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Episode 23 - Let God's Truth Fuel Your Brain and Settle Your Heart
31 Plays4 months ago
In this episode of Pray and See, Bryan Brookes addresses a struggle many believers face: prayer can feel boring, distracted, or like “talking to the ceiling.” Drawing from 1 Peter 5, Bryan shares a simple but powerful shift — let God’s truth fuel your mind and settle your heart before you begin to pray. Instead of starting with your anxieties, begin by listening to God through Scripture and allow His character, promises, and care to shape your conversation with Him. This episode offers practical encouragement for anyone who wants a more focused, meaningful prayer life.
Email pray@coyfc.org with topic suggestions, 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
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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.
Challenges in Engaging Prayer Lives
00:00:18
Speaker
A growing prayer life is a priority in our spiritual life with God, but it can also feel boring. Have you ever felt that way? That when you pray, it feels like nothing is happening?
00:00:30
Speaker
That you're talking to the ceiling? I definitely have. I'm coming to you today from wintry scene here in Ohio. Politics has a lot of people on edge.
00:00:41
Speaker
Illness has been floating around my family. A lot of things feel out of control.
A New Approach to Prayer Inspired by George Mueller
00:00:46
Speaker
I know that prayer is important, but I still find it difficult to be still, to calm down, and to pray.
00:00:52
Speaker
Maybe you do too. And a cold start to prayer makes it feel like I'm grinding it out. But what if you could approach prayer, talking to God, in a way that wasn't boring, where it didn't feel like a grind?
George Mueller's Journey to Faith
00:01:08
Speaker
George Mueller was someone who figured out how to do that. He let God's truth fuel his brain and settle his heart to pray. George Mueller was a real life person, but he didn't start as a saint or a religious person.
00:01:24
Speaker
He was born in 1805 and grown up, he was a liar. He was a thief. He was a heavy drinker as a young teenager. He even did a short stint in jail for swindling people out of money.
00:01:39
Speaker
He sounds like a toxic person. But at 20 years old, a friend invited him to go to a Bible study. He wasn't interested in the Bible per se, but was captivated by how people prayed.
00:01:53
Speaker
Like they were praying to God who was actually there in the room with them. George went home, prayed to meet Jesus, and it totally flipped his life around.
Mueller's Prayer Method: From Duty to Dialogue
00:02:04
Speaker
He moved to England to care for orphans and to prove that God was still the living and active God who answers prayer.
00:02:12
Speaker
And he was a guy who struggled to pray. This quote that I'm about to read is a total game changer if you've ever felt like you're talking to the ceiling when you pray. Mueller writes,
00:02:24
Speaker
formerly when i rose i began to pray as soon as possible generally i spent all my time until breakfast in prayer or almost all the time At all events, I almost invariably began with prayer, but what was the result?
00:02:38
Speaker
I often spent a quarter of an hour or half an hour or even an hour on my knees before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, or humbling of soul.
00:02:51
Speaker
Often, after having suffered so much from wandering of mind for the first 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour or even half an hour, I only then really began to pray.
00:03:03
Speaker
But he says, i scarcely ever suffer now in this way for my heart being nourished by the truth being brought into experiential fellowship with god i speak to my father and my friend vile though i am and unworthy of it about the things that he has brought before me in his precious word It often now astonishes me I did not sooner see this point. What is the point?
Guidance from 1 Peter 5: Calming the Heart and Mind
00:03:29
Speaker
The point is to let God fuel your brain and settle your heart to pray. Mueller realized if he started prayer by talking to God first, it would take him 30 minutes or more to focus, fighting distraction the entire time.
00:03:48
Speaker
His problems and his anxieties would seem larger if he did that. You know, we don't need any help with those things. We don't need help today with being distracted or with being anxious.
00:03:59
Speaker
But Mueller pivoted first to listen to God. through the Bible. He let God's words in the Bible nourish his heart, and then he would pray. He would talk to God about what he just read.
00:04:13
Speaker
He moved from a monologue of duty to a dialogue of friendship. Let God's truth fuel your brain and settle your heart to pray. Listen to these verses from 1 Peter 5. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that's going to be revealed.
00:04:33
Speaker
Shepherd the flock of God that's among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
00:04:49
Speaker
And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders.
Reflecting on Scripture and God’s Communication
00:04:59
Speaker
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God approache opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
00:05:16
Speaker
Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Verse 1. firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world after you've suffered a little while the god of all grace who's called you into his eternal glory in christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you To Him be the dominion forever and ever.
00:05:46
Speaker
Amen. Well, if we're going to let God's truth fuel our brain, we can look back through a passage like this and pick out who is God? What does it say about God? I'm going to give you a quick hit rundown.
00:05:58
Speaker
Verse 1, God is the suffering Savior, the God of glory. He lives in glory and He will reveal His glory. He will show it. Verses 2 and 3, He works in us to give us a willing heart.
00:06:13
Speaker
He's the chief shepherd, verse 3. He's a rewarder, verse 4. 5. resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 6. He exalts the humble. 7. cares for us. 9. gives us power to resist the devil. 10. He is the God of all grace, eternal, glorious.
00:06:34
Speaker
He calls us. He redeems, meaning he buys back our experiences of suffering. He perfects, establishes, strengthens, and settles. 11. He's glorious. He has dominion and rule. 12. He gives us grace to stand.
00:06:51
Speaker
And 14. He is the God of peace. Let God's truth fuel your brain and settle your heart to pray. Here's a challenge. What stands out to you? As I read that passage, that's 1 Peter 5, verse 1 through 11.
00:07:07
Speaker
and you heard those qualities about God, you know, God, he speaks through his word to us, to reach out to us, initiating relationship with us and to connect. You know, if you've never turned to God to put your trust in him, asked him for forgiveness through Jesus, you can do that now.
00:07:24
Speaker
God is there are ready to meet you. Turn to him. But I bet and that there was a phrase, a word a minute ago, a verse or an idea that rose to the top of your interest.
00:07:35
Speaker
What was it? Go back to it and give God your attention. Ask him, what do you wanna say to me through this idea?
Closing Prayer and Call to Action
00:07:43
Speaker
So the challenge today is find what stands out to you in this passage, 1 Peter 5.
00:07:51
Speaker
Notice it, write it down, think about it, and then come back next time where we're gonna talk about how to pray based on this passage.
00:08:02
Speaker
Pray along with me. God, you are the chief shepherd. You said that you're the God of glory. And in a world where a lot of things are out of control, thank you that you're greater than all those things and that you have glory, something that's good and is precious about yourself that you want to reveal. God, would you show your glory to each person who listens to this?
00:08:23
Speaker
Thank you that you care for us. Thanks that you care for us even when we're anxious. Amen. Well, come join us next time to learn how to pray according to this passage. Feel free to share this podcast with friends, family, students who are interested in connecting with God, or you think,
00:08:40
Speaker
could be encouraged. Go ahead and share this episode or any of the other ones. And if there's something you'd like to hear more about with prayer, send me a line at pray at c-o-y-f-c dot org. Pray and See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ.
00:08:55
Speaker
Look us up on social media. We'll see you next time.