Hey.

Hey, and welcome back to Faithfield Woman.

This is your host, Kristen.

Today we're going to talk about what the purpose of prayer is and why it's so important for us to get into a habit of praying.

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Hi, I'm your host, Kristin.

I'm an encourager, a faith led entrepreneur, a mom and a wife.

Let's be encouraged in our everyday lives.

As we let our faith guide us, fuel us, and fill us with God's.

Incredible peace, wisdom and joy in our lives.

Okay, today we're going to dig into the purpose of prayer and the power of prayer.

So I want to start off with Acts 10:2, which says he prayed to God regularly.

And in Mark Patterson's book, Draw the Circle, he says, when I dial into God's frequency in the morning, I hear his still, small voice the rest of the day.

And he also says plans of God are only revealed in the presence of God.

We don't get our marching orders and till we get on our knees, but if we hit our knees, God will take us to places we never imagined, going by paths we didn't even know existed.

And let's see.

And draw the circle.

Mark Patterson also says, what should you circle?

Right?

Because the whole book was about circling the promises and prayers, you know, in God's word.

So he says the purpose of prayer is to get into God's presence so he can outline his agenda for us.

God will reveal a promise, problem or person.

Encircle whatever God has prompted you to pray for with the same kind of consistency with which the earth circles the moon.

So in other words, Mark is telling us when we're in the presence of God, when we're praying to God, he will speak to us in some way, right?

He'll reveal a promise in the Bible that we want to circle, a promise that we know that can be given to us.

A problem or a person, right, that's in front of us or coming to us.

And then we want to circle it.

We want to then pray for it, you know, regularly, daily.

We want to continue to pray for it.

And what's so interesting is so many of us pray for what Mark Batterson says later in the book about we pray for ASAP prayers, in other words, as soon as it's possible, prayers.

But what he explains is that we need to start praying the lat prayers, which is as long as it takes.

In other words, whatever we are praying for, we do not know how long it's going to take to have those prayers answered.

What we do know is that God is a God that keeps his promises.

He is a God that answers prayers, but it will not necessarily be on our timetable.

It is in his timing.

And he says, and that is the beauty of prayer.

We never know when our prayers will be answered and we never know when we are the answer to someone else's prayer.

And so, once again, we need to circle the promises, but we also need to circle the people, the things going on in our lives or other people's lives that we are praying for.

We also need to take action.

What do I mean by that?

Well, when we can help somebody, we want to try to help them, right?

That may be.

It may be that we're in the right time at the right place.

It may be that we hear a conversation.

It may be that someone or to do something for someone is on our heart.

Well, when we take action, when we hear something, when we happen to be in the middle of something, when someone mentions something to us, if we can make a difference, we want to take action.

Because often we were put in that place to answer someone else's prayer, just like other people or opportunities or words of encouragement are put in our lives to answer one of our prayers or to keep us continuing on the path until God's going to fully answer it.

And let's see.

So then Rachel Booth Smith, in One of the first five Proverbs 31 daily devotional says, scripture highlights the delight God has in us, the blessings he longs to bestow on us, and the purpose he has for us.

Once again, it's all about, you know, what are the blessings, those promises that God wants to give us?

What is the purpose he has for us in this moment, in this day, in this week, in the season, in our lifetimes.

But we have to get in his word so that we can get better in touch with what he is putting us in, right?

Where is he positioning so that we can answer other people's prayers?

We can be the answer to the prayer.

And then where is he positioning other people or things in our life to answer our prayers?

Another one of Mark Batterson's books was Chase the lion.

He says, every pair prayer will be answered.

Every sacrifice.

Sacrifice will be honored, every good deed will be rewarded, and every seed of faith will bear fruit.

And I love what Bob Goff says about prayer as well.

And he says, if God answered every one of your prayers, would it change anybody's life except your own?

I've seen Maria's prayers change countless lives.

I know her prayer for you and me would be that we would leave all the planning behind, figure out what our lasting ambitions are, and get back to building those rocket ships that were supposed to be our lives.

To do this, she would want us to trade what is easily available for what is actually worthwhile.

It's a distinction that has the power to change everything in your life.

And he's basically just explaining there that we want to be saying prayers for other people and how we can make things happen for other people in their lives.

In other words, we want to focus on the important things.

We want to focus on how are we the change agents for God as he'll position us in places that we can help prayers be answered.

Okay, and then In Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 28:2, it says, all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you and see.

And another in another one of Mark Patterson's books called if he says God doesn't bless us so we can raise our standard of living, God blesses us so we can raise our standard of giving.

The greatest blessing of a blessing is the ability to bless others because of it.

And he says, where have you been blessed?

That's where you need to flip that blessing.

Where has God shown you favor?

That's where you need to return the favor.

He says, there are hundreds of blessings in Scripture and each one has your name on it.

If you are in Christ, the blessings belong to you.

In fact, they belong to you twice.

Once by birthright and twice by inheritance.

And then he says, where has God blessed you?

You need to identify the blessings, including the blessings in disguise.

That's the way you steward them.

If you don't share them, the blessings can actually become curses.

