Another wonderful day the Lord has given us to look at His Word. We're going to continue in the exposition of the disciples' prayer in Matthew chapter 6. Last week, I gave you eight encouragements to pray to the Lord as your father. We saw what the Lord our God is as our Abba, as our Daddy. As we go through this, it is my prayer, the elders' prayers, that as a congregation we might be moved further and further into private prayer with God the Father. We're not talking about prayer that you just, when you see something bad, something good. We're not talking about family prayers. We're not talking about prayers before meals. We're not talking about those kinds of prayers. But we're talking about private prayer with the Lord God Almighty. Just both of you. Not for the eyes of the world, but for the eyes of your Lord. This morning we come to the next two words. Last week we dealt with our Father, but the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to understand something even deeper. And that is, our Father is in Heaven. He is nothing like your earthly father. Absolutely nothing. Your father may be the best father in the world, he might be the best daddy in the world, but he is nothing like your heavenly father. And you might have absolutely the worst father, the weakest father, an abusive father, and obviously he is nothing like your heavenly father. The distance between the worst father on the face of the earth and the best father on the face of the earth is one centimeter, in comparison to your Heavenly Father, who is infinitely better, infinitely better. Okay? The difference can never be met. It's infinite, the gap. This is who the Lord Jesus Christ is going to have you see, even clearer. Let me illustrate this for you. Let's bring out the best daddy in his study. The son comes. Daddy, can I have some water? Sure. He's ready. The best father's ready. Yeah, let's get you some water. Here's your water. Enjoy it. He drinks the water, goes away, comes back two minutes later. I'm hungry. Okay, let's get you something to eat. Get him something to eat. Two minutes later, I gotta go use the bathroom. Okay, let's go use the bathroom. Patient, loving, caring, puts his son in bed. Daddy, I'm thirsty. Well, didn't I just give you some water? There's a little bit of difference now. Yeah, but I'm thirsty. Okay, let's go. Two minutes later, the boy's back. I'm hungry. But I just fed you. Now the voice is being raised. This is the best father. You're looking at him. I just fed you. You should have told me. You didn't finish your meal. Okay. Here you go. Don't ask me again. I don't want to see you again. Okay? Two minutes later. Here comes the restroom wood. I need to go again. What happens? The best of the fathers, their blood pressure starts going up. Finally, those words, where's your mother? Get her! Leave me alone! The best of fathers, 10 minutes and you can get him riled up. Well, this is not your heavenly father. In fact, your heavenly father, you can go to him. Papa, Daddy, I need to talk. Come on son, get on my lap. Scoots you up, puts you up there. He reaffirms his love to you and says, what is it? And you pour your heart out. Whatever it might be. And you know what, you can do that a thousand times a day and every time he is infinitely happy to take you on his lap and scoop you up and hold you with all his might and tell you, I love you, I love you, I love you my son, I love you. What is it? That's your heavenly father. You may be a son who has run away. A year has gone by. You have been in sin. You have called your father names. You have squandered his wealth. You have sinned your brains out. And you have not repented once. And here you think, okay, maybe I'm going to go back to my father. Should I go? Should I not? You start walking towards the house. You're 500 feet away. You see the door. You know what happens? The door swings open and your father comes flying out to you. He holds you and he kisses you on his neck. And he says, welcome home my son. You're back. You were dead, but you're not dead anymore. You recognize those words? This is your heavenly father, who no matter what, loves you. And he takes you. And he hears you. This is different. This is not your earthly father. This Father is who the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to see. I'm going to go through. Last week, we looked at seven, eight points. This week, we're going to look through seven points to urge you to pray to your Heavenly Father. Number one, I want you to see that your Heavenly Father is not like your earthly father. He is powerful. Your heavenly father is powerful. Me, as an earthly father, these words are very common from my mouth. Son, I would love to do this for you, but I just can't. I just don't have the strength. I don't have the resources. Those words never come out of your heavenly father. He is powerful. Ephesians 1 verse 18, listen to what the Apostle Paul says. He puts superlative upon superlative. He can't even figure out how to put God's power together in one sentence. And here's what he says. Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know that this is the hope to which He has called you. What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. By the way, he's using one superlative after another. They don't exist in the Greek. He's just made up these new words. All of them. Listen what he says. What are the riches of the glorious inheritance of the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe. And then he goes even further. According to the work of his great might. He goes on and on and on and on. He says, you have the most powerful, infinitely mighty God working in and for you. in and for you. I thought to myself, I'm thinking, how can I illustrate this so we can even for a moment grasp the intensity of power that exists for Christians in their Heavenly Father. And I thought of our sun. The sun that we see up in the sky. Boy, In our planet, there's nothing, or I should say our solar system, there's nothing that is more powerful. That sun over there is a massive ball of fire, which puts out about 386 billion billion megawatts of power per second. Just so you know, it takes 4000 megawatts to light up a city. One second of power from the sun would keep the United States going for 9 million years. That's how much power is in the sun. You know one little solar flare is 40 million Hiroshima bombs. A little flare. That's all it is on the sun's surface. That power is in that sun. And you know what God says? He holds it in the palm of his hand. He says in Psalm 33 6, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, by the breath of His mouth all their hosts. God created it out of the breath of His mouth. Such intense power was made by Him speaking. What power does God contain? What power does He have? Do you understand? that when you go into your secret place of prayer, let me give you a vivid example. You walk into the storehouse of infinite power all around you. God and His power to work in and for you in prayer. Gosh, when you walk into that storehouse, it's yours for the grabbing. I see all that power is available for me. Psalm 115 verse 3. Our God is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases. That is power. I'd like you to see whatever you please. Do whatever you please. You can't. God has power. We're just saying. Jeremiah 32 verse 17. Our Lord God, Thou has made the heavens and the earth. Is there anything too difficult? Nothing. Nothing is too difficult for thee. 2nd Chronicles 20 verse 6, O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations in your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. None is able to withstand God, because He has infinite power. Brothers and sisters, our prayers are weak. And we don't go into the closet as often as we should because we do not know or we have forgotten the God that has all power. We have forgotten that all this power is at our disposal. All of it. God says, hey, you know what, you can have some and not all. No, He says all of it. You are mine and I am yours is what He says. He's very clear prayer is the time when you enter into the storehouse of the power of the infinite God, who just happens to be your Heavenly Father. In our minds, we picture God in Heaven, wringing His hands. Oh! I don't know how to fix it. I don't know how to fix your financial situation. I don't know how to fix your children, your marriage. Ah! I wish I could. Your job? You want it? I want it for you too, but I just don't have the power. You see, I'm just sitting on this throne. Weak, just like you. That is not the God of the Bible. Get that image out of your mind. You have an infinite powerful God, who you can pray to, who has infinite power to work through and for you. This is what Jesus is showing you. Will you not go to Him? Will you not go to Him who has all power? Will you see your secret time of prayer and say, nope, don't want it. I'll just use my own little resources. 170 pound man with little brain, I'll just use this. Who needs the infinite God of heaven? Brothers and sisters, that's craziness. Number two, your Heavenly Father is powerful and should banish all fear. Banish all fear. As a little child, I remember being fearful after school. When I was very young, in fact, I remember to this day, I remember what it looked like, I remember the clouds, I remember everything. And I was scared, because my father hadn't come to pick me up. And I came and stood outside, and I was waiting, I was just a little boy, either in first or second grade, I don't remember, but I remember that day so clearly. And I stood over there, and there were strangers all around me. People, parents coming to pick up their kids, and there were people selling stuff, vendors all around. And I look and sure enough, here comes the car. That's my dad. And I told that to my dad. And you know what he said? He said, I will come. That's it. And you'll never believe it. But I held on to those