I like reading sermon manuscripts! So, I thought it might be helpful for some if I shared some various manuscripts of messages I have preached from time to time. Now, I am not going to do the work of editing them, so please be patient with the presentation, as I type them a certain way to make it easier for me as I preach. It may be a bit annoying for you, but it would take way too long for me to edit! You can listen to the audio here. This particular message is about how to ask God for things in prayer.

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We have been talking about prayer. 

For a long time now.

And today, we are finally, going to, talk about requests.  

In other words. 

We are going to talk about.

What you ask God for.

When you are standing there praying, what are you asking God for? 

And, you can even think this week, when you prayed, what did you ask God for? 

And we are going to look at Jesus.

And what He says we should ask God for.

In Luke 11.
Verse 3.

1. Now, it’s kind of taken us a long time to get here, actually. 

Because we’ve spent weeks now.

Looking at the beginning of this prayer, which is really.

All about God. 

There’s not a lot of you and me in there.

And asking for stuff for us.

It’s God.

“When you pray, say.

‘Father.

Hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.’

And.
Even though it took us a while, it’s really important to.

Start there.

Because if you listen to a lot of people’s prayers, the one thing missing, a lot of the time.

Is.

Actually.

God.

He’s not there in their prayers.

They are not depending on God.

They are depending on their efforts.

They are not fearing God.

They are talking to God like He’s their servant.

And they are not even thinking really, about what God thinks is important. 

It’s my will be done.

Which is a problem, obviously.

To pray without God.

To go through the motions of prayer without God. 

And that’s why we’ve been emphasizing the God-centered, nature of praying.

And.

You remember.

I gave you a couple of words. 

To use, as guidelines, as you approach God in prayer. 

There was.

Believe.

The gospel.

Remember.
You are talking to God.

And.

Hope.

In God’s great future plan.

2. And.

Yet.

You know, I was thinking after all that talk about getting our hearts focused on God, and being God-centered, it’s also important to say that, one possible, wrong way, and I don’t think a lot of people struggle with this, honestly.

But one possible wrong way.

Theoretically at least.

That someone could respond to all this talk and focus on God and prayer.

Is by thinking that’s where prayer ends.

That it is only praising God.

And.

That there’s no room for talking to God about us, and our needs, and what is going on in our lives, and the reason I can say, that would be wrong, is because.

Jesus.
Teaches us.

To make requests of God.

That’s what verses 3.

In Luke 11.

Is.

“Give us each day our daily bread.” 

After focusing on God’s glory.
Hallowed be Thy name.

And on God’s plan.

Thy Kingdom come.

Jesus teaches us to talk to God about our present.
“Give us our daily bread.”

 

Jesus is actually commanding us, in verse 3, to come to God and say, God, give.

Not in an arrogant way.
In a humble way.

In fact, really, like beggars.

That’s who asks for daily bread.

Rich people don’t ask for bread, beggars ask for bread. And while most of us don’t like having beggars come and ask, God is not like most of us, he is telling us, he wants us to think.

Of ourselves.

Like beggars.

Dependent on him.

Be a beggar, Jesus is saying, in relationship to God, depend, completely on Him. 

Growing up.
People want you to become self-sufficient, but that’s not how Jesus wants us to be.

In our relationship with God.

He wants us to be one hundred percent God dependent.

Which is why..

He’s commanding. 

Us to come before Him.

And say give. 

Which.

You know.

Or course.

Is awesome.

For those of us.
Feeling desperate.

Who recognize our need.

Because.

If it were just us coming, and saying, God can I ask you for help, it might be easy, to think, well, He’s not going to have time, for us.

After all.

It’s our idea.

And He’s God.
But.

It’s not our idea.

God’s the one taking the initiative. 

It’s Him coming and commanding us.

To make.

Our requests. 

And not just here.

Either. 

As we look at the rest of the New Testament, this is an important part of prayer. 

It is not less spiritual.

Somehow.

To make requests of God.

You know praise, worship, make requests, make requests, is less.

Or something.

No.

Because. 

God says.

He actually says, in Ephesians 6:18.

We are to be, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”

And that word supplication.

Is a big word. 
For making requests. 

Where you are asking God.
For help.

With something.

And we’re to work hard at this.
Paul adds,

“To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”

And.

This is a command.

It’s not optional.

Not asking.
Is not strong.
Not asking.
Is not, I like to do things myself.
Not asking.
Is sin.

