Our Great Need - Learning How to Pray part 1

Well, take your Bible this morning. Go ahead and turn with me to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. I'm sure by now you know that this morning we're going to be looking at the subject of prayer. And we'll be in verses 1 through 4 of Luke chapter 11. Now this morning we are starting the series that I call Messages from the Pastors Heart. Now this is a running message series. This is an open-ended message series, meaning I'll revisit this series from time to time. I went back this week and I looked at some of my past notes. We started this series back in the summer of 2015.

We were looking at certain subjects that were on my heart that I felt like we needed to be attentive to. We revisited this series in the fall and the winter of 2016 and on over into this past year, 2017, we looked at quite a few messages pertaining to the family and then some other messages that I felt like were pertinent. But this is that open-ended series that I call Messages from the Pastors Heart. Now last Sunday we were living in the last day of 2017 and we were staring face-to-face with the beginning of the new year, 2018. And our message last week we looked at a challenge from Paul's ministry there in Corinth.

In Acts chapter 18 we saw that Luke gives us a synopsis of what took place in Paul's ministry there in that city called Corinth. Now I call the message a challenge for the new year Paul's ministry in Corinth and I think that was a good place for us to start for the new year and I believe that was a good message to prepare us for what we're going to examine in this series. Now question, why these messages? Why a series that I revisit from time to time messages from the Pastors Heart? From time to time we feel the need to address certain subjects and I say we purposely.

Brother Keith and I talk often about the preaching direction of the life of this church and these types of subjects and these types of directions we approach very carefully. Sometimes these subjects relate to things going on in our culture, going on in our society. Sometimes these subjects we see them as corporate needs. We see them as needs in the life of the body. Sometimes we discern that there are individual needs in our own lives that need to be addressed. Many times these messages are encouraging for some of us.

Sometimes for some of us this is teaching, maybe new teaching that you're unfamiliar with and even sometimes this can be corrected because we all need to be corrected at different times in our life. But for me as an elder in the life of the church and the elder called to preach the Word week in and week out, this is part of me living out one of my life verses, 1st Peter 5 verses 1, 2 and 3. Peter is speaking to elders. He says I'm an elder and I'm addressing you elders and what does he say in verse 2?

"Shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight." That is what I am here to do is to shepherd you and to oversee you with the Word of God because we want you to be all that God wants you to be. Now this morning and next Sunday morning we will be looking at Jesus teaching on prayer from Luke 11. Now these are very familiar verses for me. These are verses that God has used in my life in a very great way and at different times in my life. To be honest with you I can remember vividly the first time God used Luke 11 in my life and the teaching from these verses.

Back when I was a layman before God called me into the ministry in my home church, I call it my home church, I wasn't raised there. I was converted at the age of 20 and God put me in a church. We had a very powerful and vibrant men's prayer ministry and within that prayer ministry Luke 11 became one of the foundation passages. I went back and looked at one of my retired study Bibles. I looked at some of the notes that I had made back in the early and mid 2000s. God brought these verses back into my life in 2003 and 2004 and I have all types of notes from that particular time in my life when God was using these verses.

So this is familiar teaching and this is familiar teaching for you because we have taught on prayer and even preached from these passages before. Now in these two messages I will divide the verses of course and I will make application to you to meet us from the verses but I will also bring to you some resources that will help you in your prayer life and these will be very beneficial for you. Now first of all I want to break down the verses properly for you and if we break down the verses properly it helps you get your mind around where we are going.

This is what we might call the outline you're familiar with that because I break down the verses in outline form every time I preach the word. So you see how we're going to divide verses 1 through 4. Out of verse 1 we have the inquiry by the disciples. The disciples are coming to Jesus. They're making an inquiry of him concerning prayer. Then we have the model prayer. Luke gives us an abbreviated version compared to what we find in the book of Matthew but we have the model prayer in verses 2, 3, 4. You see the title of the message? I call it our great need learning how to pray. We always encourage you to take notes.

Not only do we want you to take those notes but we want you to be attentive to listening to the message and if the message speaks to you you can go back and listen again. These are truths many times that we have to go back to over and over so that we can get all that God wants us to get and the internal work of God would be complete. So let's look at our verses starting in verse 1. "And it came about that while he was praying," this he is Jesus. Most of your modern translations will have he capitalized.