Then once you identify when and where and how God has shown you his favor, return the favor, count the blessings and flip the blessing and then repeat.

And then I want to share with you.

And I think sometimes we forget that the desires and dreams that have been put on our heart are part of this plan.

Right?

They're part of God's plan, and they will be part of other people's blessings.

They will be answering other people's Prayers.

And Mark Patterson goes on to say, and chase the lion.

We think right here, right now, God is thinking nations and generations.

He to dreaming big is thinking long.

And I know in one of his books, he shares a story of a man that had planted trees.

But these trees need to grow for many, many years before they'll bear fruit.

But that man planted them for the generations to come, for his children's children.

In other words, we have to be in it for the long game, because prayers and blessings do not happen necessarily, as I said before in our schedule, on our timing, or maybe even in our lifetime.

But the seeds that we plant today, the words we speak, the efforts we make, the action we take, where we show up to be of service, where we use our gifts, where we plant things, when we invest in and speak into others, that is what will create ripples and future blessings to be answered and future prayers to be answered and promises to be fulfilled.

And so we just have to remember that often we are praying, we are doing things that are going to change the generations after us, not just for today.

And I think sometimes that's hard to remember that because so many of us are caught up in the daily busyness of life, and maybe we aren't in the Word as much as we could be.

So we forget that this is for eternity.

This isn't just what we're seeing in the here and now.

Acts 2:39 says, the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.

And Mark also goes on to say, even when you feel as if you aren't making a difference, God by God might be using you in ways you aren't aware of.

And it's not immediate impact that matters most.

It's the exponential impact to the third and fourth generations.

And I don't know about you, but that's pretty amazing.

And, you know, I think we just have to keep our sights on this concept more.

But we do all of these things by getting in the Word.

We do all these things by starting to circle the promises that God has in the Bible for us.

We start writing down the prayers that we feel called to pray for other people, for our nations, for our leaders, pray for our children, right?

Pray for people that are hurting around us, whatever those things are.

But it's.

I think it's so easy in the, in the times we live to pray one time and for one thing and to move on.

I don't know if that's true for you, but to be honest with you, often I think I'm Thinking every day I need to come up with something new to pray for.

But to be honest with you, I partly, I might be doing it wrong.

In other words, Mark clearly talks about and throughout his sermons and his books, we've got to keep praying.

The prayers that matter to us, what you know, whether they're for something we're involved in or whether they're for other people or whether they're for the good we can do in the world or the work that we're called to do.

But we have to keep circling and praying those prayers for our lifetime if it takes that.

So I think some of us need to get better at continuing to pray for the same prayers over and over, day in and day out.

Now, it doesn't mean we won't be adding in other prayers, especially the as soon as possible prayers, right?

Maybe we're praying for someone's health or we're praying for safety or something like that.

But I think many of us stop there and we don't say prayers and continue to say those prayers that are is God as long as it takes, because he absolutely is working on his timetable, right?

It is not the timetable that as humans, we understand, right?

The way that we have come to use time is not in God's timing.

It is just the way the construct of which we see a day, in an hour, in a minute.

That is not necessarily how God works.

It is not how God works.

And so I think that's the other thing that we want to remember is just that we are praying for blessings and the promises and prayer to be answered, not just for today, not just in our lifetime, but well beyond when we are actually here on the earth.

And so I think that's just so important to remember.

And I think if we shift our perspective and have this top of mind, I think we become better at praying.

And then I want to share this with you as we wrap up.

Okay.

I alluded to this a little bit ago, but I think some of us forget that, like I said, the dreams and desires that we have are also part of this.

They're part of God revealing what he's calling us to.

It's.

It's part of what God is.

He's put those unique things, interests and desires and dreams on our heart, right?

If they're, especially if they're dreams and desires that we'll be able to serve or spread, you know, good work to other people right beyond ourself.

It's not just about like, oh, let's make the most money ever, and we're not blessing others.

You know what I mean?

And so Mark goes on to say, a great dream doesn't just make a difference.

It it inspires dreams in the third and fourth generation.

So remember, the work we do, the legacy we're building and leaving, all of it will impact other people because people are watching us, people are interacting with us.

And so how we decide to show up, the words we use, the actions we take, the work we do in the world, the dreams we have and dreams that we pursue, other people will be impacted by all of those things and other people will be paying attention and see, maybe I can step into my dream as well.

Maybe God does have this for me.

I don't know how, but maybe I can have the courage to move towards working with God to make that dream possible.

So as you step into the rest of your day and week, I just want to encourage you.

Get in God's word, but make time for prayer.

But make time not only to circle things in the Bible, but to hear what God is trying to tell you, what he wants, what he's putting on your heart and who he's putting on your heart, what dreams he's put or vision into.

You know it's inside of you and you might not know how it's going to come about, but you do know that it's something that you need to have courage and then take a step forward in making happen.

And most likely it will never happen with just your efforts.

Of course it'll take a bad effort, but it'll also take people around you and resources around you that he will help line up for those things to happen.

So until next time, I hope you have thanks again for listening to the.

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