In Philippians.

4:6.

We read.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

And so, I don’t know, if for some reason over the past weeks, as we’ve talked about prayer, you’ve gotten the idea.

That praying has nothing to do.

With the problems.

You are having in your life right now.

Or others.

That would be wrong.
Obviously.

3. Because, an important, and exciting, part of prayer is, coming, and making specific requests, of God. Asking for help. About what’s happening in your life right now.

And the life of people around you.

In fact. 

This is a way we can really honor God.

If we learn to.

Depend on God.

In everything.

Because that is what this is really, all about. 

If we ask God.

Give us each day our daily bread.

That request.

Is about recognizing your absolute 100 percent dependence on God.
Verbally.
In prayer. 

4. Praying is a way of glorifying God.

Obviously.

And one way you glorify God is by praising Him.

And focusing on Him.

And another way of glorifying God, is by expressing how much you need Him.

By asking.

And making requests of Him.

5. I know.

One of my heros.

Has always been George Mueller.

And he was a man who started orphanages in England a number of years ago. And one of the things that made his life so beautiful was just, his dependence on God in all things, and I mean all things, down to the smallest things, and he worked hard, at praying specifically, about, it seems like everything, and as a result he had all these amazing stories, about the ways in which God provided. 

And those answered prayers, became a real testimony. A real force, actually in the 1800’s. In England. It was hard for unbelievers to argue with George Mueller, because they saw the way God was answering his prayers, and that dependence on God, as he was praying, for everything, encouraged believers as well.

And.

So.
While in some ways, George Mueller, if you read his story, was unique,  he was a really interesting kind of person.

And yet. 

In this way, he really wasn’t. 

So.

Unique.

I mean.

This is.

Just Christian.

This is what Christians do.

They ask.
They depend.

This is.

Just.

Humility.

On the part of real believers.

Making requests of God.
It’s expressing our faith.

We recognize that He is sovereign. He is in control.

And.

That everything we have.
Comes from him.

That.

We can’t really take care of ourselves. We need God to take care of us. 

And so.

We are constantly making.

Specific requests.

Of Him.

It.

Is a way of.

Us saying.

I need.

You.

God.

I need you.

I look at you.
And.

You are infinite.

You have no needs.

You don’t need to ask me to do anything, because you don’t need me.

But I need you.

Which, I think, knowing all we know about the Scripture, should be incredibly obvious but unfortunately sometimes, it can also be incredibly hard for us.

To humble ourselves, like that.

Or even really to remember to ask.

Because we are just going, going, and we are a little proud.

6. And perhaps this is why the Bible gives us so many encouragements.

To pray.

As well.

It doesn’t only command us to come and make requests, it encourages us to come.

And ask God for.

Help. 

In the big.
And.

In the small stuff.

Too.

And.

Even Jesus here.

Actually.

In Luke 11.

Verse 9.
After the Lord’s Prayer. 

Wants to make sure, we know how much God wants.

By.

Saying.

“And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.”

Which.

Obviously. We are going to have to talk about what that means. But, at the very least, we can all see Jesus means, to encourage us, to make requests of God, and to ask God for help.

Ask and it will be given to you.

This like hey.

God wants you to do this.

The problem is not requests.

Part of praying is asking.

7. And that even could be our word for today.

Ask.

As you pray.

Believe.
Remember.

Hope.

And.

Ask.

You can’t ask too often, and you can’t really ask too much.
You need to ask.

8. The problem, is not with asking, the problem is, however.

That.

It is possible, to ask.

In the wrong way. 

It is possible to ask.
In the wrong way. 

And now.

I think.

You need to hear me.

Because.

I am not sure, a lot of people, have ever thought about this. 
At least biblically.

Because asking seems simple.

You know?

And.

So you might say.
I see I need help with some of the other parts of prayer. 

Obviously.

I need help believing the gospel.
Or I need help remembering the holiness of God.

Or I need help focusing on the future.

But.

I am not sure.

I really.

Need help.

Asking.

I am always asking God for stuff.   

And.

It feels kind of.
Obvious.

If you want something.
Just.

Ask.

God.

For it.

Say.
Give.

And to a certain extent, of course, I understand that, and again we don’t want to make prayer more complicated than it is.

And yet I am afraid if you look at how many people think of prayer, and you know, I am not trying to be funny, but, for a lot of people, it kind of seems, like they think of God as a wishing well. 

