Good morning. This morning we're looking at the second half of the text just read. We're looking at 2 Samuel 7, starting in verse 18. And it's important to recognize this is a response. And there's a lot we learn about someone in response. How do we respond really shows what kind of bubbles up quickly in the heart when everything's planned and we know exactly what we expect and what to say, but we feel like we're under control. But when we don't understand what's going to happen, when we're immediately in a response, you see what bubbles out very quickly. In a confrontation, what kind of things bubble out? In a time of trial, what kinds of things will burst forth? In a time of blessing, how do we respond? Do we look to have as much faith in a time of blessing in response as we do in a time of trial? Here we see David responding to really what is a confrontation that's full of blessing. So we need to go back and consider where we've been and This is David, he is now the king. We've been waiting for David since the middle of 1 Samuel. We've been seeing Saul was the king chosen by the people of Israel and it wasn't the right king. David was promised and waiting and waiting and then we wait some more once we get to 2 Samuel. But chapter 5 shows that we have the right people in the right place with the right king and everything seems to be going well. We eventually get to the right worship. And then David looks out his window and he has this beautiful cedar house, which is the best building materials of the day. That would be the luxurious living. And he sees God's ark, the ark of God, the ark of the Lord. It's in a tent. And so he commits to what seems to be a good thing. God's greater than me. I should build him something as glorious, if not more. And God responds and says, who are you? David, you're getting ahead of yourself. You're not understanding the proper relationship here. I am God, you are not. I initiate the plan, you follow. What God does is remind David of all he has done. He promises peace, present peace in God's kingdom. He promises him a future line where one of his sons will be on the throne forever. And that central part, it's so important for the whole theology of what God has promised from Genesis 3 to who Christ becomes in John 10, or Jesus declares he is in John 10. I am the good shepherd. I will be like to him a father. He will be like to me a son, verse 14. There's a personal relationship God has with this king. This king's gonna be unique. But all this is built on promises. Let's just look back and hear the promises echoed throughout this declaration to David saying, you're not the man who's going to build me this house. Verse 9, I will make for you a great name. Verse 10, I will appoint a place. Verse 11, I will give you rest. Verse 11 again, Lord will make you a house. Verse 12, I will raise up your offspring. I will establish his kingdom. Verse 13, I will establish the throne. I will be to him a father. I will discipline him. Over and over again. Throne, kingdom, house. established, planted, forever. God is making amazing promises. So we looked at it last week, and we saw that Jesus was the fulfillment of those promises. And it's important to realize what David's doing. He's maybe the character we know most about in Scripture, because not only of the biography of David, but also of the Psalms. He lets us into his own heart in the way he confesses sin and praises God. Sometimes we look at David and he's clearly a model of Christ. He is a prefigurement, a foreshadowing of who Christ is going to become. We'll see that next week as he shows loving kindness. Sometimes he's a mirror. We see our own sin and how we should be repenting of sin. We will see that in a couple of weeks after that as he confesses his sin of adultery and murder. Well, this morning he's actually a model for how we should pray. And this is a regular theme of David. Psalm 89, our call to worship, was a model for how to pray. How to respond to God in prayer. It's important to see that because God has done this, Lord, I'm praying this. Because God has done whatever he's promised, I'm going to pray this. We see David modeling praying according to God's promises. Praying according to God's promises. That is the most sure way we know we're praying the will of God. There's two elements to this prayer. There's two elements to this response in verses 18 to 29. First, there's praise. And that comes in the form of three questions. Oh Lord, who am I? Oh Lord, what more could I say? And Lord, who is like your people? That's verses 18 through 24. And then we see petition. Now, oh Lord, confirm what you have said. Verse 28, and now, oh Lord, you are God, your words are true, bless this house. He first praises God for all that he's done, and then these awe-invoking questions, and then he makes a petition. So we're really looking at how to pray this morning. How to respond to God the way he instructs. I want to draw your attention to verse 27. Notice how he ends that verse. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. Courage to pray. When we have courage in a relationship, it's because that relationship is clear and confident. We know who they are. We know what to expect when we say hello. We know how they're going to respond if we approach them. There's a courage that comes in a healthy relationship because you know them and you know what the expectations are. Here, there's courage to pray because God speaks. He makes himself known as the one great God who gives himself over to his people. There's courage to pray because he says, please come and talk to me. We have some examples of prayers from other religions at this time. And they would always go something like this to the God or goddesses that may be out there. If you want a head of a sheep, if you want some incense, if you want grain, whatever it is you want, whoever you are, whatever pleases you, please take these offerings and may they somehow satisfy you. It's a guessing game, it's a lottery. I don't know who the God is, I don't know what he wants, but let's just try to throw out everything and see what happens. The one true God is not like that. The one true God speaks so that we know who he is We know what He promises. We know what He expects. And we know how to talk back to Him. That's the most amazing thing here. Even when Jesus says, this is how you pray. It's not just He's revealing God. He's revealing how we talk back to God. It's a relationship He establishes. If you're looking for one word summary, or one sentence summary, praise and petition according to God's promises. That's the main idea we're looking at today. How to praise and petition according to God's promises. Before we get into the outline, let's just look at the one little narrative point we've got. Verse 18, King David went in and sat before the Lord. Where did he go into? after looking at the shanty of a tent that God designed and saying that's not good enough and saying we need to build something better, after hearing a word from the Lord, he goes into that tent because that's where he can meet God. Where it is doesn't matter, it's who he wants to speak to. So David humbles himself, recognizes fully, I am out of line, I will go into your tent that I found displeasing and I'm going to pursue you in prayer, prayer of praise and petition. So our first three points come from these questions that are meant to invoke in awe and praise. And the first point, it's just a one word, it's listen. Listen. Now every time we have a command like that, it's always because of something. If you want to fill out a fuller outline, it's listen because God speaks. Listen, because God speaks. Remember, if we go back to chapter seven, the way God began was, who are you? David responds properly, verse 18, who am I? Oh Lord God, that, what is my house that you have brought me thus far? He's reflecting on that actual declaration, it seems like. And we see over and over again, there's a repetition. God has spoken. Verse 19. You have spoken. The question he asks is, who am I to receive such a blessing? Who am I to receive such providential care? Who am I? This is such a small thing for you because you're such a great God. Notice there are instructions for mankind. Lord, there's Adam. What God is saying is good for all people. David is realizing there's something unique in that he was overstepping his bounds. God has spoken to him in this way. God received such great blessing for him, but this is good for all. Key thing here I want to focus on is that we listen because God speaks and it's good for all of us. We do not know who we are. We don't know who he is. We don't know what is expected of us unless God speaks. Just look how much that informs this entire prayer. Verse 19, you have spoken. Verse 29, verse 21, you've made your servant know your greatness. I've heard it with my own ears because God speaks. Verse 25, confirm what you have spoken. Do as you have spoken. Verse 27, you've made your revelation to your servant. Verse 28, your words are true. Verse 29, You have spoken. A fun little truth of Christianity that we can just take for granted is God speaks. God speaks. And let's just be very clear. He is the most competent communicator. He says every word exactly right with perfect power. Now we can just step back and reflect. He's a perfect communicator. He knows exactly what to say. He knows exactly how His words need to land. How many conflicts do we have relationally because we've just said the wrong thing or heard the wrong thing? We're imperfect communicators. God doesn't fail in His words. He is powerful to communicate with us where we are to know what we need to know. He's perfect. So what is our job? We should be listening. We should be listening for the kind of promises God is going to say. We should be listening for understanding who God is and how He describes Himself. We should be listening for how we can actually respond to God. Like our Father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. God doesn't just reveal Himself. He reveals to us even how to respond properly. We need to be a listening people. This is what's wrong with David's first request is that he's not listening. He's planning and plotting and he's, he's, he's engaging. No, God speaks. He's not distant. He's not mute. He's not deaf. He's a personal great God. If we just back out for a moment and think about the power of God speaking. How did he create everything? He spoke. And thus it was created. And He spoke and thus it was created. And then even when we get to the creation of man, He takes counsel. God speaks amongst Himself. Let us make man in our own image. He's speaking. Then He speaks to us. The creation mandate. And then Jesus Himself, the Word became flesh. Jesus' baptism, a voice from heaven says, this is my beloved Son. Listen to Him. At the transfiguration, listen to Him. Hebrews 1, God has spoken through many prophets throughout many ages and many times, but now God has come and He's made His Word known through His own Son. God speaks. It's just a little sampling of the tip of the iceberg of all the revelation of how God has revealed. He's revealing himself. So what's our response? Romans 10. We need to believe. Believing only comes by hearing. We need to be a listening people. So we have to ask, what are we listening to? What's informing our conscience? What's informing our priorities? What's informing our lives? Because let's just face it, there are so many lies out there that are just feeding on our discontentment. You need this. There's so many lies constantly pressing in. This is how you should be thinking about yourself. And those lies are difficult enough, but then Paul tells us our own desires