The Heart of Prayer
Welcome and Worship
Well, good morning and welcome to the Well Community Church. How are we all doing today? Doing good? Hanging in there? Alright, good! Welcome to those joining us here in person and those online. I am so grateful that you’re here today. We’re going to launch into a time of worship and celebration together. We’ll be diving into a message that I’ll introduce in just a moment, processing the spiritual life together.
But before we worship, I want to make a special introduction for a new face you’re going to be seeing around here. This is Trevor Morgan. Trevor is on our staff team now. We have been trying to deepen our worship team, and he has been gracious enough to join us. I think you’re going to be very pleased to worship with him. With that being said, why don’t you stand? We’re going to celebrate the Lord this morning. We’re going to worship God, prepare our hearts to hear from His word, and I pray that as we celebrate together, your hearts would be encouraged.
Lord, I pray that today as we open Your word and learn from You, that You will speak to us. Speak whatever it is that You need to tell us, Lord, and give us ears to hear and open hearts. We praise Your glorious name. Amen.
It is good hearing everybody sing! You know, we’ve always said we’d never have a choir, and then there are moments like this where you realize you are actually the choir. You didn’t know that, but you are.
Making Room for the Movement
As we get started, I want to speak to those online and those in person. We are obviously really crowded this morning. What a great problem to have! Just a general reminder: we are literally weeks away from opening our new campus. We’re going to deal with some growing pains between now and then, but I would remind you that we do a number of gatherings throughout the week. We have a midweek gathering Thursday nights at 6:00 PM, and on Sundays, we have 8:30, 10:00, 11:30, and 6:00 PM.
If your schedule allows you to migrate to another gathering, that would be a gift. Here’s why: the number one time an unchurched person checks things out is Sunday at 10:00 AM. If we can make a little room for those coming to check things out, that would be a gift. I know it moves your cheese a little bit, but it really would help the movement if you would consider that.
My name is Brad, one of the elders and the lead pastor here. We’re in an interesting little mini-series. Typically, we pick a book of the Bible and grind our way through it—expositional teaching. We’ve been doing that for twenty years and have covered 31 books of the Bible, so we’re almost halfway done! But we took a little time post-Second Timothy and pre-Advent to cover some standalone messages. Last week, Mike Sladen gave one of the best messages I’ve heard him teach on hope and suffering. I’d love to tell you that you’re never going to have a hard time, but we live in a fallen world. Illness and cancer are real things, and he gave us some hope to cling to in the midst of difficulty.
The Sanctification Gap
Today, I want to do something a little different. Typically, I say, “Open to this book,” and we teach it, but today I want to teach a concept. I’m hoping this will be helpful as we consider how to walk out this messy process of life with God.
Some of you may know I’ve been pursuing a doctorate. Some people experience midlife and buy a Corvette; I figured I’d just get a doctorate. I assume you agree that’s better! I was trained at Dallas Theological Seminary, which is very strong in biblical exposition. I wanted to do something different for my doctorate, so I looked at Talbot School of Theology at Biola. They had a degree in “Spiritual Theology and Soul Care.” That sounded awful—which is why I chose it. It was different from what I had experienced.
This degree focuses on the process of transformation—the actual process at work in us to transform us into the image of Christ. One of the things they identified early on is what they call a “sanctification gap.” To sanctify means to set apart and make holy. Sanctification is the process of us being made holy by God. They recognize there is a gap between God’s ideal and our current reality.
God’s ideal is to “be holy as He is holy.” When we trust in Jesus, we lay aside the old self and put on the new self. Romans 8 says we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. That sounds great, but I venture to guess that’s not the reality of your life on a Tuesday. The current reality is this: I’m free from the mastery of sin, but I’m not free from its influence. I’m new in Christ, but doggone it, old habits are hard to break. The willingness is present, but the doing of the good is sometimes not.
Nothing brings this out like holiday Fresno traffic. Nobody drives until the holidays, and then everybody is on the road, and everyone has forgotten how! Stop signs become optional and yellow lights mean “floor it.” In those moments, my flesh starts coming out. I realize my current reality is not God’s ideal.
The Danger of the False Self
The challenge is how we address the gap. Unfortunately, many in the church understand God’s ideal and live in the shame of their current reality, so they just act like they’ve arrived. They put on a facade. They pretend to live according to the ideal while hiding the reality. We become posers. The problem with the “false self” is that a false self cannot love or be loved—it can’t even be loved by God. We end up living in low-grade dissatisfaction.
Add to that our childhood. We often experience relationships with parental authority and assume that’s how God treats us. If you grew up in a home where spilling a glass of milk led to, “You always, you never, you’re so clumsy!” you might project that onto God. You assume that when you spill a proverbial glass of milk in your spiritual life, God is saying, “Why can’t you be more like that person?”
But God is not surprised by the gap. He’s not ambushed by it. He is very present in the messy middle. He has revealed Himself in creation, in His Word, perfectly in the person of Jesus, and very personally in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Agent of Transformation
I went to a seminary with such a high view of Scripture that sometimes the Holy Trinity felt like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Scriptures. We didn’t talk about the Holy Spirit because “those people” were weird. I remember visiting a charismatic church years ago where a lady was running with banners and a dude started barking. It was all about experience and not about the Word.