words right throughout. Every day I would come out scared. But you know what? I held on to those words. He said he's going to be there. He said he's going to be there. He's going to be there. And I waited. And he came. And that took away all fear. In fact, thinking about it would take away fear. And always, my father sure enough came. Well, when my father was there, no one could mess with me, right? No one would do anything to me. Why are you fearful? Who's going to mess with you? Look at your father. Look at your heavenly father. No one's going to mess with you. What are you scared of? What are you scared of the world about? In fact, in Psalm chapter 2, I should say Psalm 2 and verse 1, we see the most incredible picture. The world and all its kings are against God and His people. Listen to this. Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together. They're all coming together, the kings and all the rulers coming together. What are they doing? They are taking counsel against the Lord. and against His anointed. They are against God and against you. The whole world and all the rulers and all the principalities, everybody. Here's what they're saying. Let us burst their bonds. Let us burst their bonds apart. Cast away their cords away from them. Let's get rid of them. Let's destroy them. Wipe them out of the face of the earth. Who needs them? What's God's response? Verse 4. He sits in heaven and laughs. That's what verse 4 says. He laughs. It would be as ridiculous, folks, as a little colony of termites walking in over here and saying, listen, Akash, we don't like you. We're going to destroy you. We're going to do everything in our power to wipe you out. What am I going to do over here? Am I going to look at this colony of termites and say, help someone! There's a colony of termites that are going to wipe me out. No, I'm going to laugh. I might step on them while walking down here and wipe them all out without even knowing it. And yet, that is a measurable distance. We're talking about an infinite distance to God the Father. He laughs. What are you fearful about? Your heavenly father is on the throne of heaven. There is nothing to fear from man. He is protecting you. He loves you. He is your father. Your heavenly father. Daniel chapter 4 verse 35 gives us even more insight. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. Listen to this. And he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. None can stay his hand or stay to him. What have you done? No one can tell God, God what have you done? Answer me. We are accounted as nothing. What are you fearful about? How a little child goes and does something, you tell him over and over again, don't do that. And when he goes you, slap his hand, and, oh, okay, I won't. Daniel uses the same words. Who could stay his hand? Which one of you are God's enemies can slap God's hand and say, God, don't do that? No one. This is the infinite, powerful God of heaven. And we should have no fear at all. None. No carnal fear. In fact, The most beautiful, one of my favorite verses in Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 26. This gives us a picture of the Lord God Almighty. You know what it says? Listen. There is none like the God of Jeshurun. Which is another word for Israel or Jerusalem. Who rides the heavens to your help. And majesty through the skies. This is your God. He rides the heavens to your help and majesty. And through the skies to your help. Like that. Infinite power at your disposal. What are you to fear? Hey, a whole band of people can come against you to wipe you out. They're doing you a favor. There's nothing to fear. Your God is in the heaven and He does whatever He pleases. And this is your heavenly father who loves you. Number three, your heavenly father has unlimited resources. It's children. For a child, the only person they go to for everything and anything are the parents. Everything. Papa. Can I have Papa? Daddy. Papa. All day long. All resources. You have it, Papa. We are coming to you. That's what prayer is. Your Heavenly Father has all the resources and that's why you go to Him. See, but just remember this. Your Heavenly Father has unlimited resources. Unlimited resources. He is the King of Heaven. Well, let me put it this way. You might say, well, how many resources does he have? Does he ever get tired? I mean, I am always going before him, Lord, forgive me. Lord, I did this again. Let me put it this way, you living on the face of the earth and soaking up the sunshine, does that diminish the sunshine the next day? Have you used up more sunshine today that next day is going to be little dimmer and little dimmer and little dimmer? You may live 80 years and the sun is shining in full, brilliant strength. And you've used it all those 80 years. And you know what? You haven't affected the sun a smidgen. And that is just the sun. It's going to be gone. The Heavenly Father is infinite in His resources. You use up nothing. It's like you going