are deceitful. There's lies from within. How do we figure out what the truth is? We see that he is the one God. His words are true. And we listen. We listen. David is building up a courageous prayer because he's listening. So the first point's listen. The second, exalt. Exalt. Here we see David recognizing that God is great. We exalt because God has made His greatness known. Exalt because God has made His greatness known. Verse 20. What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your promises, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. There is none like you. There is no God besides you, according to all we have heard with our ears. The confidence he has. Because God has spoken, he's heard it, he knows him. He recognizes God even knows who David is. David's response, what else could I say? There's a loss of words because of how great God is. We cannot ever describe him perfectly. Notice here there's a way in which we should all be growing in awe of God. If we're not growing in an awe and a greatness of God, we're not growing in Christ properly. Growing in self-confidence or self-assurance, that's not Christian growth. But growing in awe, in a wonderful reverence that how can it be that God would speak such powerful words, that God would give me that kind of grace? That's a sign of Christian maturity. There's an important word here that goes along with this recognition that there's no God like you. You are great. And it's the word servant. If you go back, I believe it's ten times, David refers to himself as a servant. That is the proper posture in this prayer. Because he's recognizing, even though he's king, when in relationship to God, he's lower. He's not saying, I'm the king and this is what I want. He's saying, now I recognize, I'm the servant. I'm supposed to be a steward. You don't go up to God boasting in position or privilege. God, with humility, you are great. There's no one like you. We cannot resist this kind of submission that the servant takes on and exalt God. We cannot lower ourselves beneath what he has said either. What causes us to not have awe of God? What would keep us from listening to God? What would keep us from having a proper awe of recognizing how great God is that David does here? Because I hope we would all want to know God as He is great and be known by God. Well, there's three basic temptations. One is to believe that God just isn't able to do what He said He's able to do, what He promised. We believe the lie, God is not powerful enough. My sin is too great. My history is too tainted. Whatever it is, in my circumstance, I can't give thanks because it's just too difficult. There's no way God could actually fix this problem. We believe the lie. He's not able. The other more difficult one is that He's not willing. I've prayed and I've prayed and I've prayed and nothing's changed. So God must not be willing to help me in this particular way, the way I'm praying at least. That's a terrifying place. They actually believe God's powerful, but He's just not doing it. Therefore, you believe the lie that He's not willing. So the third one is actually more terrifying. He's just not worthy. He's just not worthy to be trusted. He's just not worthy. I can figure this out on my own. I will do it my way. He's not worthy. There's three things that God makes very clear. He is able. All things are possible with God. He is willing. He's a good, gracious God who never turns away His people. If you seek Him, you will find Him. And He is worthy. He is the great God of the Creator who has condescended Himself, who has come down to save us. He's worthy. He's willing. And He's able. If you want to look and ask those questions, the best place to look is the cross. The power of Christ is demonstrated on the cross. He defeats death. He defeats sin. We see He's willing. He submits Himself to that for us. And He's worthy. As we see later in Revelation 5, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. If we want to know how to pray, we need to listen. We need to exalt because of what He has said and what He has done. A third point, verses 23 and 24. Another question, the last question he asked. The point is trust. Trust. And the reason, because God saves. Listen because He speaks. Exhaust because he is great, and he's made his greatness known. Trust because he saves. Notice he's actually pulling out here now. He's not actually just thinking about his house and the specific prayer or promises to him as David, but he's thinking about Israel. And he's going to go back quite a few years, quite a few generations. And who is like your people Israel? the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. And you established for yourself your people, Israel, to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. First of all, I want to just highlight here is David's assurance that there's a covenant-making God who was committed to a people. Just listen to how personal it is. You established for yourself, your people, to be your people forever. You became their God. There's a covenant formula in the Old Testament. I will be your God and you will be my people. And David is just reciting that in different words. It's important to see Israel is not a people without God. Abraham was married to Sarah and Sarah couldn't have children. They would never exist if God didn't make a promise. They would never exist as a people saved if God did not deliver them into Egypt away from the famine. They would never exist as a nation if God didn't deliver them out of Egypt, crushing Egypt to make them a nation. Their whole dependence is upon God. Their entire existence is dependent upon God. He's a covenant making God. He's committed himself to these people and therefore they have a greatness. It's clear that they're not more faithful. They're not more mighty. They're not more numerous. What makes