Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): On today's Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe.

Stuart Briscoe: If we've still got the idea that church is somewhere you go and you just sort of show up and the worship service goes on and you sort of try and get into it, or maybe you do or maybe you don't, then it probably won't work. If we are developing a daily life of devotion, then out of that will come a flow of worship when we come together. But also, when we come to a worship experience corporately, that in and of itself becomes a stimulus for daily worship. And so the two are inextricably bound up in each other.

Guest (Male): What does it take to develop a daily life of devotion? This is Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Is worship more than just something for Sunday morning? How does making worship a part of your life every day change it? That's the focus of Stuart Briscoe's latest series, God of Wonder, God of Worship. Today, how to incorporate worship and prayer. How does that work? Well, Stuart will show you coming up.

The generosity of friends like you keeps broadcasts like this one going out around the world so you and others can experience life through the biblical teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. As thanks for your gift today, we'll send you Powerful and Effective Prayer, a newly curated collection of messages from Stuart and Jill that will give you timeless wisdom on the subject of prayer and help you build a more consistent and inspired prayer life. So call today to request yours: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart Briscoe on today's Telling the Truth with Worship and Prayer.

Stuart Briscoe: We're talking about worship and we've already identified two things about worship. One is that worship is to be done corporately, that we come together with other people to do it, but also that worship is to be done privately. In fact, the two are very closely related. The effectiveness of corporate worship is directly related to the depth of personal worship.

Now listen very carefully to that. The effectiveness of corporate worship is directly related to the depth of personal worship. If we've still got the idea that church is somewhere you go and you just sort of show up and the worship service goes on and you sort of try and get into it, or maybe you do or maybe you don't, then it probably won't work. If we are developing a daily life of devotion, then out of that will come a flow of worship when we come together. But also, when we come to a worship experience corporately, that in and of itself becomes a stimulus for daily worship. And so the two are inextricably bound up in each other.

So let me talk to you about worship and prayer. Now, what better place to do that than the passage of scripture in which the Lord Jesus, in response to what his disciples said, taught them to pray? You remember that his disciples, this is recorded for us in Luke 11 and a more or less parallel passage in Matthew 6, the Lord Jesus, in response to his disciples' request, who after they had observed him praying said, "Lord, teach us to pray." He said, "Okay, when you pray, pray," and then he gave them what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer.

Now, let me give you three ideas concerning prayer that we can glean from this particular passage of scripture. First of all, prayer is a declaration of deficiency. Prayer is a declaration of deficiency. This was certainly the case as far as the disciples were concerned. We know after the resurrection that it was customary for Jesus' disciples to go up to the temple at the time of prayer. There would be a time of prayer three times a day in the temple, and they were religiously committed to that. So they knew what it was to engage in a formal act of prayer in a regular worship service.

But when they watched Jesus pray, they said, "You need to teach us to pray." There is a difference between saying prayers and praying. And the disciples understood the deficiency in their own lives when they watched Jesus pray. Did you know that sometimes he stayed up all night to pray? What does that do for your deficiency? Did you know that it says that sometimes he rose up a great while before day to pray? Do you know that when he was under tremendous duress, he instinctively prayed and asked his disciples to pray with him?

Do you know that when he had major decisions to make, the first thing he did was pray? You see, all these things are indicative of the way Jesus prayed. Now, his disciples watched this and they said, "Wow, we haven't even started. We don't know diddly about prayer compared to him." And so the very request that they might learn to pray was a declaration of deficiency. And I think probably many of us would have to say there is a major deficiency in my prayer life. I would certainly have to say that.

Sometimes when we look at our own prayer life compared to what we read of other people praying, it simply underlines this sense of deficiency. Now, I'm not here to make anybody squirm but simply to point out that when we begin to think in terms of praying, we have to admit that the very desire to pray is a statement of deficiency. I'll tell you why I think this is. You know the old saying, "The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees"? You don't know that saying? You do now.

"The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees." If that is true, then one of the major objectives of the old devil is to stop us from praying, and he thinks of all kinds of ways of doing it. So the very act of praying is a declaration of deficiency. Then this, of course, not only comes from looking at Jesus and the example of other people, but we get this sense of deficiency when we look in scripture. Daniel's a good case. Daniel was reading his Bible one day, actually he was reading the prophecy of Jeremiah, and he read in it some specific information concerning the fact that the children of Israel would be exiled for 70 years, and he didn't know this.