with a bucket to the ocean. I'm going to empty this ocean out. Forget a bucket. Go get a big truck. Spend 80 years and you're going to be at that same shoreline. What happened? Why am I still here? That is why Jesus physically, 5 loaves and 2 fish, fed 25,000 people. Unlimited resources. When you walk into that store room, you are going to the presence of unlimited resources for your life. Unlimited. There is no end. Well, okay, forget about physical resources. What about spiritual resources? Mercy? God, how much mercy do you have? I keep coming back. Lord, I keep coming back over and over again. Lord, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. Do you get tired? God of Israel, He does not tire. He never sleeps. He never slumbers. Can you burn out the lamp of heaven? No, you cannot. You can go a thousand times an hour and there is infinite mercy for you. And the next morning when you wake up, Lamentations chapter 3 verse 23 and 24 tells us what? His mercies are new every morning. You used up none. You're back down to zero. Yesterday you used up whatever you could, your whole life's worth and it's still zero the next morning. You've got infinite mercy again at your disposal. You can run to him in private prayer and say, Lord, forgive me and you know your Heavenly Father is there with infinite mercy to cover you. And say, yes, of course, my son. Forgiveness, of course. That's what I love to do. Number four, your Heavenly Father will give you joy in His presence. Now, think of it. When you go into someone's presence who is dejected, sad, morose, someone who is just beaten up, what happens to you? Before you know it, you're sad, dejected, morose and beaten up. You might try to uplift them, you go over there, hey, let's look at the world, let's talk about the Lord, da-da-da-da-da-da. Sometimes it works, sometimes there's a little smile, you see the little ray of sunshine. But most of the time your heart is heavy and there's a sadness in their presence, being with them. Well, what about going to a friend who has joy? You go to the friend that you love, someone who you hang out with, someone who you can go and sit with and you talk and there's a joy and a camaraderie and there's an excitement and enthusiasm that that person has that you get. Just being in their presence, you walk away with a skip in your foot saying, wow, that was great. I love being with this person. There's so much joy. We can talk about anything. We can be silent and still have a great time. I love this person. This person loves me and there's a joy. What joy is there in the presence of God that will come to you? Listen, 1 Peter 1 verse 8, Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible, filled with glory. That is what happens to a person who is in the presence of the God of Heaven, your Father. Why? Because at the side of God, is joy and glory forevermore. Is that not right? Let me tell you why we chase money, sex, jobs, family, drugs, alcohol, whatever it might be, to get some ounce of joy, some ounce of happiness. That's why we chase it. Wealth. Let me tell you this, it's not that you chase it too much, you chase it too little. You're ignorant and your chasing of it is not good. In fact, you get satisfied with too little. The God of heaven is all joy. If you had to chase joy, then you need to chase the Lord God Almighty. You know what you chase? Whatever you chase, finally, in the final analysis, lands up being a little dunghill. Here's what you say, look at my dunghill of my job. I've chased it. Look at my dunghill of money that I've made. You know, a few million. Look at this dunghill of life. For myself, for my happiness, And the God of heaven, who is complete and full of joy, you haven't chased Him. And you say you're chasing joy. No, you're not. You're satisfied with too little. The problem is that we get into sin because we're satisfied with so little. If we were not satisfied with so little, we'd chase God. Psalm 1611, you make known to me the path of life in your presence. There is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures evermore. You and I are like little children. I borrowed this from C.S. Lewis. Sitting on the side on the beach, making a little castle out of sand. And we look at the mansion that the Lord has for us and we're happy with our little mud pile. Look at my mud pile. Instead of chasing after the Lord God Almighty. Who is the fountain of true joy. So, being in the presence of God, being in the presence of God in private prayer is nothing but joy. And you will see that. Find a person who is bursting at the seams and you found a person who spends time in private prayer. vice versa, find a person who is depressed and dejected and that is a person who cannot, who is never in the presence of the Lord. Number five, now this is important, all of it is. Number five, you should rest in your Heavenly Father's answer after you've gone to a private prayer. You should rest in that answer. Let me illustrate this for you