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[0:00] All right, amen. Amen. While all that borrows life from thee is ever in thy care, I read an article today that was some celebrity saying, go with the science, follow the science.

[0:21] And I thought about the scientific view of creation. And if you go with the science on that, you can't sing that everything borrows life from God because that's not true.

[0:33] They don't believe that. And you can't sing that it's in his care. And so man without God believes he's not cared for. He believes nobody cares for him.

[0:43] He believes he's an accident. And what a dismal life that is. All right, get your Bibles out. Find Psalm 62. And I'm going to talk about something that is possible because there's a living God.

[0:57] And he's reachable. And you can commune with him. And you have access to him by his spirit if you're born again.

[1:11] I want to talk about prayer tonight and something about it that I hope can help you. Prayer is a, I guess you'd call it a staple of the Christian life.

[1:24] You read your Bible and pray and go to church, right? Those are like the three. Read your Bible, pray, and go to church. If there's things you do, that's what it is. But better words is you walk in the spirit or you abide in Christ.

[1:39] Those are Bible terms. That's the Christian life from the Bible. But when we put it out, what we do in a daily or in a weekly thing is these things. Prayer is one of them. And when you get through the Bible, you read the prayers of men, men that have struggles and men that felt alone at times and who were wore out and felt like they were losing the battle and they cry out to God for help.

[2:03] And really, in many cases, they just feel helpless. And take a look at Psalm 62. And for sake of time, we're just going to read verse 8. The Bible says, Trust in Him at all times, good or bad.

[2:17] Trust in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us, you love. Look at Psalm 142.

[2:30] Pour out your heart before Him. Christians today, they've got their phones so quick to their touch that they pour out their heart on Facebook or pour out their heart on some social media.

[2:47] Pour out their heart to their friends. And you're called to trust in the Lord at all times and to pour out your heart before Him. And that's to somebody who's obviously of a heavy heart.

[2:58] So now Psalm 142. And let's read this Psalm. I cried unto the Lord with my voice. With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.

[3:09] And I poured out my complaint before Him. I showed before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path. And the way wherein I walked, have they privily laid a snare for me.

[3:22] I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. I cried unto Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.

[3:34] Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name. The righteous shall come past me a mouth, for Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

[3:48] Somebody, again, who's got a heavy heart, or who's in trouble, and who, as I read in verse 5, feels alone. In verse 4, no man would know me.

[4:04] And so there's prayers, and we're not going to cover them all by any means, just a handful tonight, of folks that cry out to God. And if you live any length of time, you're going to find yourself where you're close to this, or you're feeling, you understand that language of, I need to pour out my heart, or I've got a heavy heart, or I feel like I'm alone, or I'm losing the battle, and I need help, and God come and fix this for me.

[4:34] And you'll cry out to God, and you'll declare your questions to Him. Why, God, is this happening to me? Why won't you fix this? How much longer is this going to go on? Or you may cry out and declare your fears before the Lord, or your apprehensions about doing something that you feel in your heart you should do, but you're scared, or you're afraid, or you're uncertain.

[4:56] You'll cry out to God, and you'll let Him know your feelings, how you're hurting, or how you're not sure, or how you feel like things should be better for you. And you go to God seeking answers, or you go to God often seeking a fix, or a solution to things that are against you, it seems.

[5:14] And in Psalm 142, look at the psalmist. He says in verse 6, Attend unto my cry. He's calling on God to hear him. Now come back to Psalm 86, and look at a few similar words here.

[5:29] Psalm 86, and verse number 1, Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy.

[5:43] The first one was, Attend to my cry. Here it's, God, you bow down your ear to me, and listen to me, hear me, because I'm in a problem.

[5:54] I have a problem, God, so listen up. Look at the next one I want you to see, Psalm 88, verse 1, O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried, Day and night before thee.

[6:08] Let my prayer come before thee. Incline thine ear unto my cry, for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit.

[6:21] I am as a man that hath no strength. And so he cries for God to hear him. God, listen to me. God, help me. God, help me. And the skies never part.

[6:34] And there's never a voice that just thunders out of a solution, of a fix, of a help. Some folks enter into prayer, calling on God to do something, but nothing happens.

[6:53] There's no miraculous change. There's no wild scene here. And so what do you do? Well, in Colossians chapter 4, verse 2, Paul says, continue in prayer.

[7:07] Continue in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, he says, pray without ceasing. And as you continue to talk it out with God, what happens is, is God doesn't move the mountains, and he doesn't part the clouds, and doesn't make a way in the wilderness, and all the time like that.

