Learning to Pray, Part 1: Our Father

Type: Wednesday Evening Service

Series: Fresh Fire: Learning to Pray

Sermon: Part 1: Our Father

🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen

Prayer is not a distant ritual but a living, relational conversation rooted in understanding God as a loving Father. Jesus radically reframes prayer by inviting believers into the same intimate, secure relationship He has with God, shifting prayer from fear and formality to confidence and trust. When identity as God’s adopted children is embraced, prayer becomes two-way communication marked by access, provision, protection, and transformation.

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Additional Info

The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.

Praying Right: How to Build a Real Relationship With God

Prayer is woven into the human heart, crossing cultures, generations, and belief systems. People instinctively reach beyond themselves because they know deep down that they were not designed to live alone or self-sufficient. Yet while prayer may be natural, praying rightly is something that must be learned and practiced.

Jesus assumed prayer would be part of daily life, saying “when you pray,” not “if you pray.” The real issue is not whether people pray, but how they pray. Prayer is not about reciting perfect words or repeating memorized phrases. It is about developing an ongoing conversation with God that reflects trust, honesty, and dependence.

Prayer requires the right motives. Jesus warned against praying to impress others or to manipulate God. When prayer becomes a performance, its reward is limited to human approval. When prayer becomes repetition without relationship, it loses its power. God desires sincerity, not spiritual showmanship.

Creating space for prayer is essential. Jesus encouraged withdrawing to a quiet place, shutting out distractions, and meeting privately with God. This is not about a physical location alone, but about intentional focus. A consistent, sacred space helps cultivate attentiveness, clarity, and intimacy with God.

God already knows what people need before they ask, but prayer invites Him into the process. Prayer does not change God’s nature; it changes the heart of the one praying. Over time, prayer aligns desires with God’s will and strengthens spiritual endurance.

The Word ignites faith, worship stirs passion, but prayer sustains the flame. A faithful prayer life fuels spiritual growth, renews perspective, and deepens relationship with God. When prayer becomes relational rather than transactional, the fire burns brighter and steadier through every season of life.

