Well, good morning everybody. I'm glad to see you. If you're joining us online, I feel like it's been a year since I've seen you.

Happy New Year to everybody. Bad dad jokes, right? Hey, actually, I read this about New Year's resolutions. It says, I resolve to lose weight, but only the weight of unrealistic expectations. I resolve to exercise my right to sleep.

I resolve to eat better emotionally, spiritually, and occasionally pizza. And I resolve once again to make resolutions I won't remember by February. But there is one resolution that I hope that you will join with me and our church next week. And that is our week of prayer. It starts tomorrow morning at 6am and everybody went, ugh.

I mean, some of you are early risers, but let me just. Can I coach you for a moment? Because I want to give you permission. I want to give you permission that this is not some kind of, oh, if I'm late, I can't come in, or if I've got to leave early, I'm going to mess things up. It's not that.

It's not that. We're going to start at 6 o'. Clock. We're going to sing a few songs, we're going to have a devotion, we're going to go into a season of prayer. And it is our promise, not intention, our promise.

You, you're out of this door by seven o'. Clock. So if you say, well, you know, I gotta be at work at 7 o', clock, well come from 6 to 6:30, that's okay. You can leave out. Somebody's already asked me, can I come earlier than that?

And I said, well, I will be here and the door open at 5:30. So if you were like, hey, I can come from 5:30 to 6, come on in and pray. I mean, this is a house of prayer, is it not? I'm sitting there listening today as we're singing. You know, singing is praying, right?

Because we're declaring truths and we're declaring dependence. And so that's our promise. We're going to do that from Monday through Friday. It's like old school revival just in the morning and then next Saturday. What I love about Saturday is we're not going to be here at six.

We're going to be here at eight, say eight. Why eight o'? Clock? Because I want your kids to come and I want them running around the room and I want them making noise because we need to model to the next generation prayer. Corporate prayer is vital to our church.

A church that doesn't pray. Is a dead church. And so we're inviting you to take this time this week. Next Sunday really excites me. I don't have all the details worked out, but I'll go ahead and tell you.

The message is about worship. So come next Sunday, ready to worship? We're going to worship more than anything else because worship is our praying together in chorus and harmony. And so I'm just going to. I've got so much I want to say today.

I'm not going to chase rabbits. I just want to challenge you. Please consider coming. I can tell you it will be life changing. I've read through some of the cards I've got this morning already.

The cards we got a few weeks ago and on the stage, everybody look at me eyeball to eyeball. Thank you, Levi Skipper. On the corner of the stage are blank prayer request cards. When we get to the invitation today and you haven't written a prayer request or requests, come take a card, fill it out, give it to one of our pastors or lay it on the stage and we will get that. And so this week when you come in for our week of prayer, these cards are going to be spread out all over this stage for you to come and take and pray.

And I'll coach you guys tomorrow morning about what you can do with that. So Monday through Friday, what time? Saturday at what time? And next Sunday we're going to do what? Worship.

There you go. Y' all got it. So go ahead and turn your Bible to Matthew, chapter six. I love this bumper that Caleb found because it is where we're going to be parked for the next six weeks. We're going to be looking at Matthew chapter six at the Lord's Prayer, verse by verse.

We're gonna break this down because when Jesus was teaching about praying, he wasn't giving us a formula to recite. You know how I know that? Because before he gave the Lord's Prayer, he says, do not be like those who stand in the streets and think they will be heard by their repetitious words. There is value communicated in the Lord's Prayer. And for us this year, we want to see people reached with the gospel.

And that is our heart's desire to. By praying and by learning and by doing. We want to reach people with the gospel and see people saved. But it starts with praying to prepare my heart and to prepare their hearts and to make this church a praying dependent upon God church that God will bring a harvest. When you think about prayer, I want you to think about these questions.

How Are you praying? When are you praying? How often are you praying? Where are you praying? With whom are you praying?

These are the two most important. Why are you praying? And to whom are you praying? Yes, I just went through who, what, when, where, why kind of thing. But it's really the truth because a lot of you, you were saved, and then somebody just took you by the head and dropped you in the deep end of the swimming pool and just expected that you knew how to pray.

I mean, when you look at Luke's account of the Lord's Prayer, the disciples asked, teach us to pray. And so prayer is more than just recitation of these verses. It's embracing the values that are expressed in there. In fact, what we're going to do is we're going to start at verse number five, because I want us to understand that there is a foundation upon which prayer is built. We're going to start with Matthew 6.

