Louie Giglio - Prayer, Remix
We’re talking about a shift in our lives, specifically about prayer. I just want to say today that I know we’ve got intercessors in this house. You know what an intercessor is; they wake up praying, they go to sleep praying, they have a prayer journal, and they are always attuned to the Holy Spirit. Their function in the house is to intercede and to call on heaven, and that’s life for them. But I also know we have others in our house today who barely pray, and if I were to call on you right now and say, «How long have you been coming to Passion City Church?» You might respond, «I’ve been coming around here a couple of years.» I’d say, «Great! Come lead us in prayer right now.» You’d be like, «Oh no, no, I don’t do that, thank you so much. Not in front of people anyway.» We’ve got people all over the spectrum when it comes to prayer, and so what I’d really love to do today is help all of us find an on-ramp, if you will, by remixing some of the routine prayers many of us have prayed our whole lives so we can get some fresh words and more accurate theology into our prayers.
We talked last week, and this isn’t the be-all-end-all definition of prayer, but as a starting place, prayer is a steady state of awareness of Father, Son, and Spirit, creating a constant and seamless union of heart and mind with the Almighty that shifts earthly perspectives, plans, and purposes as heaven becomes visible on Earth. The shift that I would love to see happen today is a change in some of the basic things that we pray so that we can move from the rote into a relationship, from the routine into the real. Let me show you what I mean by this. I’m going to put a sample prayer up. Someone just said, «Hey, do you mind blessing the food?» So you said, «Okay, yes, I’ll do it.» Let’s see if we can work this one out together. Just see if you know what goes in the blanks:
«Dear Lord, thank you for this day.» We always have to start with that: «Dear Lord, thank you for this day.» That gives us time to gather our thoughts, center ourselves in the Lord, refocus everything, and think about our prayer. So it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is. «Dear Lord, thank you for this…» Oh, I’m already giving you the answer. I’m not going to do that, okay. Let me give you the blanks. Don’t put anything in the blanks; we’re going to work this out together.
«We thank you for this…» This is a prayer for our meal, so we kind of know what’s going to come next, but I’m not telling you yet. Give you time to work it out; talk to your neighbor. «We thank you for this ___ and for the ___ that ____.» It’s kind of obvious, right? «We ask that you fill in the blank ___ this food to ___ and ___ our bodies.» Anyone with me so far? «So that you may use us for your ___ in Jesus' name, Amen.»
Has anyone prayed that prayer before? Let’s see a big show of hands if you’ve prayed that prayer. Okay, we’re going to fill in the blanks now. Just in case you’re new to church and new to the Lord and you don’t know how it all works: «Dear Lord, thank you for this day. We thank you for this food, and thank you for the hands that prepared it.» But what if no hands prepared it? What if someone just took an orange and put it on the table? It doesn’t matter.
«We ask that you use this food to strengthen and nourish our bodies.» Don’t you wish you had that patent on that phrase? You could trademark that: «strengthen and nourish our bodies so that you may use us for your service.» In Jesus' name, Amen. Isn’t that special? Don’t you know when you finish that prayer, people are just in awe of God? The presence of God is so palpable in the moment, and people are like, «Give glory to God.» No, people are just grabbing their plates and going through the buffet because there was no God moment, there was no heaven-on-earth moment, there was no sense of connection or relationship; it was just the ordinary. It was the routine; it was the rote. It’s what we learned from somebody who learned it from somebody who learned it from somebody. And when you pray for the food, this is how you pray.
Now, if you want to get crazy and throw in a specific, like the turkey, or if you want to throw in somebody’s name, «Thank you for Aunt Betty who made it,» whoa, you can go there. But for the most part, it’s kind of the ordinary, and that’s something we can all laugh at. But if this is our prayer life, then we’re missing a great opportunity.
In the text we were looking at last week in Matthew 6, Jesus sets it up in verse 5. He says, «And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,» and notice how he’s going to speak into now this idea of the routine—the ritual, the external. He says, «Don’t be like them. They love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.»
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. That phrase alone will shift our entire dialogue with God: «Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.» So why ask him? Because we’re children and we have the opportunity to, but as we do, we’re already confident that our Father is already in motion, knowing everything we need before we even know to ask him for it.
