{"id":301042,"date":"2006-01-09T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/your-will-not-mine\/"},"modified":"2024-10-07T22:42:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T02:42:14","slug":"your-will-not-mine","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/your-will-not-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Will&#8211;Not Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you think your prayers would be better heard if you prayed backwards?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2006-01-09.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"11.4M","filesize_raw":"11958128","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4299,2210],"podcast_series":[7425],"cwp_profile":[3349],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-301042","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-faith","tag-prayer","podcast_series-praying-backwards","cwp_profile-bryan-chapell","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/301042\/your-will-not-mine","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/301042\/your-will-not-mine","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"tzRY6NCLhN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/your-will-not-mine\/\">Your Will&#8211;Not Mine<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/your-will-not-mine\/embed\/#?secret=tzRY6NCLhN\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Your Will&#8211;Not Mine&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"tzRY6NCLhN\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Do you think your prayers would be better heard if you prayed backwards?","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2006-01-09.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0What people do in this world is they try to evaluate the goodness of God based on their circumstances \u2013 I've got a good job or a bad job; I've got good health or bad health.\u00a0 They evaluate the goodness of God based on their circumstances.\u00a0 But what the Bible is doing is it's always telling us to evaluate God based on His character and the primary point that the Bible pushes is look to the cross.\u00a0 The God who provided His Son to give you life eternal can be trusted.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBob:\u00a0This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, January 9th.\u00a0 Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We'll hear today how prayer is one of the things God uses to remind us of His goodness.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us.\u00a0 I'll tell you, I was excited who we were going to have on the program and what we were going to be talking about, because, well, first of all, in regard to who it is, I have benefited from Bryan Chapell's ministry in speaking and in writing, but on the subject, when it comes to prayer, I need all the help I can get.\u00a0 I've got to be honest this is \u2013 of all the spiritual disciplines, this is the hardest one for me.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0And I think for most believers.\u00a0 In fact, the way Bryan begins his book \u2013 well, let's introduce him first and let our listeners know who he is.\u00a0 Bryan is the president of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, so he's a \"show-me\" guy, along with a couple of other show-me guys.\u00a0 Bryan, welcome to FamilyLife Today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0That's right.\u00a0 I'm with a couple of other show-me guys.\u00a0 I appreciate that.\u00a0 It's good to be with you all.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0Bryan and his wife, Kathleen, have four children, and he's written a number of books, but he's written one that, I had to admit, Bryan, when Bob gave me this book, I went, \"Praying backwards?\u00a0 You're wanting us to rethink where we begin in prayer?\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0Why?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0Because we're still praying childlike prayers even as mature Christians.\u00a0 What does a child pray?\u00a0 \"Lord, I want a pony, a new red bicycle, in Jesus' name.\"\u00a0 Now, wait a second, was that really in Jesus' name?\u00a0 So often, childlike prayers are just in the child's name, and we become adults, and we're taught to petition God, but we're not usually thinking about the priorities.\u00a0 And so the consequence is we end up praying childlike adult prayers, which is \"Lord, in Jesus' name, lower my taxes.\u00a0 In Jesus' name, give me a job in the Bahamas.\"\u00a0 And what Jesus did when He said over and over again to pray in His name was saying, \"Put me first, seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut what we are doing when we pray is we are saying, \"Lord, the first thing I want is the glory of my Savior.\u00a0 I am praying for the purposes of God to be promoted so that when I pray it will just change our priorities.\"\u00a0 But what I want to do is say will also give us great joy to say, \"in Jesus' name, Lord, bring your blessing into my marriage.\"\u00a0 \"In Jesus' name, I ask for my child to marry a Christian spouse.\"\u00a0 \"In Jesus' name I pray that this family would truly honor You.\"\u00a0 And that gets us away from the notion of \"In Jesus' name, just give me more money.\"\u00a0 \"In Jesus' name, just make my life easy.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\"In Jesus' name\" means \"Thy kingdom come into my life, my family, my purposes,\" and it will mean prayer isn't such a mystery \u2013 \"I've got to find the will of God, whatever wavelength that is on and pray exactly that way, and then the Lord is going to give me whatever I want.