Prayer serves as a powerful conduit for transformation, positioning itself at the heart of our relationship with the divine and our journey toward surrendering to heaven's will. We delve into the often-misunderstood nature of prayer, challenging the notion that it is merely a wish list or a ritualistic duty, and instead embrace it as a profound expression of alignment with God’s desires. True transformation, we discover, springs not from dramatic moments but from the consistent, daily practice of surrendering our will, much like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, who epitomized this act with his heartfelt plea, "Not my will, but yours be done." Through this episode, we explore how prayer shifts our perspective from our own agendas to a focus on God’s glory, revealing that the essence of prayer lies in deepening our dependency on Him. Join us as we unpack these concepts and uncover how genuine prayer can reshape our hearts and minds over time, leading to a more profound and lasting transformation in our lives.

Takeaways:

1. Prayer serves as a natural expression of surrender, aligning our will with heaven's intentions.
2. True transformation emerges through daily practices like prayer, rather than dramatic moments.
3. Surrender in prayer fosters deeper gratitude, calming our anxieties while fostering spiritual growth.
4. Understanding prayer as a relationship with God shifts it from a duty to a life-giving practice.
5. Misconceptions around prayer often reduce it to a wish list or a performance, missing its relational essence.
6. Surrender in prayer isn't passive; it's an active dependence that transforms our hearts and minds.

And good day to you and thanks for tuning in to our study.

We introduced the thought of transformation from Romans chapter 12, which I believe is the core principle of the walk of God's people.

It begins to identify who and what God's people are by this renewing of the mind.

That's where it begins.

And you can't really begin to talk about transformation long before you're talking about prayer and prayer that expresses surrender to Jesus Christ.

And so today the title of our topic is Prayer as the center of Transformation.

When we think about transformation, all of us imagine some big moment in our life or maybe some event, some time in our life when we can remember some dramatic worship service or a life changing sermon or some breakthrough event of some kind.

But true transformation doesn't come primarily from the mountaintop, doesn't come from those moments.

It really comes through daily practice repeated over time, over and over again, that begins to shape how we think and shapes the heart and the mind to being more like Christ.

And prayer is where we begin to, I guess, verbalize that surrender.

It's where we begin to express that surrender.

And so at the center of that is going to always be our prayer.

But let's be honest here, prayer is one of the most misunderstood, neglected and misused disciplines in many people's lives.

Those who claim and profess to be Christians.

I think many people treat it like a wish list or they see it as a duty.

And so it's time to pray.

And so they kneel down at the bedside or some other place and begin to pray because they feel duty bound, not our duty bound to do so.

Some avoid it altogether because they feel unworthy.

And if they don't feel unworthy, they just not really sure how beneficial it really is.

But the Bible presents a very different story, very different presentation of prayer as a relationship where one expresses their surrender and their alignment with heaven's will.

We want to look at that beginning first of all today, looking at what we call or what people call the Lord's Prayer.

I don't call it that.

If I were to call a prayer the Lord's Prayer, I would think of John 17 as being really as important as any other prayer.

In fact, Jesus gives this as a sort of model prayer, pray like this.

And so because of that, and he's our example, I would certainly think we could find, I think this thought, this principle found in this model that Jesus leaves with us in Luke 22.

The Bible presents Christ's prayer life as a relationship of surrender.

He models that, of course in Luke 22.

We'll look at that a little bit later on when he prayed in the garden.

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Now that's the heartbeat of prayer.

It's not demanding, it's not manipulating.

You know, it's not bending God's will to do what we want him to do for us.

It isn't anything of that.

It isn't a wish list making sure that we cover all of the things that we need to pray for.

So it's not bending his will to ours.

Prayer is surrender, it's alignment, and therefore it's sweet fellowship.

When we learn to pray that way, then transformation deepens because gratitude shapes our attitude and surrender calms any anxiety or fear.

It becomes not so much a ritual or something that we feel duty bound to do, but it's a lifeline.

It's a relationship without which we're lost.

And so prayer is a way of life.

And as we look at the prayer that what we call praying to God, probably we ought to start by clearing some misconceptions away.

Let's just do that and talk about a few minutes, just a little bit here about what prayer is not.

Prayer is not a vending machine where you just insert a request and expect your desired outcome.

Some people look at it that way.