And prayer as their way of throwing in the penny.

I don’t know if we have wishing wells.

Here.

But we have stars. 

Obviously.
You know, wish upon a star.
Where I am from, though, sometimes you will have a little well of water, that somebody says is a wishing well, and you throw some coins in it and you make a wish.

And that’s how a lot of people think of prayer.

Honestly.

That’s what they think it is.

It doesn’t matter what you wish.

Or why you wish.

It.

Don’t think about that.
Just wish.

It’s your wish.

And so.
Just look up into heaven with whatever you are wishing, and if you wish hard enough, then, maybe you’ll get it.

And.

Sometimes.

We are actually even, taught to pray that way. 

As well.

If you want that new car. 

You name it.
You claim it.

And.

You go to God and you say.
I want this. 

Give it to me.

And if you have enough faith.

You’ll get it.

And that’s prayer, for a lot of people, that’s their prayer life, if it pops into their head, they ask, and they never even stop to think.

About.

What they are asking.

Or why they are asking.

Or how they are asking.

And that.

Is a problem.

Actually.

It’s a problem.

I mean.

We need to ask God, we need to make requests of God, in everything, you can’t ask God too often, and you can’t ask God, too much, and yet, at the same, you, need to be thinking about exactly what you are asking. 

And how you are asking. 

And why you are asking.

Because it’s possible.

To ask.

Wrongly.

It’s possible.
To ask wrongly.

And that’s James.

Chapter 4.

Verse 3.

You might want to actually turn there.

Because this is important.

These people were having fights and quarrels, and James says, you are having these fights because you are not praying.
And then he knows.
Someone is going to say.
Oh, but we are praying.

And we are not getting anything.
And he’s like.

Verse 3.
“You ask, and you do not receive, because you ask wrongly.”

In other words.

There’s something wrong about the way you are making requests of God and in James 4, it’s not a lack of faith, that’s the problem.

He points.

It’s selfish desires.

You ask wrongly.
To spend it on your own pleasures.

And.

That’s why God’s not answering your prayers.

9. One of the reasons God doesn’t answer our prayers is because we are not thinking about what’s motivating the requests.

We are making of God.

And so, those requests, are actually wrong requests.

Because they are not flowing out the gospel. 

They are not.

Connected.
To what’s true.

To reality.

In other words.

And again.

I just think this is so important. 

And.

This is where I am headed.
In terms of.

Guidance.

For petitionary prayer.
For how you are making requests of God, and what to think about, as you begin to make a list of things.

To ask God.

You have to evaluate.

You have to look at yourself and evaluate.

Are you talking to God like an unbeliever?

10. 10.Because.

I think a lot of Christians are.

In terms of what’s behind their prayer requests.

 

I mean guys.

Listen.

We have this privilege.

As Christians.

That’s almost beyond belief.

As we go through life.

At any moment.

Any moment.

We can talk to the one who made everything.

And who is in charge of it all.

Imagine!

No ques.
No doubt whether he’ll be there.

No question.

If he has the power to help you.

 Or whether or not He’s going to like you.

Or if He’s going to be interested in what you have to say. 

I mean.

If you were going to come up with privileges, that would have to be one of the best privileges, in the universe.

You could give someone.

And yet.

You know.

It’s also a privilege, you are going to want to use well. 

If you think about it.

Not because God is going to hate you or anything because you ask the wrong thing, but because this is an incredible opportunity, to come before God, and tell him what you think you need. 

You know this.

If.

Say you are from Zimbabwe.

And you get to go before Robert Mugabe, tomorrow, and he says.

He’ll give you some time to talk.

And.

Then.

They bring you, past all the soldiers, and all the important people.

Right into.
Mugabe’s office.

And he’s sitting there.

And he says, ok, tell me, tell me, what you think. 

And you.

Look him straight in the eye.

And you say.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

And that’s all you have. That’s how you spend the time you have with him. That’s like a seriously wasted moment. That’s just not helpful.

And.

I mean.

Obviously with God.
He’s a lot better than any human.
King.
He loves us.

He wants to have a relationship with us.
He’s good.
He’s kind.

He’s the giving God.

He’s generous.
He’s not looking at his watch.

And so I am not saying.

Not to share your requests, and not to share what’s going on in your heart, but I am saying, as you are sharing, to be looking, at what you are actually asking.

Of God.

And.

Thinking does this match up.

