Pay is Not a Gift

Is it payday yet?  We all like it when our check comes in and we receive our payment for the work we have done.  You may love your job and the work that you do, but you still want to get paid!  You still want to receive your just reward for the time and energy you put into your work.  But this concept of getting paid for work sometimes messes with our concept of God and grace.  We have a hard time wrapping our heads around the concept that we can't earn grace and love from God.  

Romans 4:4-5  A person who works is paid wages, but they are not regarded as a gift; they are something that has been earned. 5 But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself.

It is hard for us to accept that God gives us grace freely if we just believe and have faith.  It makes so much more since to us to earn God's grace.  If I can just be good enough and clean up my bad habits, then I maybe I will be good enough for God to forgive my sins and accept me as his child.  But when we approach God in this manner we find we are never good enough and we can't clean our lives up enough.  

Only when we surrender to the reality that what God is offering can't be earned can we accept is as the gift that it is!  After I receive it as a gift I long to show my gratitude to God by living His way and not my way.  I long to honor God with my life and not just honor myself.  I realize that following God's way is the best possible life for me!  I long to discipline my life to put myself in a place to keep this relationship with God because His grace and love are amazing!  

Betrayal

Betrayal is one of the most painful experiences of life.  To have someone you care about, someone you trust, someone you counted on, turn against you is very painful. It takes someone close to us to really hurt us, or at least the closer the betrayer the more severe the pain seems.  

Betrayal is usually painful because it tends to take some planning.  Judas agreed to betray Jesus and then it says in Matthew 26:16  From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.  Judas had opportunity to change his mind and to take a different course of action.  It wasn't a spare moment decision - it was intentional and planned out. 

Betrayal is also part of the human experience.  We have all betrayed others and we have all been betrayed.  I think this is partly why it was prophesied and fulfilled that Jesus would be betrayed.  To remind us that Jesus experienced the same things that we experience.  He knows our deep pain of betrayal.  

I know in my life betrayal has lead to a deepening of my trust in God.  When my support system crumbles at my feet, I learn to depend and trust in Him a little more every day.  How will you act/react the next time you are betrayed?  How will you act/react the next time you betray a friend? 

Let's Just Hold On Until Jesus Comes

It often seems to me like the church in our day has gotten to the place where we are so confused about what to do that we have decided to do nothing.  We have given up on the political process because we have been burned.  We have given up on culture battles because we have made so little progress.  We feel like if we share our opinion we are labeled as haters and misunderstood.  

But Jesus reminds us in his parable about three servants who are given money to invest that the one servant who did nothing with what was given to him was the servant that the king reprimanded.  

Matthew 25:24-27  “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate,27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

So doing nothing with all that God has blessed us with is seen by God as being wicked and lazy.  Not just lazy!  Wicked.  

Of course the good news is that in the same chapter we are informed of what to do when you don't know what to do.  Serve other people and especially serve those people around you who need help and are marginalized by society.  

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’  (Matthew 25:40)

Three Names

In Matthew 23:8-12 Jesus is teaching about the problems with the Jewish religious leaders of the day and he says:   “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Don't call anyone Rabbi or teacher.  The word literally means "great in number." Someone who has great knowledge to pass on to others.  

Don't call anyone Father.  The word means one who imparts life and is committed to it.  

Don't call anyone Christ.  The word means the anointed one of God.  

Some take this concept literally and don't call anyone teacher, father or Christ. Other people use these terms liberally without thought of this passage being literally applied.  

It seems to me a good application is to put God first in these three areas of my life.  God first in my knowledge and wisdom.  I seek knowledge first and foremost from the Lord.  Other teachers and insights are great, but the Bible and the Holy Spirit are my primary teachers.  God is also first in providing and sustaining my life.  I realize that without Him I am nothing and I can't make it a second without Him.  Jesus is my one and only anointed Savior!  He continues to rescue me and I must continue to depend on Him!  

There Will Always Be Critics

Jesus was talking about John the Baptist to a group of critics and he said, 

For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.” (Matthew 11:18-19 NLT) 

John the Baptist lived an unusual life in the wilderness dressing funny and calling people to repent and be baptized.  He had critics because he didn't fit into the normal for the Jewish religion of the day.  