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, wait a second, I'm simply praying, \"Lord, make me Your servant and bring Your glory into my life for Your sake and then the thing I most want in the world,\" which is Jesus to be honored, you will, yourself, honor.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBob:\u00a0You're really challenging us to put the desires of the Father ahead of our own desires.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0In the book, one of the things I try to do is just take people through The Lord's Prayer.\u00a0 What did He say?\u00a0 Well, He started out by saying, \"Hallowed be Your name.\"\u00a0 What does \"hallowed\" mean?\u00a0 It means \"May Your name be holy, Lord.\"\u00a0 It's actually not a statement but a petition, a request of God that He would make His name holy in this world so that people would look to God and say, \"God is really special.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, what does that mean in our lives?\u00a0 It means that I want my life to bring glory to my Savior.\u00a0 I tell in the book of one of my favorite people.\u00a0 His name was Eric, a schoolteacher, a wonderful man who had a great ministry to high schoolers.\u00a0 But Eric contracted a brain tumor of some sort that ultimately cost him his life.\u00a0 And I can remember going into his hospital room at one point, and, as I went in, his wife dismissed herself.\u00a0 She had been there for him, but he was in a lot of pain that day, and as he spoke to me, he said, \"Bryan, as my wife is leaving, please help her.\u00a0 Help her to understand that even though I am suffering now, I know that I will be with Jesus soon, and I'm just praying that I can glorify Jesus in this.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0I thought isn't that amazing?\u00a0 Here is a man who is suffering, but his prayer is that his wife would know that he would be with Jesus soon; that that would be the better life; that that reality of heaven would be even greater than the reality of this life with her.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0What I hear you saying is that we glorify God when our lives, in a very simple way, just remind others that God is \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0\u2026 and that He's wonderful and He's glorious and beautiful and loving, and that He can be trusted.\u00a0 And that He can be trusted \u2013 His character is always going to confirm the goodness of our God.\u00a0 You know what people do in this world, we know its temptation is they try to evaluate the goodness of God based on their circumstances \u2013 I've got a good job or a bad job; I've got good health or bad health.\u00a0 They evaluate the goodness of God based on their circumstances.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut what the Bible is doing is it's always telling us to evaluate God based on His character and the primary point that the Bible pushes is look to the cross.\u00a0 The God who provided His Son to give you life eternal can be trusted \u2013 look how good He is.\u00a0 It doesn't mean that all life seems good all the time.\u00a0 It doesn't mean that, it doesn't mean that, does it?\u00a0 Sometimes life is very hard.\u00a0 But the Bible says \"Look at God.\u00a0 What's He like?\u00a0 If He provided His Son to give you eternal life out of this fallen world and against your own sin, then even in this fallen world, where suffering will occur, even Jesus said, \"In this life you will face suffering.\u00a0 You will be persecuted.\u00a0 Even as the Master goes so must the servant go even to face suffering.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0But we trust God through it because we have seen His character and know that He promises a life that is without suffering at the end of this.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBob:\u00a0Bryan, here is where my understanding of God in His sovereignty and His goodness can sometimes hinder my prayer life.\u00a0 There is part of me that wants to get up in the morning and say, \"Lord, Thy will be done today, because that's what's going to happen, anyway, amen.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0Wow, it's a mystery, isn't it, how God has chosen to use our prayers to further His will.\u00a0 To me, one of the most powerful passages on prayer in all the Bible is Romans 8 that ends with the verse we all know by heart, but we forget that it's the conclusion of a passage on prayer.\u00a0 Romans 8:28 \u2013 \"All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.\"\u00a0 Now, we go, yeah, that's kind of the Christian 2x4.\u00a0 You know, you're feeling bad \u2013 well \u2013 boom.\u00a0 \"All things work together for good\" \u2013 smile, brother.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0You're kind of saying, but where does that come from?\u00a0 Well, Romans 8:26 says, and this is amazing for people who are being taught about prayer \u2013 \"We don't know how to pray.\"\u00a0 Since you and I were kids, we were taught, what \u2013 God would answer a prayer as long as we prayed according to His will.\u00a0 Great.\u00a0 Just one little problem \u2013 how do I know what's according to His will?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0Right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0And so even the Apostle Paul says, \"We don't know how to pray.\"\u00a0 So the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with \"groanings too deep to utter.\"\u00a0 That's actually the language of childbirth \u2013 that as a woman in the pangs of childbirth is crying out, so the Holy Spirit is, before the throne of grace, saying \"Lord, listen to him.