Prayer: Want His Will

This episode explores the transformative power of prayer, emphasizing humility and authentic connection with God over perfection. We discuss the Lord’s Prayer, persistence in prayer, and personal reflections that shift our understanding from self-serving requests to divine alignment.

• Examining misconceptions about prayer 
• Unpacking the Lord's Prayer and its profound meaning 
• Understanding humility as a vital posture in prayer 
•  The significance of surrendering our daily needs to God 
•  Recognizing the importance of forgiveness in our prayers 
•  Lessons gleaned from the parable of the persistent widow 
•  Personal reflections on the host's journey with prayer 
•  Practical applications for deepening prayer life 
•  Encouraging listeners to engage authentically with God
• Weekly Challenge: 5 Minutes

Chapters

• 1:15 Episode Intro
• 2:15 The Lord's Prayer
• 2:53 Posture: Our Father Who Art in Heaven
• 3:52 Posture: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done
• 4:44 Posture: Daily Bread
• 5:05 Posture: Forgive Us
• 5:52 Posture: Lead Us, Deliver Us
• 6:40 The Persistent Widow
• 9:12 Prayer is Special To Me
• 11:39 Prayer's Purpose is to Align us to God's Will
• 15:10 Pause for The Cause: Weekly Challenge
• 15:41 Outro and Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Low Life Show, a space where we have conversations about the struggles of life, where we declare war on pride and walk humbly into renewed living with a surrendered heart. Where we take our past failures and turn them into a roadmap for you to live in peace and living the low life. Whether you're working through personal struggles or simply seeking a fresh perspective, this podcast will inspire and equip you to live low and let God lift you up. I'm your host, dl the Low Life, a reformed professional dirtbag who's here to tell you that I now live a life of peace, transformed through humility. Join me, let's get low what's good. Welcome back to the Low Life Show. It's me, dl the Low Life, and today we're getting into one of the most overcomplicated parts of living low Prayer.

Speaker 1: 1:25

Now, if you're anything like me, you've probably had the wrong ideas about prayer at some point in your life, maybe thinking you had to have the right words, the perfect life, maybe even the perfect pitch or volume. Here's the truth. God doesn't care about any of that. Prayer is about the relationship with you, talking to your father. It's about being real with him and letting him shape your heart. It's about wanting his input in all things and just wanting him around. So let's get into it how to get low and shake off the pressure through prayer and how to let him do all the heavy lifting. Today we're going to start at the heart of it the Lord's Prayer, jesus. At the request of his disciples, he left us a master class on prayer in Matthew 6. He starts with calling out hypocrites, people who love to pray in public just to show everyone how holy they are. Then he says, when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father. That right, there is humility. But he follows that with the Lord's prayer, and I know mostly you can recite it in your sleep. But I wonder how many have looked into it, really dove into it, looked at the intent and action behind the words. If you have, it's a refresher. If you haven't, you're in for a treat.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Let's break it down. It starts with Our Father in heaven. Hallowed be your name. This is the beginning of setting your posture. It sets the direction, it sets the beginning and it sets the tone for the rest of your prayer. It acknowledges God as the direction, it sets the beginning and it sets the tone for the rest of your prayer. It acknowledges God as the Father, it acknowledges where he resides, it points your heart to Him and it shows you how you should revere Him. It places Him above all things in your heart. Hallowed be your name. Your name is greater than mine. You're in heaven, so you are above me, physically, powerfully, and you're our father. So I am just, but a lowly child.

Speaker 1: 3:30

The next part is your kingdom come, your will be done. This sets expectation. I know a lot of times, myself included, we walk into prayer with an expectation that he's going to give us what we ask for Though that is true, I mean, it does say it in the scripture where two or more are gathered and agree here on earth, father in heaven will grant it. But here, your kingdom come, your will be done. It's showing us even more. It's asking for a heavenly environment. It's asking for his kingdom, and then it's expecting his will to be done, not just expecting it, but declaring it. So we should want his kingdom, we should want his will as a result of our prayer. We shouldn't want that new car, that new house, that girl down the block who had the big butt. That's not it His kingdom come, his will be done. Our preferences, our wants, our desires. He already knows our hearts. So when we come into prayer and we're asking and asking and asking, no care whatsoever about his will that could contribute to the result of the prayer what it is you feel like is answered and not answered.

