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Episode 11 - How to Pray, Part 2: Rejoice
29 Plays3 months ago
Pause leads us to praise and rejoicing in God. How do we do this? Why does it matter? Listen to this episode for how rejoicing in who God is and praising Him for His character promotes more than just spiritual health.
Pray & See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ.
For more interest in joining a prayer group, to suggest episode content, or connect with our team, email: pray@coyfc.org
Central Ohio Youth for Christ: www.coyfc.org
Gracehaven: www.gracehavenohio.org
WellSpring Counseling: www.wellspringcolumbus.org
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Transcript
Introduction & Purpose of Podcast
00:00:11
Speaker
Hey there, I'm Brian Brooks, and if you're just joining us, go back and listen to episode one to find out why we launched the podcast. We're sharing stories of answers to prayer because it teaches us who God really is.
00:00:25
Speaker
We're looking at the Bible together to learn how to pray.
Power & Effectiveness of Prayer
00:00:29
Speaker
Prayer, like the Bible says, is powerful and effective, and we have an opportunity from God to effect real change in the lives of people around us.
00:00:39
Speaker
That's why I wanna invite you to learn along with us. That might require a next step.
Invitation to Relationship with God
00:00:46
Speaker
Maybe you join a prayer group, you pray for one of our YFC ministries and learn to pray for your neighborhood, for your family, for your friends, for your church.
00:00:55
Speaker
The next step for you as you're listening might be, To start a relationship with God, Jesus says in John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
00:01:12
Speaker
God wants to give you eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Challenge in Talking to God & Acronym P-R-A-Y
00:01:17
Speaker
God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
00:01:25
Speaker
I hope you hear that and can start a relationship with God and ask Him for forgiveness through Jesus. There's some people socially that need help learning how to have a conversation with someone else. Maybe that's true coming out of the pandemic.
00:01:41
Speaker
It's the same with how we talk to God. That's why we started to look at how do we actually pray. And we're building an acronym to help us remember.
Depth of Prayer: Connection & Praise
00:01:50
Speaker
The acronym is p r a y P-R-A-Y, pray.
00:01:55
Speaker
First, episode 10 was pause. And today is rejoice. Let's pray and see what God does. Pray along with me. God, you know I can tend to focus on problems,
00:02:09
Speaker
My mind goes there, like going into a rut. It can eventually lead to stress. For me, health problems, difficulty winding down. I need a reminder, God, of who you are.
00:02:23
Speaker
I know that praying to you is not just asking you for a list of things. It's connecting with you personally. Thank you that you are beyond what I could comprehend, but you designed all of us to understand the truth about who you are.
00:02:37
Speaker
Would you teach us today and lead us to praise so we can rejoice? Amen.
Rejoicing in Prayer: Impact on Well-being
00:02:44
Speaker
Today's point is rejoice. Pause leads us to praising God and rejoicing.
00:02:52
Speaker
After we've paused, we've slowed down our minds from racing. We're ready to shift gears and to change the direction of our thoughts. If you start with a problem list in prayer before pausing, prayer feels just like doom scrolling on social media.
00:03:09
Speaker
You spend time doing something that's not recharging, not a lot of depth, hard to focus. But after pause, you can rejoice. Talk to God about who He is.
00:03:20
Speaker
What do you know is true about Him? Remember that in prayer. It's healthy for our minds, our hearts, our souls, and can even affect the level of physical tension in your body to give praise to God.
Story of Daniel: Hope through Prayer
00:03:34
Speaker
We can give praise to God by reciting a Bible verse that talks about who God is, how awesome He is, and we can give praise to Him as we remember what He does. And we can learn about who God is and what He does through stories.
00:03:52
Speaker
Our story for today is about a young person named Daniel. Daniel's been around our City Life ministry for a number of years, and this past year he started out being interested in serving, wanting to become a Christian leader.