Jesus came and was an average Jewish person in many ways.  He went to dinners, weddings, and ate and drank.  So he was labeled a drunkard.  He would go to celebrations at tax collectors homes and even talked to a Samaritan woman with a shady past.  So he was labeled a friend of sinners.  In a religious culture that was about separation for evil, Jesus was called names that where meant to be critical and destructive. 

I find comfort in this scripture because if Jesus faced criticism and people attacking him and his character, I know I am not alone.  If Jesus the Son of God faced criticism, I figure there must be no one beyond the reach of critics.  

Even in Jesus case there was an element of truth in the criticism.  He was willing to be at the feast and dinners with questionable people. He was a friend of sinners.  These things were true.  

Three things I am trying to do with criticism: 
1. find the truth and grow in that area of truth 
2. remember the motive of the messenger 
3. remember that guilt and shame are always tactics of the enemy and not from God 

We are all humans who have a strong desire and need in our lives to be loved and accepted.  Therefore criticism hurts and we take it personally.  That is why it is such a useful tool to discourage us.  

Keep praying for wisdom to overcome criticism and some people to encourage to help you overcome the negative!  

Guard Your Heart

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else,  for it determines the course of your life.

Our hearts - the core of who we are as an individual is important to God because He longs to connect His heart to our hearts.  If we fail to guard our hearts then our connection with God will be damaged.  

So how do we guard our hearts? 

- Put good stuff into our hearts more then we allow our hearts to be filled with negative things - we need to pray, read the Bible, worship God, read positive things, listen to positive things, watch positive things.  Paul wrote - (Philippians 4:8) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
- Legalism tells us we can't do this, watch this, listen to that because it is bad or immoral.  Guarding our hearts says I must not put more negative into my life than positive or I will be overcome by the evil around me.  My desire to guard my heart is greater then my desire to fill my life with worldly things. 
- The people we spend time with is also a key to this reality - we must guard our hearts from the negative people and or spend time with people who encourage us enough to overcome the negative of people we must spend time with that might drain our hearts. 
- Claim the name of Jesus and the power of Jesus over your heart, the negative forces that come against you and the obstacles that stand in the way of your God dream for your life.  If it is God's dream, He will empower you and so use His name to overcome the enemy.  You won't live God's dream by working harder or being better.  You will only accomplish God's best by trusting in His power and using His name against the enemy.  
- Add ways you have found to guard your heart!!!

Vacation

I had the opportunity to go back to the town I grew up in and see some friends that I attended church with as a kid/middle school student.  I moved from Idaho Falls in 1981 at the start of my sophomore year in high school.

I was reminded of the rich heritage of church and family I had growing up.  I was so blessed to have great friends at church.  We went on retreats and camps together.  We shared a lot of great memories of the past together even after 30 plus years had gone by for some of us to see each other.  Stories of my family came up in the conversations.  My family was a part of that church body for many years and that paid off in amazing ways for me.

I was reminded that often I am far too critical of the past.  My days at the Church of the Nazarene in Idaho Falls, ID where not perfect days.  There were conflicts.  There was a spiritual pride and legalism that was a part of the church in those days.  But I found I had a tendency to remember the bad instead of focusing on the good.  What an amazing thing that so many of us were willing and able to get together after so many years!!! Something had stuck in our hearts and in our lives that was still cherished even today.

I am truly a blessed man and God is good!

Questions

Proverbs 20:25 Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.

I question myself and my timid heart often about not been bold in influencing people people to accept Jesus as there Savior.  I seem bold at church and often wish I would have said more in personal  conversations.

With that confession I don't know where to place this scripture and my lingering feeling that in our Christian culture we often are good at creating moments for people to encounter God.  In those emotional moments people make "a rash promise to God."  Soon the emotion fades and the person feels trapped instead of redeemed.

When to be bold and when to make sure people consider the cost?  

Questions

Proverbs 20:24 The Lord directs our steps so why try to understand everything along the way?

I love my heart of wonder and question.  I believe God is not afraid of my questions! I doubt I will ever change that part of who I am.... but in my questions I have to keep trusting God.  I often pray - God, this is how I understand you and life at this point and from my perspective - but I realize YOU are so much bigger than I can fathom and your ways are so much greater than my ways!  I question but I trust YOU!

