We'll go over a review here this evening. Last week we continued in the why of prayer. We talked about the first point was it makes us more like Jesus, answering the question of why prayer is important. And then we looked at last week, it shows us the heart of God. And we talked a little bit about John chapter 17 there with that. And then tonight, we will, and we're going through all that. We'll look at point number three is it reveals the wisdom of God. It reveals the wisdom of God. And the first point I have up there is it is not just a one-way conversation. We talked about that last week a little bit as we talked about it shows the heart of God. And as we talk with God in prayer, God talks with us. through prayer or he talks to us through his word as well as we couple prayer and Bible reading together. But you will find as you pray and you ask for God's will, and we're going to talk about that, most of what this is revealing the wisdom of God is going to be geared more towards finding God's will. But prayer is wonderful because it's not just a one-way conversation. You know, you think of the Catholics or others who pray to a statue, that's a one-way conversation. They light the little candle, they pray to Mary, they pray to Buddha. or they pray to Mohammed, they pray to whatever other god. And I know with Hinduism, there's many gods. There's many different Buddhas, I believe, as well. And in the Buddhist religion, whatever god you put on that list, they all have one thing in common, is they were all people that lived and then died. But our Savior is a living Savior. He did die. He was buried, but He was risen again. And we're here in just a couple weeks. We'll be approaching Easter, and we'll be celebrating that. We'll be looking at that, talking about Jesus' resurrection. But we have a risen Savior, a living Savior. It's what sets our God apart. He's a living God, and we don't have to go to a little statue of Him. I don't have to go to a priest and sit in a booth and confess. I can go boldly to the throne of grace, as the Bible tells us. But it's a two-way conversation. God speaks to us in prayer as well. And that's what's wonderful. Another thing that sets our God apart is most other religions, you have some sort of median between you and your God. And our God is our God. He's our Almighty God, but He's also our Father. And we've been adopted into His family. He's our loving Father, as Jesus called Him, Abba Father. That would be like my children calling me Daddy. It's that term of endearment showing an intimate and close relationship. And we talked about that last week, that close relationship that Jesus had with His Father, and that was something that He had to keep up with His prayer life. He had to speak on a regular basis with His Father. As we're talking tonight, prayer reveals the wisdom of God. Jesus needed the wisdom of God revealed to Him, especially as we're going to talk about tonight, in finding God's will for His life and what God wanted to do. Obviously, we know the great prayer of His, looking for God's will, is there in the garden. If there's any way that this cup can be removed, He didn't remove it, but he said, let thy will be done, not mine. If you turn to James 1, we'll start there. I think a well-known passage. James 1, verse 5. says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not, and it shall be given him. So it says, if any of you lack wisdom, well, it's kind of a, I know it's not a question, but it's similar to a rhetorical question. And he's saying, if any of you lack wisdom. Well, the fact is, is we all lack wisdom. You know, when we talk, you know, there's the joke, you know, gray hair on your head means you have a lot of wisdom. You show your wisdom in your gray hairs. And they'll say, you know, earthly wisdom comes with age. And that is true. You learn through life, through experiences, and how to handle different things. There's things that I can handle even when problems come into my life that my son cannot handle because he's seven. And there's some things that I haven't gone through that others have gone through. And there's times when I have to call my father still. Even as a grown man, I have my own family. Because there's wisdom that he has, that he's gained through life, that I don't have. And some of that wisdom is just going through life experiences. But some of that wisdom is from God. And there's a wisdom that God gives to men as they walk with Him and learn of Him and get to know Him. And some of that comes the more you walk with God, the longer you walk with God, the more you'll get to know Him. The more you'll get to know Him, as we've already talked about, the more you'll be like Him, the more you will see His heart, and the more His wisdom will be revealed to you, the more you'll get of His wisdom, and that comes from His Word. When Proverbs talks about wisdom crying out in the street, that's God, that's His Word speaking out, His living Word standing in the high place, at the gate, at the going in of the city, in the busy part of the city, crying out to all who will hear. crying out to the simple-minded, to the foolish, to everyone. And here James says, along the same vein of thought that Solomon had and Proverbs said, if any of you lack wisdom, and of course, if that was a question, hey, do any of you lack wisdom? As James writes to the church, he's like, hey, if any of you lack wisdom, go ask God. That's everybody in the church. It doesn't matter how long you've been alive. You can be 99 years old and have been a Christian since you were 9 years old. 90 years of Christianity and walking with God, and there's still wisdom to be