Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: I'm broken, God. Would You hear me? He says, "Is that the cry of a broken and contrite heart? I can't cast it away. I can't remove it from my sight. I hear it like a magnet to metal. I go to the broken and contrite heart and I lift them up and I restore them because that is a sweet-smelling aroma and a sacrifice to Me," thus saith the Lord. I look for that broken heart.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today's message on regaining lost ground is titled "Preparing the Heart to Pray" and is part four from the sermon series "The Bible Doesn't Say That."

In this powerful message, Pastor Shane reminds us of the call from our Lord to obediently seek Him with a humble heart, allowing God's word to be the foundation on which we stand. Second Corinthians 10:5 says, "Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

Join us today as Pastor Shane encourages us to prepare our hearts for a mighty prayer life, living for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today.

For more information, visit us online at WestsideChristianFellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: What happens when doubt comes in? I'm doubting what God's going to do. I'm fearful, anxious. That's why the Bible says that God has not even given you, as a believer, a spirit of fear. That's not of God. Fearing what's going to happen. "What am I going to do, Lord? I can't bear this any longer." Trust Him.

John 15:7 says, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you." If I'm abiding in Christ, I'm not going to ask for that Lamborghini. If I'm abiding in Christ and His word, I don't want the 8,000 square foot house on the hill. If I'm abiding in Christ, I don't want my enemies to die.

Some people pray, "Lord, just kill that person. They've upset me. Just take them." As you're abiding in Christ, that word "abide" means to live with and to stand with. When you stand with Christ, when you live with Christ, when the word of God is deep down penetrating your heart and you live on that word and you obey that word, your thoughts actually change. You want God thoughts.

You're going to have world thoughts or you're going to have God's thoughts depending on what you feed the most. You will think like the world if you're feeding your mind with the things of the world. If you have the world's music, the world's entertainment, the world's news, the world's outlets, whatever it is, constantly feeding on the things of the world, that's where your thoughts are going to be.

That's why you'll see many people divorcing. Many times, it's because they were feeding their mind with the things of the world and they think the grass is greener on this side of the fence. That's what the world tells me. But guess what's on that other side of the fence? Destruction. Exactly right. The grass is not greener. It's greener wherever you feed it.

You have this battle inside. If you're abiding with Christ and the word of God is in your heart, living in your heart, and you're quoting scripture and you're reminding yourself when you're tempted, "Hey, I know I'm tempted, but no temptation can overcome me. Lord, this is all common to man. God, You're faithful. You're not going to give me more than I can bear and I'm going to hold on to Your promise."

I'm going to seek You. And that word begins to penetrate your heart and your prayer life changes. "Oh God, would You save my children? God, strengthen my family. When the enemy comes in, when the devourer comes in like a flood, You're going to lift up a standard against him. God, I'm trusting in You. Your word is my weapon. Your word is my shield."

When the devil comes in and taunts with half-truths, you know the devil knows scripture a lot better than we do. He'll come in with a half-truth. He told Eve, "Did God really say?" and you begin to justify things. But if you have the whole truth in your heart, your prayer life changes. You begin to pray for people and you're not in a hurry.

If you find yourself saying, "I don't know what to pray for," it's because you're filled with the world a lot more than the things of God. We can talk about the world all day long. I know Christians that say, "Shane, I can't pray. It's boring. I don't know what to pray for." But they can quote all the basketball stats I've ever heard. I haven't even heard of these names.

You know their batting average. You know their earned run average. You know how many games they've missed. How do you know all this? And you have such an interest for this and such a passion for these things? Because that's what you're filled with. No wonder the word of God is boring. No wonder you have no prayer life because God says feed on the word.

The more you feed on it, the hungrier you become. Any chocolate lovers in here? What happens if you just get a little piece? That's all you get. Oh, you just opened the lion's cage on that one. "I want more. I want more. I want more." Same thing. The more you get into God with worship and prayer and reading His word, the hungrier you become.

The more you remove yourself from that, you'll begin to starve to death spiritually speaking. One of the Old Testament prophets said that God said a famine is coming. Not a famine of food or water, but of hearing the word of God. See, that's a true famine. We have elected officials and pastors all across our nation where there's a famine. They're not hearing from the word of God. They're hearing from their own ingenuity and their own pride and arrogance.

Think about this. What possibilities? What a privilege. What a pressing need to simply obey God, abide in Him, and watch your prayer life turn from boring to dynamic, turn from unanswered to answered, turn from irrelevant to very relevant. When you're filled with the Spirit of God, prayer is the priority. It's the engine that pushes the vehicle down the street, that being your spiritual vehicle.