Fully

In fact we expected to die. As a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to to rely on only God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NLT)

What have we faced or what will we have to face in the future th at will cause us to fully rely on God?

Bono and Eugene Peterson

If you know me - you know I am a big fan of the band U2.  I have been listening to them since 1985 or so.  A friend of mine posted this video with Bono and Eugene Peterson who translated the Bible called The Message.  This is a link to a short movie about their meeting.

In the movie, Bono says something like this:  The psalmist is brutally honest... why isn't church music more like that?  I am talking dishonesty that I find in Christian art and I think it is a shame.  Because these are people who are valuable to God in a good way.  I would love it if this conversation would inspire people who are writing these beautiful voices and beautiful Gospel song to write songs about their bad marriage.  Write a song about how they are pissed off at the government because that's what God wants from you, the truth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l40S5e90KY

Joy and Fullness

In Acts 13 we read that amazing account of Paul and Barnabas first missionary journey and God is doing some great things in the city of Antioch.  Just about the whole city comes out to hear Paul and Barnabas speak.  Many people believe the message and then the Jewish leaders get jealous and stir up trouble: 

Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.  So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.  And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 13:50-52 NLT)

In the midst of conflict and persecution - the believers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.  

Our JOY and our FULLNESS of the Holy Spirit is not dependent on our circumstances!  

Fulfill Your Purpose

When Paul was speaking to the Jews in Antioch and was trying to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah he used the story of King David as an example and was trying to show that a prophesy about Jesus was not talking about David as many Jews thought.  And he said these words about David: 

"after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed." Acts 13:36

David was a great man who was known as a man who was after the heart of God!  

David did the will of God in his own generation!

After my life here on earth is done, those would be two great ways to be remembered - 1. Dale chased after the heart of God and 2. Dale did the will of the Lord in his generation.  

If those would be our goals - how do we live daily to get to our goals? 

God's Mission for Your Life

We find recorded in Acts 13 that Paul and Barnabas began their first missionary journey to travel around and tell as many people about the Good News of Jesus as possible.  Here is how it started: 
Acts 13:1-3 Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called “the black man”), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas), and Saul. 2 One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” 3 So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

The church was worshiping together - giving themselves to God through singing, praying, and studying the scriptures.  Joining their hearts with the heart of God as a group of believers!  

The church was fasting together - giving up food for a period of time to seek the Lord will improve our worship and will improve our ability to hear the Lord speak to us.  If you haven't felt a hunger for the Lord for a while, try fasting!  

The church heard the voice of the Holy Spirit that send Paul and Barnabas on a mission from God.  If we want to know the mission of God in our lives we need to hear clearly from God!  He is not trying to hide or play games with our lives but instead He wants to clearly lead us!

After more fasting and prayer they laid hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them on their mission.  We, the Body of Christ, must understand that we are a sending body!  The worship, prayer, fasting and praying is all good, but the purpose of it is to hear from God clearly so we know where to MOVE!  Whenever worship, fasting, and prayer becomes about us and how we feel inside the church, we can know we are in trouble.  The 12 disciples tried to stay in Jerusalem when God clearly gave them a mission to the world, and when they didn't MOVE, God rose ups Paul and Barnabas.  God brought persecution so they would have to MOVE.  

Cast Your Cares on Him

It didn't take long for the enemy to attach me and put my sermon to the test from this past Sunday. The message was based on 1 Peter 5;7 when we are told we can cast all our anxiety on Jesus!  At 5am  Monday morning I woke up and my mind was immediately racing about Sunday morning.  My sermon was terrible, the communication cards didn't get printed right, it was a total failure and I am a failure!  In that moment I had a perfect opportunity to put the message into practice - I prayed, God I cast all these worries on you!  If nothing else on Sunday morning - God's Word went out and it will make an impact!

We must realize that our patterns of thinking may take a long time to change, but our reaction to these thoughts can change quickly and we can give all of these concerning thoughts to God!  We might want to not have these types of thoughts, but we don't always control that, but we can control our reaction and cry out to God for help!

Praise God for Monday mornings because we have opportunity to live out our Sunday faith!

Holy Week - Monday

John 12:23-26 (NLT) Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.