5. I want to tell you a story, though, about a lady that I came across, her story by the name of Beth Matheson. And she was writing an article for Wycliffe Bible Translators. And she challenges us deeply about prayer. She says, we prayed long, desperate and tearful prayers.

We pleaded in faith, knowing that God could heal my mom. But cancer was still wrecking my mom's body, and we knew that it wouldn't be long. She couldn't open her eyes, but found the strength to reach for my hand as I stood by her bed, shifting the baby on my hip, I leaned forward to hear her whispered words, quote, don't be angry at God. I'm trusting in the healer, not in the healing.

My mom knew we'd struggle with God's choice to allow her life to end much earlier than. Than we all thought that it should. How many of you found yourself there? And how many of you walked away mad at God? Don't let it keep your hand up.

That's personal between you and him, said My parents were missionaries. We had relationships all over the world and hundreds of people begging for her healing. But all of those prayers didn't seem to make a difference. So we wondered if God was even paying attention. How did she interpret that?

Because God didn't answer her prayer. But she says this. I began to learn that prayer isn't about transactions between us and God. It's about our relationship with Him. Did you catch that?

The act of praying is our ability to connect intimately with the God of the universe. And. And Jesus uses the best word in the Book of Matthew to introduce to us the third one of the persons of the Godhead. God is our Father. And before we begin to talk about anything, about the how to's of prayers and the what TOS and the acronyms or anything else foundationally, you and I, when we approach God in prayer, must understand we're not coming as some spit out worm, but we're coming as the children of God.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can come with confidence to our Daddy.

Prayer is so much more than transactions. Prayer is so much more than what God wants to do in bending to my will. But it's the culturing of my heart getting in alignment with his. That's why I'm pumped about this series. We're going to look at Praying Worshipfully.

Our Father who is in Heaven, praying submissively. Your will be done. Praying dependently. Give us this day. Praying confessionally, Forgive me of my sins.

And when we get done, then we can say, praying victoriously. Yours is the kingdom, Yours is the power, and yours is the glory. But he begins with understanding and embracing. He is our Father. Is he your Father today?

Do you know God the Father Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten son of God, came to the earth, died on a cross so that you become, you could become a child of God. You know that, right? You see, no matter what the case is, however you want to define prayer, prayer must be relational. And it can't be relational if it's not intimate. And it can't be intimate if you don't spend time with the Father.

I loved having all of our kids. Today is the day one goes back to school. But we have had such a great time sitting around the table talking of life, dreams and ambitions.

Funny noises that middle school, high school boys make.

But we've had a good time. Have you thought maybe that's the kind of prayer God wants you to culture with him? Where you can come and be exactly who you are, raw and real. No holds bar. That's our Daddy.

That's God, our Father. And that's on what we must build our confidence. Because see, the more I get to know the Lord, the more my heart becomes like his.

In Luke chapter 15, when Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, the point of that, of that parable, yes, is that the Son comes home. But it's the older brother who missed the heart of the Father. The reason the Pharisees and scribes had a problem with Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners is because they were dirty, nasty sinners. And the older brother, if he had known the heart of the Father, would have wanted the younger brother to come home and would have celebrated with him. But he proved that he didn't know the heart of God.

The Pharisees and scribes didn't know the heart of God. And today in our religious culture we, we don't know the heart of God because we relegate Christianity as religion. It's not religion, it's a relationship. And if you don't know the Father through the Son, you have no relationships. Therefore you have no security in praying.

Do you know him today? Because if you don't know him, I would love to introduce you to God my Father today. So before I chase a lot of rabbits, and I will unapologetically, would you stand with me as I read starting in verse number five. Now let me show you the structure here. This is the second chapter from 5 through 7 of the Sermon on the Mount.

And Jesus is talking about acts of piety or worship, giving, praying, fasting. All Jews believe these were acts that they did in worship to the Lord. But what we're going to see when we begin to study this is that there is a problem with the heart, the motivation behind what they are doing. And I want you to notice the word reward. The word reward that each time the giving and the praying and the fasting, it says God rewards that done in secret.

Listen to what it says in verse five. When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites. That's a very strong word. Hypocrites means actor. Don't pray like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by men.

Say the word seen. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. No room for God to reward them because they went after the wrong thing. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room and close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret and and your Father who sees what's done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do.

For they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them being heard, being seen. For your father knows what you need before you even ask him your about relationship. Father, teach us to pray in Jesus name. Amen.