• Full Transcript

  Good evening Any of you guys have the Lord's Prayer memorized? Yeah, pretty much. Yes, sir. I like it. I like it. I want to say thank you for all of your prayers. You know, I had surgery on Monday, and I guess I have to be honest and say that had I known what the recovery would be like, I wouldn't have scheduled it for the day I have a board meeting. and then the day after I have an important staff meeting and then the day after that I have to preach. I probably would have scheduled it for like a Thursday early morning so that I would have had a little bit extra recovery time. So I'm going to leave the glasses on for the most part so that you don't have to look at me. I look like I was a UFC fighter and I lost, just so you know. And so it looks like I've been punched in the eye a couple of times, but the doctor said that the surgery went perfect. So I love that they use that word because I received that completely in Jesus' name. And I don't know if you remember the genesis of all of this. I've had this little growth on my eye for 20 years, and it has never caused me any problems. And in two years, my vision went from 2020 to 2300 in one eye. And so I'm believing that's going to be turned around completely in Jesus' name. Who agrees with me? Amen. Thank you guys so much. A little five-year-old girl disobeyed her father and was sent to her room. And after a few minutes, dad went to have a talk with his daughter about why she was being disciplined. Teary-eyed, the little girl said, why do we do wrong things? Dad answered, well, the devil tells us to do wrong things and we listen to him. We need to learn to listen to God instead. The little girl responded, but God doesn't talk loud enough. Wow. If that doesn't hit the nail on the head right there, I've had person after person in all of my years of ministry say, how do you know when God is talking? How can you recognize the voice of God? And I have discovered it's really not as difficult as we make it out to be. And so tonight we're going to just, you know, touch the tip of the iceberg a little bit. We're going to talk about prayer over the next two months on Wednesday nights, focused primarily on the Lord's Prayer. And so I just need you to know that the problem's not God's. He's speaking every single day to every single one of us on a regular and consistent basis. And God has given us a beautiful gift called prayer. Who can say amen? So if you were here Sunday with us, we learned a couple of things. Number one, we learned that prayer is communication with God. Plain and simple, communication with God. Number two, we learned that prayer is natural. We all have this instinct. It doesn't matter if we're Christian or non-Christian. Did you know 20% of atheists admit to praying just in case someone's listening? Just in case. They want to make sure that, you know, they got all their bases covered. But praying right needs to be learned. Say learned. So tonight we're beginning what I would like to call a mini-series or a subset series to what it is that we're doing on Sunday mornings. It's still a part of our fresh fire emphasis, but we will be focused primarily only on prayer on Wednesday nights and more specifically, as I said, the Lord's Prayer. And our goal will be to learn from the very mouth of Jesus Christ himself what it means to pray. So we're going to pull up our first scripture for today, Luke 11, verse 1. remember the Lord's Prayer is actually found in two different portions of Scripture. It's found in Luke, and it's also found in Matthew. And I'm just starting with Luke chapter 11. Most of my teaching for Sunday mornings is really from Matthew chapter 6. But Luke 11 once says something really interesting. Now, it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, now I don't know if you remember or not, But we tried to help you identify a couple of places that you might want to pray in your own personal life. I asked this simple question at the end of the service on Sunday. If you were to designate one place in your home as holy ground, how would it change your prayer life? How would it change your family? How would it change our church if all of us actually had a prayer closet? That's exactly what we're talking about, a prayer closet. Now, it doesn't have to be a closet, although my mother-in-law made herself a closet, okay? It can be a chair. It can be your porch. It can be nature. It can be a walk around the lake, but it needs to be a place where you always and consistently meet with God himself. It says when he sees. So look at this. One of the disciples said to him, are you getting the image here? So Jesus is praying, and the disciples are all standing around watching him. They're not praying. They're not engaged with the Father in any way, shape, or form. They're either waiting. They're watching. They're wondering what's happening. They're noticing something significant taking place in the spirit realm, something that they've probably never experienced themselves. And the reason I can say that with confidence is because the scripture says, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Listen, listen, listen. At least three of the disciples were John's disciples. So they are admitting that even John the Baptist did not teach us to pray effectively. Something is missing in our prayers. They don't have the same power. They don't have the same intimacy. They don't have the same connection with God. It is a startling, startling request that they make. So tonight we're going to begin something that could quietly reshape how our entire church prays. And you might say, Pastor, you're overstating it. No, I'm not. I'm not even overstating even tonight's message alone. If you grasp it, if you comprehend it, and I'm not talking about in the brain, I'm talking about when