This is a short devotional-style YouTube message by Holly Furtick about prayer. She argues prayer is relational rather than formulaic, uses a personal anecdote about selling a house to illustrate disappointment and growth in faith, and walks through Philippians 4 to show prayer’s practices (prayer/petition/thanksgiving) and the peace God provides. The talk emphasizes God’s nearness, the importance of bringing every situation to God, and that unanswered prayers may serve heart-change and perfect timing.
Chapters
I don't know how you feel about prayer. Maybe you pray every day. Maybe you have comprehensive lists of people and situations that you pray for. Or maybe you've completely given up on prayer, you've prayed one too many prayers that were left unanswered, and you've just decided that you don't want to get your hopes up anymore. Wherever you are, that's just fine. I've been in both of those places, and usually I waver somewhere in between. You know what the number one thing that I've learned? Well, I guess the number one thing that I'm learning about prayer, it's that prayer is not about a formula. It's about a relationship. I find in my life that anytime I reduce God to a formula, I become disappointed because God is so much bigger than anything we can ever figure out or explain or anticipate. God is not a genie in a bottle that if I have enough faith and I rub that bottle hard enough, he will grant my wish. I remember one time we were trying to sell our house, and it was on the market for forever. And I just kept praying for God to sell our house. And then I got creative and I started telling God things like, God, I just know you have the right family for our house, and would you just lead them to our showing today? But the house remained for sale. One day, a lady in my Bible study had a prayer request. She said that they had just put their house on the market and that they were going out of town for the weekend. And her prayer request was that it would sell while they were gone. I thought, well, good luck with that. In my experience, God is not interested in selling houses. Guess what? Her house sold that weekend. And then I really had something to pray about. It's like, God, really? Are you kidding me? Do you like her better than me? Does she have more faith than me? Now, before we go any further, I do need to acknowledge that it is possible and actually quite probable that the sale of her house had nothing to do with her prayers versus mine. But more likely that they had just bought a better house in a more desirable location. But the situation and my disappointment drove me to take my questions to God. And that was the place where my faith in God began to grow. That is the beauty of prayer. As I prayed about it and I thought about it and I talked it through with my husband, I came to the conclusion that while God hears every single prayer I pray, my faith in him was not contingent on whether or not he sold my house. The God I serve is so Much bigger than that. My faith is in the God of the universe who works all things for my good. And when he doesn't answer my prayers, it's because he has perfect timing. And he is much more concerned with the work that is happening in my heart than in the wish list that I want him to fulfill. I read a quote in an Ann Padgett book that said, don't be so focused on what you're looking for that you miss out on what you find. And I find that to be so true in my prayer life. Perhaps it's a need or a request that leads me to prayer. But what I find when I come to God is that he has so much more for me than just simply fulfilling my requests. One of the best passages in the Bible on prayer is one that you'll read this week. It's by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4. Let's read it together. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. And I just love that phrase, the Lord is near. So when I start to pray, I always start with the idea that God is near. He's not a faraway God, that we have to work to get his attention. He's close. He is right here with me in my pain, in my disappointment, in my fear, and also in my moments of joy, too. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. The more I make myself aware of his presence in my life, the more my prayers become more like a conversation and less like a recitation. Verse 6 says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Paul says, every situation. I don't know if you're like me, but typically I only talk to God about the bad situations in my life, the things I want him to fix. But what a beautiful idea that prayer is about. Talking to God about every situation. That's why Paul tells us prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Prayer is the general term. This means you come to God and you acknowledge his presence in your life. It's when you begin to get your mind centered around how God is in control of your situation. Petition is when you get specific and there is nothing too insignificant for you to bring to God. Paul said every situation. So if it's important to you, it's important to God. But then there's the thanksgiving part. And this is when you take a minute to just express your gratitude. Maybe you reflect on other times that God has answered prayers. In your life or provided for you. And then I love what happens next. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding. It's unexplainable. It will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. When you pray, you experience peace. I don't know how to explain it, but that's what happens. It's not a peace that God is like Santa Claus and you just sent off your letter and you're going to get everything you want. It's a peace that knows that the God you serve is in control. And that as much as you don't understand about prayer and faith, you can trust that God is working all things for good in your life. This is what guards your heart from all the other scary things that you could be worrying about. And then look what Paul goes on to say. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you. Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that that encouraged you today. Make sure that you subscribe so that you don't miss out on other videos like this and I'll see you back here next time.
