that helps concretize this concept. He quotes a story from a collection of rabbinical writings called the Talmud. And this story captures a season in the life of Israel where they are dealing with an extreme and an unusual drought. Everybody say drought. This was an agrarian or an agricultural society, so droughts during this day and age were uniquely devastating because their economy and their existence depended on rain. If there's no rain, there's no water. If there's no water, there's no crops. If there's no crops, there's no food. And if there's no food, there's no existence and there is no income. Am I making sense? And these droughts for Israel were situations where God would give them a revelation of their human limitations because they could buy the field, till the ground, plant the seed, but there's one thing they could not do. They couldn't make it rain. So every time they dealt with a drought, the drought was a situation that would give them a revelation of their human limitations. That you can't hustle your way out of this and your grind can't get you out of this and your effort and your energy and your activity can't adjust this. The only way that this is adjusted is if there is some sort of divine intervention. And during this unique drought, Batterson reminds us or introduces us to an individual who was what we would call a mystic. He had a very unique and unusual relationship with God. His name was Honi and during the drought, Honi made a decision that he was not going to allow the drought to make him doubt because the drought doesn't have to make you doubt.

I said the drought doesn't have to make you doubt. So while others were infected with anxiousness and anxiety, Honi allowed the drought to push him into some audacious and unusual behavior. One day he got tired of the drought. He walked out. of his tent, found a patch of ground, took his staff, drew a circle in the ground, sat down in the middle of the circle, and he released these words. He said, Lord of the universe, I swear by your great name that I will not move from this circle until you show compassion on your children and send rain. And he had to sit in that circle for a season, not a cloud in the sky, but he sat in the circle. Little humidity in the atmosphere, but he sat in the circle. The sun was still scorching the soil and the skin of the people in that place, but he sat in the circle until one day he felt something on his head. Until one day he saw something on the ground. He saw drops. And when he saw the drops, others saw the drops as well, and they began to become excited and enthusiastic about the drops. They're celebrating the drops. They're shouting over the drops, but Honey remains unmoved over the drops because he knew what they needed wasn't drops. They needed a downpour. So he did not settle for sprinkles

when he had prayed for showers. Here's the way we would say it in the old church. Lord, I'm running, trying to make 100. 99 and a half won't do. So Honey prayed again until the drops turned to a downpour, until the sprinkles turned to a shower. And it began to rain so that people began to escape where they were and go back to their places of residence because they were operating with the assumption it's so much rain, it's going to be a flood. And when it rained that way, Honey got up out of the circle, walked back to the tent. And from that day on, they called him the circle maker. And that story isn't just recorded in those rabbinical writings for the purpose of our information. That story is recorded for the purpose of education. God is not using that story to show us just what Honey can do because Honey is not the hero of that story. God is using that story to show us what he can do. The one who prayed the prayer isn't the hero. The one who answered the prayer is the hero. And the one who answered the prayer is no respect to a person. And so he uses Honey's story not to show us what he can do through him, but to show us what he can do through anybody that's got the faith and the tenacity

and the persistence to draw a circle and sit in the middle of the circle and say like, Jacob, I will not let you go until you bless me. And we may not be dealing with physical droughts like they were dealing with, but we all deal with our own sorts of droughts. And a drought is any situation that gives you a revelation of your human limitations. And when you deal with a drought, ladies and gentlemen, we need to have the attitude and the audacity of Honey that draws a circle around the drought and say, I'm going to put a circle on you until God does exactly what he says. Everybody will have a drought. The question is not if you will have a drought. The question is when you will have a drought. For some it's spiritually, for some it's emotionally, for some it's relationally, for some it's professionally. Everybody will have a drought. The question is how will you handle the drought when you experience the drought? And there are three ways to handle a drought. The first way is culture's way. And culture's way is to crash out during the drought. Are y'all okay? Yeah, don't let the drought cause you to crash out because crash outs are when we engage in impulsive, unwise, unhelpful, unhealthy, unholy activity in an attempt to self-medicate and anesthetize the pain of the drought because we feel like