And if you're not living right, then you're not going to be blessed by God and vice versa.

Prayer is not a performance where you're sitting together with a bunch of other people of like mind and you can string together some eloquent words to impress them or even to feel spiritual yourself, because you've put together this beautiful prayer.

It's certainly not a negotiation where you bargain with God and negotiate with Him.

God is to get what you want.

And so certainly then it's not some kind of a checkbox where you just mumble through some memorized lines and ease your guilt.

And you've covered all the boxes and checked them all off as to what needs to be prayed for.

And you can go on your way thinking you've accomplished something.

So if it's not all of that, then what is it?

Well, prayer, as I said, is a relationship.

It's speaking honestly to our Father, to someone who loves us and someone who wants us to depend on Him.

And so it is dependency.

It's a relationship of dependency.

It's acknowledging that apart from him we are nothing and can do nothing.

But with him we can do all things.

And so for that reason, I Say prayer is the expression of surrender.

It's yielding your will and aligning your will to his.

Prayer, then, can be also worship, because it is thanksgiving.

It is the way we express our thanksgiving.

It is giving glory to our Father and reverencing and honoring the one who is certainly worthy.

And so it's not about getting things from God, rather it's about getting God.

This is about having a relationship with him.

And of course, someone can pray and feel confident that such a relationship exists while still living in sin.

And I understand that, and that is a problem in today's society.

But prayer, when it's honestly opened ourselves up to God, it's acknowledging who we really are.

And to do so, we must examine ourselves to see whether we're in the faith, as Paul tells the Corinthians in Second Corinthians 13.

Well, now let's look now at the model prayer.

We call it the model of the Lord's Prayer where he gave in Matthew 6.

It does express many of these same points that we've brought out.

So let's walk through this model of surrender, we'll call it.

First of all, when he begins, he says, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

That's how prayer begins.

Prayer begins with the acknowledgment of who and what God is and what we are.

We don't start with our needs, we start with his glory.

Do you see that?

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

And therefore it is, as I've said, a surrender.

It's recognizing that life is about his name, not ours.

Your kingdom come.

He continues, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This idea of your kingdom come and your will be done, they need to be seen together.

We don't need to separate those thoughts.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Later on in the same chapter, in verse 33, Jesus says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and and all these things will be added to you.

Seeking first the kingdom, or asking in the prayer, your kingdom come has to do with the kingdom rule Christ's rule in your life and in your heart.

And as that occurs, when that happens and develops, it's come, it's present, it's there.

He's requesting that we prioritize our lives to the point where his rule and his reign is supreme in our lives.

It's not about what I want.

It's not about what I'm going to do for myself or all of my Plans and thoughts for the day and my little list that I'm going to mark off, it's all about Him.

It's about his will, it's about what he wants.

And when an opportunity comes that gives such an occasion to give him glory by being a light in the world and reflecting the image of Jesus, then that's what we do.

And so it is your kingdom come, let your reign, your rule come.

And so as we seek first his kingdom, we do so when we make his rule first thing in our lives.

And it's allowing him to reign and rule in our lives supreme.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

Do you see that?

On earth as it is in heaven, the heart of surrender is what's under consideration.

Before we can ask for anything, we have to yield everything.

And so prayer shifts from my kingdom and my agenda and my will, my comfort, to its yous will.

It's yous reign, it's yous glory.

What is it that we can do to honor your today?

And then it's give us this day our daily bread.

Now, some would say or suggest that now he directs his attention to their needs, which I guess you could suggest you could say that because he is asking for daily bread.

But the point, I think that's expressed here again is dependency, recognizing the source of that bread.

And so we bring our needs before him, but not in a spirit of entitlement.

We ask humbly for the bread of Thy daily bread, trusting him to provide what is truly needed, not necessarily what is wanted, but truly needed.

Well, not only do we see in that an example of dependency on God for our daily needs, but then we see in the fourth part of this prayer the importance of forgiveness.

And it recognizes that everybody's in the same pool, everybody's in the same boat, so to speak.

And so he says, forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

You see, confession and reconciliation worked hand in hand.

It's recognition that everyone is in the same predicament, essentially.

And as we have needs to confess the sins that we've committed against others, we do so humbly.

And when they have the same need, we clearly reciprocate.