\u00a0 Lord, answer; Lord, hear.\"\u00a0 And the Bible goes on there to say \"Not only does the Spirit speak with groanings too deep to utter, but God, who knows the mind of the Spirit, hears and answers according to His will so that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.\" \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, listen, that's a lot of words going by.\u00a0 I need a simple image.\u00a0 For my heart, my brain goes back to watching my mother decorate a cake when I was a kid.\u00a0 You ever watch one of those icing syringes or icing funnels where you kind of glop in the icing in one end and at the other end, there is this decorator tip.\u00a0 And I think here is what's happening when I pray \u2013 even the Apostle said \"We don't know how to pray.\"\u00a0 I\u2019m not omniscient.\u00a0 I'm a finite creature.\u00a0 I don't have all the wisdom of a sovereign God, but God still says, \"Pray,\" so I kind of glop in my human prayers, that's the icing going into one end of the funnel, and then the Holy Spirit, with groanings to deep to utter, He is speaking with fervency beyond what I can muster.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0So I think of it \u2013 I pray about the most serious things sometimes in bed at night, don't you do that?\u00a0 I can pray for the salvation of my brother, and I can fall asleep in my own prayer, and to think the Holy Spirit is before God with urgency saying, \"Lord, hear this prayer, heed what he is saying,\" and it's like pressure on that icing funnel, pushing the prayer out.\u00a0 But then the Spirit is also designing the prayer beyond my human ability, so that what comes out is according to God's infinite wondrous plans and then this promise \"so that all things will work together for good.\"\u00a0 I am praying, and God, in His sovereignty, for reasons I cannot explain, this mystery, God designs to use my prayer to bend the universe to bring about His will so that His glory and my good will be accomplished.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, I have trouble get my mind about that, but what God is saying is that as we pray, the world is being changed.\u00a0 Those who write about this thing, it sometimes is astounding to hear what they say \u2013 that we are, in essence, God's co-creators of the New World.\u00a0 That is a huge mystery to me.\u00a0 I cannot explain why God would take a finite creature like me and involve me in the work of creating the world as He wants it to be.\u00a0 But He loves me, and He gave His son for me, and He says \"You're as precious to me as Christ Himself,\" and, for that reason, God is taking our prayers and using them as the fuel of His own working in the universe.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0I can just imagine a husband and wife who perhaps have attempted to pray with one another or for one another or for a child, for a family member, or maybe somebody they love at church, and their prayer didn't get answered.\u00a0 They wanted it to get answered.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, you actually begin your book with the story of a family who prayed for a grandmother and, frankly, I think this is a great place to begin a book on prayer, because I think this is where most people get stuck, and where they stay because they get paralyzed in unbelief and start really expecting the wrong things out of God.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBryan:\u00a0Well, I want to say so much at once, Dennis.\u00a0 Let me begin \u2013 this may sound very strange.\u00a0 I think God always answers prayer.\u00a0 I think He's got four alternatives.\u00a0 He can say \"Yes,\" He can say \"No,\" He can say \"Not yet,\" or He can say, \"Exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you would ask or even think.\"\u00a0 God has all those alternatives before Him. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, if he says \"No,\" it's because our prayers are amiss, and James tells us some of those reasons you have not because you don't ask, or when you ask, you ask according to your own lusts or self desires.\u00a0 We sometimes forget when we are praying for other people that God may have a plan for them that exceeds our own, and we don't impose our will on them; we are asking God to provide His will for them.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, the couple I described, or the family that I described in that opening chapter, who was praying for a godly woman who was dying.\u00a0 They were asking that God would spare her life.\u00a0 That's a wonderful prayer, and I think we can pray for those kinds of things and see the miraculous intervention of God but not always.\u00a0 Even the Apostles died.\u00a0 Even Christ suffered.\u00a0 There can be purposes in God's plan that we cannot understand.\u00a0 What we have to remember is this world is real but, to God, the next world is no less real.\u00a0 So when God says, \"I may heal someone now,\" that's wonderful, that's miraculous.\u00a0 Or \"I may take someone to Myself, where the healing is perfect and eternal.\"\u00a0 Because even healing of today in this world, that person is still going to age and die.\u00a0 It's going to be imperfect and not eternal.\u00a0 But there can be something even more wondrous where God takes someone to Himself, and that healing is perfect and eternal.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0And we say, \"Oh, well, that's just all that eternal heaven stuff.\"\u00a0 No, no, listen \u2013 that is the real promise of God of a real world, a real universe, that is no less significant than this one.