Do You Struggle To Pray?

Seek first my kingdom. And to do this, we're going to need strength that is far outside our capacity. Because I know everything I require, I supply. It's amazing. Everything God requires of us; He supplies the strength to do it. He says, don't walk in your own might; don't walk in your own strength. So Christ becomes food. This is why when you come here on Sundays, I am not feeding you funny stories or political agendas or some kind of social club meeting. I am convinced that if you don't feast on Christ delivered to you by means of his word, you will suffer and have no strength. You won't have strength. You should be very upset at the elders if we ever stop feeding you Christ. You have every right to stand up and say, “This is not what I signed up for.” Right? This is good. This is good. We want Christ. We want to be fed him. If my children walk into the kitchen letting me know that they are hungry (this happens more often as they get older), and then they ignore my instructions on how it is that they could have something to eat - here is what you can eat - and then they continue to complain about the miserable state that they are in, what do you think I'm going to say at that point? Why are you not hearing my instructions? What is it that's preventing you from obeying what I have given you? And this is where I think it's very helpful is that when Christ gives his instructions, he says, glorify God, make his kingdom first. Do his will and be satisfied with his bread. And then you go, man, I've got no purpose in life, and I'm always angry, and I'm always tired. I just have to step back and go, did you hear what your father said? He said he would supply what you need. And then you have to answer this question: why are you not accepting it? Most likely because you're holding on to something else. You have to let it go. You have to let it go. I'm convinced if we begin to pray this prayer faithfully and believe in its promises and trust and obey it, I believe our habits are going to change. I believe our desires are going to change, and clearly, our priorities are going to change. Everyday Grace 027