You realize since 2007, Pew Research has discovered that claiming Christians in 2007 58% said they prayed once a day. In 2024 that percentage dropped to 45%. Well why is that? Well, we could dig into the whys. We could look at the rise of atheism and agnosticism.

We could look at all of those reasons. But I want to propose something. I believe it's because they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Many of the denominations in our nation today are not teaching people to repent of their sins and to draw close to the Lord who sent his Son to die on the cross. They're teaching a same philosophy the Pharisees had. Do good works because you're a good person.

So why pray? Why pray if I'm righteous in and of myself? Why pray if I can fix my own problems? Why pray if I've got the mentality and the intellect that I can just do about whatever I want to do? We're Americans, right?

Land of the free, home of the brave. Do I need the Lord if I can do it all my own? You ever thought maybe the reason God leaves you in some of the situations that he's left you in is because he needs you dependent on him, and yet we continue to atrophy Part of that, and this is a chastisement on myself. Where's the place of prayer in our worship services?

Where is it? Do you know why we have an altar? I mean, like, there's nothing magical or mystical about an altar. No different than there's nothing magical or mystical about baptism water. But you know why this is important?

This is a place where you and I can come and pray for one another. And so we have set aside a place to pray. We set aside a time to pray. We've gathered together one hour out of the entire week to come into this room to declare the truths of God, the majesty of God, the wonders of God, the gospel of Christ. Declare these things to one another in such a way that it builds our faith and our dependence on God our Father, that when we pray, our confidence, point one and security in prayer depends on the relational connection that we have with God the Father.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father except by me. And so we cannot know the Father if we don't know the Son. But when I meet the Son in faith, knowing that he died on the cross for my sin, to take my sin away, which is the very reason I can't come into the presence of God. He took that away from me, washed me clean, so that now I can stand in the presence of God, my Father.

My Father.

You know, when somebody says the word Father, the first thing we do is we think about our earthly dads. And some of you have had some awesome dads, some of you have had some not so awesome dads. But in our flesh, the first thing we do is project upon God the Father the experience we've had with our earthly fathers. Don't do that, even associate. Now, some of you had some awesome dads, but if you had a great, awesome dad, he should have been pointing you to this dad.

That's the direction that it should have been. And our confidence is knowing who we are in Christ. John 1:12 says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, say children, even to those who believe in his name. He qualified what it meant to receive him, to believe in Him. One author said, it does not mean just believing intellectual fact.

It involves volitional trust. It's more than just saying, well, yeah, I'll go to him when I need him. No, you're placing your entire life, your heartbeat and your breath in the hands of Almighty God. Does that describe your faith? Have you put your life in his hands?

Romans 8, 14, 16 continues this idea that we're the children of God by saying, for all those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. There's evidence outflowing from the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. He says, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear. Spirit of slavery leading to fear. When we're stuck in our sin and continue following after our sin, we're stuck in slavery to our flesh and sin.

He says, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, abba. The Aramaic word pater, the Greek word saying, father, father. One translation says, father, my Father. Another translation says, father, my only dear Father. There is ownership in that transaction that when I was adopted, I took on the full rights as a son of God.

Galatians 4:4 7 continues that it says, because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, saying, abba, father, therefore you are no longer a slave. You've been bought back. You have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. And if you're a son, then you're an heir to through God. So, yeah, you can call to God and confess, I'm a worm of a person, but because of Jesus Christ, I am a son, and I'm a daughter of God, and let's live in that.

I can come to my daddy. I know that sounds a little bit disrespectful. God is my daddy. He's the source of my life. He's the giver of life.

That's the God I want to know. And when I pray, it's more than just some trite. God is give us this day. I need $500 and a new truck. God.

I got a big test coming up tomorrow. Hey, those are things you can put before the God you have. Not because you ask not. But what if in God giving you that grade on that test was a way he wanted to draw you closer to his heart? What if in giving you that new job, God wanted to draw you closer to his heart?

What if healing you from that sickness was God drawing you closer to his heart? Why? Because he wants you to. To take on his heart. He wants you to become like him.

As I've gotten older, when I was younger, if you take a picture of my mama in first grade and you take my first grade picture, we're almost identical twins. As I've gotten older, people say you look a little bit more like your daddy. Interesting. You know, Is it the lovely hair? You know, I still got my hair needs to be cut.

I'm proud that I look like my daddy. I want to look like that daddy. And I can only do that when I come intimately to my father. See, here's the truth. I want you to hear this.

Ephesians 2:18. Write that in your study notes. Ephesians 2:18. For through him, Christ, we have access in one spirit to the Father. Listen to me, folks.