Mark 11 talks about having faith in God. Do not doubt in your heart and your prayers will be answered. See, that is a biblical truth as well. If you have faith in God and you do not doubt in your heart, your prayers will be answered. Now, it does come up, "Shane, how do I know to pray according to God's will?" I figured this out the hard way. Ask Him, "Is this Your will?"

What will begin to happen is that desire you had for it will begin to fade. The more you seek Him, the more you ask, "Lord, is this Your will?" What you thought you needed or wanted is not even an issue anymore. But if there's something that's a pressing need, God keeps bringing it back. "Pray for this." "Lord, is this Your will?"

There's something else I'm praying for that would be even bigger than the radio stations for helping people. It's something I've been praying about. It's logged in my Bible and in my journal. But I'm still praying, "Lord, I don't know if this is Your will," but the desire does not go away. It keeps coming back. This scripture jumped out. "Just have faith. Do not doubt in your heart and your prayers will be answered."

But I still ask, "God, is this Your will? Show me." And God says, "I love that heart. I will answer the prayers of that person." If you don't know, ask. We see couples dating. "Should we get married? God, is this Your will?" Ask Him. But start with what you do know. If there's not purity, you've got to start there before God reveals His other will.

Build on the right foundation of purity and holiness. Now the lifestyle's lining up with God's word. Now you can ask. Get out of sin and disobedience, then you can hear better. Did you ever buy those good earplugs? I'm going to get some when the baby's born. I can't hear anything. But that's what sin does in hearing God's voice. I can't hear anything. "Lord, where are You? Would You take care of this issue?" "Then you can hear Me."

God still hears us when we're in sin. Actually, one of the prayers of the Bible that God always hears is, "God, save me a sinner." If you don't know Christ, all you have to pray is, "God, save me a sinner. I repent of my sin." But as a believer, you can still struggle. Say, "God, I want to hear You. This is a stronghold in my life. God, would You help me? Would You give me the strength? Show me what Your will is."

I've never seen God let you down when you truly petitioned Him and were sincere. We sing that song, "God, You will never fail me. You've never let me down." Though the enemy comes at me, though the enemy taunts me, God, You are standing like a rock. You will never let me down. Jesus said, "If you hear My words and do them, you will be like a man who built his house on the rock."

When the rains came and the floods came and the storm beat upon that house, it did not fall. Why? Because the foundation, the footing, the grounding, the strength was in the rock. That's how powerful obeying God's word is. Every great revival or spiritual awakening in history has come in answer to sincere prayers from believers who have broken, humble, cleansed, and believing hearts.

Most of us see the handwriting on the wall with where the nation's going. We see that apart from a national awakening where God is reviving His people, restoring morality and holiness, there is a point you get where the judgment hand of God must fall upon a disobedient nation. I'm not talking about a perfect government where everyone's singing worship songs in the Capital. I'm not naive.

But look at the Great Awakenings in America, or Wales in the 1700s, or the New Hebrides Islands. God brings awakening when things get to their bottom point. That's the only hope. Only God can keep North Korea at bay, or China, or Russia. All hell's breaking loose and apart from a national awakening of God reviving His people, the Titanic has been hit.

But there's great confidence in that because God brings revival at important points of history. He brings spiritual awakening where bars are closed down, where people are worshipping God in their neighborhoods, and God transforms entire communities. That flows into other areas of national life. So I have a heart for that. He's given me a heart for that.

It has to come from believers who are broken, humbled, cleansed, and believe in their hearts. Let's go through these quickly. Broken. What is broken? It has to do with the heart. God says, "I look for a broken heart and a contrite spirit." When God sees men and women on their faces crying out to God saying, "God, I'm broken. God, would You hear me?" He says, "Is that the cry of a broken and contrite heart?"

"I can't cast it away. I can't remove it from My sight. I hear it like a magnet to metal. I go to the broken and contrite heart and I lift them up and I restore them because that is a sweet-smelling aroma and a sacrifice to Me," thus saith the Lord. Where do the eyes of the Lord go? They go across the whole earth looking for those whose hearts are loyal and broken and humble before Him.

David said, "For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me." And then we must have humility. Brokenness is the heart. Humility is the actions. You've got so many people saying, "Oh, I'm broken. I'm humble." No, you're not. You're arrogant. How do you know? In your actions. Always being right. Not loving people.