And when he read that, it's very interesting to notice what he did: he immediately turned to prayer. And you see, that's what the Bible will do to you. When the Bible reveals truth to you, it will reveal to you who God is and what he's doing, and it will show you what you are and what you're not doing, and you'll see such a gap between the two that the instinctive reaction is the sense of deficiency. God is so superb and I am so mediocre. God is so powerful and I am so weak. God is so bent on doing what he is doing and I am so committed to doing what I'm going to do that I say, "Lord, I come humbly to you." That's the only way to come.

And so prayer is first of all a declaration of deficiency. Secondly, prayer is a declaration of dependence. Now, the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, Luke says it just starts out "Father". Matthew says it starts out "Our Father in heaven." We are encouraged to speak to God as Father. Now, this can be interpreted a number of ways, but let me stress three things for you here, at least three. First of all, when we think of God as Father, we're thinking of God as Creator. He is the originator of all things, including you and me.

So when I think of God as my Father, I think of him as my Creator. Secondly, there'd be no point creating me if there wasn't a way of preserving or sustaining me. So God is not only the one who creates us, he is also the one who preserves us and sustains us through life. But unfortunately, even as he sustains us, we go our own way, and so he is then the one who intervenes and redeems us. So when we think of God as Father, we think of him as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. Each of those ideas, each of those pictures of God, underlines our dependence. We are utterly dependent on him as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer.

But there's another thing as well. Jesus, in his final instructions to his disciples, said, "I'm going to pray the Father that he will send the Holy Spirit to you." And when the Holy Spirit comes, he who knows the will of God will reveal the will of God to you and will intercede for you. In other words, effective praying is praying in the will of God. How in the world do you pray in the will of God? The answer is you pray in the will of God when you're in close communion with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows the will of God. In close communion with the Holy Spirit, he reveals the will of God to you and you begin to pray in the Spirit.

Because the other side to him being Father is this: a little bit further down in the Luke passage, Jesus says, "Now, you earthly fathers, you're not perfect, but I'll say this about you. If your son asks you for bread, you won't give him a stone, and if he asks you for fish, you won't give him a serpent. Now, if you, less than perfect fathers, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?" And the point, of course, is this: that there's a wonderful sense of accessibility in the Father. That we can come to him with a tremendous sense that he really welcomes us into his presence in prayer. He's waiting for us to pray.

Guest (Male): This is Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Today, Stuart is showing you how to combine worship with prayer. He'll have much more coming up, but first, we want to share a note from a listener named Jeff, who recently wrote, "I am continually encouraged, stretched, challenged, and blessed by your broadcast. You are committed to maintaining the integrity of God and his word. Thanks for being there."

And thank you too, Jeff. Do you ever feel like your prayers are bouncing off the walls instead of landing in the presence of God? Or do you pray more out of obligation than from a real relationship? Maybe you recognize a lack of passion in your voice even as you pray, and you're left to wonder, does God even hear my prayers, or will he answer them? We'd love to help lead you toward a more inspired and vibrant prayer life by sending you a newly curated collection of messages from Stuart and Jill called Powerful and Effective Prayer.

This one-of-a-kind resource is our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life in Christ through the teaching resources of Telling the Truth. Your support enables countless people across the globe to stand strong in the unchanging truth of scripture, and we're so grateful for friends like you. So request Powerful and Effective Prayer when you call to give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now let's go back to Stuart for more about worship and prayer here on Telling the Truth.

Stuart Briscoe: But then there's a third thing. The third thing is that prayer is a declaration of desire. Prayer is a declaration of desire. Now, what do we mean by that? Well, sometimes when we pray, we sort of give the idea that we're bringing a whole lot of requests to God. Sometimes it sounds a little bit like a shopping list. And sometimes, if we're really honest with ourselves, it sounds like a shopping list and we hope we're going to get bargain basement prices for it. But Jesus explodes that idea of prayer.