we can do nothing about the drought and we're often operating unaware that the way we handle the drought, when we mishandle the drought, doesn't fix the problem of the drought, but it creates more problems in the drought. Drought and so we start off with a drought problem and then end up with an addiction problem We start off with a drought problem and end up with a relationship problem. We start off with a drought problem and end up stressed Out so now we got a health problem because we crashed out during the drought. Come on in here and Droughts have a way of tempting us to engage in behavior. Come on droughts have a way of Emotionally intoxicating us so the brain is hijacked and it does not operate Logically it operates under the influence of emotion and we act impulsively Unwisely and now not only do I have a problem of the drought I created another problem in the drought. So now trying to fix the drought I cause another drought in my own life But I'm talking to somebody who's going to hear this with prophetic urgency You are no longer in the season of your life where you can afford crash outs crash outs are Expensive crash outs cost you time crash out cost you reputation Crash out cost you peace crash outs cost you witness and is there anybody in the room that senses the devil? Wants you to crash out, but your testimony is not today Satan Somebody make the devil mad and just shout instead of crashing out Come on Crash outs. Come on droughts will have us considering things. We wouldn't normally consider Contemplating things we wouldn't ordinarily contemplate come on Entertaining, oh, this is the right service in yeah dating people That you wouldn't normally date. I Feel the realness right over here. Yeah, come on. I'm looking for my honest section that I say Come on, that's honest enough to admit that sometimes in this season you run into somebody from an old season And then you start asking yourself What was going on with me with? I'm confused how I even like them what I couldn't knew who I was. I had to be

Don't crash out Cultures way is to crash out during the drought churches way is to check out during the drought Is To engage in what we call spiritual bypassing Where we use God talk to bypass soul work It's when we use spiritual language to avoid dealing with a real emotional or relational Issues is spiritual language used to avoid real labor So I am broken discouraged disillusion and in despair and then when someone acts how I'm doing I tell them blessed and highly favored And I understand the power of life and death is in the tongue I understand the most important person besides God that talks to you is yourself I understand all of that, but I want us to make sure we are clear on the difference between faith Denying reality and faith changing my reality faith doesn't deny reality Faith denies reality the final say This is what it is But when the dust settle and when God get through God, and this is not what it's going to be How you doing mad, but he's gonna make me glad How you doing I'm tired, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength They'll mount upon wings like eagles. How you doing? I'm confused, but God is not the author of confusion He's gonna give me clarity And I need somebody that is that is free enough from second way that is going through a season Where you're struggling a little bit to just honestly say to God. I'm not okay I'm tired. I'm upset. I'm a worn-out. I'm irritated. I'm frustrated I'm agitated, but Chyra come on over here and Nisi come on over here and Come on over here You

Spiritual bypassing never gets you to healing because you're hiding Cultures way crash out churches way check out The King's way, cry out. Somebody shout put a circle on it. If your children are going wayward, you need to look at them today and say don't you make me put a circle on you. Put a circle on the business. Put a circle on your mind. Put a circle on the family. Put a circle on the home. Put a circle on it. Don't you make me put a circle on you. I put a circle on you, stuff starts shifting. Don't you make me put a circle on you. I put a circle on you, you're going to walk out of this function. And you're going to walk into your destiny. Don't you make me put a circle on you. When I start drawing circles, God starts showing up. And when God starts showing up, God starts showing out. When I draw circles, God starts showing up. And when God starts showing up, God starts showing out. When I draw circles, God starts showing up. And when God starts showing up, God starts showing up. When I draw circles, put a circle on it. Put a circle on it. Put a circle on it. Put a circle on it. Put a circle on it. And sit in the circle. And say, I'm not moving from this circle until you do what you said. I'm not moving from this circle until you fulfill your word.