\u00a0 In fact, it's better.\u00a0 And for us to say that for God to heal someone by taking them to Himself is not a miracle, is not as great a blessing, I would say, \"No, listen, read the Bible.\u00a0 That is the greater blessing.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0You know, the Puritans had a way of talking about faith, and they called it \"the walk of faith\"; that we are to progress with God in the walk of faith.\u00a0 Now, you think, what does that mean?\u00a0 It means we just kind of, like athletes, you know, pump up more and more faith into us and get more and more belief into our hearts and minds and bodies.\u00a0 Actually, it was the opposite.\u00a0 The walk of faith for the Puritans was a simple, childlike reception of whatever God said in His Word, so that if God said He listened to prayer, you just believe that.\u00a0 If God said that He was good, you just believed that, and therefore you walked through life with the understanding that the Good Shepherd was carrying you and when this life came to its end, you were in God's presence eternally with no more darkness or tears and all healing complete.\u00a0 And that knowledge would be so profound that it would give you strength and joy for this life in every situation that you would face.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0And that's \u2013 I don't want prayer to be this great mystery.\u00a0 I just want people to be like children coming before God and saying, \"Lord, I'm asking you as the Good Shepherd to do what's best in my life.\"\u00a0 So how do husbands and wives do that?\u00a0 Well, you know what I think is the most profound prayer that my wife and I have made for our children, and we have prayed this night after night after night through our children's lives.\u00a0 We haven't said, \"Lord, never let them have a disease.\"\u00a0 We don't want that, and we certainly have prayed for their health, and we've had children with serious health problems that we've prayed for healing.\u00a0 Sometimes we have seen it; sometimes we have not.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe have always prayed that they would find a Christian spouse, and we have prayed for that for our children.\u00a0 Two are now married, and they are married to Christian spouses.\u00a0 And the fact that we prayed for over 20 years for that to occur does not mean that it was a prayer that God was not honoring quickly or not listening to.\u00a0 No, He wanted to build faith in us.\u00a0 He wanted to have us, over the course of time, to express our confidence in Him, and then He has wonderfully blessed by providing Christian spouses for our children.\u00a0 We've got two more to go, so we'll see how the Lord works in their lives.\u00a0 But we come with confidence.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, what does it mean to pray in faith, to pray believing, because what I was taught as a child was you are to cast all doubt out of your mind.\u00a0 Now, I'd think how do you do that?\u00a0 I mean, if I say to you right now, for the next three minutes do not think of pink elephants.\u00a0 Do not think of it, now do not think \u2013 are you \u2013 wait, wait \u2013 how can you tell me not to think of it.\u00a0 I'm going to think of it.\u00a0 So when someone says, \"Don't even let any thought come into your brain that somehow this prayer that you are offering might not occur.\u00a0 I don't know how to do that.\u00a0 In fact, I don't see that in the Scriptures that that kind of faith is being offered.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tOur faith is not in the correctness of our prayer, our faith is in the wisdom of our God, and He has told me that when I do not know what to pray, He is going to provide what is lacking in my wisdom out of His own.\u00a0 So I will pray for healing, but I will know it may be God's will at time to take someone to Himself.\u00a0 I will pray for a better job, but I know God may need to build faith in me by not giving me the job I think I want to provide what is better for me.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, listen, both of you have been down paths in life that you thought the Lord wanted you to go in a certain direction, but it didn't work out, and you found out He had a better direction for you.\u00a0 I think of all these accounts of the September 11 tragedy; of the people who were going to work that day and, you know, a child got sick so they didn't get to work on time, or a flat tire occurred, and people who were Christians, who were praying, \"Oh, Lord, please don't let me have this problem today,\" but what God meant was for them not to get to that building, the World Trade Center that day.\u00a0 And God had a better plan than their prayer.\u00a0 Their confidence was not in the correctness of their prayer, their confidence was in the goodness of their God, and that's what takes the mystery out of prayer \u2013 thinking somehow I've got to have this magical view into the will of God and pray according to it so He'll answer.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tInstead saying no, no, God is saying when you pray with faith in Him, that you do pray according to His will.\u00a0 He will bring His will into your prayer.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDennis:\u00a0And so as we apply this to marriage and families, I just want to summarize here and encourage husbands and wives to not lose heart in praying.\u00a0 Prayer, as you've said, is an opportunity to engage God around what is happening in His plan, in His kingdom, as He is at work.\u00a0 And we can either be a part of that through prayer, or we can be observers.