With what I know to be true?

Even.

With what’s real.

Are you hearing what I am saying?

I am saying.

11. 11.What we believe.

Should impact us.

All the way down.

To what we ask of God.

When we are on our knees.

In prayer.

And what we ask of God, when we are on our knees in prayer, should, flow out of what we say we believe.

About God.

And the gospel. 

12. 12.And you know, I wonder if you have ever thought about this?

If you have ever evaluated your requests.
If you have ever looked at them and said, does this make sense for me to be asking this?

13. 13.In other words.

You can look at what you are always asking God.
And feeling most urgent about.

And say.

What does this say about what I believe?

Or you can come at it from the other angle. 

And.

Ask 

What does a person who believes the gospel, want?

What does he feel like he needs?

When he goes to God?

14. 14.And you are going to have to think about that. 

Because it doesn’t always just come naturally.

Like, I am a believer.

I go to church.

Whatever I want is going to be right.

Because a lot of the times it is not.

And.

You know.

Even.

Going back to the people James was talking to.

Who he says.

Were asking wrongly.

In verse 4.
He says.

Their problem was even though they were religious, they were motivated.

In prayer.

By the same basic priorities that were motivating unbelievers.

And so even though they were saying they were Christians.

And going to church.

And even though they were going through the motions of prayer. 

The gospel.

Wasn’t impacting their prayer life.

They were talking to God, like unbelievers.

And God didn’t like it.

Which is why James says.

In verse 4.

You.

Adulterous people!

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy with God?

Which tells us.

This is a pretty important issue, and one that even religious people, who are spending a lot of time in prayer get wrong.

And so.

Obviously.

As we think about this whole issue of making requests to God, we can’t just stop with.
I was born in a Christian family.
And this is what everybody asks for.
Instead.

We need to go back and reflect.

On.

How what we say we believe, should impact, what we feel we need from God.

Right now.

15. 15.And that’s where I think this passage can really help us.

Luke 11:3 and following.

16. 16.Because. 

Jesus gives us three requests.
One having to do with our physical life.

Another has to do with our mental life.

And a third, having to do with our spiritual life.

17. 17.And we’re focusing, on the first request this afternoon.

Which.

Has to do with our physical needs, because this sometimes feels the most complicated, as we are looking at our lives.

Honestly.

I mean.

If you wrote out a list of all the stuff on your heart right now.

Physical needs wise.
You felt was really urgent.

And you were honest.

And you evaluated and said, well, do I really need this?

It is going to feel complicated.

Because.

Sometimes it’s just other people telling us we need it.

And sometimes it is just us telling us we need it.

And sometimes, we really do.

It’s not like everything on our list is wrong.

We have real physical needs and we have real physical things we want. And as Christians, we don’t say, those are not real or unimportant. 

In fact.

There was a heresy, actually.

That means something not true, something the church, said, this is not good.

Called Gnosticism.

And one of the things Gnosticism taught was that the physical world was evil, and that all that mattered was the spiritual world.

And so really spiritual people.

Weren’t concerned about physical things.

They didn’t talk to God about that.

And.

While that can kind of sound sort of right, it’s not how the Bible, sees things. 

Or Jesus.

Either.

In Luke 11:3.

He says.
This is how you should pray.
Say to God.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And he says that because He knows we have physical needs.

And we shouldn’t be ashamed.

Of feeling like we need them.

And going to God and asking.

For help.

Because.

We are supposed to be making requests.
And yet, the thing is, we can’t just mindlessly be making requests, we have to actually, look at those requests, because it is possible to ask wrongly, and really, to be motivated, by the same thing that’s motivating the world. 

And that’s.

The part that’s not so easy.

Always. 
To identify.

What’s motivating us.
Because.

If it were just.

Spiritual requests are good.

And physical requests, are bad.

Then it wouldn’t be hard for us at all.

I mean.

Just cross out everything on your list, that’s not spiritual. If it’s physical, then it must not be something you should ask God about, but we can’t do that, because that’s heresy.

That’s not the way the Bible sees it, which means, we are going to need some help, evaluating our desires.

And.

What we think we need.

 

18. 18.And. 

Jesus gives it.

If we go back to the Lord’s prayer, and start working our way through what we’ve been saying.

We believe about God. 

Already.

Here.

I think it really sets us on the right track.

Like.

Ok.

I believe God’s my father.

That’s how I am approaching Him.