I'm not moving. Culture's way, crash out. Church's way, check out. King's way. Culture's way, crash out. Church's way, check out. I'm going to give you one more chance. King's way. Let's go. Let's go. Put a circle on it. So here's my question. Are you crying more than you're circling? Are you complaining more than you're circling? It's one thing to know that I can draw circles. It's one thing to know that I need to draw circles. It's another thing to know how to draw circles. Right? Because there are three ways to draw circles. I pray, what way? No, I pray, what way? Because there's three ways to draw circles. Culture's way is to pray with desperate assumptions. So it means the communication with God is only out of desperation. So God is treated like a spiritual fire extinguisher. And I only break the glass in case of an emergency. It's what we call crisis Christianity, where it takes a crisis to keep you committed. Am I making sense? Okay. So you got culture's way, then you got church's way, which is praying from religious tradition

or religious programming. So religious conditioning, excuse me, or religious programming. You know what Jesus calls this? Vain babbling. You don't. Matthew chapter, I wish I had a Pentecostal auntie right now. I need a Pentecostal auntie who know how to read. Matthew chapter six, verse five, and when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners to be seen by others. Only I tell you they have received their reward in full. When you pray, don't do what you've seen. Because second way develops a prayer life based on emulation of what they've seen, not information based on what God said. Boy, ooh, I'm not going to bother, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my. Because there are prayer practices in second way that excite a room, but don't reach God. And so we will say things like, ooh, they prayed heaven down. No, they prayed your emotions up. Just because someone prayed my emotions up doesn't mean they prayed heaven down. The goal of prayer isn't to excite me. The goal of prayer is to reach God. And so what we start doing is we start emulating what excites a room. So what we really want is an emotional escape from reality as opposed to a prayer that can change reality. So we end up conflating and confusing volume with power. So we say they powerful when they just loud. And so when Jesus is teaching this audience to pray, are y'all hearing me? Okay, now, this is what's called the Sermon on the Mount. You got me? Matthew 5 begins with beatitudes. So he's teaching them the essence of Christian living.

And he's saying, hey, for you to be properly formed, you have to know what not to emulate. Anything you admired in church shouldn't be emulated by you. This is why when I say prayer warrior, there's something that comes to your mind. There's a gender that comes to your mind. I say prayer warrior, you think woman. It's quiet. It's quiet, because that's what you saw in the synagogue. And when I say prayer warrior, you think loud. And so there are people who now don't develop a profound and powerful prayer life, because they say, I'm not a woman and I'm not loud. Don't be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogue and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. What's their reward? What they really wanted. They wanted to be seen. So what did they get? Seen. And so, here is, here's third way. First way, first way is desperate assumptions. Second way is religious conditioning and programming. Third way is relational covenantal confidence, okay? So, God's not just a distant deity, that's my father. We got relationship, got me? Okay, some of you who've had young children, you know that you got to set rules, because if not, children will just bust in your room with no hesitation. Because the relationship gives them confidence to approach. They come boldly, because that's daddy. You missed it. They come boldly.

They'll get funny acting and an attitude with a stranger. They'll get silence of the lambs with a stranger, but with daddy, they vocal. Relational, covenantal. I got a relationship with God who is Yahweh or Jehovah. He's a covenant making and covenant keeping God. So, my persistence in asking him is tied to my revelation that he do what he say. So, when you tell me you're taking me to Disneyland in June and it's March, I wake up every morning and I walk in mom and daddy room. Is it June yet? And in April, is it June yet? And in May, is it June yet? And when you have a prayer life that is based on a relational covenantal consciousness, you wake up in the morning and you say, God, is it June yet? You said you would wipe away every tear from my eye. Is it June yet? You said no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Is it June yet? So, there are times where we're reading stories about the power of prayer from people like Honey, the power of prayer from people like Joshua, the power of prayer from people like Elijah. And if we're objective and honest, we have to admit, it's not that God isn't responding to my prayers. It's just I'm having sprinkles and they having showers. When you look at the miraculous, illogical, mind-blowing responses to prayer that we see in Scripture, I would think that the average believer would have to admit, this is not a regular occurrence in my life. I'm getting sprinkles, but not showers. And the question that we got to ask and answer is why? Has God changed his commitment to prayer? Or have the saints changed the way they pray?