But he said when you pray, this is how you should pray: «Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.» In other words, when you pray, pray to heaven; call on heaven. I think what God is wanting to say, I know what God is wanting to say in these weeks that we’re in this collection, is that you have an opportunity to call on heaven; take your shot! You’re calling on heaven. It’s not just a routine, something rote, or some ritual. We have the opportunity because our Father is in heaven. So I can be anywhere on planet Earth and instantly have a direct connection to heaven. That’s a shift.
And it shifts in a couple of really basic prayers. I’m going to talk about four prayers that need to be remixed today. The first one is this: «Lord, bless me. Bless us.» One of our favorite ones: «Lord, bless this time. Bless this gathering. Oh, bless this meal. Bless church today. Bless our ___.» Lord, bless me. And I want us to understand today that something powerful has happened to us in our relationship with Jesus, and it is that we have come under an extraordinary blessing— you and me! We are blessed.
I’ll just give us a couple of places. Ephesians chapter 1, central thought: he’s saying to these followers in verse 3, «Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.» You’re like, «I know, but I’ve got a big thing coming up in my work tomorrow, and I don’t know if that really fits into every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because that all sounds a little bit, you know, ethereal.» «I really have a thing, and I need to close this deal tomorrow, so I’m asking God to bless my meeting tomorrow with this person.»
Well, I think that’s not a terrible thing. Personally, I would be walking into a deal saying, «Lord, I just want you to touch this situation.» But are you walking into that business moment knowing you are blessed? So when you woke up that day, you didn’t wake up and go, «I need to come to God to get a blessing.» You woke up that day entering into a day with God knowing that you already were under the blessing of God. You are not cursed; you are blessed. Maybe you have a curse over your life from some past situation or circumstance, but Jesus has the power, through his blood, to break that curse.
What heaven is speaking over you is that you are a loved son or a loved daughter of a Father who is in heaven, and you have the blessing of heaven on your life. You move in the blessing, you walk in the blessing; you are a child of blessing. And that’s a shift for a lot of us: to get out of the «I don’t» and into the «I do,» out of the «I need» and into the «I have,» out of the «I’m not» and into the «I am.» And I’m moving with a shift in my mind.
Matthew chapter 6 is where we are, but we’re in the middle of a sermon that Jesus is giving. It starts in the chapter before, in chapter 5, and it begins this way: «Blessed are the poor…» Then you go to verse 4: «Blessed…» Verse 5: «Blessed…» Verse 6: «Blessed…» Verse 7: «Blessed…» Verse 8: «Blessed…» Verse 9: «Blessed…» Verse 10: «Blessed…» Verse 11: «Blessed.» This sermon that we’re reading and understanding about how to come to a Father in Heaven starts with «you’re blessed.»
So this is a shift of our minds. I know a lot of us are not in the flow with God, and I’ve been there. We’re not on board with God the whole journey. So now we realize, «Oh my goodness, I’ve come to the moment, and I need to ask heaven to bless what I’m doing, whatever it is: bless this marriage, bless our youth gathering tonight, bless this food, bless whatever.» And now I’m like, «Oh, we need heaven to sort of stamp a blessing on this thing.» But what God would prefer is that I get in the flow with him and know that I’m moving with him.
So when I get to the moment, I already know God is in the moment, and I don’t have to throw a Hail Mary at the last second and say, «Lord, please bless this.» I always would wonder what would happen if God said, «I’m not going to do it, no.» And it starts in 20 minutes. Well, you’ve got people coming into the parking lot; there are people out in the foyer. We need you to bless it. «No, I’m not going to bless it.» And then there we would be, doing X, Y, or Z, knowing we didn’t have the blessing of God, versus being in the flow with God and having him say, «Let’s go this way.»
It’s like what Moses said when he was asking God how people would know we’re your people. God said, «I’m going to go with you.» Moses said, «Well, obviously, you’re going to go with us because if you don’t go with us, we’re not going.» But we go and then at the last minute, «Lord, we need you to bless this,» versus starting with God and moving with God and knowing we’re in the flow with God so that when we get to the moment, we already know. We’re not asking at the moment; we’re saying, «Holy Spirit, come.» We’re saying, «Holy Spirit, move.» We’re saying, «God, have your way.» We’re saying, «Thank you, God, for what you’re going to do in this moment.» But we’re not saying, «Dear Lord, please bless this.»