them great is that God said, I'm going to put my name on you. And with it, my right hand is always for you. And with it, my presence is with you. My power is for you. That is what makes a people great, is that God says, I'm turning towards you to let my light of blessing shine upon you. And it's personal. You are my people. I made you for myself. Now David is going back and reciting what we started a few weeks ago before Easter. that God redeemed for himself these people. Redemption means there's a deliverance. They were enslaved. They were being abused. So they cried out to God. And what does it say? God heard them. And then God took Egypt through a series of plagues and each one attacked a different god of Egypt. That's why David's able to say, you took them out of Egypt. You redeemed them from the nation and its gods. God was showing, I'm the one great God. He redeemed them. The Passover lamb, the last instruction, the last curse, that Passover lamb, the blood went over the mantle, and the judgment of God passed over every house that was marked by that blood. That's how God saved Israel from the enslaving power of Egypt. Well, that Passover lamb is fulfilled by Christ. That blood of that Lamb just passed over the judgment for that time, but we actually hear in the Gospel of John, here's Jesus, the true Lamb of God, who will not just have sin passed over, but take it away. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away sin by taking it upon Himself. If you're not a Christian this morning, this is the message I really want you to just hear. You don't have to listen so you might believe. God is speaking. He said that we are sinners, that we rebelled against Him. We know in our own hearts that there's something wrong that we just can't control in our own selves. There's what the Bible calls sin, what we might just call a lack of self-control. There's a refusal to worship God and to give Him thanks. And God looked at us and said, there's no way we can fix ourselves. There's no way we can find forgiveness for ourselves. So He sent His own Son to live the life we refuse to live. He sent His own Son to die on the cross so that He would receive the punishment we deserve. That's how we're forgiven. God must be just. Every sin must be punished. That's also how God declares us not guilty. We're not guilty if we put our faith in Christ. We are forgiven if we put our faith in Christ. We have new life if we put our faith in the Christ who died for us and rose again. The difficulty is we have to realize there are problems we cannot fix, and the most important problem we cannot fix is our relationship with God. If we realize that, we actually have to listen to how He wants to fix that problem. It's not in our hands. It's what He does, and we believe. This morning, believe. Our fourth point. He now turns to petition. These first three questions were bringing a sense of awe and wonder. Who am I? What more could I say? You are so great. Who is like your people, Israel, that you've committed yourself to them and you've redeemed them? And now he turns to petition. And we see the two petitions. They stand out. And now, O Lord God, verse 25. And now, O Lord God, verse 28. The fourth point, the first petition, remember. He's asking God to remember. We're going to be called to remember. Remember because God confirms. Remember is what we're being encouraged to do because God confirms. Let me read verses 25 to 27. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken, and your name will be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house, Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer. He's turned from questions of amazement to making petitions. He's saying to God, confirm what you've spoken. In verse 45, that's extremely important for how we're gonna think about prayer. Especially as we think about what prayer is as a petition or a supplication, making requests. What he's saying is, God, do what you've said. Do what you've said. To use some common vernacular, David is naming it and claiming it. The right way. This morning we're gonna see it's proper. If God said it, He wants to do it. And we can expect Him to do it. We should expect Him to do it. A lack of faith is hearing what God says, but not believing He'll do it. We should, without any hesitation, name the clear promises of God and say, God, do it. To figure out how this doesn't work, let's just play a quick game. What if David's response wasn't, who am I to begin with, but God, don't you know who I am? I'm the king. What if David's response wasn't, oh, what more could I say, but God, didn't you hear what I said? What if David's response wasn't, how great the people of Israel, because you've done so much, it would be, look what we've accomplished, God. We have Jerusalem. You need us. I don't know if David would have a different faith than Uzzah. Uzzah. You hear the difference. The servant praising God for how great he is versus the boasting. This is what I want. This is my will. It should be done. No, David properly doesn't say, make sure you give me the resources I need to build the house that you just said I can't build. No, he submits, and he recognizes God's plans better. He recognizes, no, I shouldn't be building you a house because you didn't say for me to build you a house, but now I'm just gonna rejoice because you've made even better promises. Do it. He's heard the promises of God, he's received them, he's building his life upon them. I think a key point here is God is telling David, you don't initiate a plan, you respond to mine. You don't initiate a plan, you respond to mine. Our prayers are meant to be responses. God has spoken. And so we respond. We've done this throughout the service. We looked at how Jesus taught us to pray, so we said that prayer together. We should be praying it together. We should be praying for one