Are we expecting third-way results with second-way practices? And I'm almost done. And I know you know everything there is to know about prayer. And I know you're a prayer warrior, and I understand that. But would you just give me a few minutes to explore what the book of James has to say about prayer, just in case there's an area of our prayer life that James wants to help us refine, just in case there's a little first or second way in there, and James wants to pull us out of first and second way to third way. Is it okay if I just take a few minutes? Because James offers us some insight on third-way prayer. Are you here? James is the half-brother of Jesus. He is writing to a group of Christians who've been scattered abroad throughout persecution. They were primarily all huddled in Jerusalem. And James 1 says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. The word scattered here is the Greek, from which we get the Greek word diaspora, which refers to a scattering of seed being sown. So they were all primarily, not exclusively, centrally located in Jerusalem, and because of Roman persecution, they're spread out all over different parts of the Roman Empire. So James is writing to disciple them in the midst of them having to endure persecution. He's trying to get them to not crash out during the drought, which is why he begins the beginning of his letter, say, brothers, count it all joy. Is that what he says? Yeah. When you fall, when you deal with diverse temptations, because the drought is

creating all sorts of dysfunction. It's all sorts of dysfunction that James is addressing. In chapter 4, he starts addressing relational dysfunction, right? Because when you feel like you're under attack, you'll start attacking each other. So what James is actually dealing with in the beginning of chapter 4 is relational dysfunction. So he's not presenting, watch this, he's presenting prayer actually as a solution to a problem they're facing. He says in James 1, chapter 4, verse 1, look at what he says. He says, hey, let's talk about these quarrels and these fights y'all are having. He says, I want you to know where they're coming from. The relationship isn't broken, you're broken. And as long as you stay broken, you're going to break whatever relationship you get in. He says, do the quarrels and the fights come from your desires that battle within you? That you are unfulfilled, unsatisfied, discontent. And so your discontented self is showing up dysfunctionally in relationships. Did you, it got quiet y'all thinking, okay, it is, he says, he says there are desires that are, that are on the inside of you and it is making you combative. It's making you combative with people who should be your spiritual brothers and sisters. See, see, we often think about how we get when we are physically hungry. We're a little, come on, we're not the nicest. But you know that applies to more than physical hunger. When you're emotionally and when you're spiritually hungry, come on here, it creates a version of you that does not show up well in relationships, but I don't have time to bother this. But there is something, there is something too that needs to be explored and maybe we'll talk about it later this year. That needs to be explored. Listen, listen to Pastor, that needs to be explored between your intention and the way you experienced. Because some people get that confused and they're like, I'm not loud to you. It means that you are not as loud as you could be.

That's your intention. But I'm trying to tell you how we're experiencing you. Oh my gosh, you can talk to me, not really. I don't understand why you couldn't talk to me. That's because you're confusing your intention in terms of the way you're trying to show up with the way you're actually showing up. You're confusing the way you're trying to show up in this relationship with the way you're actually showing up in this relationship. And I'm trying to show you how you showing up. I honor your intention, but that's not what I'm experiencing. So watch what he says. He says, here's your problem. He says, you are exerting energy, effort, trying to obtain something. You can't. You desire and you don't have, so you kill. He's not saying you literally take people's life, but you kill reputation, you kill opportunity, you destroy in an attempt to acquire what you want. Then he says, you covet it, but you can't get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. And you do not have because you do not ask God. He says, you are extending energy, effort, attempting to acquire something. And this should be a revelation of your human limitation. This should show you that what you need, you can't get on your own. So he presents prayer as the solution to their internal battles that are causing their relational consternation. So in this text, he gives us some key pillars of third way prayer. Can I give them to you? First thing he gives us is the purpose of prayer. Watch what he says. You don't have because you don't ask God. Are you here, family?