you hear a revelation, when you hear a rhema from the very voice of God, it can transform your prayer life tonight in Jesus' name. Who can say amen? So it can move from formal to personal. It can move from one-sided to a two-way conversation. It can move from duty to delight. Jesus teaches his disciples to begin with a simple two-word phrase. When you pray, say, Our Father. Would you repeat that with me? Our Father. One more time. Our Father. Yeah. Our Father. Now I know many of you have heard this before. I know many of you say, yeah, yeah, I'm familiar. I've got this prayer memorized. Remember, this isn't about intellectual perception. This is about hearing the voice of God with a logos that transforms into a rhema. A written word that becomes a revelation that is so real It rocks your world in the name of Jesus Christ. Those two words on the surface do not sound shocking at all. But to first century Jews, they were radical. To first century Jews, it was something they had never really considered before. The point is how you see God determines how you approach Him. How you see God determines how you pray. Because these two words, our Father, indicate a radical shift in perspective. And here's my concern. That many 21st century Christians still have a Jewish perspective when it comes to God. We see God the same way as first century Jews did and not how Jesus wanted us to understand who he was. So let me communicate it like this. The Jewish approach to prayer is the Moses approach. Moses is standing before the burning bush and God reveals himself as I am. In every story. How many of you have actually watched Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments? Okay, so I'm with the right crew here. Some of you haven't. Maybe you saw the animated one out of Egypt or something like that. Whichever movie you've seen, whichever display you've ever seen, God's voice was always thunderous. Moses. Right? Every single time, in every single movie, It's this thunderous, loud, intimidating, even scary voice because that's the perception of the average Jew. Not of a 21st century Christian, but later this God I Am became known as Jehovah. Now listen, his name was so holy and he was so holy, you were not even allowed to speak his name. Is that endearing? no it doesn't cause you to run to the father it causes you to run away from the father he was also known as the almighty in other words he was powerful invincible unstoppable but each and every one of these characteristics all contributed to god feeling distant and far away you had to approach him through priests. Couldn't do it yourself. Sacrifices because you didn't measure up. Rituals because that's what all the other nations did. Even fear. You didn't get close to God. You stayed really, really careful. You appeased God. You didn't talk to God. But Jesus' approach to prayer was completely different. Jesus shows up and when he prays, he calls God Father. Not creator, not judge, not almighty. Jesus' approach focuses on God as Father. Say Father. Then watch this. Then he teaches us to do the same thing. That means when Jesus says our Father, He's not just describing his relationship with God. He's inviting you and me into the exact, did you hear me? The exact same relationship. Not a lower kind of relationship. Not a worse kind of relationship. Jesus is saying, God is both my father and your father. Anybody getting this? Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is liking his dad to your dad. You can have the same relationship with God that Jesus has. This is radical. This is a great shift. This is monumental in nature. God is no longer distant. He's no longer unapproachable. He's no longer a stranger. God now becomes family. Think about this. you're not tolerated. You're not a visitor. You're not a stranger or a servant. You are a son or a daughter of the living God himself. Do not forget how you see God determines how you're going to pray. It determines how you're going to approach him. If you see him as distant, you're going to pray very sporadically. If you see him as angry, you're going to pray nervously. If you see him as a boss, you'll pray formally. But if you see him as father, you're going to pray honestly. You're going to pray hopefully. You're going to pray with great expectation as if he was actually your father who can say amen. Have you ever prayed that way? Have you ever prayed thinking, you know what, God's going to answer my prayer because he's my dad. Or do you think, I don't know if he's going to answer it. I've been pretty bad this week. I'm just wanting you to think about this. Because my children could misbehave completely. And when they asked me for dinner, never one time did I say, nope, no dinner for you. As a matter of fact, I'm not going to feed you for the next month because you were bad. I provided for them meal after meal after meal by grace. Simply because they were my son or my daughter. They didn't have to perform for me to provide for them. I just provided because I was dad. Who can say amen? Now, I don't want you to forget the word our either. Both words are important. Both words are significant. Yes, Father is the emphasis, but our is also important. Jesus' approach focuses on you and I as family. I mean, to me, this is really interesting. Jesus, in all of the Gospels, oftentimes referred to God as his Father. He would say, my Father in heaven, my Father in heaven, my Father in heaven. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7, over a dozen times he describes that God is your Father. So he's trying to communicate that there's a personal relationship that you can have with God, but only once. Isn't this interesting? Only one time does he say, our Father. Now it's recorded twice, but it's once in Matthew and once in Luke, but it's the same occasion. this immediately destroys the silo mentality of prayer. This is one of the reasons why we have prayer teams and prayer partners. This is one of the reasons why where two or three are gathered, not where one is gathered. Two or three are gathered. When we pray, we aren't just coming to a my God. We're coming to a family table. So I want you to look at your neighbor right now and say, he's our father. he's our father he's our dad we are in this thing together number two what father really means so the rest of this sermon there's only two points to this sermon the rest of this sermon is all focused on this word father uh can you turn it to the the next uh screen for me well there you go there you go what father really means I'm going to Romans chapter 8 15, 16 and just a little bit of 17 to help you understand four different concepts that Paul gives us in this little tiny portion of scripture and if we understand these concepts I'm telling you are going to become a prayer warrior in the name of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 8, this is what it says, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Paul expounds on Jesus' picture of God being Father. And here are the four powerful ideas. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear. Do you notice that this is what we talked about week one for Fresh Fire? That God has not given us the spirit of fear? It seems like fear is one of the top enemies that we fight against when it comes to really believing that God's on our side. that the devil continues to say and lie to us and say, God doesn't care. God isn't interested. God doesn't hear. God's not going to answer your prayer. And the Spirit of God is saying, that's not true. You don't have to live under the bondage of this Spirit any longer. And here's the number one reason why, is because you have been adopted. You have been adopted into the family of God. Now, you might think, okay, I've heard that before. But do you understand that this is not a Jewish concept here at all? Okay? This is not a Grecian concept. This is a relatively new concept in the world at that day, and it was strictly Roman. Okay? And the reason this concept came into being was because there would be wealthy Romans who had huge estates and their sons were killed in battle. And so they would go to some slave or some poor person and say, give me your son. Let me adopt them and I'll give you a million dollars or a thousand dollars or whatever it is. and there would be a trade that would take place. And so the new adoptive father would legally, so this is a legal relationship. Say legal. The new father would legally become the father of this adopted person. They could be a baby. They could be a teenager. They could be 35 years old. and you could adopt someone so that they would be a legal heir of yours. When Paul writes in Romans 8 that we have received the spirit of adoption, this is not sentimental language, okay? He's using a legal phrase that only the Romans understood. It was serious business, and like I said before, It was reserved for the wealthy. If you were adopted in Rome, four life-altering things would happen the moment the papers were signed. Okay? Number one, your identity is changed. You're no longer the one you used to be. In Rome, a father had absolute power over his children. Listen to this. If I wanted to kill my son or daughter as a Roman father, there was nothing the courts would do about it. But listen, I could never do that to an adopted son or daughter. Adoption had higher, more strict rights than biological parenting did. It was a brand new idea, a brand new phenomena. To be adopted, you had to be legally released from your old father and, quote, claimed by your new one. When you call God Father, listen, you are declaring that your old master, the devil, no longer has authority in your life. You now no longer follow sin, shame, guilt, any of those things. You have been bought with a price and you have a new head of household who can say amen. God's the new head of your house because you're a new person in Christ Jesus. That's why prayer doesn't start with effort. It starts with identity. You see, you will only recognize God as Father when you realize you've been adopted into his family. That means your position is legally changed in Jesus' name. So that when we pray, devil, get your hands off of me. I don't belong to you. We have the authority to do that. Right? We have the authority to do those kinds of things. Number two, your debts are canceled. Your debts are canceled. The moment the adoption was finalized, the law viewed the person as a brand new creation. Legally, every debt you owed under your old name was canceled because your name was changed. It didn't just go on hold. It literally ceased to exist. When you enter the family of God, the fresh fire of his grace burns the ledger of 2025. It burns the ledger of 2024. It burns the ledger of 2023. Your past is incinerated in the name of Jesus Christ. Your past debts are not just forgiven. They are non-existent in God's eyes. They don't even exist anymore. Number three, your inheritance is secured. In Roman law, an adopted son became a joint heir to the father's estate. In fact, if a man had biological sons, after he adopted a son, the adopted son still kept his full inheritance rights, usually which was double, okay? Even over the biological children, he could never be unadopted. You are never a second-class citizen in the kingdom of God. You are co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself. Everything that belongs to the kingdom of God, peace, power, authority, now has your name on it because your name is now the Father's name in Jesus' name. You have the Father's name. And number four, your future is totally and completely rewritten. You can start anew any moment, any time. Adoption, for it to be valid, had to be witnessed, listen to this, by sometimes up to seven witnesses. And that's in case the father died and the biological kids came and said, this guy's not a part of the family. The witness would just rise up and say, no, I saw it. I saw the transaction. He's really a son. Now look at this. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Holy Spirit is the witness of what has happened in our lives. The Holy Spirit affirms your salvation, your redemption, your atonement, your justification, your rescue. All of those things are affirmed by the Holy Spirit himself. Paul says that this is what happens when we get saved. when the enemy whispers that you don't belong or that you've messed up too much to be a son, the Holy Spirit stands up in the courtroom of your heart and says, I was there. The adoption is real. The fire is fresh in Jesus' name. I was there. I saw it. He or she is a real son. That's just the word adoption. Number two, the word Abba. Abba, Father. this means an intimate relationship Romans specifically says by whom we cry out Abba, Father here's what's interesting this isn't a Greek word, an English word or a Hebrew word this is an Aramaic word and the translators of the Bible both all the way back to the Vulgate and many other translations through the centuries decided that the word was so different from father that it needed to be transliterated. That means that the actual Aramaic word is still in our Bible because it doesn't mean just formally father. It doesn't mean all of the things that these other languages have said. This specific word is ripe with meaning. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but Abba is not even a title. It's first a term of affection, a term of endearment. Abba is closer to dad or daddy, papa or poppy. It's the word a child uses when they trust someone completely. The message paraphrased by Eugene Peterson says this of this same verse. It's a life of childlike wonder saying, what's next, Papa? See, that's what prayer becomes when God is Abba. It's not scary. It's exciting. For some of you, this type of relationship might seem impossible. Maybe you have what some people call a father wound. Whenever I preach on God as father, there are people in the room whose earthly fathers were so bad that they struggled with this concept. Their dads were absent, abusive, yellers, screamers, mean-spirited, only loved you when you performed, wanted all A's on your report card or whatever it is. Maybe they were just emotionally cold and never connected with you in any way, shape, or form. But the psalmist tells us that God is a father of the fatherless. And that means whether you are a real orphan or you just feel orphaned by your original father, God wants to be your dad who can say amen. So this is what we have to work on. God isn't a reflection of our earthly fathers He's the perfection of our earthly fathers I want you to think of your ideal because many of us on a scale of 1 to 10 have had a 1 as a dad so when we think of God we think oh maybe God's just a little bit better than my dad but God is not your earthly father enlarged He is the perfection of every good thing you've ever wished for in a father He isn't the one who left. He's the one who stayed. He isn't the one who yelled. He's the one who whispered, you are mine. You are cherished. You are loved. Right now, I want you to close your eyes just for a moment. And if you have a father wound in this moment, exchange that image of that pain with the image we've been painting over the last few moments and allow God to become your father in Jesus' name. Because listen, God is never, say never, he's never missing in action and he will never leave you. He'll never forsake you. So Abba is a term of affection, but it's also a term of access. Abba is a term of access. It doesn't just mean daddy. It's the word a child uses when they run into the house and need help. It's a word of access. Sometimes I laugh hysterically because as the grandfather of nine grandkids, one of my favorite things to do is to tease the grandkids. All right? And so I will become some kind of creature, some kind of monster, and I will chase kids and they will run hysterically like, oh, he's going to hurt us. He's going to destroy us, you know. And if they see their dad, they run and literally jump into his lap, jump into his arms. They grab his legs and what they'll say every time is, daddy, daddy, daddy, protect us. And I think it is so hilarious because in the palace of the king, only a king's kid can interrupt a meeting. Listen, not even the wife. That's what the story of Esther is all about. Only a child, because a child had what you would call interruption rights. I remember my father, where did he go? Wow. Oh, he moved spots. There he is. I remember my dad owned a store like in the local mall in Aberdeen, South Dakota. And I was like a young kid, probably 10 years of age, maybe even younger. I could have been nine at times. And I would walk downtown because I needed something. And I would walk on into that store and there were customers milling around. And there were salespeople, you know, trying shoes on people's feet because he owned this shoe store. And there was this big cash register over on the counter. And I would bypass all of that and sneak behind the curtain and go into the back room. Do you know why? Because I was the son of the owner. I was the son. Nobody could tell me what to do except for him. And so I could sneak down the stairs where all the shoes were. I could go behind the counter where the money was. I could do anything I wanted. I still remember this to this day. And so I knew what this meant to have my dad as Abba in this moment. Now, before we go any further, I think it's important for me to say this. Calling