another through it. We heard Kerwin read earlier, Ephesians 3, how great the Father of love is. We should be praying that His love be known, just like Paul does for us. Do we pray like this? Do we pray, do what you have said? That's the courageous prayer. God, with great confidence, because God has communicated with great clarity, do what you've said. There's three reasons why we might not pray that way. The first is that we merely have never listened, so we don't know what He's promised. It might be that we actually don't even know what those promises are to pray according to those promises. And this is why reading your Bible and marking it up and making sure that the promises of God and how to pray according to God's will is so clear. Read the Psalms and just remember and learn from them how to pray. It's important to know what the promises are. The second reason is that we might just not prioritize those promises. God isn't great enough yet. God isn't worthy of the kind of prioritization those promises should take, and so our wills are what we pray according to, rather than His will. Well, the third one might be, we just don't trust Him. We don't trust that His salvation is proven enough. Those are three dangerous reasons not to pray God's word. If you're not praising God, you're not praying like a Christian. And if you're not praying like a Christian, you're not living as a Christian. The prayer life of a Christian is like your body needs breath, so does your walk with Christ need prayer. It'd be like choosing not to breathe anymore. Begin with listening. Let's go back to the first point. Listen. What has God said? Would you ever remortgage your house without reading the contract? Would you let somebody have power of attorney that you don't know and without knowing what it means that they're going to take power of attorney? Would you take a job without knowing what your description is and what the benefits and privileges thereof are? Of course not. That'd be ridiculous. If you're a believer, you've entered into a covenant relation with God. He's made promises, there are privileges and benefits. He's made commands, there are expectations. This is an important, this is the most important relationship. This is the most important commitment. This is the most important relationship you have. He's spoken with great clarity. Are we reading it hungry to long for and know who He is, what He's promised and what He expects? When we read church that says regularly, Lord, you have said this, Do it! Don't treat the promises as ordinary. If you're not presumed upon, it's grace. Let's just consider a few promises. Jesus says, if you believe in me, you'll have eternal life. If you believe in me, you'll have eternal life. That is a key promise in the New Testament. He promises, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be satisfied. From Matthew 5. He promises, Romans 8, all things work together for good for those who love God. Romans 8. He promises that if you pray for wisdom in trials, he's generous to give it if you pray with faith. That's James 1. Those are all pretty incredible promises. Those are just a few high points that were easy to come up with as we just thought about what promises are. Notice those promises have a condition. You don't have eternal life if you don't believe in Jesus. You don't have satisfaction if you're not hungering and thirsting after His righteousness. You don't have wisdom if you don't pray with faith, and you don't have all things working together for your good if you don't love Him. It's a relationship. God wants to bless you, God wants to help you be aligned with His will, but it means we actually have to pray according to His will and want to align ourselves. Other promises, Romans 8. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. There's nothing that will be held from you because He's given you His own Son. There's no separation from His love. There's some promises that are just based upon faith alone, but then there are promises that rely upon our actual committing to be aligned with God. Prayer is responding to God's promises and simply saying, do what you have said. And that oftentimes means we actually recalculate our lives so that we're properly aligned with it. Do you want to grow to have a courageous prayer life? Learn to pray from scripture. The fifth point, verses 28 and 29. Request. Because God blesses His people. 25 through 29 don't really say a whole lot different. It's the same basic principles, same God He's speaking to, same promises He's responding to. But the way He speaks is slightly different. Request. We see here a request, verse 28. And now, O Lord God, You are God. Your words are true. You've promised this good thing to your servant. Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, you have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever. What a beautiful model. David is reminding himself of the truths he's learned. You alone are God. You have said this. Your words are true. Your promises have come down. And now I'm asking, please bless my house according to your word. And I'm going to ask this with confidence because you've said it. For you, oh Lord, have spoken. What we're searching for and wanting to know the blessing of God, we need to look according to his word. There's an important principle here. You are God. I'm not. You can write that down. That might come in handy one day. He's God. We're not. We don't initiate. We respond. And even our response is very much given instruction and prescription. You are God. And then like every man who is a liar, your words are true. That doesn't mean all we do is lie, but it is frustrating we can't always keep our word. We just don't have the power to do what we've said to do. He does. You are God, your words are true, and you in your words have promised this good thing. He's