He says, you don't have because you don't ask God. He says that he's suggesting that in all knowing. All powerful, ever-present God will refuse to engage in some activity without an invitation from us in the form of prayer. And prayer is oral, mental, or written communication with God the Father in the name of Jesus the Son with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. It is a spiritual exercise that is not intended to provide God with information, but rather it is a means through which we express our participation and cooperation with God's will for our life. Prayer doesn't alter God's will, it accomplishes it, but there's an aspect of God's will called his conditional or permissive will that won't be accomplished independent of an invitation from us for him to intervene into our affairs. So what God has for me, is for me, is kinda right if you're a prayer. James says there are certain things you don't have because you don't ask. What God has for me is gonna automatically happen for me if it's in his perfect will, if it's in his unconditional will, but there's a part of his will that is conditional, that is permissive, that he will not execute upon without an invitation. There's this writer who writes a book

and he tells this story, it's a parable, it's not a real story, he says there's a person who passes away and they go to heaven and they meet Peter and Peter's giving them a tour of heaven and Peter walks them into a room and he opens the door and in the room there's a wall filled with boxes from the floor to the ceiling and a man asks Peter, what's all of this? And Peter says to him, this is all the stuff God would've gave you if you'd have asked. And the enemy understands this reality, which is why our prayer life is one of the spiritual disciplines that is always intensely under attack because he knows that part of our experience with God's nature and character is going to be based upon our willingness to engage the Father in prayer. And so if I'm not consistently engaging the Father in prayer there are aspects of God's nature, goodness, and generosity I never experienced. So now I start questioning whether or not the God in my life is the God of the Bible because I'm not experiencing those things. So now I start calling into question the credibility of God because I'm not experiencing the fullness of the nature of God that I see in Scripture when the Bible is very clear that there are aspects of God's goodness we don't experience if we don't ask.

How much are you asking? It tells us not just the purpose of prayer, it tells us the pollutants of prayer. He says, watch what he says, he says, you don't have because you don't ask. Is that what he says? Verse three says, but when you do ask you don't receive because you ask with wrong motives. Pastor, I'm making circles but I got to make sure that my circles aren't contaminated. What does it say? You ask with the wrong motives. One translation says praying amiss. See, ungodly motives are prayer polluted. It's internal intentions that seek personal benefit, validation, or control at the expense of God's will or others' well-being. It is when I don't care if God want this for me or I don't care how this impacts other people. That's a prayer pollutant. Unbridled ambition. This is a relentless drive for success, status, or achievement that is not surrendered to God's timing, God's methods, or God's boundaries. Ambition itself is not evil. Watch this, but when it is not surrendered to God's timing, God's like, it's not time. When it is not surrendered to God's methods, God's like, that's not the way. Or when it's not surrendered to God's boundaries,

when God says, you got the ability but that's not your assignment. See, when you engage in third-way prayer, you won't always come out of prayer with green lights, you're gonna come out with some red lights. It's what John the Baptist said when he said, I got a decrease. It's when you're looking at your gift and your ability and your opportunities and you say, I could do this. But God's like, not now, not that way. And in some places, not ever. Pastor, I'm praying, do I have ungodly motives? I'm praying, do I have unbridled ambition? Are you willing to decrease? If God gave you and I gifts and talents, he reserves the right to tell us how much of them you use. They're not yours, you're a steward. All right, number three. It's quiet in here. It feels a little cold in here. Number three, third one is unforgiveness. So I'm going to my heavenly father asking him to release something to me that I don't deserve, but I'm refusing to give forgiveness to somebody that doesn't deserve it. See, this is the part of the Lord's Prayer a lot of us skip. Forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those. So sometimes it's not raining because there's unforgiveness in our heart. So the enemy use wounds. So the enemy's strategic. He uses wounds to produce a residue of unforgiveness because he knows that residue of unforgiveness is going to impact my ability to engage in prayer. Now I'm not going to bother this. I talked a little bit about this at Gwinnett at the nine and it got, it got real tight. I thought they was about to throw some green Bibles at me. It got real tight. So I'm just going to throw this part out and I'm not going to stay with it. But I could talk about, watch this. I could not, I could just talk about not just unforgiveness. I could talk about unbiblical relationship management