"So and it came about while Jesus was praying in a certain place after he had finished one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'" Just as John also taught his disciples. And then here in verse 2 we see the Lord's Prayer or the model prayer. "And he said to them, 'When you pray, say, 'Father, hallowed be thy name.' Thy kingdom come." Verse 3, "Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us our sin against us and lead us not into temptation." Now I'll pause there because next week we will pick back up in verse 5.

We only have time to cover verses 1 through 4 but let's look at our first major truth, this inquiry by the disciples of Jesus in verse 1. Now verse 1 can easily be overlooked so let's go back. What do we see? "And it came about while he," Jesus was praying, "in a certain place after he had finished one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.'" Now I use this word inquiry on purpose. Webster defines this word as a request for information. Webster goes on to say that this can be an investigation often of a matter of public interest. Now that is what's taking place here.

The disciples are making a request. They are investigating not just for information but to learn. They are desiring to learn something. They are asking the Lord Jesus to teach them how to pray and we will see that there are two major components to learning how to pray when we come back and apply this verse. So hold on to those two major components because they're key but I want us to make some observations out of the verse. First I want us to see that Jesus was praying in a certain place. Isn't that what we see right away? And it came about that while he was praying in a certain place.

We must see and we must know in our hearts that Jesus was about prayer. This is one of the major characteristics of his life while he was on earth. Often this is overlooked. Often this is ignored. And often this is never seen by many but that was not the case with the disciples. Just in the short portion of verse 1, it is obviously understood by the disciples that Jesus was about prayer. This was not a one-time thing. To them it was a major characteristic of his life but we need to see in the Gospel of Luke how many times Luke mentions Jesus being engaged in prayer.

If you study all the Gospels it's Luke that shows us Jesus and prayer the most. I'll give you a quick list. In Luke chapter 3 verse 21 we see Jesus in prayer at his baptism. Luke 5, 12 shows us Jesus in prayer as the crowds begin to increase and follow him. In Luke 6, 12 it shows Jesus praying all night before he chose the 12 disciples. Luke 9, 18 shows Jesus in prayer as he asks the disciples about their confession. Luke 9, 29 shows Jesus in prayer at the Mount of Transfiguration. And then here in Luke 11 verse 1 we see that Jesus was in prayer in a certain place.

And then if we skip over into Mark, Mark 1, 35 shows the disciples knew that he prayed alone. So all of these verses show that Jesus' life was characterized by prayer and here in Luke 11 we see Jesus praying in a certain place and the disciples knew that that was a part of his life. Second observation, we see that John was a man of prayer. Now this John mention is none other than John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus and look at that one portion of verse. They came and they said Lord teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples. Now there is just one portion of verse that mentions John and his prayer life.

This does not directly say that John was a man of prayer but there is a definite implication here. For more insight into John the Baptist prayer life we have to go back into the book of Luke. If we go back in chapter 1 and chapter 3 we will see how John was a man of prayer. Luke chapter 1 verse 80 it shows how John grew up in seclusion. He grew up in the desert. And what do we see in chapter 1 verse 80? We see that he was devoted to prayer and we see that he was walking in the spirit, growing in the spirit. So my question for you is this. How in the world did John grow? What did he have to facilitate spiritual growth as he is in the desert?

He had the Old Testament scriptures and prayer which was communion with God. And then Luke 3 3 2 shows John knowing the voice of God. He did not make himself publicly seen until he had heard the voice of God. So how did he know the voice of God? It was because he grew up in prayer and in communion with God as he was in the desert. So no doubt we see that John was a man of prayer and no doubt he practiced that prayer even as he was engaged in his public ministry. The disciples knew that. And then third John taught his disciples to pray. Look at the verse.

"Lord teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples to pray." Here we see that the disciples knew for certain that John taught his followers to pray. This seems to have been common knowledge among them. This was obvious information to them. No doubt some of those followers of John had begun to follow Jesus. No doubt the disciples knew some of John's disciples who had become disciples of Jesus. And they knew that they were men of prayer because John had taught them to pray. So just in verse 1 what do we see? The disciples came to Jesus with a request. They wanted to learn how to pray. Jesus prayer life had impacted them.

