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Episode 29 - Available: The Most Dangerous Prayer You Can Pray
31 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of Pray and See, Bryan Brookes challenges listeners to move beyond asking God to simply fix their problems and instead pray one of the boldest prayers of faith: “God, send me. Use me. I’m available.” Through powerful stories from Youth for Christ and biblical examples like Isaiah, Jonah, and Moses, Bryan explores what it means to live with an “available” status before God—ready to serve, love, and be used for His kingdom. This episode is an invitation to step into purpose, surrender your plans, and join God in His mission of love and transformation.
Email pray@coyfc.org with topic ideas, or to link up with a prayer team!
Pray & See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ. Podcast Link - https://open.spotify.com/show/3yZLOjUt6Hu0XxuwLavLZv
- Central Ohio Youth for Christ: http://www.coyfc.org
- Gracehaven: http://www.gracehavenohio.org
- WellSpring Counseling: http://www.wellspringcolumbus.org
- Equip Skills Center: https://www.equipskillscenter.org/
#prayandsee #prayer #jesus #youthforchrist #bible #biblestudy #christian #discipleship #youthministry #podcast
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Transcript
Introduction to Pray and See Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Pray and See Podcast. I'm Brian Brooks, your host. I'm glad to connect with you to share how God moves through prayer in our Youth for Christ ministries and some things I've seen in my own life.
The Dangerous Prayer of Availability
00:00:18
Speaker
We've talked about prayer for anxiety and gratitude, but today we're stepping into the deep end. Jesus said that faith moves mountains, but what if God wants to move you?
00:00:31
Speaker
Today we're going past asking God to serve our needs and we're daring to ask the most dangerous prayer, Lord, I'm available, send me. Let's talk about the adventure of being on call for the kingdom of God.
Purpose through Forgiveness and Relationship
00:00:47
Speaker
If you're looking for purpose, if you're wondering about God, God offers you forgiveness. He offers you relationship and real spiritual life and he wants to give you a purpose that will rock your world.
00:01:01
Speaker
It starts here in Romans 10, verse nine and 10. It After that, god raised him from the dead you for it is by believing in your heart that you arere made right with god and is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved after that you can join god on his mission of love and forgiveness from wherever you are.
00:01:27
Speaker
Join God in his work. Pray, send me, God. Use me. I'm available. So let's pray and see. God, you love every person on the planet and every country so much that you sent your only son, Jesus, to live and die on the cross so we could know you.
00:01:45
Speaker
And you created us with real purpose to join you in loving other people. We want to do that where we're at right now.
Prayer for Mission and Love
00:01:53
Speaker
In the middle of whatever problems we have going on now, God, would you send us, just like you sent Jesus, would you send us to love the people that we're around today?
00:02:03
Speaker
Amen.
Cameron's Story: Opportunities to Share Faith
00:02:04
Speaker
Here in Central Ohio, we just held some fundraising events this week for our whole ministry nonprofit organization. Several students shared stories of how knowing and following Jesus has impacted their lives. It was awesome.
00:02:18
Speaker
One of them was Cameron, who I've shared about in a previous episode. I think I changed his name though. After the event on Wednesday, we talked. I asked him, how was that experience for you sharing your story?
00:02:31
Speaker
He said, i loved it. I will take whatever opportunity God gives me to serve him and others. That's a great perspective and attitude. After serving extra with doing two events, a back-to-back days, Cameron was not about to take a break.
00:02:48
Speaker
He made himself available to God. A few hours later, he was at our building near downtown Columbus, and he showed up to help lead a cooking class serving students.
00:03:01
Speaker
A young girl named Abby came in, and Cameron got in a discussion with some other leaders and students who were there and started asking them, who is Jesus to you?
00:03:13
Speaker
Do you believe in God? and got in a conversation with Abby, helped her understand God's offer of forgiveness. She prayed to have Jesus's death on the cross pay for her, to ask God for forgiveness, to start a relationship with him. She prayed on the spot.
00:03:32
Speaker
The cool thing is that her sister, Kate, and her brother, Christopher, have all prayed to receive Christ recently. Awesome. But the thing with Cameron, as he said, God, send me.
00:03:48
Speaker
Use me. I'm available.
Surrender to God's Mission
00:03:50
Speaker
What if you stopped asking God to fix your life and started asking him to use it? Live life with the available status turned on with God.
00:04:02
Speaker
I want to share a couple points from a book called Dangerous Prayers that I read recently with one of my daughters. Rather than asking God to serve us, what if we told God we are available to serve Him?
00:04:17
Speaker
We should definitely pray this way where we ask God to do something for us. We should always invite God's presence, God's power, and God's peace to intervene in our lives. We should ask God to do miracles on our behalf.