God Abba does not make him small. Are you hearing me? It just makes him accessible. It makes him close. That's why Jesus immediately follows our Father, which art in heaven. Oh, so he's not like your earthly father. We're talking about the being that not only created heaven and earth, but he is omnipresent and he's known as being from a different location, a different world than the one that we're talking about. And it goes on to say, hallowed. or holy is your name. Now, we're going to talk about that next week, so I don't want to get into it too much. But tonight, hear this. The Bible paints a beautiful portrait of what it means for God to be both Abba and Father. Because when you come back here, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Why do we have to say them in conjunction? I thought Abba would be sufficient. No. You need the Father because you need to understand that this is a paternal relationship. And that God, I wish we would just get this. God not only wants to take care of you, as Father, he has a responsibility to take care of you. Have you ever considered this before? Have you even thought, or are you so busy trying to measure up and make sure that what you're doing is right, that every time you sin, you think, oh, he's not gonna answer my prayers now. No, he has a parental responsibility. This is the unconditional love that a father has for their children. God is both a king on a throne and a father in a rocking chair. He has time for even your smallest requests because what are fathers known for? they are first and foremost known as providers. In Matthew chapter 7, which is right next to the Lord's Prayer in chapter 6, listen to this. I'm just going to read this prayer, and you let this sink in just a little bit. Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you for everyone. Does it really say that? Does it really say everyone? Okay, for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. And then he gives his reasoning. This is Jesus helping you to understand how this can even be possible. What man is there among you who if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? It's a rhetorical question. No one would do that. Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? No one will do that. And if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more, say more, will your Father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? He is a good, good Father. That's who you are. that's who you are and we're loved by him that's who I am that's who I am another trait of fatherly's love is is dad's responsibility to shape and prepare his children for adulthood this is the part we might not like so much because preparation and oftentimes requires discipline. Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that if it is the child he loves that God disciplines. It's the child he loves that he disciplines. Now, this is scary for a lot of people, but this is not about punishment. And I don't have much time here, so let me say this really quickly. Punishment is about the past. Discipline is about the future. Punishment is about paying for a previous mistake and Jesus took 100% of your punishment on the cross. Who can say amen? The punishment has been paid for, okay? So discipline is when God corrects you today. He's not getting even with you. He's getting you ready for what's next. A refiner puts gold into the fire not to destroy the gold but to separate the dross, the impurities from the precious metal itself. You are precious in God's sight. When God identifies a habit, an attitude, a relationship that needs to change, the father is simply saying, there's some ash here that's choking your fire. I'm trying to get rid of that. I love you too much to let you stay smothered. I'm going to turn up the heat not to burn you, but to burn the things that are holding you back. The refiner, the scripture says, never takes his eye off the clock or his hand off the thermostat. He knows exactly how much heat you need to be purified, but never more than you can bear who can say amen. So listen, if you're feeling the heat of conviction, whether it's tonight or any time, don't run from the fire. You need the fire to become who God wants you to become. Correction is never rejection. It's actually proof that you belong to God. Number three, protection. A father doesn't just watch his children. He stands between his children in the threat. Does that make sense to anybody? I mean, there are scriptures after scriptures after scriptures that show that God is going to protect you until the very end. Even the Lord's prayer, and we're going to get into this in a little bit, the last line or two is all about defeating the devil, having victory over the devil, not just once. I wish Christians would understand that we can win the battle with temptation every single time. Now, you might say that's Pollyanna, that's pie in the sky, and all of those kinds of things, but Paul tells us that there's no temptation that's not common. There's no temptation that not only is common, But somebody else has had the victory over that because God gave them a way through it. Who can say amen? And so since God's no respecter of persons, he will give the same path of escape for you the same way he gave it to somebody else. You can count on that again and again and again. Finally, this is a spiritual relationship. The spirit himself bears witness. So here we're talking about spirit again. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So, again, I don't have a lot of time here. I've maybe got three or four minutes. But listen closely. Number one, prayer is two-way communication. This is extremely important. It's not shouting into the sky, trying to get God's attention, trying to be loud enough. It is the Spirit of God on the inside of us whispering. See, everybody's wanting an audible voice. Listen, it's not coming. Okay? And when you search for an audible, you will miss the whisper. When you keep looking for something fantastic. Remember when the Pharisees and Sadducees asked for signs and wonders. Jesus said, you've already had all the signs and wonders. Read the Bible. He's telling us the same thing. You don't need something magnificent to believe in me. Listen to the still small voice of God. So second prayer is learning how to hear God's voice. So just a couple of ideas here. Number one, God's voice bubbles up from within. God's voice bubbles up from within. You might say, what are you talking about? God's voice primarily comes through spontaneous thoughts. You might say, how can I discern my thoughts? Well, you can do that because thoughts have three sources. Did you know this? Source number one is God. Source number two is yourself. Source number three is the devil. And I'm not saying the devil himself. It can be a demonic entity. The battle is in the mind, right? Why do you think Romans chapter 12 talks about renewing the mind? Why does Ephesians chapter 4 talk about renewing the mind? Because if you don't renew the mind, you will either listen to the devil's voice or your voice when God is speaking. And we need to be able to discern because his voice is bubbling up. Now you might say, where do you get that from? Let me give you a couple of ideas here. Number one, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So listen, the people would go to the temple to hear what God had to say. We're now the temple. Okay? So we don't have to go anywhere except tune in to the Spirit, not our human spirit, the Holy Spirit that is within us. John in chapter 7 verse 38 and 39 says this, out of his heart, that's you and I, will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the spirit. Okay? Living water is supposed to be flowing out of you. The word of God is living and active. The word of God is the Bible in Hebrews chapter 4. It's the voice of God himself here in John chapter 7. When we understand that, all of a sudden, we start changing just a little bit. Now, the word for prophecy in the Old Testament, it was the Hebrew word hagga. You know what it meant? It meant to bubble up. So, the prophets, when they received a word from God, remember, they had already been anointed with anointing oil signifying the Holy Spirit on their lives. It was the Holy Spirit speaking to their hearts. We assume that when it says, God said to Haggai or God said to Zerubbabel, that it was an audible voice. It wasn't. It was bubbling up from within, but they were so in tune with God, they could recognize the difference. Who can say amen? We can recognize the voice of CNN really well. The voice of Fox News really well, right? We can recognize the voice of culture really well. The false philosophies of the world really well. God wants us to recognize His voice. God's voice that bubbles up from within is always in alignment with God's written word. It will never contradict. Who can say amen? God's voice is oftentimes contrary to my own. have you ever got a feeling like you should go say something to somebody and you said no I better not do that that's because God was speaking and you listen to yourself rather than to God are you hearing you see when we hear God's voice we're oftentimes hesitant because it's so different from our own voice. Our own voice plays it safe. Our own voice says we can't. God's voice says take a risk. I want you to do it. I want you to reach out. God's voice says you can. The devil's voice actually is just completely the opposite. Repentation, urging you to sin, all that kind of stuff. And sometimes because our minds aren't renewed, we can't differentiate between what the devil's saying and what God's saying either. But as you renew your mind with the word, that all changes. And here's another one that's really important. I've got like 15 of these, but I can only give you three tonight. Number three, God's voice can be confirmed by trusted mentors. So if you get a word from the Lord and you don't know what to do, take it to your pastor. Take it to a parent if they really are close to God. Take it to a friend that you know, hears, and listens to God. And you know what? This is what I learned a long time ago. It's easier for me to discern your words from God than my own words from God. And so for some reason, it's so obvious. Sam comes up to me and says, hey, pastor, I think God wants me to do this. And I'm like, you can't see that, Sam. Of course he wants you to do that. Of course, we can't be sarcastic or mean-spirited. We have to be encouraging and say, how exciting you just heard from God. So tonight I started by talking about Jesus, how his prayer life so impressed the disciples that they asked him to teach them to pray. Now, I have a question for you. What's Jesus doing right now? At this very moment, what's he doing? So he's praying. Do you get this? I mean, while he was on this earth, he was setting the example by praying, but prayer is so important that he's still praying even now. He's at the right hand of God praying for you. He's at the right hand of God presenting your petitions to him, especially when we pray as twos and threes. And so I want to invite any prayer team members that we have here to come forward because I want to pray tonight to our Father. Okay? I want to pray tonight in a manner where we are rallying together in faith and truly believing that God cares so much that he's going to do something on our behalf. So as the worship team begins to sing, I just want to encourage you to, if there's anything that you want to pray about, make sure you bring it to these prayer partners, and we're going to get a victory tonight in Jesus' name. Would you stand with me, please?