John and John teaching his disciples to pray had impacted them as well. And the disciples obviously had two things going on in their lives. Right here in this verse. First they must have been drawn to Jesus and his prayer life. Now sometimes I'll use my imagination in these verses. I wonder how many times they watched him go and come in prayer and they were drawn to Jesus and drawn to that prayer life. And finally it came to a place where they could say, "Lord teach us to pray as we've watched you pray." And then there must have been a burning desire in their souls to learn how to pray. So there was a drawing I believe and a burning.

I said earlier that there were two major components to learning how to pray that are found here in this verse. And let me show you with these two major components. First, great examples. Great examples. Isn't that what we see with the testimony of the disciples? "Lord we watch you pray. We observe you in prayer. You're an example of prayer. We know John was a man of prayer and we know his disciples were men of prayer. Now teach us to pray." And that is the second major component and that is teaching. Teaching on prayer and without these two major components an individual will never learn how to pray.

The great examples of prayer and teaching from the Word of God on prayer. Isn't that what we see here in these verses? The disciples are blown away by those examples starting with the Lord and then going on down. And then they are impacted by the teaching. Now for you and I, just out of this one verse, we see that we must be people of prayer. We must learn how to pray and we must be drawn to prayer. We must enter into the school of prayer and refuse to drop out and refuse to fail the course. But this is no ordinary school.

This is a school of higher learning and I'm convinced that there are many Christians who never really get to the place of true prayer. They dabble in prayer. They touch in prayer. But those who really learn how to pray, they enter the school of higher learning of walking with God and praying above and beyond. Now I want to take this application a little further and I want to apply these two major components. Remember? That's what they had. The examples that were before them and the teaching that was put into their life. First, the great examples.

We have the benefit of church history and I want to challenge you to become a student of church history. We can help you with this. Sit at the feet of men and women who have walked with God before us and look at how they prayed. I'll give you an example. Go to your Christian bookstore or order it offline or we will loan you a copy but get in your hands the journal of Jim Elliot. Jim Elliot was a famous Christian missionary who was martyred for taking the gospel to a primitive Indian people in South America. But if you read his journals you will see that he was devoted to prayer. That's one of the things I did earlier in the fall.

I read through just watching and learning of how he commune with God and walk with God. I'll give you another great example. One of the greatest missionaries that ever walked the soil, American soil, was David Brainerd. David Brainerd was a great missionary to the American Indians. He died at a very early age of tuberculosis and his journal writings were never meant to be published but ultimately they were and it's difficult because you can see how he struggles with God. I ran across an abbreviated version of Brainerd's journals. It was published by an old Presbyterian named Oswald J.

Smith but what we see in David Brainerd's journals is how he prayed, how he was a man of prayer and devoted to prayer. Another great example is the biography of Jonathan Edwards by an author named Ian Murray published by Banner of Truth Publishing and when you read about Jonathan Edwards who is one of the greatest theological minds our country has ever produced, he was first and foremost a man of prayer but probably the greatest work in my opinion on prayer. Brother Keith gave us a quotation from this individual as a man named Ian Bounds lived in the 1800s. He has this work that's been published. It's called Ian Bounds on Prayer.

It's a rather large volume but if you really want to get to his best work you pick up a little book called Power Through Prayer by Ian Bounds. Now why do I give you this short list and there are many more. These are great examples that we can bring into our life that will be giants to us. Isn't that what we see with the disciples? There's the giant example of Christ. There's the giant example of John the Baptist.

There are the giant examples of John's converts and John's disciples and they are staring in the face of these great examples and that draws them to the school of prayer and we need to put around us men and women who have been in the school the higher education of prayer and they need to be giants that we always look up to. And then also there's the teaching. You know all of God's word is good. All of God's word is true.

All of God's word could be taught but I'm firmly I firmly believe that there are certain teaching that we need to revisit and I believe Luke chapter 11 and these verses on prayer are portions of Scripture that we need to come back to regularly. Brother Keith would attest to you that he comes back to this teaching regularly and we need to digest the teaching on prayer and not just in Luke 11 but all through the scriptures. Why? Because we are taught how to pray from God's word. What did Jesus do? And when they asked to pray he sat down and taught them how to pray. So what do we see in this first major truth?