Because why we're not any.

I mean, we're all subject to the same problems and the same sin.

In Galatians 6, the apostle Paul says, if any of you is overtaken in a trespass, you that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

You see that?

And so prayer keeps us honest before God and It keeps us honest before others.

It reminds us that the forgiven people forgive.

But then fifthly, in this model prayer we call it, he says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Here's a prayer of protection.

It's a prayer that acknowledges the spiritual battle and it leans into God's power to overcome.

We must understand that to fight and win over Satan and the temptations of this life is to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.

It is asking God and acknowledging that we are in this battle.

And in this battle, you're not reckless with your life.

You're not trying to get just as close to the edge of sin as possible and expect not to come out on the other end, okay?

It controls how you think, and thus, in time, your actions and the words that you speak.

And the thoughts are right there.

Before those words ever were said, the thoughts were there.

And so we bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

We make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.

And so you have your mind set on spiritual things, and if your mindset is on the spirit and not on the flesh, then you will not fulfill the works of the flesh.

And so this is a prayer of protection, a prayer that acknowledges that we're in this battle and we need to lean into God's power to overcome.

This prayer teaches us that surrender is not passive.

I mean, it's very active dependence.

It's active obedience and active praise and recognition for God's protection and care.

There's another prayer that I want to go to now that I think might help us again understand the principles involved.

And that's the prayer in the garden.

We mentioned it early on when Jesus says, not my will, but thine be done.

There again, it's the ultimate surrender.

And so if you want to see what surrender prayer looks like, go to Gethsemane there in Luke 22, beginning in verse 41, 44.

Will not take the time to read all of that, though you certainly could.

I would encourage you to do that.

Jesus is recorded there, kneeling in agony, sweating drops of blood.

His prayer was honest Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me.

That's raw humanity.

That's recognizing the difficulty and the pains and the suffering that he's enduring.

But he didn't stop there, and that's important.

He didn't go as far as Elisha had done and giving up.

He added the ultimate words of surrender nevertheless.

Not my will, but thine be done.

Yours is the glory, your will is supreme, and so this was not a resignation, really.

It was trust.

Jesus believed that the Father's will, even when painful, was better than any other alternative.

And that is the essence of surrender.

We bring our honest desires and requests.

We lay them down under the God's perfect wisdom.

J. Adams wrote, I think a very meaningful statement.

He said, prayer is not bonding God's will to ours, it's bonding ours to him.

And I've noticed in life that it seems to me that we tend to change, that we tend to make God in our image.

And we even pray that God walk with us instead of us walking with Him.

I mean, he's the same today, yesterday and forever.

And he's there, he's always there.

But his will is the one that we should model after, that we should be seeking.

It's his walk.

It's us following him, not him following us.

And so I think J. Adams was emphasizing getting that priority straight.

That prayer is not bending God's will to ours, it's bending our will to his.

And then Hannah's prayer certainly does provide another example of surrender.

Hannah poured out her soul unto God.

And if you consider the text in 1st Samuel 1 is where it's located.

This woman was barren.

And in those days, to be barren was to be mocked.

And very desperate position to be in as a woman in those days, because her worth was found in her being a mother.

And when she prayed, she wasn't reciting formulas, she was pouring out her soul in anguish.

Her prayer was so raw and genuine that Eli thought she was drunk.

But God heard and he answered.

Not because her words were perfect, not because she was entitled, but because her heart was surrendered.

Prayer is not about polished words, it's about honesty.

Surrendered prayer does not hide pain or pretend something is that isn't it pours it out in honest, genuine role truth, but always with open hands to God's will.

What a wonderful example we have in Hannah's prayer.

And she willed that she would give that child in service to him.

I think of another prayer as we're just thinking about prayers is Daniel's prayer.

And his prayer was one of discipline.

It was something that he had done and would continue to do despite any kind of suffering to the contrary.

He was devoted.

And he gives us another picture.

It's found in Daniel 6.

When the law forbade prayer, he didn't change, he didn't hide while he opened his window and prayed three times a day, just as he had always had done.

Nothing changed.

Why?

Because prayer was not negotiable.

It was the foundation of his life.

Daniel's prayer life shows us that surrender is not only emotional, but very disciplined.

So transformation requires that.

It requires what one man calls rhythm.