00:04:06
Speaker
He went to our high school mission trip, expressed interest and an eagerness to grow spiritually that he was rooted in the Bible. He came to a kickoff meeting for our student leader group,
00:04:18
Speaker
was initially connected, but then fell off the radar. He ran into problems with school. He stopped going. He ran into problems with work. He didn't show up, lost his job, low motivation in life, feeling really bad about himself, stopped communicating.
00:04:34
Speaker
We prayed for him. We invited him. We didn't see much. A few months later, our staff person shared that Daniel had been really depressed.
Faithfulness of God & Encouragement to Rejoice
00:04:44
Speaker
He was stopped basically doing everything.
00:04:46
Speaker
And his parents weren't taking care of him. He was living with his older sister, but he had started to become consistent in reading the Bible again and meeting with our staff person.
00:04:57
Speaker
A few months later, he joined a little Bible study to learn the book of James and that shared that he had a burden to start reading the word again. A month ago from now, he was at our last student leader meeting. He expressed hope about being able to finish school, getting a job, having having general motivation for life.
00:05:19
Speaker
It reminded me the whole time we've been praying for Daniel over the past year, God is the one who works in us to will and act according to his good purpose. Also a reminder that God is faithful.
00:05:31
Speaker
That's who he is. He is faithful. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2.13, even when we are faithless, he remains faithful.
Rejoicing Strengthens Faith & Perspective
00:05:39
Speaker
We can rejoice in that.
00:05:42
Speaker
Are you praying for someone but not seeing much change yet in their life? God works on his timing and in his ways, but he is faithful.
00:05:54
Speaker
Rejoice that he is faithful, that the faithfulness you read about him in the Bible is the same as what you can see and answers to prayer in your life and the lives of people that you know and love.
00:06:07
Speaker
Today's point is rejoice because pause leads us to praising God and rejoicing. This orients us to God, what he wants from us, gets the focus off of ourselves and puts it onto God.
00:06:21
Speaker
God is in heaven. He's transcendent, all-powerful God of the universe. And yet, He is our Father, our perfect Father. He's concerned for every single one of your life needs and wants to enter into a close relationship with you.
00:06:37
Speaker
Listen to these two passages. Psalm 96. Sing a new song to the Lord. Let the whole earth sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. Praise His name.
00:06:49
Speaker
Each day proclaim the good news that he saves, publish his glorious deeds among the nations, and tell everyone about the amazing things he does. Great is the Lord. He is most worthy of praise.
00:07:01
Speaker
In the New Testament, Philippians 3, Paul says, My brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.
00:07:16
Speaker
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Rejoicing in God makes our faith stronger. It's a safeguard for us. We remember who He is, and it changes our outlook.
00:07:28
Speaker
Episode 3, if you haven't listened to it, go back. It's on how gratitude fuels prayer. It keeps us going for the long haul. Thanking God is motivating.
Challenge to Rejoice Before Asking in Prayer
00:07:39
Speaker
It's eye-opening for us.
00:07:41
Speaker
Similarly, we grow spiritually when we praise God and when we rejoice in Him. Rejoice. because pause leads us to praising God and rejoicing.
00:07:55
Speaker
My challenge for you today is, okay, first you hit pause, great. Then it's time to focus on God. Find a song to listen to, find a verse from the Bible. You can steal one from this episode.
00:08:11
Speaker
Pray to God, give Him praise. Rejoice in who He is. Let yourself be happy until you feel impressed and awe of how awesome God is.
00:08:23
Speaker
Do this before you ask Him for things in prayer. Don't rush this step. Praising God sharpens your perspective. It warms your heart to God, and it expands your mind to pray big, to pray about the things that are broken and difficult.
00:08:41
Speaker
initiate praying with someone else. Just suggest it. Hey, can we pray real quick? Let's spend some time praising God. Spend some time rejoicing. When you rejoice in God with someone else, it's instructive, super motivating, very encouraging, brings you tighter with that other person.
00:09:03
Speaker
If you want to connect and learn more about starting a prayer group connected to one of our ministries in Youth for Christ, shoot an email to pray at C-O-Y-F-C dot org.
00:09:15
Speaker
I'd love to connect with you.