[7:27] But what God does is, he starts to move on the inside of you. And I hope you can understand what I'm talking about here, because I've experienced this, and I hope you have too, and if you haven't, then you need to hear this, and you need to learn how prayer works, and how it works inside of you, for you.

[7:46] Because some people just get the idea that it's, I cry out to God, and he fixes it. I cry and tell him how hard it hurts, and bad it is, and then he just, he loves me, so he fixes it for me.

[7:58] And then you find out, it's not working. It's not happening. I'm still dealing with it. And so what I want to show you tonight is some things that prayer will produce, and it will produce it inside of you, if you'll continue in prayer.

[8:16] And so when you don't hear the thunderous voice of God resolving your cares and your problems, when you're without strength, when you're alone, when you're crying because you're needy, what does happen is God begins, though, as you continue in prayer, to move you on the inside, and what you'll notice is, if you continue in prayer, you'll start to utter thoughts, that come from the Lord, that come from the scripture, actually, whether you knew it or not.

[8:47] That's why you read that book, and read that book. You'll start to be talking, and God, and you'll say, and God, I know that you'll never leave me, nor forsake me. And then a reality starts coming in, and like, God's, he's not, I'm not alone.

[9:06] The scripture comes in in other ways, and it says, as you're praying, you're pouring something out, but God, I know you promised that you'd supply all my needs according to your riches in Christ, riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.

[9:21] And as you pray, the scripture starts to come through you. And what it is, is the Lord's showing you something, as you're praying, it's like, it's getting resolved inside of you, when it's not being resolved on the outside, like you're crying for.

[9:39] You may have a need in your life, or a question, and some guys, I know a guy, they had this question about a partnership, and a business, and he felt, well, I need to pray about it.

[9:51] And in prayer, the Lord says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And he describes not being yoked together with the unbeliever. And it's something that he, he knows the scriptures, but in praying, he's like, God, should I do this?

[10:05] And I know you're, I know I'm not supposed to be, it's like he says the answer himself. He gets the answer from praying. As you begin to pray, and continue in prayer, another thing that happens is that you, as you humble yourself, from your emotions, that had you so worked up, and fearful, and afraid, and feeling all of these things, and this anxiety, about the situation at hand, as you humble yourself in prayer, and continue in prayer, you begin to separate the situation from your emotions, and God doesn't, it doesn't last all that long in your prayer, because you can't just shout at God, and feel like you're justified, or like he's hearing you.

[10:49] When you come humbly before God's throne, the throne of grace, you don't shout, right? You might come angry, you might have anger inside of you, but you know in your spirit, you can't just turn to God like that, you fear him, don't you?

[11:05] And as you humble yourself, and as your emotions, begin to get displaced, you start to hear yourself, you start to hear, I'm sounding like a baby right now, I'm sounding like a little child, crying, whining for something, I'm being selfish here.

[11:24] You find out, you realize as you talk, and pray it out, you find out you're, you're just trying to get out of suffering, you're just trying to get out of, something unpleasant to you, and you get that, that knowledge through continuing in prayer, then you start to feel slightly guilty, saying the words, knowing that other people have endured this, and much, much more, and God didn't deliver them from it, but rather he allowed them to glorify Christ through it.

[11:54] And so prayer produces things that, they're not necessarily the answer to what you were seeking, or the solution that you were going to God expecting, you go into prayer, like, ask and you shall receive, and then, as you continue in prayer, you find out that, God changes you, you come out with a better spirit, and a better understanding, of the will of God, for the situation.

[12:22] And so let me show you, tonight, three things that prayer produces, and for this first one, come to Psalm 77. It will produce, some things in you, that you didn't anticipate, while you're just looking for a quick fix.

[12:38] You're looking for the pain to go away. You're looking for the sun to shine in your life. And God may just, give you something else instead.

[12:50] In Psalm 77, let's just read the entire Psalm, the 20 verses. I cried unto God, with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me.

[13:04] In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord, my sore ran in the night, and ceased not, my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.

[13:15] Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. I am so troubled, that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance, my song in the night.

[13:26] I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever? Will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever?

[13:37] Doth his promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. And I said, this is my infirmity.

[13:49] But I will remember the years of the right hand, of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

[14:01] Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arms redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

[14:14] Selah. The waters saw thee, O God, and the waters saw thee. They were afraid. The depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water. The skies sent out a sound. Thine arrows also went abroad.