Which means, I believe I am part of his family and he loves me and I have access to Him and I have a relationship with Him and He wants to know my needs. 

And.
I believe.

Hallowed be your name.

Which means, I believe, He’s holy and important and not just anybody, and that the whole universe revolves around him, and that he’s the purpose of everything we see, and the reason we are on the planet is to bring him glory.

And I believe.
Your kingdom come.

As well.

Which means, I am looking forward to this future reality, where I am going to see what’s happening up in heaven, happen here on earth.

And wickedness defeated.

And pain gone.

And death gone.

And on and on and on.

And if I believe all that.

And I confess all that.

Then what am I going to want now?

I mean.

Are you following?

How does all that impact, what I feel like I need from God?

If. 

God’s for me.

And.

God’s more important than me.

And my hope.

Is in Jesus return.
And you really are wanting all that. What would you be going to God, asking for?

Like.
In terms of.
This is what I really need.

Obviously.

Maybe you will have all these other wants that you talk to God about, I am not saying you don’t, but you know they are wants, and they are in a different category.
Than.

What you feel need.

19. 19.And.

You know.

Again.

One reason.

I think.

Looking at the Lord’s prayer here is so helpful is because, honestly my wants are broken.

I know I can’t trust them.

I mean.

We all have wants.

Of course.

And needs even.

And.

That’s not wrong.

But it’s sometimes confusing, to sort out, because, the truth is, we want everything, and even with our needs, what we say to ourselves, we need.

It’s hard to trust that as well.

Because, if you ask me, what I think, I need.

I can literally come up with anything.

I need. 
Everything.

And I can come up with a whole bunch of reasons I need it as well, and so.

Making requests, isn’t so easy.

It’s like. 

I need help from Jesus, even knowing, what I need and what I should be requesting of God, and of course, the whole point is, I think Jesus.

Gives it.

Here.

In the Lord’s prayer.

Or.

At least he gives us an important place to start.

20. 20.When He says.

“Give us each day our daily bread.”

And.

Bread.

Is not really a hard word to understand.

Because you know.
In the original Greek.

What it means.

Bread?

It means.

Bread.

The stuff you eat.

And.

Yet. 

At the same time.

I think we can broaden it out a little, and say it’s a symbol, for the basic physical things, you need to survive, actually.

And do.

What God’s called you to do.

It’d be wrong.
Obviously.
To say.

That Jesus is telling us you can only ask for bread. 

Like.

You can’t ask for fruit or vegetables or pup or something.

That would be.

Missing the point.

Because, I think Martin Luther had it right when he said.

That:

 “Everything necessary for the preservation of this life is bread, including food, a healthy body, good weather, house, home, wife, children, good government, peace.”

And maybe the only thing I would change.

Or modify.

Is I am not sure it is so much just the preservation of this life, that we are concerned about, as it is the advancement of God’s agenda.

If.

I believe God’s my father, and his glory is what matters, and I am longing for his kingdom.

Then.

In prayer.

I am asking.

God.
To provide.
Everything that I need to serve Him and to do what He’s called me to do.

Today.

21. 21.In essence, that’s what.

We can say we need.

22. 22.And it’s been really challenging me, and I 

think us.

As we look at what Jesus says we need..

And.

What are we supposed to feel like we are needing, as we are going and asking God.

For help.

Because.

It’s obvious.

Jesus is not talking luxuries. 

 

He says.

Bread.

And bread.

Is not luxuries.

Especially.

When you are talking.

Daily bread.

I mean.

This is not yearly bread.

This is daily bread. 

In fact.

There was a pastor, who highlighted something I hadn’t seen before.

And that was.

That.

Jesus was living in this time in which farming—played a huge role in life.

Especially where he was from.
Galilee.

And so.

Obviously farmers, they thought about food, in terms of the whole year.

Yearly food.

You kind of have to.

Because they had this cycle of sowing and harvesting.

But.

God had given farmers, back in the Old Testament some pretty specific instructions.
Because.

They had all this food.
And he wanted them to be generous.

And so.

He wanted them to help the people who didn’t. 

And.

There were two types of poor.

At least.

That they were supposed to look out the for.

The first was the local poor.

The farmers were instructed to provide for the local poor—the poor in their towns—about a week’s worth of food, so they wouldn’t have to come back and ask every day.

And then.

Second, there was the travelling poor, who were the poorest of the poor, they were going from town to town.