00:04:29
Speaker
We should lift up our loved ones and remind ourselves of how God can move in their lives. We should seek the Lord for all of our needs But we shouldn't stop there.
00:04:42
Speaker
What if instead of asking God to just do something for us, we prayed a dangerous, self-denying prayer of availability to our Heavenly Father? What if instead of always asking God to do something on our behalf, we dared to ask God to use us on His behalf?
00:05:00
Speaker
What if we had the courage and faith to surrender our whole future beginning right now to God? telling God we are all His, available, on call, on standby to bless someone, serve someone, and give all we can to someone else.
Responses to God's Call: Jonah, Moses, Isaiah
00:05:19
Speaker
Send me, Lord, use me.
00:05:23
Speaker
God never calls perfect people. He calls imperfect, flawed, weak men and women just like you and me. He simply wants people willing to be his vessels and invites them to use their lives to make a difference for him.
00:05:40
Speaker
Well, when God calls, how do you respond? The author lists three responses. First, here I am, God, but I'm not going to go.
00:05:54
Speaker
As you read the Bible, this is Jonah, the prophet in the Old Testament. He had the ability, but he was not available. It actually says that he ran the other way. We can do the same thing. We can hesitate and turn the other way away from what God is calling us to do.
00:06:12
Speaker
Or two, we could get buried in our own insecurities. like someone else is a better fit to go. They should go. This is like Moses in the Old Testament. He came up with excuses for why he shouldn't be the guy.
00:06:27
Speaker
Maybe we think we don't know enough or we're not talented enough. Or three, we can have the response that Isaiah had in the Old Testament of here I am God, send me.
00:06:39
Speaker
Isaiah wrote this in context of a pretty low time in his country. The king had just died. Instead of lamenting and complaining, he experienced God in an awesome and personal way.
00:06:54
Speaker
And he heard God asking, who should I send as a messenger to this people? And because Isaiah had encountered God and been forgiven by God, he said, here I am, send me.
00:07:05
Speaker
If you're gonna ask God to use you, a genuine encounter with him goes a long way in trusting him. And we can have that through a wide variety of ways, like reading the Bible, seeing God answer prayer, which we're talking about on this podcast, being at church or with other followers of Jesus, worshiping God and enjoying creation outside,
00:07:28
Speaker
or just an awareness of God's presence in your difficult situation.
Discovering Purpose through Surrender
00:07:34
Speaker
In that though, we wanna get to the place where we tell God, send me, God, use me, I'm available. If you put your trust in Jesus to save you and come to know him and follow him, you will find your God-given purpose in life. When you shift from trying to get God to fulfill your mission and instead tell him, God, I wanna serve your mission, not mine.
00:07:59
Speaker
you're gonna encounter God in a new way. This is what pray and see is about. You can make the switch from God is just God, period, to he's my God.
00:08:10
Speaker
You meet him in a new way and realize he's my rock, he's my savior, my stronghold. He's my God who blots out my sins. He forgives me, not just people.
00:08:22
Speaker
Having an encounter with God in his grace and his undeserved kindness to rescue us from our sin, our brokenness, our shame, and our guilt. It hits the refresh on your perspective.
00:08:36
Speaker
You can agree with Isaiah and say, God, here I am, send me. And this isn't something that you tell God out of obligation or guilt, but a deep realization that your life is not your own. And that's a good thing.
00:08:49
Speaker
You belong to God and you wanna serve him.
Challenge to Share Availability and Subscribe
00:08:53
Speaker
Pray, send me God, use me, I'm available. My challenge to you today is to tell God that. God, send me, use me, I'm available.
00:09:04
Speaker
Decide if you want to go on the adventure. I can't tell you where it's going to lead, but I can tell you who you will meet on a deeper level. God.
00:09:15
Speaker
Tell God that you're available and you want him to send you. Ask him to help you see where that is. If you do this and God sends you, tell us about it.
00:09:26
Speaker
send an email to pray at C-O-Y-F-C dot org. That's P-R-A-Y at C-O-Y-F-C dot org.
00:09:38
Speaker
I've shared a bunch of stories with you over the episodes in this podcast. Now I'd love to hear yours. Thanks for listening and praying. We'll see you next time on the Pray and See podcast. Help us grow our subscribers by liking and subscribing in your favorite podcast app.
00:09:54
Speaker
You can find us as an organization on your favorite social media channels by searching Central Ohio Youth for Christ. Thanks for listening. And if you found this encouraging and helpful, send link to your friends or family or people you think would benefit from asking God, send me.
00:10:15
Speaker
I'm available.