Serving God and others is the best way to demonstrate that we love God more than we love our own lives and all that the world has to provide.  There is no real reason to serve others if you only love yourself and want to take care of yourself.  Even people who don't know God and don't love God are trying to find purpose and meaning in life through service.  But how much more should a follower of Jesus be a servant when we don't have to love our lives.  Jesus says if we hold on tightly to this life and all the possessions and good things this life provides we will lose all those things.  But if we figure out how to let those things go and hold on to the things of God we will keep our lives in Christ.  

Jesus was a great example of a man who was willing to let his life go in order to serve God and find life!  The enemy tempted Jesus to find other ways to be what God wanted him to be, but the reality was he had to lay down his life for the sins of the world.  There was no other plan, no other way to rescue us, and when he laid down his life he proved he didn't love this world more than he loved God.   

I think this is a constant examination of our hearts and of our lives as we live in Christ!  Do I love the world and the things of this world too much?  Am I willing to set aside all worldly possessions in order to follow Christ?  

Water into Wine

As our Lent Theme this year we are looking at the seven signs/miracles that Jesus performed in order to prove to His followers that we was the Christ, the Son of God.  February 14, 2016 we looked a the scripture of John 2:1-12 and I asked what does this story teach us about people, Jesus and ourselves.  God spoke to me about Mary's request changing the mind of Jesus to get involved in the situation.  It reminded me to pray for people because I might get Jesus involved in a situation!
After the service Ernie Thompson told me that God was talking to him about the new wine and the old wine of the ceremony.  He said God impressed on him that the old wine was symbolic of the life the Jews were living under the Law and the new wine represented the New Life in Christ that Jesus was bringing to the world!

What about you?  What is God saying to you about this sign of Jesus?

God Loves

John 3:16 is an amazing verse of wisdom and insight from the lips of Jesus that reminds us that we are loved by God!  We are loved so much that God would give His Son to come to the world and die on a cross so that we could live in a relationship with God here on earth and for eternity!  In a world where love is a diluted word that we use for some many things, we need to here what a clear meaning of love is all about.  

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Love has an object: God loves the world.  Love is broad in its strokes of objects when we like to make it narrow.  I love these people who treat me right, agree with my opinions, go to my church and do the right things.  Jesus says for us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  (Matthew 5:44)

Love is giving: God loves so much that He gave his one and only Son.  I think about how easy it is to stop caring for someone when they stop caring for me and communicating with me.  The reality is I must keep giving and caring for people God asks me to love no matter what the response.  There are times when God will release us from giving to others, but so often I tell God the reasons why I am stopping to give to this person because of their actions.  

Love has its rewards: God offers the amazing reward of a full life and an eternal life with God.  Loving others may be difficult at times and we may need to rely on the power of God to love some people, but God says if we live in love we will be rewarded.  

Jesus said that the Body of Christ will be known to the world because of our love!  (John 3:35)  Does the world around you see Jesus in you because of the love that overflows from your life?  Love is worthy the price!  Love wins! 

Power Principle in Prayer - Sermon Notes

January 17 - Power Principle - Matthew 12:22-37

We want our prayers to be powerful and effective!  No one wants to waste time - God doesn’t want you to waste time - so we have seen that prayer requires us to be connected/abiding in Christ.  In Christ and praying in the name of Jesus is a must!  We have talked about the reality of being also guided in our prayers - ask the Holy Spirit of God to lead you in your prayers - Let God set your agenda for prayer!  

Today we want to look at the reality of the power principle in prayer and how to make sure we are praying in power!

We want to look at two accounts from Jesus life when He cast out demons from people’s lives.  

Matthew 12  Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

Demon possession - or healing of mute/blindness - powerful obstacles

Jesus cast out demon and restored man - Jesus has power to heal

Argument comes about of where power comes from - Beelzebul or God

Jesus teaches:

1. the Spirit of God that drives out demons
2. the Spirit of God that is strong enough to bind the enemy
3. Kingdoms divided can't stand

One more story of Jesus casting out a demon in Mark 9 - Jesus and some of the disciples had been up on the mountain and had an encounter with God - some of the disciples stayed back with the crowd of people wanting to see Jesus.  There was a boy that the disciples couldn’t heal.  Jesus comes down from the mountain and heals the boy.  The disciples meeting with Jesus that every evening ask?   