Asking for help.

And.

The farmers.

Would.

Only give them.

Enough food for the day.

So.

You have these three groups of people.

The farmers who operated on the yearly cycle, they were thinking of their yearly bread.

And then the local poor who operated on a weekly cycle, they were thinking of their weekly bread.

And then you had the poorest of the poor.

Who operated on a daily cycle. 

And.

They were the ones.
Wanting their daily bread.

And so.

While.
The point is.

Not.

We are all supposed to not have to any money.

If God gives us money, that’s His choice.

But.

I think.

We have to realize that anything above what we need for today and tomorrow, to serve Jesus.

Is.

Actually kind of luxury.

And we shouldn’t feel like we have the right to demand of God. 

23. 23.I know.

This makes me a little uncomfortable.

But the Bible’s ideas of what our needs are, are different than ours, especially.

Those of us.
Who are American.

But I think that’s a problem, even here in Africa, everybody telling us what we need so badly. And.

I am always, kind of convicted by the way Paul puts it over in 1 Timothy chapter 6, honestly.

He says.

Verse.

6.

“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.”

And he’s using the language of profit here.
It’s funny how he’s putting it.

You want to know what’s really profitable.

It’s being godly and content.

Why?

Well, there’s the obvious reason.
Verse 7.

“For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”

In other words, this world is only temporary, so why spend so much energy worrying about what, you can’t have for very long, anyway.

It’s much more profitable.
To labor for what lasts.

And then.

On top of that, there’s a spiritual reason in verse 9.

“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare.”

It’s not just that contentment, makes sense, it’s also that contentment keeps you safe.

Spiritually.

And.

So.
This is important, contentment, and we need to ask, what is this contentment, Paul’s talking about? Or maybe, to say it another way, what does Paul think, we need physically to be content?

And this is.

Verse 8.

“But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

Which.

Is kind of like.
Our daily bread.

I am saying.

It’s not nearly as much as we think, we need.

Is it.
Food and clothing.

24. 24.And I think this is important.

As you look at your requests.

To evaluate whether you really are asking for what you need, or whether you are really, demanding luxuries.

Not because you are never allowed to ask, for things that might seem like luxuries.

And not because you are not allowed to want things, that might seem like luxuries.

But because, when you receive them, you need to know what they are, they are luxuries.

And.

You need to be thankful.

And.

When you don’t.

You need to be careful, that you don’t start acting as if God hasn’t been good.

25. 25.I always think.

As you are looking at your life, what you have and what you don’t have.

As you are tempted to complain.

Or be disappointed with God.

You should ask yourself.

What if.

God knows you.

And He’s your Father.

So he knows.

What you can do.

And what His plans for you are.

And He’s got this.

Specific way.
He’s going to use you to glorify Himself.

And besides.

He’s got this whole future, where He’s going to give you more than you can ever imagine.
And so.

What if.

In light of all that.

He decided to give you.

Exactly what you needed to do, what He’s called you to do, so you could serve Him, and so He could bless you, eternally.

Would that be unfair?

Just because it was less than someone else?

26. 26.Like.

Say.

As an example.
I have two people.

And I am their boss.

And I’ve given them.

Two different jobs.

And I know that.

And so I send them out to do these different jobs, with different supplies, because I know what the job I am wanting them to do.

Is.

Would that be so terrible?

Of course.

It wouldn’t.

It makes sense.

I don’t give both people the same supplies, because I have different things I am asking them to do, and you know, I am just a human.

We can understand that.

And I am just a person.

And.

God’s God.

And He knows.

Your future.

And He knows what He’s calling you to do and so, when you go to Him and make requests, be careful, that you are not spending a lot of time arguing with God.

About Him not giving you the things, He knows, right now, you don’t need.

To do what He’s planned.

If you have a reason, from the Bible, you think, what you are asking is needed to fulfill the mission He’s given you, then present that reason to Him, and even then, ask humbly, knowing God’s God.

27. 27. I remember when we were in Malawi a 

number of years ago. 

And, Malawi was having a petrol crisis.

They didn’t have any petrol.

And we were making this journey, and we only had so much petrol, and we had planned it out, how much petrol we would need for the trip, and yet, as we went out on the trip, there were some unexpected places we had to go, and so I started getting really worried. 

I kept thinking, what if, what if, and what if?

And then it struck me, you know. 

God’s taken care of me, every day, for thirty eight years.