found in God's Word. There's still wisdom to be gained from God. The race that Paul calls the Christian life is a race that never ends. The finish line is not until we stand before our Heavenly Father up in heaven. Until we get to that finish line, whether that's our earthly body, whether our life here on earth is ending, because our earthly body has reached its end, and that time that's appointed unto us wants to die, as Hebrews tells us, comes, or whether that's in the rapture. That's the finish line, and that may be different. There's a different appointed time for each person. to stand before God. But that's our finish line. And for those of us who go in the rapture, if we all go in the rapture, we all have the same finish line. If the Lord takes some of us home early, that's our finish line. But until we get to that finish line, we are to walk with God and we are to learn from His Word, study it, learn it, read it, and learn of Him. And so that's why James says, if any of you lack wisdom, that's everybody. Anybody who reads this book is included in that phrase, if any of you lack wisdom. let him ask of God. And it says, He giveth to all men liberally, and abradeth not, and it shall be given to him. And verse 6 says, But let him ask in faith, nothering wavering. He said have faith. You ask for wisdom, God's going to give wisdom. Have faith that God's going to give you wisdom and understanding. As we read God's Word, sometimes we need wisdom and understanding. to know what God is telling us in His Word, to know God's will for our lives. And then if you turn to Luke chapter number 6, we want to look at an example from Jesus' life, once again His prayer life, and the example that He is to us for our prayer life. But Luke chapter number 6, and verses 12 through 16, read a little passage here. Luke chapter 6 verses 12 through 16. This is when Jesus was selecting the apostles, the disciples. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray. Again, going by himself, away from the crowd, away from everyone, to a quiet place, and continued all night in prayer to God. So this is something that was very important to Jesus, was prayer. He got alone by himself, spent time in his creation, and continued all night in prayer. He needed wisdom from God. He needed God to give him something that he needed. And it says, and when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them, He chose 12. So this tells you that there are many followers. who wrote this book called Disciples. And so these were people who were following Jesus. So he called unto him all those who were following him, all his disciples. After a night of prayer, it says, and of them he chose 12 whom he named apostles. So this is where you have the many disciples that Jesus had. Well, he selects 12 chosen ones that he called apostles. And then it gives you the list there starting in verse 14 with Simon and ends in 16 with Judas James, or the brother of James, which is Judas, and Judas Iscariot, which was the traitor. But he spent all night in prayer asking God for wisdom in selecting those twelve disciples. And this is Jesus, the Son of God, one with God, being, again, being an example to us on how to pray. There was a big important decision. These were going to be the apostles that would help Jesus in his ministry, in his three years of ministry, and so that was important. But also, as we know if we've been studying the book of Acts, these are the apostles excluding Judas Iscariot who would be replaced by Matthias. But these 11 of these apostles, the 11 chosen apostles from the disciples that he had, they would be the ones to carry on his work. He was going to start the church. He built his church. He founded his church here during his ministry. gave the Great Commission and told these twelve apostles, with Matthias being chosen to the upper room, he said, hey, wait for the giving of the Holy Spirit, He's going to be given, He's going to give you power, He's going to give you utterance, He's going to give you everything you need, and he said, go out and do the ministry that I have taught you to do. that I have done for three years, and preach the Gospel." He said, the Gospel has been fulfilled. And as we looked at the Gospel according to the Scriptures that Paul told us about in the book of Corinthians, that was the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus said, go out and preach the Gospel. So this was important. This wasn't just picking 12 friends. This was 12 people that He was choosing to be missionaries and pastors and preachers. And these twelve would go out and they would evangelize. The world was evangelized starting from Jerusalem. That upper room, they went out, and many of them went out to different locations. Some went north. into what we know as Europe today, somewhat East and South. And you can find some of their stories in other writings. A big historian, Josephus, he has some of the history of where some of these apostles went out. We can find some of them here. And we know that Paul, although was not included in this list here in Luke, not one of these original twelve apostles, but he was named an apostle after he met his Savior on the road to Damascus, and we know he was the first one to take the gospel to the Gentile world. But Jesus spent all night in prayer to God before he selected the twelve apostles. Jesus prayed to find God's will. That's our next point, is Jesus prayed to find God's will. We'll look at a few of those. I know it's the last one in the list, but while we're in the book of Luke, go to Luke chapter number 22. And I want to read all three of these passages. on this evening. But Luke