The disciples they inquired of Jesus as to how to pray and what did he do? He said okay if you want to know how to pray I'm fixing to put you in the school of prayer. Let's continue on our second major truth. Notice the model of prayer that was taught by Jesus. Now these are very familiar words. Like I said Luke's version is an abbreviated version as compared to some of the others. What does he say? When you pray say, "Father, hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we also forgive others anyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation." Now often this is called the Lord's Prayer. Not because Jesus prayed this prayer, he never did, but because he taught his disciples this prayer. Many people will see this prayer and they were repeated. Sometimes in our culture we hear people repeat the Lord's Prayer. I'm sad to say that many times this is mundane. This is just liturgical at best.

Now traditionally we do not repeat this prayer but we need to see that this is a pattern of prayer and I believe that we desperately need to be reminded of this or taught this for the very first time. We need to see this pattern and we need to apply this pattern to our prayer life. Several observations out of these verses I want to make. Notice the first thing he says is, "This is how you pray our Father." Look at verse 2, "When you pray say Father." Now if we're not careful we can skip over that word Father. Now this word Father and this title of Father is only found a very few times like this in the Old Testament.

One commentator I read said only 15 times and none are addressed to God in prayer in these Old Testament examples but that's not the case in the New Testament. This title is used 65 times in the synoptic Gospels and over a hundred times in John's gospel. And this speaks of the relationship that the converted have to God after salvation. And we see this taught by Paul in Romans 4 starting in verse 14 on down to verse 17. Notice how Paul uses this word, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Let me pause there.

"When we're born again we become a son, a child of God." Verse 15, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" And that is a term of endearment. That is a term that reflects a very close relationship. Verse 16, "The Holy Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." See, we're redeemed. "And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him." What is the language here? This is a close relationship.

And this approach to God, this calling God, Father, is only for those who are truly converted, they truly know God, and this of course is applied to the disciples. Go back to the verse. What does he say? "And he said to him, 'When you pray, say, 'Father.'" "Abba, Father," a term that reflects a close relationship. But then second, notice he says, "To praise His name." "Father, hallowed be thy name." Now, all of the translations that we study, the modern translations, use this word "hallowed." And this word means glorified, it means honor, it means praise, and for God's name to be hallowed or honored, this simply means that God and His name receive the honor and the praise that He deserves.

God's name speaks of His unchanging, holy character, and His attributes. To praise His name means to honor His name in all He is and all that God represents. This is not a petition, this is more of an act of worship. Jesus was calling His disciples to honor and praise the name of the God that they knew and they loved, and to honor and praise all that God represented. So they were called to praise His name.

Then the third observation, notice, "Your kingdom come." He calls them to pray, "Your kingdom come." "Father, hallowed or praised be thy name." "Thy kingdom come." Now, although the kingdom had already come in the coming of Jesus to earth, this prayer speaks of the future consummation of Christ's eternal and final kingdom. It is this final future kingdom that the true believer yearns for and prays for. Paul speaks of this yearning in Romans 8.23. Listen to what he says, "And not only the creation, but we ourselves, we have the first fruits of the Spirit.

We groan inwardly as we await eagerly for adoption of sons and the redemption of our bodies. Policing, we yearn to be made whole and to be with Him in glory in the future." So Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray for the consummation of His future kingdom in glory. And then the third observation, or excuse me, the fourth observation, notice he says, "To pray about the giving of daily bread." Verse 3, "Give us each day our daily bread." Beginning here, we have the we have three petitions within this prayer. Now, in the original language, this word daily is kind of an obscure word.

There's been a debate as to its meaning, but the English translations translators really have gotten the message of the verse correct. Here, Jesus is teaching the disciples not to worry about tomorrow's provision, but to focus on today's provision and the most basic of provisions, food, and in their day, bread was the most basic staple item provided. Bread was eaten at almost every meal. No doubt the disciples would have remembered what took place with their forefathers. Remember, their forefathers were the one who came out of Egyptian slavery, and they were wandering in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised Canaan land.