Speaker 1: 4:43

The next part says give us today our daily bread. This is a surrender Surrendering control, knowing and relying on God as the provider, as the sustainer. It's depending on Him for the very being of our lives, keeping us upright, keeping us nourished daily. It goes on to say forgive us as we forgive others. This is honesty, this is humility, this is showing that you know you're a sinner, that you know you need forgiveness, that you know you're not perfect and that you are willing and able and currently acting in a way that is pleasing to him. You're surrendered and you are forgiving others that offend you. You're not coming to him withholding forgiveness and asking him for forgiveness. It does say when you forgive, the Father in heaven can forgive you. It's humbly asking him for forgiveness and reminding us that we shouldn't expect any more than we give as well. If we're unwilling to forgive, we shouldn't really be expecting him to forgive us. Then it says lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This, this right here, is the one. This is calling on God to save us. This is humbling ourselves again, taking another low posture, one of a damsel in distress. It shows him we know we can't save ourselves, we know we can't do it on our own. Deliver us from evil. Then we move on to our second parable, the persistent in Luke 18.

Speaker 1: 6:40

Luke 18 begins Now. He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not become discouraged. No-transcript. Now there was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying Give me justice against my opponent. For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself Even though I do not fear God nor respect any person, yet because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice, otherwise, by continually coming, she will wear me out. And the Lord said Listen to what the unrighteous judge said. Now will God not bring about justice for his elect, who cry out to him day and night, and will he delay, long for them? Tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Speaker 1: 7:35

Jesus tells the story of the widow who keeps asking for an unjust judge, for justice, even though the judge doesn't care about people, doesn't care about God, has zero fear or respect for anyone or anything. Eventually he gives in because of her persistence. This is the Thessalonians' call to pray continually. This is pray without ceasing. This is this is pray without ceasing. This is praying at all times. The lesson is it takes humility. Humility and prayer means recognizing that we're powerless without god and coming to him persistently, trusting that he hears us can eventually lead to that breakthrough. It's not about demanding answers. It's about staying connected to Him in faith, even when the answers seem delayed. Now remember, this widow was seeking justice. Again, she wasn't seeking earthly, worldly pleasures, desires. She wanted justice and we serve a just God. So don't be discouraged, just continue to pray.

Speaker 1: 8:39

Ask yourself every time in prayer. If you find yourself in a situation where you have an unanswered prayer, ask yourself about what it is that you wanted. What's your goal, your motive, your intention, your posture? Sometimes pride could be sneaky in there and make it look like you're doing all the righteous things, while blinding you to what is really wrong in your posture. Now, prayer is important to me. Like I've told you. It's the very reason why I'm here, why I'm alive Through all of my life unraveling in my downward spiral, why I'm alive Through all of my life unraveling in my downward spiral.

Speaker 1: 9:27

I didn't know it at the time, but I had people praying for me, praying fervently, praying with passion, praying with faith and belief and a want to see another son back in the kingdom, to see a life saved, to see God's love transform. I didn't see that fully culminated until one day I was in a prayer room. It was the very first time I'd ever gone there. Prior to this, I was sitting on a couch wanting to kill myself. What I did that day was surrender. What I did that day was trust. What I did that day was something that I'd never done in my life. I've always been a I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees kind of guy. I had always used prayer as a fire extinguisher, only in crisis, only to get my way. Like I was Aladdin and God was the genie, prayer was my lamp. After the surrender that day where I ended up on my knees giving everything to God, that's when my prayer life was set on fire.

Speaker 1: 10:15

What really cemented the way that I feel about it, the way that I participate in it, the way that I seek after Him in prayer. It happened one day, maybe about a month or two after that time, in the prayer room, when I hit my knees. I was sitting in a prayer meeting and I remember, as someone else was praying, I felt overcome with this question. God was tugging on me about asking me do they want me or do they just want what I can do for them? It was impactful because I didn't even question that myself when I would pray. Granted, I felt as though I was unworthy to ask for prayers for myself, but I always had faith to pray for other people. It just felt good because I knew that prayer is what brought me. Prayer is what saved me. I had the attitude of God, if you could do it for me, I would love for you to do it for them, because I know you can.