We’ve already understood that we’ve been moving in the blessing all along. In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob is speaking to his sons, and you’re like, «Well, why does that matter to me?» Because you’re in this story. One of his sons was Joseph, and Joseph is in the line of Jesus. Jesus is your line. He says in verse 22, «Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring whose branches climb over a wall.» Then he comes down and says in verse 24, «But his bow remains steady; his strong arms stay limber because of the hand of the mighty one of Jacob, because of the shepherd, the rock of Israel, because of your father’s God who helps you, because of the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lie below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.»
From the beginning of our story, God has been speaking and proclaiming his blessing, and we are in that blessing in this moment. In Christ, he has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing we will ever need. We are in that place now.
So how do we remix this prayer? «Lord, bless us. Bless me. Bless our time.» We remix it this way: «Thank you, Father, that I am blessed. Let me, in this moment, bless your name.»
Number two prayer a lot of us pray: «Lord, be with us.» «Lord, be with us.» Here we go now: «Be with us, Lord. Will you be with me today? I’ve got my first day of class, I’ve got my first day of training, I’ve got my first day of being married, I’ve got this thing coming up. Lord, please be with us.» What a crazy prayer! You’re like, «Well, Louie, we don’t mean like, 'Be with us, ' that’s not really what we’re saying.» Okay, then what are we saying? We’re saying, «Lord, we need to know that you are in the midst. We would love to see evidence of this God who dwells within moving with us in this moment.» Okay, then pray that. But to ask God to be with us is a ridiculous prayer.
No, I love this; this is not going as good as I hoped it would. «Dear Lord, please bless this talk.» Most of us know this text: Galatians 2:20. «I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ…» Can you say it with me? «…lives in me.» The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So I am asking a God who lives in me to be with me. We need a shift. Is it as if we’re calling on someone in Cleveland who, by the power of the Holy Spirit incarnation, is in a human body, and then by that same Spirit, now Christ has come to live in us? And we’re saying, «Dear Lord, please be with me?» He’s like, «Um, I live in you.»
Let’s remix that prayer! What do you say? We just don’t pray anymore, «Lord, be with me. Lord, be with us.» What if we prayed this prayer instead: «Thank you, God, that you are here and you dwell in me. Jesus, live through me.»
This one is going to get interesting.
Two more! And I’m just going to go through this one pretty quick because I think this will require conversation later amongst you and your friends and family. «Watch over and protect me.» I’m going to go easy here because I’m in this with you. I do not want to pray for hardship; I do not want to pray for difficulty. But I’m wondering where our entire prayer life decided it would park at: «Watch over and protect us.» But that’s in the mix, right?
I don’t know where we learned it. I learned it from the people who taught me how to pray, and they learned it from the people who taught them how to pray: «Dear Lord, watch over and protect us.» And I’m not saying we should pray, «Lord, don’t watch over us and don’t protect us.» But we also have a heavenly Father who knows what we need before we need it. Don’t we think he’s watching over us? And don’t we know that his angels are working on our behalf? It’s a shift, and I think it’s a shift that primarily aligns with our mission.
If my mission is safety and security, I’m going to keep praying this prayer. But if my mission is the advance of the Gospel of Jesus to the ends of the Earth, then this is probably not going to be my primary prayer. We talked about it last week, and I want to take us back there for a second: Acts chapter 4. All of heaven is breaking out on Earth in this moment, and there is a visible clash between heaven and hell, between darkness and light, as the gospel is birthed on Earth by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As the believers are praying in Acts 4 after Peter and John have been held up by the authorities, threatened by the authorities, and intimidated by the authorities, they come back. There’s a prayer meeting and the prayer meeting ends with this: If you notice down to verse 29: «Now, Lord,» we talked about this last week, but I want you to see it again. «Consider their threats.» That’s the authorities, the powers that be. «And enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.»
And this is where we would have inserted, «And watch over and protect us,» but it’s not there. The prayer goes on: «Stretch out your hand to heal, perform miraculous signs, and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.» That’s the prayer. You know their threats. «Consider their threats. Enable or empower your people so that we may move and demonstrate the power that is in the holy name of Jesus.»
At the end of this, the place where they were meeting was shaken. Talk about a shift. God liked this prayer, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Turn the page; your page is over. Stephen is dead. Turn the page; a few pages over, people are scattered. Turn the pages a few pages over, a ship is wrecked. Turn the pages a few pages over, and you get to the end of Acts, and all the heroes of Acts are dead. Nowhere along the way did any of them pray, «Dear Lord, watch over and protect us.»