Isn't it amazing how unloving we can become? When we are unloving, the Spirit of God cannot move through you because part of brokenness is loving and you feel the pain of others. You weep with others. You feel that brokenness like Jesus felt. "Oh Jerusalem, My people, My people." Can you imagine the Messiah coming and His people rejecting Him?

"Oh My people, Jerusalem, I wanted to gather you like a mother picks up her little children and holds them, but you were not willing. You stiff-necked and rebellious people. Yes, you have the letter of the law but you don't have the Spirit of Christ in your heart." Love with the word of God is powerful. You have to have both through humility.

Then you have to have a cleansed heart. It's called holiness. As you know, the church likes to go to two extremes. You have the holiness movement. Better not be going to the movies. You can't watch anything to do with television. They had the right concept in that you want to be modest and you want to be careful with what you watch. But when you put a bunch of rules on it and don't explain the relational aspect, you just become a Pharisee.

Then you have what I think is happening a lot today where there's no holiness. Watch whatever we want, do whatever we want. I actually preached 15 years ago at a church and called people to holiness and to being selective with their movie choices. A youth pastor came up to me and said, "I can watch whatever I want as long as my heart is right."

No. What you do affects your heart. He was convicted and prideful. No secret they're posting things I probably wouldn't post with their favorite beer, champagne, and the movie they watch. If you're going to do it, don't post it on Facebook if you're a leader in the church. There's just drift because the heart is deceitful. If you're trusting your heart and your feelings, it will deceive you.

The Bible says, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? In other words, who may stand in the holy place of God and do God's work? He who has clean hands and a pure heart and who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor has he sworn deceitfully." He hasn't lied and manipulated. God says that's the person I want to ascend in My holy mountain.

Holiness is really who you are. A.W. Tozer said, "Who a pastor is all week is who he will be when he steps up to that pulpit." I tell pastors that who you are all week is going to determine the power of your sermon. Preaching is when God unloads the weapon that He loaded in the prayer closet. This is unloading what God has loaded in the prayer closet.

The prayer closet is where you load up. You suit up and you get ready. Then you go out and you unload what God has put into you in the prayer closet. That's where you pull down demonic influences. That's where you pull down strongholds over your children. Don't go and cuss at them and give them a sermon that they've heard a thousand times. Get in that prayer closet and say, "I'm not coming out of here for a few hours."

God says, "Is that a broken and contrite heart? Has he humbled himself? Is he holy and filled with the Spirit of God? If you ask, you will receive because now you're praying with boldness with the Spirit of God speaking and praying through you." That's how you prepare the heart to pray. Get your heart ready through holiness and being set apart.

It's a good reminder that the number one attribute given to God is not love. That's all we hear everywhere, even all the news pundits for moral issues. No. The attribute that stands way above them all is holiness. Our God is a holy God. He demands and requires holiness. The angels cry "holy, holy, holy is our God." Can you imagine angels?

Isaiah says he saw the train of God's robe which filled the entire temple. And the angels would sit there and cry out "holy, holy, holy is our God" and the pillars of the temple would shake with that word. Why? Because that's the power. Yes, we need the love of God, but it's the holiness of God that comes in and uproots evil and conquers sin.

If you're loving without holiness, you are leading people astray. That's the big problem in our culture today. "We just love everybody." Allow them to continue sinning? Yeah, just love them as they're walking to hell. "I just want to love them." There's a time and place for that. Don't leave here thinking Shane just said ram them with holiness. You need both. Love without holiness, you're lukewarm. Holiness without love, you're a Pharisee.

When you're filled with the Spirit of God, you don't judge people. You love them, but you also call them to holiness. The LGBT suicide rate is alarming. The reason is because validating sin won't lead to hope. Repentance leads to hope. Point them to the cross. We all still struggle with something. You point them to the hope, to the cross. That's where the hope is.

Forty years ago, they said the church is at fault because they're making people feel guilty. You can't say that anymore because now the media, the government, the school districts, Hollywood, and Facebook are all supporting sin. And you have the church saying, "Hold on. Turn back to God." You can't blame us anymore because everybody's supporting sin but there's still hopelessness.

The suicide rate is at an epidemic. Why? Because you're running from the answer. Turn people back to the hope and to the answer in Christ. That's the only answer. I have loved people through their sin. I'm doing it right now with many who don't come to this church. Love them. Don't judge them. They're still miserable. I'm still loving them because my love is not supposed to replace God's love through forgiveness.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at WestsideChristianFellowship.org. That's WestsideChristianFellowship.org. And for all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms.

Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of regaining lost ground where we are reminded daily, times change, truth does not.