Morning prayer of surrender, Midday prayer of dependency.

Evening prayer of reflection, discipline, devotion, all of that keeps our hearts aligned with emotions, that though we are fluctuating from time to time and distressed, it keeps us disciplined and keeps our hearts aligned with God.

That is so important.

But we're told in Romans 8, and sometimes I think we misunderstand this text.

It tells us that the Spirit helps us to pray.

We don't know how to pray as we ought, it says, but the Spirit makes intercessions for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.

There is, it seems, in the Roman Letter around this same context, this thought of spirit and flesh, and he contrasts the two.

In fact, chapter seven, he would say, in me that is, in my flesh dwells no good thing to will is present, but how to perform that which is good, I find not Paul expressed this war that's going on between the mind and the flesh.

The spirit, if you please, and the flesh, and of course, the victory.

And the exclaim of victory in that text is in verse 25 when he says, so then with the mind, that is, with the spirit I serve the law of God, and with the flesh the law of sin.

Not that he's giving condolence to sinning in the flesh, not that he is anticipating doing so or wills to do so, but that when he does, it's only because he's in the flesh.

It isn't the mind, it isn't the Spirit desiring to do so.

But then he would go on in chapter eight and talk about the mind of the Spirit.

It seems to me that when he gets to this point about praying that we don't know how, that we ought to pray as we ought, but that the Spirit helps us with groanings that can't be uttered.

We've always seemed to make that application, the Holy Spirit.

Now, it's true, King James uses pronouns like he and kind of confirms at least, that the translators understood it that way and as did others.

That doesn't.

I mean, any student at all that spent time with the language to any degree at all recognizes that the verbs carried third person singular endings that could be he, she, or it, depending on the context of the statement.

And also it would depend on whether that pronouns actually were antecedents of the Holy Spirit or whether he's referring to the fact that he's talking about our Spirit.

I find it very difficult, and I'VE said this before how the Holy Spirit is groaning with words too deep.

The Spirit's never had trouble with words.

He's never been of lack of words.

He always.

I mean, he's the one who reveals God's mind.

He knows the mind of God and has revealed it to the Apostle Paul and the prophets.

This is found in Ephesians 3, 1st Corinthians 2, and many, many others.

So the Spirit doesn't have any problem with words.

He's not groaning with words too deep.

That's not his problem.

It's us.

It's our Spirit.

And so while we can't express it in the flesh with words that our hearts want to express but we don't know how to do so, the Spirit does.

That is our mind, our hearts.

We don't have to have the right words.

It doesn't need to be a polished speech.

Prayer isn't that.

It's just open, raw communication, honest communication to our Father.

And while we might not have the words to express it, our hearts do.

We know and he knows.

There is that communication between two spirits, the Holy Spirit and our Spirit.

And so sometimes prayer feels impossible and our words stumble and our emotions are overwhelmed and our minds may be a bit scattered.

But there's good news.

The Spirit that is not the flesh helps us in our weakness.

Because while we don't know what to pray as we ought to, the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And so when you can't pray when you're still surrendering, you have that attitude and that heart and the mind or the Spirit communicates perfectly.

You didn't need the words.

You just need to show up in honest weakness and dependency on God.

And then finally, and last of all, we need to think about why we resist surrender, and why this is a problem in prayer.

If surrender in prayer is so powerful, why is it that so many resist it?

I think part of it is that people fear losing control.

Not to mention the very fact that a lot of people are still walking after the flesh.

And therefore prayer will be nil, if sporadic.

But if someone is really thinking and consciously working this out in their own lives and making a disciplined life, part of it is fear of losing control.

We cling to the illusion that we know best, and so we're not depending on God, and that's reflected in our prayers.

The other is that we resist it because of unbelief.

People doubt God's goodness, and so we fight for our own way.

We doubt that he's going to answer prayer.

And so we pray, doubting.

James says that don't expect that man to receive anything from the Lord.

He's double minded.

The other is pride.

We want to be self sufficient, not dependent.

The other is impatience.

We want immediate answers and we want things now.

Our timing, not God's timing.

But here's the irony of it all.

The more we cling, the more anxious we become, and the more we surrender, the more peace we find.

In Philippians 4, verse 6 beginning do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Thank you a lot.

Have a good day and a pleasant week ahead.

It.