using Matthew chapter 7. You're sitting there with your child and your child comes to you, Daddy, I'm hungry. Would you see him and say, what do you want? And he says, I want a sandwich and a glass of milk. Okay? You go out to the door and you pick up a big rock and you come inside and you give it to him. Here, eat. Rock. Good for you. Sharpen your teeth. You wouldn't do that? As an evil, sinful father, you would never do that. I wouldn't do that to my kids. In fact, when I see them, when they were babies and when they ate mud, what did I do? Yuck! Get that out of your mouth. Open their mouth and pull it all out. Wash their mouth out, right? No father would do that. I don't care how sinful. No father would do that. Well, let's go on a little further. Your son comes in, Daddy, I'm hungry. I want some fish. Baked salmon sounds good. Okay, son. You walk into your backyard. Pick up this lovely slimy snake and bring it in. Here son, have this snake. Would you do that? That's absurd. Of course you wouldn't. An evil human father wouldn't do that. Why would you give your son a snake? He wants fish. Can you imagine your heavenly father who is completely perfect and sinless. When you ask for something, he gives it in perfection. And that is why you have to be satisfied with your Heavenly Father's answer. Well, I'm going to go a little bit further now. Let's take this analogy even further. What if, what if your prayers are not asking for food, not asking for fish, what if you are asking, Lord, I want that stone. Oh, that stone looks yummy. Can't wait to stick my teeth into it. What if your prayers are that? And your Heavenly Father doesn't give you a stone, but He gives you food. But I don't want that food, I want the stone. I want my job. I've been praying for it, Lord. Where's my job? I want my kids to be okay. Why aren't they okay? I want my marriage to be okay. Why isn't my marriage okay, Lord? This is my agenda. I want this cancer gone. It's not gone. I want my stone. And God gives you what is perfect for you. Nourishing. Let's go even further. What if you're saying, I want that snake. I like that rattle at the back of him. Look at that. Those wonderful shiny teeth. I want to play with him. Please? And your Heavenly Father says, no. I've got something else for you that's nourishing and good. Brothers and sisters, many times your prayers are very much like asking for stones and snakes. And so when your father answers you, who is your heavenly father? When he answers you, be satisfied in it. Because that's what's good for you. Bidding what you ask for is dangerous. You get that snake and you're gonna get bitten and you're dead. Spiritually. Same thing. Dangerous. Your Heavenly Father knows what's good for you. Don't put your agenda on Him. Don't get the whole world to start praying, Hey Lord, we gotta, we gotta do something. You're not listening. No. Be satisfied with your Heavenly Father's answer. Number six. Your Heavenly Father is glorious. So remember in whose presence you are in. This is important. You and I have an over-familiarity with God sometimes. And that could be the danger of calling God Father, Papa, Daddy. And that is why Jesus balances with Heavenly Father. We hear on the radio the sentimental music, God is my girlfriend theology on the airwaves. Were you happy with God, mad at God, yell at God, scream at God, laugh with God? No. It's important that this is your Heavenly Father. There was a friend that I had when I was in school in India. We went to an international school at the tip of India where we had people from all over the world. In my dorm, there was a young man who was from a little country called Brunei in Saudi Arabia. And in that little place, there was a Sultan called the Sultan of Brunei, who was very rich. He had everything you can imagine. He had airbuses for his kids, jumbo jets for himself. He had an 18,000 room house for himself. He had his own Disneyland. He had everything you can imagine. He had, I think it was 2,000 limos and 150 Rolls Royces to go with his outfits. This man was lavish. Once a month, he would invite one family to come into his presence. A year ahead. So, August 2007, Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so, you can come into my presence. Till then, prepare yourself. And that family had to prepare themselves. What they're going to say? How they're going to eat? What conversation? How do we dress? Everything was in perfection. as they walked into the Sultan's house or mansion, I should say. Yet, we walk into the throne room of heaven, rude, unprepared, mad at God. There is a decorum. When you walk into your Heavenly Father's presence, you have to be prepared. Who is the Sultan of Brunei? He'll be dead. God made him. Your Heavenly Father made him. Listen to what Ecclesiastes 5.2 tells us. Be not rash with your mouth. Nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For He is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. There is a fear that should be on your heart and mind as you enter the presence of the Holy Living God. As you walk into His presence, brothers and sisters, you cannot be impulsive and brash and without care. You cannot be mad at God and yell at Him. He is the God of Heaven. That impertinence needs to be wiped out from your vocabulary. As you go to Him, you go to Him as a little child that desperately needs your Father, your Heavenly Father. That's who you go to. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 23 onwards, we see the children of Israel in the presence of God. You know what they said? These are the elders and the leaders. Behold, the Lord God has shown us His glory and greatness, they said. And we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we've seen God speak with man and we still live. Now therefore, why should we die for this great fire will consume us. The voice of the Lord, we will die if we listen to it. Here's what they're saying. We have come to the mountain, we saw the holiness, the presence of God and He spoke. And we thought we were going to die. This is the shrouded glory of God. When you go into the presence of the Holy God, you are going to His presence, period. These folks thought they were going to die. Just think, I mean think of, just look around you, look at what God has made. Just seeing what God has made, the shows that you watch on TV, on nature, it almost brings you to tears to see what God has made. It sends your heart spinning to glorify Him. There's not enough time in the day to praise God. Lord, enough! I see Your glory, You're too amazing! I see the heavens, and I just want to praise You. I cannot imagine what His presence is going to be like. Watch out when you go into the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Don't go there brash. Don't go there with uncaring words. Don't go over there to scream and yell at the God of heaven. Jesus in Matthew chapter 17 verse 5, He was transfigured in the transfiguration. What happened to the guys around Him? They fell. All the strength in their feet left them and they fell as dead men around the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 22 verse 6, we see while the apostle Paul was being talked to by the Lord Jesus Christ, what happened to Paul? He fell down as a dead man, says in verse 6 in chapter 22. John chapter 18 verse 6, Jesus is standing over there, here come what? A cohort of Roman soldiers, all their knives and all their swords and shields. And all Jesus has to say is, I am. And boom, they all fall back. You are in the presence of an infinitely holy, triune God, who happens to be your Father, with all the resources. Watch out how you go into His presence. But go into His presence, there's joy. Go into His presence, there's resources for you. Number eight, finally. I'm sorry, number seven, finally. Our Heavenly Father, He is closer than you think. He's closer than you think. We measure distances by time. Sacramento, three hours away. Unless you're in a motorcycle. Oh, Los Angeles, eight hours away. We measure it by time. Do you know that the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, when you are in private prayer, you pray and He's listening. Because He's right there with you. He's right there with you. Closer than our breath. Before you say it, He knows your words all together. That's your Heavenly Father. He is so close. Closer than your spouse. That's how close God is to you. And He knows everything. How close? When your eyes close in death, and your eyes open, the air you breathe will be Heaven's air. The shores you will be on will be the shores of Heaven. The hand that will grip you will be your Heavenly Father's hand. That's how close He is. When your eyes close in death, you are with Him. Just like that. just like that. The one who you have prayed to, the one whom you have gone into quiet room, closet, mountain, roof, wherever is quiet, and you have poured your heart, there you are with him instantly, in life or in death. Brothers and sisters, I encourage you Your time of private prayer should be the crown of your day. It should be the time of the day that you look forward to the most. Because you get to commune with your Heavenly Father. You get to draw strength from your Heavenly Father. You get to be in joy in your Heavenly Father. You get to ask of all the resources that God has. I encourage you Every day, go before the Lord in prayer. Let it be your joy. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, O Heavenly Father, thank You for this wonderful and precious truth for our souls. We pray that even this morning, Father, You might gather us in up a warmth for You. A heat for you, a desire, a passion for you, Lord. A fire that you might set ablaze, Lord, for you that cannot be kindled in any way, Lord, except for being with you. Father, set our hearts ablaze. Let us come into your presence and enjoy you, Lord. Because, Lord, you have made us for no other reason but to enjoy you. We love you, Lord. Amen.