I'm going to offend you right now. I don't need a priest, priest to pray for me. I don't need Mary to pray for me, because she can't. I can come to Christ through the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus left a trail of blood going into the very presence of the Lord.

And I can go right after that and go to my daddy. I don't need anybody else. I don't trust anybody else to usher me into the presence of the Lord. I trust the Holy Spirit of God. Where is your confidence?

It needs to be in your daddy, not in yourself and not in any other human being. I'm telling you, there are denominations that practice certain things that are leading people into deeper and deeper deception because they're hoarding power over them. Jesus said it should not be like this among you. The first would be last and the last would be first. Let's start calling it out like it is.

I can come to God and I can go on my own. I don't need a pastor. I don't need a preacher. I don't need a small group leader. I need the Holy Spirit of God filling me.

And the only way that's gonna happen is when I entrust my life to Christ. Now I'm preaching. Do you know Jesus? Today? I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by me. The Holy Spirit prays for us. You know that. Romans, chapter 8, verse 27. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Not something willy nilly, not some impulsive desire that I have. He's praying the will of God for my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He's praying the will of God for my life.

Don't you want to be in the will of God? Why would you want to be? Because then I'm in alignment with my daddy. Don't you want to be in alignment with your father? Don't you want to be conformed into the image of his son?

Because if you've seen the Son, you've seen the Father. The more we become like Jesus, the more we become like our daddy. And that comes by praying intimately. What's the opposite of praying intimately? You ever thought about that?

Listen to how I describe this and see if this describes your prayer life. And then my challenge is to flip it over. Superficial prayer focuses on surface needs. God, I got this ward I can't get rid of and ask God to. But if that's the only thing you're asking God, then you're missing the depth.

Superficial prayer elevates the self. You remember In Luke chapter 18, the contrast between the Pharisee and the tax collector. He told that to show how people trusted in their own righteousness rather than God. I thank you, Lord, that I am not like this man. I keep all the piety I give, I pray and I fast look at there, all of it, right there.

And then the tax collector comes, can't even look up and says, have mercy on me. And the text ends by saying that man walked away justified.

How about you and me? Is our prayer shallow and quick? Is it focused on secular things and not spiritual? Is it lacking personal reflection and response? Superficial prayer is hypocritical prayer.

Because I'm trying to be somebody that I'm not. I must be born again, adopted into his family. When I do, I got a connection to my father like I cannot imagine in this season of time that our church has called us to prayer. How can you deepen your relationship with your Father. So.

So let's go to this first point, verse number five. Let me give you this. It says, Jesus is not condemning public prayer. He's condemning superficial prayer. Look back at verse number one before you.

Look at five. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

The one thing we can say for sure that Jesus pointed out here is if I'm doing works of righteousness for my own benefit, for people to see me and to hear me, then God has nothing to give to me. I have received in full the reward. The reward for what? By being seen and by being heard. But let me ask you a question.

How fickle are people when they pat you on the back, 10 minutes later they're turning and stabbing you in the same back. Why would we want to do that? I mean, Paul said in Galatians 1:10, for am I seeking the favor of men or of God, or am I striving to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ. But when I'm trying to please men, I become a bond slave to them and their person and their attitudes and their perception and whether or not they like me or not, I want to be free from that.

Don't you? It's hard. But when I start seeing my life as a light unto one, the pleasing of my Father, then things change. Jesus wasn't condemning public prayer, but he's condemning superficial prayer. He says in verse five, they stand on the street corners to be seen.

In verse seven, they say they use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose they will be heard for their many words. So can I coach you for a moment? I don't mean to offend you with this. I used to be a chaplain, and I chaplained the football team for many, many years and had great experience connecting with students. Coach changed over and he said, I don't want you praying like that anymore.

I need you to say the Lord's Prayer every time. I'm like, what?

You want me to come in every week and just say the Lord's Prayer? You don't need me. I mean, you really didn't.

Just because you say the Lord's Prayer every day doesn't mean God's going to hear it because of your repetitious words. He wants you to embrace the values that are seen in there. And so we pray. Now, where did he tell us to go pray? Go into our closet.

Why because in my closet, I mean, I don't have what your closet looks like, but a lot of your closets, you can't even walk in your closet. Can I be real? You need to go through and get rid of some of you. There's your January New Year's resolution to get rid of the clothes you can't fit into anymore. Stop dreaming that in three months you're gonna lose £20 and fit back into that pair of jeans.