And what do we see in Exodus 16? "God fed them by raining down manna from heaven." Now, how much manna did God give them? He gave them only the amount for that day, except for those days that time pertaining to the Sabbath. Now, Jesus was teaching them to ask for their daily needs and not to worry about tomorrow. Give us our daily bread. And then the fifth observation, again, this is the second petition. He urges them to pray that God would help them with forgiveness.

Look at verse 4, "And forgive our sins," us, our sins, "for we ourselves also forgive anyone who is indebted to us or have sinned against us." Here in verse 4, there are two actions going on here in this prayer. First, forgiveness for their sins. Now, this is not for salvation, but after salvation. They were to seek forgiveness for their daily sins. And then second, forgiveness is extended to others who might have sinned against them. Now, the verb here, "we ourselves also forgive," is in the present tense, which indicates that they were to be always ready and willing to forgive others.

Interestingly, it seems that Jesus is teaching that those who do not forgive others may actually be revealing that they do not know God's forgiveness in the first place. And so, Jesus is teaching them to pray for personal forgiveness in their walk with God and for God to help them maintain forgiveness for others. And then the sixth observation, he urges them to pray that God would guide them in temptation. Go back to the verse, verse 4, "and lead us not into temptation." Here, this is this third petition, but we need to be careful here. This does not teach that God would tempt or entice the disciples or any Christian to do evil.

We learned this back in our study in James. In James chapter 1, verses 1 through 15, it teaches that God does not tempt anyone or any person with evil. Jesus is saying that they would be tested in their faithfulness. This word in the original temptation can be translated "tempted." I think of a great example. Later on, in the life of Peter, one of the disciples, what does Jesus say? Satan has desired to sift you, and he had a great temptation and he had a great test. And we know what Peter did. He failed that test and he failed to temptation and he denied Christ.

So naturally, they were tempted, and he is saying, he is urging them to pray that God would lead them in their tests and when temptation would come their way. So what do we see here in these verses? This short version of the model prayer. This is a pattern for prayer that Jesus is giving his disciples. He is teaching them how to pray. This is intimate. This speaks of an intimate relationship. First of all, he says, "You pray, Father. I'm a father.

You pray to the God that you know and you love." This puts them where they belong in relation to God because he says, "Honor God, praise God, praise his name in all that God represents." You see the order? They're exalting God and they're humbling themselves. And then he simply gives them three petitions. Pray that God would meet your daily needs. Pray that God would enable you to live a life of forgiveness and that God would lead you through trials and when temptations come. Now in application, we need to see the pattern here.

We need to get over how familiar we are or maybe we need to get past the fact that some people repeat this prayer without giving it any thought. The prayer was not given that we would repeat it in a rote fashion. This is a pattern for prayer. You see? When we're truly born again, when we are redeemed, we can look to heaven and we can say these words, "Our Father, my Father that I know and I love." And we immediately are called to praise God, to praise His holy name, to honor Him in all that He is and does and all that He represents. And we are pray to yearn for kingdom work.

We are pray to yearn for the future consummation of that eternal kingdom and then in this pattern we're to call to pray three simple petitions. Pray for our daily needs. Pray that God would help us to be a forgiving people and experience His forgiveness and to pray that He would lead us in temptation. Now in application, a little further, I want to challenge you to make this pattern a part of your prayer life. I want to challenge you to examine your prayer life and is this the template that you use? Is this your heart as you approach God? And let me tell you something. This pattern, this simple pattern will keep you in check.

If you honor God and praise God, if you honor God and extol God and if you exalt God for all He is and all He represents, then you will automatically be humbled. If you pray for kingdom work, God will call you into kingdom work. If you yearn for kingdom work on earth and in glory, He will draw you into kingdom work. How many of you could be free from worry? How many of you could be free from the worry of tomorrow and the next week and the next year if you will get to the place where all you desire is daily bread, daily needs that are being met? How many of you would be free from burdens?