But my background wasn’t necessarily healthier. If the Bible alone was the agent of transformation, we would be the holiest people in the city because we teach it constantly. But knowledge alone makes one arrogant; it doesn’t transform. The Holy Spirit is the agent of change.
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NASB)
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation– having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of [God’s own] possession, to the praise of His glory.
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Spirit is a “down payment” or “earnest money,” promising full redemption one day. We are living in a pneumatological reality—there is a physical presence of the Spirit in our lives.
Philippians 1:6 (NASB)
[For I am] confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NASB)
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
The presence of the Spirit is the key to closing the gap. Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” You don’t just obey your way into transformation. You must be born of the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 (NASB)
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Paul says don’t be under the influence of wine, but live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. But this work is not done to us; it is done with us. God will not force transformation on you. It is a cooperative work.
Galatians 5:16 (NASB)
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB)
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for [His] good pleasure.
Three Expressions of the Will
To close the gap, we must embrace the gospel and learn to present our wills to God. The will is the center of your longing, the seat of your intentions and motivations. There are three expressions of the will.
The first is being Will-less. This describes a heart dead to the things of God, or a believer who has become discouraged or shut off due to trauma or time. When you keep ignoring conviction, you begin to grieve the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 (NASB)
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NASB)
Do not quench the Spirit;
When we quench the Spirit, our hearts become hard. We aren’t listening. This often happens after losing a child or facing a hard diagnosis. You don’t lose your salvation, but you become spiritually stagnant.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NASB)
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able [to receive it]. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
The second extreme is being Willful. This is the person who says, “I’ve got this! I’m going to New Year’s resolution my way into holiness!” They strive in the flesh. By February, they’ve quit because striving is ineffective. Religious people are often the worst at this because they try to get working apart from God.
Galatians 3:3 (NASB)
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Psalms 127:1-2 (NASB)
A Song of Ascents, of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved [even in his] sleep.
There is no satisfaction for the willful person. So if it’s not will-less and not willful, what is it?
Joining the Dance
Decades ago, my wife and I got into swing dancing. We’d go to the VFW in Dallas where everyone was 70, and we were college students having a blast. If my wife were “will-less,” she’d just stand there while I tried to move her—it would look like assault! If she were “willful,” she’d try to lead me, step on my toes, and yank me around. The beauty of the dance comes when I lead and she follows.
Our spiritual life is a dance. The Lord leads. We shouldn’t be will-less (refusing to join) or willful (trying to take over). We need to be Willing.
Jesus is the greatest example of willingness. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
Luke 22:42 (NASB)
saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’
Willingness says, “God, I want Your will, and I am presenting myself to join You in this process.”
Psalms 5:3 (NASB)
In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order [my] [prayer] to You and [eagerly] watch.
Psalms 130:5-6 (NASB)
I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul [waits] for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; [Indeed, more than] the watchmen for the morning.
The Prayer of Intention
To be willing is to create a daily rhythm—what some call a “rule of life.” I want to give you a four-step “Prayer of Intention” to help you open up to God. This isn’t a recited script; it’s a two-minute moment when your feet hit the floor.
1. Presentation. Offer yourself to God.
Romans 12:1 (NASB)
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.
Just say, “God, I’m starting my day with You. I am Yours. I engage my will toward You.”
2. Dying to Self.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Say, “Lord, I want to be about Jesus today. I want to die to my own agenda and be about Yours.”
3. Moral Inventory. This isn’t a long list; it’s just noticing where your heart drifts. Do you feel anxiety about finances? Anger about a wrong?
Psalms 139:23-24 (NASB)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalms 51:6 (NASB)
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
When God shows you your junk, don’t run away. He’s in the junk with you! Anxiety reveals a lack of faith, and that realization is a gift because you can bring it to Him.
4. Opening to the Lord. This might be the most wonderfully uncomfortable thing you’ve ever done.
Matthew 11:28-29 (NASB)
’Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ’Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Just say, “God, I’m here. I don’t want to do life in the flesh. I’m raising my sails.” When you raise your sails, you’re ready for the wind of the Spirit to move you toward the people you should encourage or the cleanups you need to initiate.
A Community of Care
I challenge you: what would it look like for you to take those first two minutes every morning to present your will to God? You may be surprised to find yourself joining Him in the dance.
God, thank You that You love us because we are broken and needy. Thank You for the gospel that saves and sanctifies. Teach us, as recovering control freaks, to be willing to join You in the dance of change. Amen.
Before we go, I want to highlight that November is Orphan Care Awareness Month. Your response to the welcome kits has been incredible! We also want to highlight the Pregnancy Care Center. They do great work walking with women to choose life. We want to be a church that doesn’t just say “choose life,” but says, “we will help you love your child.” Visit their tent in the quad or check them out online.
If you’re a guest, please fill out a welcome card. We’d love to help you find your next steps. Let’s go out today with our hands open wide, saying, “God, use me where You will, because I am willing.” Have a great week of worship!