Do you ever lack confidence in your prayers?
I have good news! You have a divine prayer team.
The Bible says that Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for you.
Ever wonder what they are praying?
Your prayers don’t have to be a shot in the dark.
As a new creation in Christ, you don’t have to pray for an answer, you get to pray WITH the Answer!
Praying with God 3-Day Challenge: https://challenge.grahamcooke.com
Key scriptures in this episode:
Transcript
Today, we are going to take a Posture of peace by praying not for an answer but with the answer.
Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything. Together we’re going to be emboldened to take a daily Posture of perfect peace.
Romans 8:26 and 27 says, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” That is good news. “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Now let’s bounce down to verse 34 in Romans 8. It says, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Isn’t that wildly good news?
Last week, we talked about how the way that we approach our learning, even our learning in God, even learning good things can often be powered by pressure instead of peace. And we talked about the shift that we can make so that all of our learning is peace filled and delightful as it should be. If you missed that episode, it’s episode 179, I would encourage you to check it out. Today, I wanna continue that conversation and I wanna talk about another aspect of our relationship with God that can sometimes be packed with pressure if we let it. And that is prayer. Let me ask you a few questions. Do you feel like your prayers aren’t making any differences in your circumstances? Do you lack confidence in your prayers? I’m gonna just be the first to admit I have felt those things. Yes and yes.
If you have felt that way before, I wanna encourage you today to make the same switch that we have been making together in the last few episodes. Make your prayer life about God first before you make it about you. And I’m gonna unpack that a little bit in case you’ve missed the previous episodes. I’m not talking about, let’s not make your prayers about your circumstances. Sometimes we make it about us. Meaning we make our prayers about our behavior, our skill, or our lack thereof. What we perceive that we lack. We believe things like, well, if I just prayed more things would change. Or we believe, if I knew how to pray correctly or if I prayed like that person, whoever that person is in your life, that prayer warrior. If I prayed like them, then my prayers would be answered. And when we believe those lies, when we focus on ourselves, our focus and prayer becomes consumed with what we think we don’t have instead of being consumed by the one who is with us and for us and in us.
What happens when we first focus on ourselves, our circumstances, the negativity, the misery, just like what happens in our learning, we make our prayers about passing and failing, about doing and demonstrating instead of our prayer life being about being with God and being in God and becoming like God. Remember you have been brought to fullness in Christ. Fullness is now your starting point in every circumstance and in every prayer. In Jesus, you and I live life overwhelmed, filled by his goodness and grace, which means we can never be overwhelmed by anything else. So full of him that we can never be emptied or depleted by anything else. You are a new creation in Christ and that newness infuses, it fills every aspect of your life, including your prayer life, including your prayers. Instead of praying for an answer, start praying with the answer. The Bible tells us that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are praying. They are interceding for us.
Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. And I just read Romans 8 where it says the Holy Spirit is praying prayers that go beyond words. And Jesus is interceding for us, which means you have a divine prayer team. I mean, doesn’t that just blow your mind and open your heart to possibility? What if a great benefit of prayer for us as new creations in Christ is discovering what Jesus and the Holy Spirit are praying and then praying that. Instead of praying for an answer, instead of praying to find an answer, instead of praying out of desperation, we get to start praying with the answer full of confidence because we are full of him. The delight of praying with God is that we can constantly experience the beauty of his empowering presence in our life. It is a presence that never leaves nor forsakes us and the presence of a never changing God changes things. Atmosphere shifts, hearts are healed, minds are renewed, circumstances are impacted, lives are transformed. This is the beauty that we get to explore when we put our focus on him first, instead of us, when we first ask who instead of why.
When we are leaning into discovering who God is, what he is really, really like, that discovery aligns us with the truth and empowers our becoming, our being made into his image and likeness. Our prayers don’t have to be a shot in the dark. Your prayers do not have to be a shot in the dark. They should be a part of your connection, your fellowship with the light who shines in the darkness. And that connection is a conduit in which transformation flows. And here’s some wildly good news. It’s not something you have to strive to get right because it’s something you have been given the right to. Because of Jesus, you are now a partaker of the divine nature. That’s 2 Peter 1:4. Meaning you now have full access to be in community, in relationship, in fellowship with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.
So when you pray, you’re not on the outside looking in to what’s going on with them and they are not on the outside looking in to what’s going on with you. No, you are now one with them. There’s no distance, there’s no separation, not even a little bit. You’re together in this prayer. God’s nature is now our nature. This is the new creation. And when we discover who he is, we are discovering who we are and we get to walk in that newness of life. So let’s start practicing that walk today. Instead of praying to find an answer, know that you are praying with the answer. I know there is so much more to say on this topic that can’t be fit into one Posture episode, but if you are interested in diving even deeper into this topic on prayer, I’m gonna be joining my friend and mentor Graham Cook this week, okay? So August 18th, we are going to be doing a three day online live challenge, all about praying like this. And in this challenge, it’s our heart’s desire, we just wanna inspire and teach and coach you in this joyful, relational and compelling life of prayer. You can tell I’m passionate about it. It is life-changing. So I hope you can join us. If you are interested in joining us or learning more about what we’re gonna be doing in those three days, I’m gonna put a link in the description below that you can click on and check out all about what’s gonna be going on. It starts August 18th. I hope you can join us.