Mark 9:28-29

28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”

29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”

Prayer on the offensive more than defensive

• hedge of protection
• safety
• guide me (we mean keep me out of trouble)
  - Martin Luther King Jr - non-violent activism & prayer for change

When we are busy doubting ourselves we can’t pray with power

• Hear this : I don’t think God wants you at war with yourself.

He sent the Prince of Peace to soothe those tumultuous waters already. Self‐depreciation is a cruel response to Jesus, who died and made us righteous.   Jen Hatmaker

Guided Prayer

Here are some notes from Sunday - 1/10/2016 theme at Living Faith on Guided Prayer. We often come to God with our own agenda and our own ideas of what to pray about. But maybe God not only wants us to pray but wants to lead us and guide us into what we should pray for and about. Jesus said these words:

Matthew 7:7-12

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Abiding prayer are only answered when we ask - don’t ask - God can’t answer your prayer - KEEP on Asking!

Abiding prayers are only answered when we seek - God loves to be pursued - not because it is good for God, but because the God who created you and knows you and loves you, knows it is good for us to pursue Him.  Everything that comes too easy is not usually valued - Teen in Texas who was arrested in Mexico - killed four people in DUI wreck and got parole because he was wealthy… given too much and too easy and he didn’t value anything he had.  God knows if prayer was just a simple - say a pray and pop - immediate answer just as we ordered, prayer would be taken for granted, it would not be something we sought to know God it would be simply used for our own enjoyment - why did the healing miracles of the New Testament seem to diminish over the years… lack of faith could be part, but Christianity was taking over the world and flourishing.  Maybe part of it is that not many people can handle the honor or the power of healing hands.   

Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you - when something is hidden behind a barrier like a door and you want to get to the other side - knock - keep on knocking until the door is open to you.

Are you a good parent or a good person?

• good parents don’t give their kids rocks instead of bread
• kid rock (what type of parents let their kids listen to Kid Rock- a joke that totally flopped - but I still think it is funny!)
• good parent don’t give their kids snakes instead of fish

Parent questions tell us we need to be guided in prayer

• we are children in the spiritual world and have no idea what we really need
• we have a God who knows exactly what we need
• we children must trust the Father that he will answer prayer appropriately
• we as parents know not to give our kids rocks and snakes - how much better does God know what we need in answered prayers.

Allow God’s Spirit to guide us in prayer and He will lead us into rich areas of involvement -

• God will guide us to pray for movements of His Spirit - God is moving and we need to seek those ways and pray that the power of God would continue to move and work in those movements
• God will guide us from prayer to involvement - if we are praying about a movements - God will lead us to be involved in that movement and we will be a part of God transforming the world
• Mentoring - Dale -I have been praying about a movement of God in mentoring the fatherless of our culture - Donald Miller has started a mentoring program in Portland and OK City. 80-85% of men in prisons today did not have a father in the home -
• What movement of God are you passionate about? Are you praying? How will God want you to be involved?

Powerful Prayer for Others - Part 1

A friend asked if I would put some sermon notes on my blog from Sunday and so I said I would. So this is not very detailed, but it hits the main points. Hope you find it helpful

January 3, 2016 - Abiding - John 15:5-8

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

1. "But if you remain in me" We are the branches - branches are conduit of the vine to the fruit - nothing on our own but yet God chooses to use us as part of the process of bearing fruit. So how do we stay connected/abiding in the vine? Res Howell said for him he had to go through a process of surrendering areas of his life to God. Things like:

• Love of Money
• Where I make my home; marriage & family
• Holding grudges/ not willing to forgive
• Ambition
• Reputation

- remember whatever we hold onto God can't bless!

- when we hold on to things and refuse to surrender them to God then God allows us to be in control of those areas of our lives.

2. "And my words remain in you" the truth from the vines words must remain in us - our prayers are actually words from the vine.

3. "You may ask" - prayer is asking for the right things

4. "Anything that you desire" desire - wish - what is the desires of your surrendered heart? A surrendered heart that prays God's words and desires the things of God prays for different things than the unsurrendered heart.

5. "It will be granted" - God will answer your prayer - What types of things should we be praying about when we pray for others?

• prayers about Fruitfulness
• prayers about discipleship
• prayers about God receiving the glory