Every day.

And how crazy is it for me, to go around worrying, like He’s suddenly going, to stop doing what He’s done every other day of my life.

28. 28.And I honestly think this is a little bit of a trap 

of Satan.

That we get so worried because God hasn’t given us everything now. 

Even though He’s given us what we need now.

We are so worried that He’s not going to give us what we need in the future.

That we don’t do what He’s calling us to do, right now. 

29. 29.You see what I am saying?

We spend a lot of our life imagining.

And I am not talking about the good imagining. 

I am talking about the bad imagining, where you are thinking up all kinds of different ways things could go wrong tomorrow. 

When.

We are not living in tomorrow.

We are living in today.

30. 30.And what’s even worse, is we sometimes 

get upset with God.

As a result

We are not just worried.
We are upset.

Because He hasn’t give us what we need ten years from now, right now, He’s only given us what we need now, right now. 

 When, that’s really not fair.

I mean.

I was thinking.

Say we are going on a journey together.

And I have all the resources for that journey, and yet I only give you, the food you need, each day.

Wouldn’t it be strange.

If you got to the end of that journey, and you said, I can’t believe, how miserably you treated me, and I am like, why?

Why do you think I treated you poorly?

And you are like.
Because, you didn’t give me all the food for the whole month on the very first day. You only gave it to me, each day, as I needed it.

Or.

With your children.

If on Monday, you don’t put out all the food they are going to eat that whole week.

You just put out breakfast.

And they say.

Don’t you care?

You are a terrible mother!

You would be like, what are you talking about. 

And yet.

So often.

That’s our attitude.

Towards God, and we’re so unthankful, not because He’s not giving us what we need today, but because, either He’s not given us what we don’t need, or because He’s not given us everything we need for our whole lives.

All at once.

31. 31.When it might be, and I think it is, that often the reason He doesn’t give us as much as we want, right away.

Is a sign of us His love.

For us.

It’s funny.

We tend to think that people God gives so many resources that that is a demonstration of His love and blessing.

On them.

And maybe sometimes it is.
But not necessarily.
Because, what often happens, when you have so much more than you need?

You can look at Europe.

You can look at the United States.

And you will see a lot of people sleeping spiritually, and that’s because riches.

Can be dangerous.

When you have your yearly bread, it’s tempting to stop feeling like you need to depend on God you’re your daily bread.

Which of course.

Is a lie.

It’s not real.

You always need God.

But it’s tempting.

To stop feeling like you do.

And.

When you stop feeling like you need God, it’s so easy for your relationship with God to grow cold. 

So sometimes.

God shows His kindness to us, I think, and this is challenging to say.

But by basically forcing us.

To depend on Him.

Day by day.

By only giving us what we need.

Because, that, reveals where we really are at spiritually, where is our joy, and it reveals, whether or not we truly are depending on God, or on our stuff, and it forces us to depend on Him, because there’s no one else to depend on.

32. 32.And ultimately.

You know.

It’s in those moments.

When you are on your knees, completely dependent on God.

That.

You are so often.

Alive spiritually.

And that’s a very, very good thing. 

And honestly.

It is such a good thing.

That.
I think.

33. 33.We should make it a goal, in our normal, 

everyday times of prayer. 

Whether you have more than you need.

Or you don’t feel like you have enough.

To actively.
Remember.

How much you need God.

 

By.

Asking for help.

God.

When.

I have everything I want.

And when I don’t.

Help me.

Believe that you are my Father.

And you love me.

And to remember that your glory is what is most important. 

And what really matters.

Is.

To seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.

To never lose hope.

And.

To.

Make it my goal.
Right now.

Actively.

Trust in you and you alone.

To provide exactly what I need.

To serve you.

Today.

34. 34.That’s.

Luke 11:3.

And.
I want us to do what we’ve been doing the past several weeks now.

And that is.
Take what we’ve learned so far and spend some time putting it into practice.

And again.
I’ve handed out pieces of paper.

This time on the one side, it says ask.

And there are five different ones of these, with five different colors.

So, find 4 people with different colors than you and form a group.

And.

Then, one by one, read what is on the other side of your paper.

There are several verses.

And then there is a quote.

And then there will be a question.
The person with the question can go last.

And.

Once you have read your verse, or quote, share how it motivates you to make requests of God, and then at the end, answer the question, and go to God, with your requests, asking Him to give us our daily bread.