Speaker 1: 11:06

Anyways, as days and weeks went on, I found myself deep in study. I went through every prayer in the Bible. I digested other resources, books written by other authors with their revelations of prayer, what they've learned from their studies. I combined all that knowledge. I sat and I listened and I was discipled by prayers of others. In the prayer meetings I attended, this is what I've learned.

Speaker 1: 11:31

Prayer is not designed for us to bend God to our wills or to get us what we want. Its sole purpose is to show us, to teach us, to give us the opportunity to align to his will. It's a gift, to help ease us into it. But we use it like we're saying instead of your kingdom, come, your will be done, we're saying God, our kingdom, come, our will be done. Also, thank you. This has informed how I pray. Now I expect that His will is going to be done and I have faith and confidence, knowing that, being aligned to him, he can, if he wants to, if it pleases him, as it says in the psalm, he can do what I ask and a lot more.

Speaker 1: 12:09

I encourage each of you to look into every prayer prayed in the bible. See how many are trying to get God to do what they want. See where their heart's intention is. See what their posture truly is. See where God's alignment and his will are. You'll find that it's not going to be asking about the Cadillac down the street. See what they actually consist of the elements.

Speaker 1: 12:30

Jesus himself only ever prayed once to ask for his want, and even then he still prayed God's will, not his. This was in Gethsemane. Even as he was in pain to the point of sweating blood, he knew that his wants were secondary to the Father's will. There are two other times that he's noted to have prayed for himself, but you couldn't even really stretch that, because both times he's asking Father, glorify me so that I may glorify you. The be-all and the end-all here is his intention, his goal, his ambition, everything resides in God's will.

Speaker 1: 13:04

The best part of this revelation, though, of all of it, of all the study of everything that I've done leading to this point, everything God's led me through to this point, is less pressure on prayer. I don't find myself disappointed with him ever. My faith remains unwavering. I also never have to deal with the dreaded unanswered prayer because I know that he always answers. It's my will that might be off, not His sovereignty. God will always reign supreme. He always answers prayer. Just remember, in the psalm it says the Lord does what pleases Him, and the Lord's prayer says your kingdom come, your will be done. God never breaks a promise, and he's already promised to hear us by Jesus ascending. We have the high priest up there who can mediate, who instructs us that we can approach the throne of grace confident that we will be heard.

Speaker 1: 14:00

So how is this applied? It doesn't require much. It's not a ton of words or crazy biblical knowledge, just a posture that says, father, I want a relationship with you, I want to do what you do, I want to help you get your stuff done, use me. It's a humble approach, like a little kid to his dad Dad, let's go play, dad, let's go do this, tugging at his pants at all times. And it could sound something as simple as thank you God, knowing in your heart, in your mind, everything pointed to his supremacy. Thank him for something you usually give yourself credit for today, and then begin to add more things to that list. That's practical. Application to what prayer is Doesn't have to be complicated, unless you're comparing your relationship to God with somebody else and trying to model yours after theirs. We're not the same people. We don't have the same preferences. Our relationships are going to be different. They are with people. They will be with God, not His towards us, but ours towards Him. We're all in different places, all right.

Speaker 1: 15:12

Pause for the Cause Weekly Challenge. Here it is Spend five minutes in prayer this week, every day, nothing in the way, no distractions, just you and God. And then sit and ponder on the Lord's prayer in those five minutes. Offer up to Him what's going on in your heart, let Him know what you're thinking, what you're wanting, what you're desiring, but then invite Him into guiding you, into learning what's on His heart and write down whatever he might reveal. Thank you for hanging out today.

Speaker 1: 15:40

Remember, prayer is the backbone of living low. It's your superpower. It's where you connect with God and let Him do the work in your heart. This is what gets you aligned to His will. This is what gets you everything that you really need and reminds you of the things that you don't need, even though you want them. Let's pray.

Speaker 1: 15:56

Father, we thank you for the ability, the opportunity and the honor and privilege of being able to speak to you. Thank the opportunity and the honor and privilege of being able to speak to you. Thank you that you are a God that hears. We thank you that you supply our every need. Humble us this week as we learn more and more how to grow steps and steps and steps closer to you and how to seek after you and want your will more than our own. Bless the listener, continue to help them grow In your mighty, mighty name, amen. Next week we're talking about position how to trust God when he places you somewhere that doesn't make sense. Until then, stay low, stay blessed and stay ready for the next episode of the Low Life Show. Peace, thank you. Outro Music.