chapter 22, I want us to look at these and again see the example that Jesus is, but these all three are going to be the same prayer, but there's a little bit of a different wording in each one of them. Luke chapter 22, starting verse 39, these are Jesus' prayer in the garden, it says, and he came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And when he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." And then we look and you can see as the angel, an angel appeared to him and strengthened him because he says in verse 44, being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Put a lot of his heart and emotion and spirit into this prayer. And notice what he says, Father, if Thou be willing, showing as an example, there's nothing wrong with praying, saying, God, Lord, I don't want to go through this, this trial that is coming, this trial that I'm in, please remove this from me. But notice what he says, he doesn't just ask God, he doesn't say, God, please remove this cup from me. No. What does he say? He said, if Thou be willing, He said, if it's your will, God, if you're willing to remove this cup from me, but he says, in the end of it, and this is just a small portion of his prayer, Jesus prayed much longer than this one sentence. And he says, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. He said God's will was more, his Father's will was more important than his own. And then Matthew chapter number 26, There's another passage with this prayer, but Matthew 26 and verse 36. This is also his prayer in Gethsemane. It says, Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. And saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. And he said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. So you see his agony. You see his emotion, his spirit in this prayer. Tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. So here, a little different wording that Matthew records, if it be possible. Again, same idea, but he says, again, ends the same way, nevertheless, not as I will, not what I want, not what I could come up with for myself, but what thou wilt. And we see him approaching his disciples as they were supposed to be, praying with him, watching and praying with him, and they weren't. But He says, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And as we pray for God's will, there's nothing, I don't believe there's anything wrong for praying for something that we want to be God's will. Lord, if this be your will, Lord, I pray you'd work it out. We can pray for our desires. Psalm 37 verse number 4, If you delight thyself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of thy heart. Sometimes we're going to have a will. There's nothing wrong with praying for our will to be God's will. Hey Lord, if you're willing, if this is your will, Bring it to pass. Work it out. Let this be done. But the end of our prayer is we pray for that. It ought to be, but not my will, but thine be done. Lord, this is what I want. This is the will. This is something that I want to do for you. This is something that I want to see done in my life. but your will is more important. And if it's your will for me to go through this, for me to drink of this cup as Jesus prayed, then I will do that. And then lastly, Mark 14. Mark 14, verse 32. The same prayer once again. Mark 14, verse 32. And it says, And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with them Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry here. and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. So he prayed that if it was possible that the hour, talking about the hour that he'd be betrayed, the hour that he'd stand in front of the courts, the hour that he'd be beaten, the hour that he'd be whipped, the hour that his beard would be pulled out, the hour that the crown would be placed on his forehead, the hour that his clothes would be stripped off, the hour that he'd carry the cross up that hill, the hour that he'd be nailed to that cross, the hour that that cross would be dropped in that hole. in those three hours that He would hang on the tree. That's the hour that He was praying for. The hour might pass from any... This is where we have that term for God, Abba, Father. In verse 36, and He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible. Remember what it was said in Matthew, if it be possible. Mark records, all things are possible. He said, God, Father, Abba, Father, Daddy, I know you can do anything. All things are possible. I have full faith in you." And he says, take this cup from me. He's begging his father as we know he had agony, emotion, spirit, and heart in this prayer. And he says, anything is possible for you, Father. And Dad, please take this cup from me. But again, ends the prayer, nevertheless, not what I wilt, but what thou wilt. So it's important we see Jesus Christ giving us the example that we need to pray for God's will. It's important. We cannot know what God wants us to do unless we go to Him in prayer and pray for His wisdom. As James said, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Jesus asked of God, and as we see the example on how to pray for God's will even, hey Lord, this is something I want to do, or hey, this is something I don't want to see come into my life. But every time He in, your will be done. Lord, guide me, direct me. Guide every step into your will. Jesus prayed for God's will. Not only was He desiring to find God's will, but also He prayed this to align Himself with God's will. He wanted to know God's will, and we know that Jesus did know God's will. That's why He asked. He knew that hour before Him, He knew what was going to come. He could