[14:26] The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven. The lightnings lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters. Thy footsteps are not known.

[14:36] Thou led us thy people like a flock. By the hand of Moses and Aaron. I want you to notice the cry here in verse 1. The cry and the complaining in verse 3.

[14:49] That's mentioned. I complained. And then these questions, questioning God in verse 7, 8, 9, and 10. Or 7, 8, 9. Are you done?

[14:59] Is this it? And how one can enter emotionally into prayer, crying and complaining and questioning. But the first thing that prayer can produce as you continue in prayer is prayer produces perspective.

[15:16] Perspective. When you stay in prayer, when you just go and blab it out to God and complain in the heat of your spirit, that's just getting it off your chest.

[15:26] But when you stay in prayer and stay talking to God and stay talking to God, your heart, your mind starts to change a little. It starts to revolve a little bit and to where now you're seeing through a different lens maybe.

[15:43] And what happens here in this passage in verse 11, after all the complaining and the questioning and the crying, then there's a remembrance of some things. In verse 11, I will remember the works of the Lord.

[15:56] Surely I will remember thy wondrous works. And then verse 12, I will meditate. There's a meditation going on. And the rest of the way is a glorification of God and his works and who he is.

[16:09] A change took place there and somebody got their perspective right. Somebody's eyes came in hot and they got turned to seeing who God is.

[16:20] And it'll do that for you too. You remember Asaph? And it's just back in chapter 73, Psalm 73. This guy's envious at the foolish in verse 3.

[16:31] Psalm 73 verse 3, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And he looks at them and he says, they're fine. They're doing just fine. They're corrupt. They speak love.

[16:42] They're full of pride. They set their mouth again. And he's just frustrated seeing how everything's fine and looking at his life saying, I cleansed my heart in vain. I'm doing all this for you and I'm getting nowhere with it.

[16:53] But then he gets into the sanctuary of God in verse 17. And you know what changes? His perspective. Then he realizes, hold up. This is all they have.

[17:05] Job says they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave. And from there, it's going down even further. A change in perspective. There's something that's humbling when you bring yourself before God in prayer.

[17:21] And you can go in, you can be mad and you can even resist prayer, mad at God for your circumstance, for how this happened. But if you take your trouble to him, you do know better than to accuse him and then to charge God with iniquity and to say, God, you're not fair.

[17:40] And as you know better, it causes you to relax. And as I said, it causes those emotions to kind of be sifted out of the situation. And it causes you to relax and continue in prayer and talk to God.

[17:54] And as you talk it out, those scriptural truths start to come into view. You start to see a bigger picture and you get a better perspective on the situation. Emotions can control you.

[18:07] And if they are controlling you, you're walking by sight. But in continuing in prayer, it produces perspective perspective where faith can resurface and can overcome those emotions.

[18:20] I'll give you an illustration of this in my own life. And this is something that was so real to me and I had to try to keep it in as best I could for years. But I told you this before, how in Pennsylvania, we were in a double-wide trailer on the church and it was just fine and dandy while our kids were just being born and young.

[18:39] But as we stayed there and stayed there and stayed there, they grew and they grew and dressers got more and beds got more and things compounded around us and there's more dishes and more cups and more food and more toys and just, we ran out of room.

[18:59] And the kids are getting bigger and the three girls are in one room, bedroom, and their dressers are crammed into Samuel's tiny little bedroom with his dresser and his stuff and they didn't know any better.

[19:10] They were happy. But I was seeing it. I was seeing it. This can't go too much longer. And Carla was, God had mercy on her at the time, frustrated, as you can imagine.

[19:25] And I remember there'd be times where I'd put the kids to bed or every house just settled for the night and Carla's already in her stage one of snoring and I'd just go out to the living room and just fall on my face and say, God, how much longer can we deal with this?

[19:47] How much longer are we going to have to stay here? We can't do this much longer. These kids, they don't deserve this. Carla doesn't deserve this. And I'd just cry out to them and I'd be frustrated with it all and try not to show it around the kids or around her and letting them, I didn't want to be the one that made it worse.

[20:07] And trying to take it to God and taking it to God and we'd try to get a house and it would fall through and I'd just say, Lord, and then he'd remind me about a family that travels around the United States in a bus and there was nine kids, or eight kids.