And when in his prayer he teaches us how to pray, he points out to us what our desires should be, what our legitimate desires in prayer really are, and there are six of them. First of all, he says, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Hallowed be thy name. Now, there are two things that we need to understand if we're going to understand that expression. What do we mean by his name and what in the world is hallowed? What we mean by his name is his name is a description of himself. So when we talk about his name, we're really talking about him as he really is.

When we're talking about hallowed, what we're saying is hallowed, incidentally, is related to the word for holy or set apart. When we talk about hallowed be thy name, what we're really saying is, "Lord, I want who you are to be honored, to be respected, to be revered. That is my deep desire. That's why I'm coming to you now, Father. I come with a tremendous sense of deficiency, I come with an overwhelming sense of dependence, but this is my honest desire. My honest desire, Lord, is to see in some way in the area of my influence that who you are should be honored, that you should be respected."

Lord, here's the second desire. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come." Now, there are two senses in which God's kingdom comes. God's kingdom is the area in which he rules and reigns as King. The area in which God rules and reigns as King. Now, people have different concepts of God. Some have a concept of God as being a rather benign irrelevance. He's okay, you know, he's old, he's past it, he's decrepit. He is a little bit like an old sick relative whom we visit once a month in a nursing home on Sunday afternoon.

Nobody's going to say that about God, but that's the sort of impression they have. Some people have got the impression that God is a wonderful sort of servant. He's a great waiter. And he is so good, he is so wonderful that if you don't need him, he makes no demand on you. But if you need him, all you've got to do is whistle and he comes trotting up and he shows up and he does whatever you want. You see, these are sort of perceptions of God.

In actual fact, the perception of God we need is that he is the King of kings, that he is the Lord of lords, and that he is in the business of moving and working in this world so that eventually, finally, irrevocably, and eternally, his rule and reign will be manifested and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. One day, his kingdom will come and the sick, sad, sorry, sinful old world will come under his righteous rule. Think of that.

Now, this is your desire. Lord, I am looking for that day to come. But there's a second sense in which his kingdom comes. There is the ultimate final coming of the kingdom, but the Bible also teaches us that the kingdom is already encroaching into this world. It's rather like the tide coming in. It's coming in slowly, it's coming in relentlessly, it's coming in inexorably, and in greater and greater regions, the flooding of God's kingdom is coming and God's reign is moving into an individual's life.

And then it's moving into a couple's life, and then it moves into a family's life, and then it moves into a neighborhood, and then it moves into a church, and then it begins to move out from the church. His kingdom is coming. The next three desires are: "Give us this day our daily bread." Have you ever noticed there's a redundancy in there? "Give us this day" doesn't need "daily" after it. That's a redundancy. But it must be an inspired redundancy. Actually, it's because it's a little difficult to translate the original language there. The thrust of it is this: give us on a regular basis what is necessary to meet our physical needs.

In addition to that, he says, "And forgive us as we also forgive those who sin against us or trespass against us." And what that's really saying is this: there are a lot of physical needs, but there are a lot of social needs as well. There's an awful lot of forgiving needed, and there's a lot of forgiveness needed. And the forgiving and the forgiveness are directly related. Lord, when I look at our relationships, wow, there's a lot of garbage going on around here. And when I look at the garbage that's going on in the relationships, Lord, there's an awful lot you need to forgive.

Oh Lord, would you please move in these situations where this stuff is going on with your forgiving grace? But Lord, we've also got to come to terms with the fact that there's a lot of people need to be forgiving a lot of people. Lord, would you then not only bring forgiveness to bear in people's lives, but would you give an attitude of forgivingness in people's minds? Now, the wording here is a little difficult: "lead us not into temptation." It sounds as if God is saying, "Okay, now I'm going to lead you into temptation," and we say, "No, no, no, don't lead me into temptation."

No, that's not the point. The point is this: that there are temptations on every hand. Lord, see to it that we do not succumb to these things. Now, can you think of anybody who's in real danger of succumbing to temptation? You think of anybody? Like you and like me and like your family. You say, "Yes, I can." Well, then it is perfectly appropriate to pray for them. To pray for their physical needs, to pray for their relational needs, and to pray for their spiritual needs.