\u00a0 And, personally, I've played basketball, and I've also been in the stands watching basketball, and I would much prefer, if I had the body again, to play basketball and be on the court engaging in the game.\u00a0 And I think when God commands us to pray, He knows our weakness.\u00a0 He knows we're going to run into dead-end streets where we don't get the answer we thought or that we deserved or that we wanted, and we are left to look through the eyes of faith in Scripture and to the character of God saying, you know what?\u00a0 Did God stop being good?\u00a0 The answer is \"no.\"\u00a0 Is God still in charge?\u00a0 The answer is \"yes.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Now, I may not feel like it, the circumstances may not look like it, but the reality is He is God; we're not, and we've got to trust Him.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBob:\u00a0And, ultimately, I think, if our prayers are going to be different then our thinking has to be different.\u00a0 We have to have our thinking about prayer shaped by what God's Word has to say to us about that discipline of prayer and how God wants to use it in our lives, and, Bryan, I think you've done us all a service in that regard with the book you've written called \"Praying Backwards.\"\u00a0 Again, the subtitle of the book is \"Transforming Your Prayer Life by Beginning Your Prayers 'In Jesus' Name.'\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe've got copies of the book in our FamilyLife Resource Center along with a book that you and Barbara wrote, Dennis, for couples on praying together called \"Two Hearts Praying as One,\" and other resources that are available on the subject of prayer.\u00a0 Let me encourage you to go to our website, FamilyLife.com, click the \"Go\" button at the bottom of the screen, and that will take you to a page where there is more information about all of the resources that are available from us here at FamilyLife about prayer including Bryan Chapell's book and the book I mentioned by Dennis and Barbara.\u00a0 And if you order both of those books together this week, we will send you at no additional cost the CD of our conversation with Bryan Chapell.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAgain, go to our website, FamilyLife.com, click the \"Go\" button at the bottom of the screen.\u00a0 That will take you right to a page where you can get more information about these resources or order online, if you'd like.\u00a0 Or if it's simpler, just call us at 1-800-FLTODAY \u2013 1-800-F-as-in-family, L-as-in-life, and then the word TODAY and mention that you'd like the resources you heard us talking about on prayer, and someone can help get your order all set up and get these resources out to you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tJust a few days ago, we had a chance to feature on FamilyLife Today some of the programs that our listeners told us were some of their favorites during the year 2005, and one of the programs we featured was from a series that we did with Emerson Eggerich.\u00a0 He wrote the book, \"Love and Respect,\" and our week-long conversation with him on that subject really resonated with our listeners. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDuring the month of January, for those listeners who can help support the ministry of FamilyLife Today with a donation of any amount, we would like to send you, as a thank-you gift, the two-CD set that features our week-long series of programs with Emerson Eggerich on the subject of his book, \"Love and Respect,\" and I've talked to some couples who have said this material is something that God used to unlock some things in their marriage. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou can make a donation online at FamilyLife.com.\u00a0 If you do that, when you get to the keycode box, we need you to enter a word, and you can take your pick \u2013 either \"Love\" or \"Respect,\" enter either one, just so that we know that you'd like a copy of the CDs featuring Dr. Eggerich.\u00a0 Or you can call 1-800-FLTODAY to make a donation and, when you do, mention that you'd like the CDs, and we'll get those sent out to you as well.\u00a0 And thanks, again, for your financial support of this ministry.\u00a0 We appreciate you standing with us and partnering with us in the work of FamilyLife Today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell, tomorrow we're going to talk about something very difficult, something very courageous, something very bold that a husband can invite his wife to do, and that is to join him in prayer.\u00a0 We'll talk more about that tomorrow.\u00a0 I hope you can be back with us for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We'll see you next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t_______________________________________________________________\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts for you. However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website. If you've benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 FamilyLife. All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>www.FamilyLife.com<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\n\t\t\t<\/p>","theme_header_position":"","post_header_is_sticky":"","is_header_overlay":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/301042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301042"},{"taxonomy":"podcast_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast_series?post=301042"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=301042"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=301042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}