[20:28] There was ten of them in this super long bus that had a hinge to it. It was huge. And I was just thinking about him today and I might give him a call. He's in Arizona now, pastoring. I might have him come up here sometime soon if he can do it.

[20:41] But his kids are grown now, but through the years they've come into our church and do the vacation Bible school and the kids were always so polite and so happy and just great attitudes. We really loved that family and there I am in a place that they would love to be in probably in some way.

[20:58] They're in something far smaller than me with a lot less than what we had and I kind of bid on that for a minute and like, okay God, I'm crying, I'm fussing like a baby, I get it.

[21:11] And they're serving you, then Lord, I'll just keep serving you and I trust you and I know you know what we're going through and so I'll just wait on you and I'll be patient.

[21:23] And then I think about missionaries on deputation and think about them traveling around with their families in a motor home and living on the road and city to city, church to church and all that they go through and I think, God have mercy on me for fussing and crying about not having space when they're doing more and they're happy and they're serving you and they're surely frustrated too with certain things about their lives.

[21:52] But it was getting on my face and talking it out with God that the perspective started to get clear. just be faithful. The thoughts would come in from the word of God that he knows, that he knows and he understands all about it and he careth for you and those things just started to heal and started to just give me patience to know that, okay, I can go on until you see fit.

[22:24] You didn't forget about me. But that was prayer that did that. It produced perspective. Now come to Psalm 138. Psalm 138. In one of the psalms we read earlier, in 88, he said, I am as a man that hath no strength.

[22:57] But in Psalm 138, verse 3, the Bible says, And the day when I cried unto thee, or when I cried, thou answerest me and strengthenest me with strength in my soul.

[23:14] Strength. That's something else that prayer will produce. It'll produce power. It'll produce the inner strength to see something through, to endure, to put one foot in front of another, to continue on.

[23:29] I'm not, I'm not, well, why not? We got time. Luke 22. Look at that quickly. Remember when Jesus Christ was in the garden? Remember how he prayed?

[23:39] And I know I brought this out in Matthew 26 in a message a few times now, how he went a little further and he prayed and he fell in his face and he came back and then he went again and prayed and three times and it turns out through that evening hours he spent in prayer and he went into that garden exceeding sorrowful, his soul was exceeding sorrowful and heavy and he left prepared to face God's will.

[24:04] He left strengthened. He left with power because of prayer. So in Luke chapter 22, look at verse 43, this is in that context of him in that garden. It says, There appeared an angel unto him from heaven.

[24:18] Strengthening him. You know, that angel appeared at that place. That place is verse 39. He came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives.

[24:30] That's something that he's, means he's something, a place he was accustomed to going to. It was a place that he went to pray and he went and got into his place of prayer. He continued in prayer and he got strengthened.

[24:44] If he didn't go to prayer that night, there'd be no strength. He wouldn't have that extra power that he needed to go forward to the cross. Prayer produces power.

[24:55] Prayer produces an inner strength inside of you that you don't feel it, know it, see it happening, but it starts and it builds and as you continue on your face in prayer, when you get up off of your face, you're just a little different.

[25:10] There's just something a little more inside of you that can take it a little more and can put one foot in front of the other a little further. Prayer does that. It'll get your mind right in perspective but it'll also give you power.

[25:24] The Bible says in Galatians 5 to walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And one of the ways you walk in the Spirit, look at Ephesians chapter 6. One of the ways you walk in the Spirit is you may have guessed it by praying.

[25:40] Ephesians 6 and verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

[25:59] In the Spirit. It's something that's done in the Spirit. It's how you overcome the flesh by walking in the Spirit. And one of the ways you do that is by getting on your knees.

[26:11] It's by praying. Prayer is the work of the new man within you and it's something done in the Spirit. And if you want power, look at Ephesians 3. I'll give you a verse or two here.

[26:23] If you want power to resist the lust of your flesh and to get victory over sin, I'll tell you one thing that'll help you. It's praying. It's praying about it.

[26:34] Not just a little flare like God, oh please help me with this. But if you want to get serious victory, just get on your face. You feel it coming on, you get on your face and watch what happens when you get up.

[26:45] Watch how you feel a little stronger about it. Or watch how God will answer your prayer and see from your heart that you don't want to fall. You don't want this sin that thus so easily beset you to take you down again.

[26:56] And just watch how you get up off your knees in prayer and your phone rings and it's a brother that's just checking in on you and just distracts your mind from the sin and the temptation and off you go.