already see every whip, or strike of that cat of nine tails, every smack of a soldier's hand. He could see it all. He knew all of it was going to happen. But he wanted to align himself with God's will. He said, not my will. He set his will aside, humbled himself, put his own desires aside and said, thy will be done. He aligned himself with God's will. Once we get in touch with the heart of God, we realize how much he loves us. And we learn to trust him more. and we desire His wisdom and guidance more. And there has to be a time as we're seeking for God's guidance, for God's wisdom. As James said, if any of you lack wisdom, that's me, all of us should raise our hand. As James is asking, hey, do any of you lack wisdom? We should all raise both hands. We all lack wisdom in great ways. We all need wisdom. We ought to depend on God for wisdom, for guidance in His will. But we realize how much He loves us, we trust Him more, and we desire His wisdom and guidance. The more we spend time with God, the more He reveals His will, and the more our heart is aligned with His heart, and our will is aligned with His will. That's exactly what Jesus was praying when He said that phrase, not My will, but Thine be done. He was aligning His will. He was saying, hey, if this is Your will, God, if You're not going to take this cup from Me, Father, then that's what I'm going to do, because it's not My will. He was aligning His will. He was saying, hey, My will is to do the will of My Father. And He told the disciples that. That's what I'm to do. I'm to do what my Father sent me here to do. And He said, Lord, if this is Your will, Father, Abba Father, if this is Your will, then that's what I want. Not my will, but Thine, be done. I believe in our lives, sometimes we can pray the same thing, but sometimes we miss God's answer. And we've talked about this earlier, several weeks ago now in this study. Now sometimes we miss God's answer because we're not listening. Sometimes, and included in not listening is because we're not praying enough. We have a big decision, we need to know, hey, what do we need to do? What's God's will? Look at what Jesus, that first example we looked at. He went into the mountain and spent all night in prayer before He selected His twelve apostles. Spent all night talking with His Father, and praying for God's will and guidance there. And we don't have any recording of that prayer as He went to the mountain by Himself, and it was before He chose the disciples, but He spent all night praying for God's wisdom, His Father's wisdom, in that matter. But sometimes we're just not, we're not listening. And Jesus gives an example. He listened to his Father. He followed, he told people, hey, I have to be about my Father's work. My will is to do the will of my Father. And that ought to be where our heart is as well. Sometimes we're not listening. Sometimes we're expecting or desiring a different answer. And that's if we were to pray like Jesus prayed, Father, God, Remove this cup from me. I know all things are possible, God. Please remove this cup from me." And then we stop there. And we miss the last part of Jesus' prayer if we pray just that. Because sometimes we pray, and we pray in a way that we are expecting or desiring and expecting a certain answer so much. Maybe we're praying, hey, we want to do something. We're praying for it to be God's will, and we won't hear any other answer except for yes, because that's what we want. And Jesus wanted to hear yes as he asked God to remove that cup. Lord God, Abba Father, all things are possible. Please remove this cup. Remove this cup from me. I know, you can see Jesus' heart there. He wanted that cup removed. He wanted to hear God say, all right, I'll make another way. But Jesus put His own desires aside. He wasn't just listening for that yes. He wanted to hear God's will. He said, not My will, but Thine be done. Sometimes we expect or desire a certain answer, and that's the only answer we'll hear. God always answers prayers. That promise is true in His Word. But sometimes His answer is no. Sometimes His answer is something that we don't want to hear. Hey, I'm going to put you through this trial. Yes, you've got to walk through it. There's something I want you to learn. And you're not going to learn it right away. I'm sorry, it's out of love. And He does put us through trials. He chastises us out of love. But sometimes we miss His answer because we're looking for the answer we want. And He answers in different ways. That's why I say when we pray, especially when we're praying for God's will in a big decision or even a small decision, put it together with reading the Bible. God can speak to us in our own reading. And we've talked about this, God can speak to us in preaching as we pray for God's will. God can confirm what His will is in a sermon. And maybe it's not a sermon on someone praying for... to be a missionary. I talked about my father, and as he prayed for that. It may not be a message on missions, but there may be something that God will put in there, and He'll speak to your heart, and He'll confirm what you know He's already telling you. Hey, go here. Do this. Take this step in your life. And we have to be looking at all those different ways that God speaks to us and put it all together. He may give us the answer in prayer, but we must go to Him in the Bible. We must look for Him to speak to us in preaching and teaching, and from our pastor, our brothers and sisters in Christ. God can speak to us in many different avenues. We desperately need God's wisdom in our life. We desperately need to know God's will. And the only way we can is if we pray to God.