How many of you would be free from maybe bitterness if you were to pray over forgiveness? Maybe some of you struggle with forgiving some who have wronged you. Maybe some of you struggle with forgiving maybe a spouse or maybe a son or a daughter, maybe a neighbor or a friend. And how many of you need God to walk with you through the daily temptations and trials that come our way? See how those few verses, if we will bring that pattern into our life, can give us victory and our personal everyday prayer life. Now when we look at these verses, verses 1 through 4, it might not seem like the higher education of prayer.

It might seem like the kindergarten of prayer, but that is where it begins. Now as we move away from these verses, like I said earlier, this is the first of two messages on prayer that we, Brother Keith and I, we believe that we all need. We believe that we need as a church and individuals a great work of prayer in all of our lives. And I believe that many of us desire to be a better Christian. I believe many of you would say, "Yes, I want to be a stronger Christian in the New Year." I believe some of you would say, "Yes, I want to be a more obedient Christian in the New Year." I believe that many of us want to be used of God in our lives.

I believe that many of you would say, "Yes, I want to be used of God in the church." But I want to be honest here. I believe some of you are held back maybe by ignorance. You are ignorant of the teaching on prayer. You're ignorant of the prayer life. And that does not mean necessarily that you are in sin. It just means that you have not been taught. I believe that some of us here maybe are held back by pride. And I believe that some of us here can be held back by self-sufficiency. See, self-sufficiency is always tied to pride because when we're self-sufficient we say, "No, Lord, I got it." And at the root of that is pride.

And I believe maybe that there are some here you can't be a man or a woman of prayer because you do not know God is of a father. You're not converted. Now I really think we fail to see that the disciples were in the best place right here in verse 1. Look back at verse 1. "And it came about that while he was praying, he was in a certain place. After he finished one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'" And we might not realize it, but we need to be right here in verse 1. Lord, teach us to pray.

Now if we were to take a survey, I mean if we were to take a pen and a pad and we were to take a survey, I believe that we would see that we would grasp and we would say that if we had certain things in our lives we would be better Christians. Let me help you here. I believe if I were to come to some of you, if I were to take a notepad and a pencil and maybe I got real honest and you got honest with me, I believe there are some of you here you would say, "You know if I just had Jesus a little closer in my life I could be a better Christian." Maybe you're struggling, maybe you're going through trial.

I believe some of you would say, "If Jesus was just a little closer maybe if I could see him, if I could hear his voice, I could be a better Christian in my trial and my difficulty and in the new year." I believe some of you would say, if I got honest with you and you got honest with me, I believe some of you would say, "If I just had better doctrine, if I had the straightest theology that I could have." I believe some of you would say that if your theology was straighter and tighter, you might be a better Christian in the new year.

I believe if some of you were to be honest you would say, "If I could read the Bible more, if I could learn more of the Bible, I could be a better Christian in the new year." I believe if some of you were honest when it came to church work, some of you would say, "If we had more people then I could serve more and if we had more people and the church was bigger then we could do more and then I could be a better Christian." I believe some of you, if you were honest, you would say that if I had more time to serve the Lord and serve the church, I could be a better Christian.

Well, to be honest with you, disciples had all those things in their lives. Right here in verse 11, right before them, right at their fingertips, they had every single thing in that list. They had Christ Jesus right in front of them. They had the best teacher teaching the straightest doctrine in theology right in front of them. They had the living Word breathing in their face. They had vast crowds following Jesus and they had all the time in the world to serve the Lord because they had left everything. But what did they need? They need a prayer. What the disciples say. They had a burning desire to learn how to pray.

They said, "Lord, we see the giants of prayer and we have a burning desire in our heart to pray. Teach us to pray." And then what did the Lord do? He started off by giving them a simple pattern. Now as we close the message, move to the conclusion, "I want to say this to you as your pastor and I put myself in the same category that I put you. In the new year, if we're gonna be what God wants us to be, I believe we have to implement this simple, profound pattern in our daily life.

I think this could correct a multitude of sins and hang-ups and problems and this could put this on the trajectory to receive the prayer life that God wants us to have. So what do we see? Our great need. Learning how to pray. Let's pray and then we will close. Receiving this message, taking this with us, not just hearing it. Taking our notes, listening, praying and receiving and wanting God to do this work in us. Let's pray.