Just go get you a new pair of jeans and live comfortable instead of a fat guy and a little coat. I mean, only movie reference. That's it. No more Ruby references.

When you go in the closet, God sees all your mess and the Father steps into the mess with you.

And when I'm standing in public praying with other people, I can still be in my closet when I'm real and authentic and loving and compassionate. Not going out on the street corner so that everybody can hear how eloquent I can pray.

How was your prayer? How do you pray? How do you pray? A lot of us in this room, you're introverts anyway. You're not even.

You're like, please don't make me pray in public.

What you do in private should reinforce what you do in public. Just because you pray in public doesn't mean that your private prayer life is satisfying to the Father. How are you culturing the closet, being real and being open and giving Lord permission to analyze you, to investigate? You see, private prayer must proceed in order to reinforce the public prayer. I heard the story many, many years ago that Charles and John Wesley's mother, because she had so many kids.

And you know, we live in, most of us live in like three bedroom, two bath houses. So if you need, you may not get in your closet, but you can get in your bathroom and shut the door and you get some private time, right? Some of you are like, dad, are you finished yet? Praying?

They said Charles and John Wesley's mom would take her apron and pull it up over her head and that was her closet.

The difference, second point or third point, the difference between superficial and sincere prayer is right here. Why are you doing it? Are you doing it just so you can get a transaction from God? And when it's over, you're like, alright, God, I'll see you next time.

Some of us do that to our family. We'll show up on Christmas and Thanksgiving, but then the rest of the year we have nothing to do with them. And so Thanksgiving is all about us catching up on things we could have been using the year to catch up with. We have no excuse anymore. Many of us grew up kids.

Y' all are just gonna break your mind. If you knew somebody out of county. When I was a teenager and I was dating, if I dated somebody from the county over for me, guess what I had to pay? Long distance charges, even if they were only 20 minutes down the road. That was insane.

I'd go to the beach. Laura, plug your ears. I'd go to the beach and I'd meet these girls and I'd start writing letters to them. And after about six months, it would just taper off because we weren't spending time together.

How are you culturing heart to heart conversation? Listen to verse six. When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. Think about the way Jesus prayed in the garden, Father, if not your will, I don't want to do this, but if not for this, not my will, but your will be done. I mean, he got raw, he got emotional, and he poured it out.

When was the last time, folks, that you went and you found you a quiet spot and you just let it all out and you told God how frustrated you were because he can handle it. You told God how much you don't like what's going on, but he can handle it. But then you ended that the way a lament should be ended, by saying, but God, I don't understand and I don't know, and this is uncomfortable, but I'm going to trust that you've got my life in your hands.

Because God is a rewarder, a rewarder of those praying in the secret, letting it all out. Jesus said in John 3, the reason that men don't like to step into the light is because their deeds are exposed. The best thing you can do is go and say, God, here I am, head to toe, look me over, open the door of my heart, clean out the cobwebs, look in my mind that is pretty jacked up. And. And clean it all out.

God, I know even if I still have those bad thoughts, you still love me. But God, I need your help. So here I am. Analyze me. I think that's the way David prayed in Psalm 139.

You know my getting up and you know my lying down. You know my thoughts from afar, that God, who knows all those things, still loves you. But wait a minute. He does have a standard to come to him by repentance of your sin and faith in his son. Because here's the truth, and we're going to talk about this in a few weeks when we talk about forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.

If you think for one moment that you can come to the Lord arrogantly unclean, you're wrong. Isaiah said it, I will not hear you. I will not hear you. But he hears the heart that beats for the Father. He beats for the Father.

William Barclay wrote this. When a man begins to think more of how he is praying than of what he is praying, his prayer dies on his lips. Do you know today that what gives us power in praying is knowing he is our Father and he acts as a father toward his children. Next point says this. The reward of sincere faith or sincere prayer is confidence of being seen and heard by the Father.

Now wait a minute, some of you that may not seem like much, because remember what he said was, they like to be seen praying and they like to be heard praying. And that was their full reward. No room for God to give any reward to that they gave in such a way to be seen. They fasted in such a way to be seen. Their reward was getting attention.

I don't want attention. I want intimacy with my father. Maybe you don't want intimacy with my father, but I'm telling you, the greatest thing you need today is intimacy with your father. Because that's what gives you identity and that's what gives you security. Because look at verse number eight.

Do not be like them. There is no question. This is not what you're supposed to do. He says, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So then why ask him?