They all prayed, «Lord, give us power to move in your name.» You say, «Louie, two different things! We’re talking about taking a long car trip with the family, and we want the Lord to watch over and protect us.» These people were like taking the gospel to the ends of the Earth. Exactly!
So what’s the remix? I think this is a great remix. Whether you’re on your way to New Mexico on a car trip or whether you’re on your way to Nepal to preach the gospel to people who are living in darkness, «Lord, we commit our way to you, empower and use us.» We’re loading up the car, we’re going to New Mexico, we’re heading out. «Lord, we commit this trip to you. Along this trip, Lord, will you empower and use us so that somewhere between here and New Mexico, heaven will be visible on Earth?»
I believe God says, «Yeah, I’ll actually even shake the car a little bit; I’m on board with that. That’s the kind of person I want to link up with in life.»
One more. Can we do one more, please? Forgive me! Oh Louie, you are wrecking all of theology. You have to deal with God on that great day, not us. I know. I think some of you are stuck in this prayer, and it is a cycle for you: «Lord, please forgive me. Lord, please forgive me. Lord, please forgive me.»
But I want to take you to Colossians chapter 2 and give you a different lens by which you can pray this prayer. A shift, if you will. This is maybe the greatest shift of all of our lives. I think there couldn’t be a greater shift for a believer than this shift. In Colossians 2:13 it says, «When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ; he forgave us…» Can you say this with me? «All our sins.» Let’s try that again: «He forgave us all our sins.» Having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and stood opposed to us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
So did God in Christ, through faith, forgive us for all our sins? Then why do we ask God to forgive us for our sins? Well, we’re not really asking him to forgive us for our sins, Louie. When we say that, what we’re really saying to God is, «I know that you’ve already forgiven all my sins through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, but it’s good for me just to confess what I’ve done because that clears the air in the relationship that we have, so I want to say I’m sorry that I did something really foolish even though I’m a forgiven son of God, and I want to admit it and confess it to you.»
That’s what we’re saying. Okay, then why don’t we say that? Why don’t we shift out of the routine and put some fresh words in our mouth that actually express the reality of where we are? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you are washed by the blood of the Lamb, you don’t have to ask God to forgive you, and it really, honestly, doesn’t honor God for you to keep asking him to forgive you. It honors God when you say, «Wow, I am forgiven, past, present, future; I’m forgiven.»
So I want to remix that prayer, and it’s something that’s powerful and meaningful. This would be the remix. Because we do sin, by the way, «Father, I confess my sin to you.» In other words, I’m just owning up to it. I want to get it out on the table. Not that you don’t know, but I just need to hear myself say it to you. And if necessary to someone else, I want to confess my sin, and then I pray, «Thank you for the forgiveness that I have in Jesus.»
Man, that is such a shift! I’m not here to get a blessing; I’m coming now; I’m already blessed. I’m not here to say, «Lord, be with me.» I know the King of heaven lives in me! I’m not coming to say, «Lord, please put me in a little protective bubble all the days of my life.» I’m saying, «God, use me all the days of my life.» And I’m coming to you saying, «God, I know the price you paid, and yes, I’m wrong. Yes, I’m foolish. Yes, I made a terrible decision, and I’m so sorry about it, God. I confess it to you, but thank you for the cross. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for forgiveness; I claim it; I receive it.» What a shift that is!
«Father, I confess my sin to you, thank you for the forgiveness I have in Jesus. I receive it, and I choose to turn to you and to follow your ways.» What a remake that is! «Father, forgive me» keeps me stuck in the cycle over here, but «Father, I confess it; thank you for forgiveness» puts me on a new path with God.
What are we doing? We’re using real truth, hello, to inform real words that foster a real connection in a real relationship with God—not prayers prayed in rote that honestly probably bounced off heaven and do nothing to invigorate the spirit that is within us. God is inviting you into a relationship with him—an awareness of Father, Son, and Spirit that creates this union of heart and mind that creates a shift in us so now I’m talking to someone, and I’m using real words that are based in real truth, and it’s fostering a real relationship with God.
I don’t want us to turn into little prayer legalists, so if your friend prays, «Dear Lord, thank you for this day,» let them go! Let them go. Say, «Amen.» But I want you to notice in the next little season of life how many of these tired phrases are in the prayers that we hear and in the prayers that we say, and I want us to ask the Holy Spirit to jettison the rote and to give authentic real words based in real truth because we are in a real relationship with God Almighty.