You say, "Well, when should we do this?" Well, you should do it regularly. Get up in the morning, one way or another pray. Pray in your car, don't close your eyes. Pray at mealtimes. That's a good idea. Pray at mealtimes, that's a good habit to get into. We should pray continuously. Praying continuously is like breathing. You breathe continuously, but you don't know you're breathing until you run up the stairs and then you suddenly concentrate on it. You develop an attitude of prayer, an attitude of deficiency, an attitude of dependence, an attitude of desire.

You pray privately. You pray privately in times of pain, you pray privately in times of perplexity, you pray privately when you're under pressure. Let me ask you a question in closing. Would you say to the Lord what his disciples did? "Lord, teach me to pray." Would you also promise that if he teaches you, that you'd do it? And the extent that you do, you'd be worshipping. For worship is not something that we do just once a week in a special place. Worship is the stuff of life, and God is looking for worshippers.

Guest (Male): Worship and prayer. Today on Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe is showing you how the combination strengthens your devotion to and intimacy with God. Stuart is coming right back with some insight into combining worship with prayer. "I'll pray for you. Just pray about it. Prayer changes things." You've probably heard statements like these from other Christians or said them yourself. But if you ask most believers how prayer works, the answers are likely to be all over the map.

So how does God want to use prayer in our lives? Is he listening to every single request? And can prayer really make a difference? To help answer questions like these, we've put together Stuart and Jill's five-message teaching series, Powerful and Effective Prayer. This collection of messages can help you uncover the secret to a more vibrant prayer life, one where you lose yourself in the presence of God and have confidence that your prayers are rising, making a difference.

You'll gain wisdom and insight on prayer from Stuart and Jill's decades of ministry. Powerful and Effective Prayer comes as our thanks for your gift to help more people fix their eyes on eternity through the truths of God's word shared through Telling the Truth. So be sure to request your copy when you give a gift today. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now here are some answers from Stuart about his message today.

Stuart, what can we learn from Jesus's example about prayer?

Stuart Briscoe: It's very obvious that the disciples of Jesus learned a lot from the example of Jesus as far as his prayer life was concerned. One of the things that they learned was that he certainly engaged in prayer, and that is the most elementary lesson that Jesus' example of prayer will teach us. In other words, he believed in his humanity that it was absolutely necessary for him to be in a close relationship with the Father. And what do we mean by a relationship with the Father? Well, what do we do in a relationship with a person? If we want to enjoy the relationship, if we want to deepen in the relationship, we engage in conversation with them. That means listening to what the other person is saying and then responding appropriately.

I would say that Jesus proved that it was absolutely necessary for him to be in a quiet place to listen to what God was saying to him and that it was necessary that he should respond to the Father, and that is the fundamental lesson we learn about prayer. Now, they saw that he did it regularly, they saw that he did it fervently, they saw that he did it intelligently, they saw that he did it even when he was pressurized, they saw that he did it when he was happy, they saw he did it when he was sad. In other words, there are many things we can learn, but the fundamental thing is that it was all about maintaining and deepening the relationship with the Father.

Guest (Male): Stuart, why is the perception that God is the King of kings and Lord of lords important to a believer's prayer life?

Stuart Briscoe: Years ago, there was a very well-known missionary in England who, before he became a missionary, was a brilliant athlete and was a household name. And then off he went to China and then later to India and then later to Africa, got himself in all kinds of predicaments. He was known as Charlie Studd. Charlie Studd or CT Studd. He wrote all kinds of poetry. I wouldn't call it poetry, I'll call it doggerel, but he had some very, very helpful things to say. And one of the things he said was this: "When you come before a king, large petitions with you bring, for his promises are such that you cannot ask too much." And I would say that answers the question why is the perception that God is King of kings and Lord of lords important to a believer's prayer life?

Guest (Male): Thanks, Stuart. We hope today's message encouraged you. Before we go, remember that when you give today to help keep Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one going out, we'll send you Powerful and Effective Prayer, a newly curated collection of five messages from Stuart and Jill that can help you start moving from a mundane prayer life to one that's rich and vibrant. So call now to give and request Powerful and Effective Prayer with our thanks: 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. We're glad you've joined us today. Come back again for more biblical insight to help you experience life. That's next time, right here on Telling the Truth.