[27:07] Just watch how God works when you ask Him to help. Ephesians chapter 3, this is something that Paul prayed for his converts. In verse 14, for this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

[27:33] Look at Colossians chapter 1. Here He prays for this church as well to see them get strengthened. Colossians chapter 1, verses 9 through 11.

[27:48] For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might.

[28:07] That's a prayer of Paul for all of his converts to see. And one way you get it is by getting on your knees. Prayer produces power. And one more thing, and one more thing that we need to know, especially when it feels like you've got that heavy heart, you're in trouble, look back just a page or two, Philippians chapter 4.

[28:27] Prayer produces peace. Prayer produces peace. Philippians 4, verse 6.

[28:40] Be careful for nothing. That is full of care, worry, anxiety, for nothing. And when those things weigh heavy on your heart and they're in front of you and you think you can't lick them and beat them, then he says, in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[29:15] So that's the care. The care is overwhelming your spirit, your hearts and your minds and God will take the care and move it aside when you get on your face and put in its place peace.

[29:28] A peace that you can't really put your finger on. Matter of fact, it's a peace that the world can't comprehend at all. It's a peace that passeth understanding. It's beyond understanding how I am doing okay and how I am alive and with a smile on my face, with the joy of the Lord in my heart when this is happening in my life.

[29:51] Prayer produces peace. That's a prayer promise to the church. It doesn't promise to give you your request. It says, let it be made known.

[30:03] It never promises to fulfill your request and your wish. That's something that's back in the Gospels to the disciples, connected to their kingdom. This is not what Paul promises to the church age believers.

[30:17] But he tells us in verse 4 to rejoice in the Lord always. And when you've got a problem, give it to God. Make it known to God and He'll do something for you. He'll give you peace.

[30:28] He'll give you peace. Knowing what God's will is in your situation or having some assurance that He's aware and that you can trust Him just gives it a whole blanket of peace.

[30:44] The Bible says in Isaiah 26, 3, Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon thee because He trusteth in thee.

[30:55] You're going to have to trust in Him first. You're going to have to have your mind on Him. Peace comes inside. This is a pretty extreme case to mention here, but there's a couple that I knew growing up, a husband and a wife, and they raised their kids in church.

[31:13] I grew up with their kids. They were all a little bit older than me, but I knew all three of them real well. And their middle daughter married and had some kids and was very active and involved in our church and in the Christian school as well.

[31:31] So she was just a prominent face around the facility all the time. Very fun-loving girl and just a good spirit about her. And she married a guy who was a little different and she loved him and they had a family together.

[31:48] But the guy started getting weirder and weirder and it turned out that he was on pills and he was ordering stuff online and he was on drugs and it was just twisting him out.

[32:00] And nobody really knew it, but he was active. I mean, the guy loved the Bible and he would talk Bible with me at times and we just, we had a decent relationship. But then he just started getting, stepping away and then he started backing away from being involved in ministries he was involved in.

[32:15] And he got out of a class he was teaching and got out of, he was involved in the mission at the time, overseeing that and then he also was involved in a bus ministry. He just, he dropped it all and you, I mean, he was just sliding downhill hard.

[32:30] And his wife was concerned about him and she was praying for him and out of nowhere, out of nowhere, I came into church Sunday morning, nobody's there, just the pastor's in his office and I went by to, just to see him, to check in with him before I went and did some things and he just said, hey, come in here.

[32:52] And he mentioned the name of the man and he said, he shot and killed her last night in their home and he turned a gun on himself and shot himself. And I just, I just, I didn't have, I said, you're kidding, you're serious?

[33:09] And he's like, yeah. And he got the call in the night and there was two boys, two young boys there, they heard the shots, they heard, well, they heard the screaming, the arguing and then they heard the gunshot.

[33:23] And then they heard the, I think they said that the dad started coming out and they, the one crawled out the window and then the next gunshot or he went downstairs and just crazy, just, just crazy.

[33:40] And I thought, what in the world? And so, pastor was going to announce it to the church later in the day and I thought, well, I got Sunday school and I'm not going to announce it until you do.

[33:54] And so, I just went through and tried to teach Sunday school and just, and the whole time I'm thinking about this in my mind and I'm just trying to go through the motions and just waiting for the drop, the bomb to drop in church that day because everybody knew them.