If God knows what I need, why don't he just give it to me? Because the practice of prayer brings me in alignment with the heart of God. Listen to what he says in 1st John 5:14. He says, this is the confidence which we have before him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he. He hears us.

Do you get that? If we ask according to his will. Not my will, not trying to twist God's arm or bend his knee to my will in accordance to his will. Psalm 34:15. Write that one down.

Psalm 34:15. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. Psalm 139. I just quoted a minute ago one through three. Oh, Lord, you have searched and known me.

You know, when I sit down and rise up, you understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize or judge my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Can I flip that over and challenge you? That What I want to know is be intimately acquainted with his ways because he's already intimately acquainted with mine. He knows my thoughts, he knows my actions.

What I want to do is to delve into what are he, his ways, so that his ways become my ways. And from that we know that Hebrews 4:16 then promises this. Therefore, we can draw near with confidence, say confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Why? Because Jesus died.

He is our high priest. He's paved the way for us to come into the very presence of our Father. How is your relationship with Christ? Because here's the result. The result of sincere prayer is personal transformation.

If you read Ephesians 3, 14, 19, you see some very beautiful things that affect our character. Humility, dependence on God for provision. Strength and power that can't come from ourselves. Sustenance and feeling. He said, you would be filled.

You get your full reward. But when I'm depending on God, he's got something else for us that we would be able to rest in our faith and rooted and grounded in his love. To know it. To know it that God sent His only begotten son into the world that we might live through Him. The love of God is the door that invites us into that personal, deep, intimate relationship.

Him. So here's that last foundation. As we dig into the prayer, it says this. Pray relationally by approaching God intimately. Let me pick up that story about Beth Matheson.

When we see prayer, this is her response. Her mother passed. Didn't heal her mom. When we see prayer as relational rather than transactional, we can reach past our changing circumstances and. And anchor ourselves to God's unchanging character.

That's why some of you, your faith ebbs and flows because your faith is dependent on how God answers your prayer rather than in his character. She learned that. She said, instead of trying to manipulate God with our prayers, we can talk with him in the same unvarnished way we would talk to our closest friends, knowing that we don't have to pretend or perform to gain his attention. You know why? Because he said it.

In there, you are seen and you are heard. Do you know that today? Do you have confidence knowing that your daddy, your father, sees and he hears you? Finally, she says, God wants us to come to Him. Lay everything, our dreams, our desires, our struggles, our anger, our temptation, our fear, our confusion, headache, heartache at his feet.

Not just so we'll be known by him, but so we'll learn his heart and develop the Deepest, most faithful friendship that we've ever known. We must pray relationally by approaching God intimately. On one hand, I want to challenge you. It's time to swallow your pride, deny your flesh to the dopamine hit of others, seeing you performing and praying and doing whatever you do. But for others, it's time for you to come out of the cave, the slump and the soul can come to.

To Jesus intimately. So I want to ask you right now before you stand, some of you got prayer cards before you came in. Some of you still need a prayer card. What I want to do is open up this time, this prayer time as we sing.

What's standing between you and God and your ability to pray? Well, one, it starts with doing a sin assessment. Where do you stand in confessing your sin before the Lord and asking for cleansing? That's the first thing to stand in your way. The second thing that stands in your way is your own pride.

I can fix this myself. Well, that's a sin. So confess that. Bring it to the Lord. Well, maybe there's situations and circumstances.

What's stopping you this morning coming down and saying, you know what, Lord, I want to take full advantage of this season of prayer. So I'm going to come and I'm going to lay it all at this altar. You can do it at your seat. You can do it in your closet. Didn't he say to do that?

But the point is doing it. Where are you going to go and say, lord, I'm giving every bit of it to you? Why? Because I want to know the Father more intimately. Why?

Because I want to be relationally connected with him. Why? Because that's where the power of prayer comes. He begins to change our hearts to be more like his. So, Father, as we stand and sing, they know this altar is open.

Lord, I want to challenge them if they have prayer requests to come and bring them and lay those cards up here on the altar. We're going to take them up and use them this week and during this season of prayer that you've called us to. God, humble us this week as we see not just your power in answering these prayers, but God, your power to change our heart, to be more attentive to the lost and the hurting and the sick and those around us. God, we all stand in need of forgiveness and cleansing. So, Lord, we confess to you today as we go in this week.

God, would you cleanse us, cleanse our hearts and cleanse our conscience that we would focus on godly things as we elevate you, we worship you. We magnify you and lift you up. Father, we love you. In Jesus name, amen.