because the brothers, they were looking swollen me with this. And I'm like, Hey, I'm for you. We do made men, manology. Like this is an equal opportunity blessing church, but it got a little tight when I checked because first Peter three, seven says, honor the wife. Come on here. Is that what it says? So that your prayers be not hindered. So God's like, so you want me to bless you and you misread my daughter. What kind of man, what kind of father do you think I am? So you want me to just answer all your prayer and you miss, she says, your prayers are hitting the ceiling. You getting drops, you getting sprinkles and not showers. I just want to know, I'm not asking, do you agree? I want to know, am I in the book? Pastor, why is my prayers? Yo, have you checked your motors? Have you checked your ambition? Have you checked unforgiveness? How are you handling God's daughter? So he says, you want me to trust you with something else? I can't trust you with her. All right, move on there. Okay. Tario, let's pray. Nobody walking. I'm getting ready to pray. That's all they can handle this service. Come on. The purpose of prayer, the pollutants of prayer. It also shows us the power of prayer. If there'll be any sick among you, let them call for the elders church of prayer. Faith will save the sick. So God doesn't just, watch this, heal who's sick. Prayer helps you heal what's sick. Bible says, he mentions a man by the name of Elijah who prayed that it would not rain. And for three and a half years, it didn't. Then he prays that it would rain and it did rain. So rain in the Bible is a metaphor for burdens and blessings, right? When it's a drought, rain is a blessing. In Noah's case, when it flooded, it was a burden. And so when it's a burden, prayer makes it stop. When it's a blessing, prayer makes it start. So prayer has the power to stop some stuff and to start some stuff. I say, prayer's got the power to stop some stuff and start some stuff. What is coming down that needs to stop? And what is not coming down that needs to start? And then finally, third way prayer is persistent. He uses Elijah as an example. And if you go to first Kings 18, you'll see where seven times Elijah sent his servant to go back out during a drought and look to see if it was getting ready to rain. And look to see if it was getting ready to rain. Seven times it was persistent because persistence isn't an indication of a lack of trust. Persistence is evidence of it.

Honey sat in the circle until it began to rain. And you and I got to sit in the circle until it begins to rain. I'm getting ready to pray over you. And I wrote a prayer liturgy because prayer is oral, mental, or written. And in Pentecostal charismatic circles, we assume that a prayer is only sincere if it's extemporaneous. And we actually need more structure and more liturgy in our prayers because you find written prayers in the book of Psalms. And this is something some of us, and I'm gonna talk to you about this, is what one writer calls, when you pray, is painting with all the colors. And so that's why some of our prayer life gets dead and dry, because we don't expand our methodology. We just do it one way. You're not painting with all the colors. And so I'm gonna read this prayer liturgy. I think they're gonna put it up on the app for you. Father, I come to you acknowledging that I have too often worked harder in the natural than I prayed in the spiritual. I've hustled when I should have asked. I've worried when I should have worshiped. Forgive me for the droughts. I tried to survive on my own strength. Today, I choose the King's way. I draw a circle around what I cannot fix, what I cannot force, what I cannot figure out, and I invite you in. Search my motives. Where ambition has replaced surrender, purify me.

Where unforgiveness has quietly taken root, uproot it. Where I prayed for my pleasure more than your purpose, realign me. I will stay in the circle, not because I'm strong, but because you're faithful. Like Elijah, I will keep sending my prayers back to look for the cloud. Like Jacob, I will not let you go until you bless me. Rain on what's dry in me. Stop what needs to stop. Start what needs to start. I trust your timing, and I trust your methods. In Jesus' name. Amen. And amen again.