[34:08] The girl grown up from a little girl in church all the way up and she was a woman now and, and it was a terrible Sunday and a hard thing to hear and a hard thing to deal with and then the week of all of it and going to see the family and the, her mom and dad and to see the two boys moved into their grandparents' house who were just pretty old-fashioned folks and these kids are, you know, video gamers and, and it just, it was big difference and we went down there and we just, with our kids, just tried to take the kids away, tried to give them some fun, tried to play with them something and distract them while the grandparents were tore up and crying and, and as it came out, as, as the week went by, we had the funeral and, just a tremendous load on the mom and dad that were still faithful, very faithful and the church still are today and I recall them getting up in a testimony and saying,

[35:09] I don't know why God saw fit to let this happen and just choking up but he said, I don't know how in the world any lost man could possibly face this kind of thing without the Lord and he described how God had just taken care of he, his wife, even the children and the family through this, how God put his peace inside of them knowing that she's with the Lord, knowing that he's with the Lord and despite what the world and the sin had brought into their home and had destroyed it, they knew they were with God, they knew that they'd see him again, they were angry, they were hurt but at the same time there was this peace that just, you didn't see him break down, you didn't see him quit church, you didn't see him take off and give up, they just hung in there, they just kept going one foot in front of the other, there was a peace and I'm telling you

[36:10] I can't see this any other way but it's a peace that passeth all understanding to see that man and woman like a rock just stand there and say God's good, God, he'll see us through this he'll see the boys through this, their life, they'll be raised here in church if we can help it and they continued on I still look back and it just, there's this, I can't connect it with how they went through that and stayed where they were and didn't drop off and just didn't blow up and I just, I know what it is but I just can't relate to it, I haven't felt it to that degree, the Bible says that the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds and there's nothing better than having your heart and your mind kept by the peace of God when you're in trouble, when you're of a heavy heart, you might, you might enter into prayer saying God, it hurts,

[37:15] God, fix it, God, stop this thing and you may not so you're going to have to continue in prayer, you're going to have to continue in prayer until God starts to change what you're talking about and it's, I can't explain it but I felt it, he just brings the thoughts into mind and as I'm praying, as I'm praying, I start to change my tune and I get up and I realize, thank you, God, you just fixed that, I got the answer but I didn't get my answer but I understand now, I just need to shut my mouth and trust you or just quit fussing about it and start praising you for how good you are, the lost have nothing to hold on to like this, they don't know that it's going to get better, they don't know that there's a God in control, they can't rest in him, they don't have any of that and so they don't have the word of God and so what do they go, they go to pills, they go to a bottle, they go to a therapist, and seek answers outside of the church because they don't have God, so church tonight, don't neglect this precious gift, this invaluable gift of prayer, don't neglect it when your heart's heavy, when you're in trouble, when you feel alone, when you need victory, you feel like you're losing, when you're struggling, when you're wore out, because prayer will produce some things and it's the fools that get up and talk about how God's going to fix and answer their prayer and answer and do this and do that for them because they don't know what they're talking about, but when you get on your face and just stay in it, stay in it, stay in it until he changes you, he'll give you perspective, he'll give you power, he'll give you peace and that's worth it, amen.

[39:11] We're going to be dismissed here. I hope tonight that this is a help to you, it's something that God expects from you is to commune with him and he offers it to you, you're a fool not to take it, you're a fool to try to think that you're tough enough because you're not, God didn't make you tough enough, that's why he offers you peace, he offers you access to the throne of grace that you can obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[39:40] So go get your son and stay there until you get it, stay there until he changes you. Father, Lord, as we bow before you, we're going to close here and I pray that this was a help to those that are here and that you minister your word to us, God, in some way, we've faced something, some are just much more serious and heavier than others, but Lord, heavy hearts, I'm sure it's something that's not foreign to each one of us and Lord, I don't want to just drum up some emotion here tonight and play this out so I can have something to preach on.

[40:18] God, this is the results of sin and it's the results of bad decisions and it's just sometimes something that we don't even deserve or can't deal with ourselves, but Father, I pray that you'd put this in us, open our eyes to prayer, draw us to prayer and meet us there in prayer and change us through prayer.

[40:38] May we take advantage of this. Lord, we're not good enough. We haven't arrived. We're not strong enough. We're not wise enough. We don't know the will of God in all these areas and sometimes we just want it to be fixed.

[40:53] We don't even see that you might be working something else out, that you might have a plan, that you might want us just to suffer for a while. And so, Lord, may we glorify you, submit to you, trust you, and walk with you in prayer.

[41:09]  Give us strength, we pray, in these areas in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.