able, he's honest, and the words he speaks to his children are good. It's a good thing. Therefore, bless this house according to your good purposes. Bless this house for you have said it. We need to pray like this. We need to pray according to God's Word. We should be praying according to the Lord's Prayer. Lord, your will be done. We could go to Ephesians 1 and we could pray what Paul prays for the Ephesian church for each other and for ourselves. Lord, may the eyes of our hearts be enlightened to see the perfect eternal inheritance you've given to us. And notice, he's praying that after making it clear that Jesus has died for that inheritance to give you, he's risen to give you that inheritance, and the Holy Spirit has sealed that inheritance. It's because of what God has done that he prays at our eyes. The spiritual eyes of our hearts would see it. Philippians 1. He prays for the church that they would abound in love with all discernment, approving what is excellent and blameless on the last day. He's praying according to God's Word. God has said these are excellent and good things and we need to pray that we would abound in love with a discernment to love what's lovely. Colossians 1 he prays that they would be we would be filled with knowledge of God's will so we'd walk worthy of the Lord Well, there's a command Paul gives walk worthy of the Lord Therefore he prays that we would actually have the knowledge. We need to walk worthy of the Lord bearing fruit And then second Thessalonians verse 1 God Will make you worthy of his calling. He will do that transformation work. He will give you power for good work so that Jesus name would be glorified Those are prayers that you can say, God, you've said it, do it. We need to say regularly, your will be done. Not, Lord, if it is your will, let it align with my will, because I want these things. No, Lord, show me your will. Show me your will. Let's conclude with just a few passages that actually talk about God's actual will. How to pray for God's will. Our first passage is this, 1 Thessalonians 4, 3. For this is the will of God. What a fantastic opportunity here. Again, the most competent communicator, is there any mystery here? This is the will of God. What is it? Your sanctification. Okay, that's a big word. That means that we've been set apart and we're now supposed to be growing up into maturity of Christ. And he gives even more clear instruction. What exactly does that mean? That you abstain from sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. Not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. That no one treads grass and wrong his brother in this matter because the Lord is an avenger in all these things. As we told you before and solemnly warned you. Notice he's praying according to what God has said and how God has revealed himself. For God has not called us to impurity but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards man, not man, but God. Whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you. How can you pray for God's will? Pray that I would grow up in sanctification. Pray that I would grow up to recognize sin and see sin and hate that sin. Pray that I would recognize and see your hand of discipline and that it's good and that I need to put these things away. Now here's the problem. When you start saying, Lord, I want to pray your will, what you have to recognize is your will for these things has to be killed. It's called mortifying sin. We have to put them away. We cannot say, God, please, please bring sanctification and help me flee sexual morality while having an entire heading of pornography websites. You put them away. Your prayer is saying, God, do what you've said, and I want to do what you have said. I will put these things away. I will trust you for my sanctification. The second place we see God's will clearly stated. Next chapter, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. He gives a number of instructions. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances. Why? For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Rejoice. Give thanks. Pray. The assurance is found in verse 23. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Lord, you said you will do it. Do it! We pray with that kind of courage. Finally, 1 John 5. John's a helpful author because he always has this moment where he says, and this is why I've been writing. And it always comes at the end of the book. I write these things to you, 1 John 5, 13. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. God does not misspeak. God does not lie. God is more than capable of fulfilling everything He has promised and helping us to obey in every way He's commanded. It requires listening. It requires faith. It requires self-denial. It requires praying courageously. Lord, You have said it. Please do it. Will you pray with me? Father, we look up to praise to you. We praise you because you're worthy of praise. We praise you because you've spoken and told us that in the name of Jesus Christ, who died and rose, who now sits victorious, we can come and know you and see you and behold you and even hear you and make ourselves known to you. Forgive us for the way we're oftentimes clattering about things that are not of your kingdom to you. Forgive us for pretending that this is just an ordinary thing to come into Your presence. I pray that we would see the true power of prayer and that it changes and transforms our desires. It helps us to hear Your promises. It helps us to experience Your promises. Helps us to cling to them and build our lives upon them. Lord, may we hear over and over again more and more what You have said so that we know who You are. What you said you're gonna do. So then know what to ask for. Thank you for how clear you are in helping us know you and your greatness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.