Thy Will be Done!!!

Real Dudes,
I had the privilege of preaching at our church this past Sunday. Feel free to watch the message by following the link below, or enjoy reading through my message notes that I provided. Hope this helps with your prayer life. I put the main question in bold PINK lettering. Try not to read the question in PINK before the other parts that lead up to it. You'll understand once you get to that particular question.
Pastor Nate
Here's the link to the video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sok_1v9iN8&t=1916s 

I’ve titled this morning's message…Thy Will be Done!!!
Here’s the outline to help y’all out…

• When it comes to prayer…ASK!
  
• When it comes to prayer…What are some examples? 
  
• When it comes to prayer…WHAT IF?
  

When it comes to prayer…ASK!
Matthew 7:7-8 (CSB) 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

• An Imperative…
  
  • Ask! An Imperative to Pray…to bring your requests before the Lord.
    
  • Not just a command for Pastors or Spiritual Leaders...this is for all who claim to be a follower of Him. We're all commanded to pray to the Lord.
    
  • I quickly want to point out that, The act of asking is the command…not our ask being the command. 
    
  • As the father of six daughters, my goal was to teach them each some very important words from the very beginning…
    
    • Tennessee, Bible, And Mommy.
      
      • You have a question…go ask Mommy. 
        
    • My goal is to drill it into our heads…when you have a request? Ask the Lord. 
      
• Not an Obligation. 
  
  • If we ask, then is GIVEN in this verse an automatic obligation on the Lord’s part? 
    
  • If your children ask you for something, then do you always give them what they want? 
    
    • Is it an automatic “yes” each time?
      
• Keep in mind that there are different forms or Responses that the Lord may answer with…
  
  • His Give, your Receive, might be in the form of a yes, no, or not yet.
    

• Why a “Yes” Response? 
  
  • Your request was in alignment with His…
    
    • Will, Thoughts, Plans, And Delights.
      
• Why a “No” Response? What if He doesn’t give?
  
  • Protection…
    
    • From others
      
    • From ourselves
      
    • Of His plan. 
      
      • Out of alignment with His purpose and plan. 
        
        • Why are there times when our prayers aren’t answered the way that we had hoped? 
          
          • James 4:2a and d-3 (CSB) 2 You desire and do not have…You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
            
          • According to this passage…because we don’t ask, or because we ask with the wrong motives.
            
            
            
• Why a “Not Yet” Response? 
  
  • God wants to know if we’ll keep asking…be persistent. He loves to hear His children calling out for His help. Shows our continued dependence on Him. 
    
  • Stretches, Strengthens and Tests our Trust and Patience.
    
  • Just remember, It’s all about His perfect way and time. 
    

• Be asking yourself, “Is my request done out of selfish motives or is it in alignment with His will?”
  
• Ultimately
  
  • A yes, no, not yet response is meant to be for our good and for His glory. 
    
• Regardless what the outcome might be…ASK!!!
  

When it comes to prayer…What are some examples? 
Jesus provides us with some examples of how and what to pray…

• The Lord’s Prayer is a great example of where to begin. 
  
  • He says “Your will be done.”
    
    • Matthew 6:9-10 (CSB)
      9 “Therefore, you should pray like this:
      Our Father in heaven,
      your name be honored as holy.
      10 Your kingdom come.
      Your will be done
      on earth as it is in heaven.
      
  • He says “not my will,” while On the Mt. of Olives. 
    
    • Luke 22:42 (CSB) “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
      
    • Even God the Father answered His Son with a “no.”
      
  • Jesus also sets the example of what it looks like to pray on someone else's behalf? 
    
    • Ankeny Christian Academy incident…I couldn’t get the door to open so I could leave the facility (the school was on lockdown mode for safety purposes…this is the mode it usually would be in during normal school hours to protect the children, but was also in this mode for the school function I was attending). I was becoming embarrassed, anxious, and about to break something or blackout. Out of nowhere I hear a voice off to my right. I turned and looked at him. He said, “I got you.” He pushed a button that was off to the side of the doors I was at and the lock released. A time when my mind was clouded and I didn’t know how to properly respond, God sent someone to help open the door on my behalf. 
      
    • Praying on someone else’s behalf  is called intercessory prayer. 
      
    • Jesus gives us an example of what intercessory prayer looks like in John 17.
      
      • Jesus Prays on His own behalf…for Himself (vv. 1-5)
        
      • Jesus Prays for Others. 
        
        • For His Disciples (vv 6-19)
          
        • For All Believers (vv 20-26)
          

Jesus is a great place to begin, but if you’re just not there yet, then we at Fatih Fellowship provide some environments where you can come alongside others to better learn what and how to pray…You can find these on our website or by asking any Staff here, but we have the following prayer groups available…

• The Battleground prayer group.
  
• Coffee & Prayer Team. 
  
• Prayer Team at the conclusion of both services. 
  
• Small Groups…praying for each other.
  
• Connect Cards… “I would like prayer for _________.” 
  
• Lastly, on a quarterly basis, one of our Staff members, Dan Borgo, provides something called Nightsh1ft. 
  

• This is a time for coming together and worshiping in song and for praying. 
  
  • During the prayer portions we provide what we call…
    
    • Prayer Prompts. 
      

Examples of prayer prompts might look something like this…I’ll mention quite a few, so please keep tracking with me…They really do tie in with today’s message…Listen and pick up on whether or not you can relate to any of them…

• Lord, I feel alone and discouraged in life. Please send someone to minister to my needs. 
  
• Lord, a relative of mine is single/widowed and needs companionship in life, please provide him/her with a spouse who he/she can share life with. 
  
• Lord, my wife has been unfaithful in our marriage, she wants to return, please reveal to me what my response should be to her. 
  
• Lord, I have no male influences for my son, please send a mentor for him. 
  
• Lord, my city is turning farther from you each day, please send someone who can revive it. 
  
• Lord, my son isn’t the biggest and strongest physically, but he has a huge heart for You. Please find a way to use him to help further Your Kingdom. 
  
• Lord, our leader doesn’t have much of a backbone, loves the praise of men, but continually lives in fear. Please send someone who can go to battle for us when we need it most. 
  
• Lord, my son has some learning disabilities and really struggles with communicating with others. Please reveal his strengths to him so he can see how he can still be used by You someday. 
  
• Lord, my estranged child left home on not so great of terms. Please find a way to bring him home, and do a work in me to prepare my heart for how to react when he does return. 
  
• Lord, I’ve hit a dry spot in my life and can’t understand what it is that you’re trying to communicate to me. I need some guidance. 
  
• Lord, I know I wouldn’t have this earthly possession without You providing me with it. How then can I use it for Your honor and glory?
  
• Lord, I pray for my enemy. Please find a way to save his soul, lead him to Yourself, and use him in a way like You’ve used no other. 
  
• Lord, please send someone to speak into my ex-wife...she just keeps making one mistake after another...seems like she’s always in and out of unhealthy relationships. 
  
• Lord, I have stolen or taken money from others that doesn’t belong to me, please speak to my heart and show me how to repay these people. 
  
• Lord, many people would see me as a religious leader in our church or community, but I have come to realize that I only have head knowledge of You and not a heart knowledge. I long for a relationship with You, please save me from my sins and come into my life. 
  
• Lord, because of some regretful actions, my friend left the ministry and stopped serving. Please do a work that only you can do that’ll bring him back into serving You however You see fit. 
  

So, there are some examples – Maybe you could relate to some of them, but please know they weren’t directed at anyone in particular within our own Church. I’ll explain and revisit these prompts in just a second. But I just want to share something that happened to me recently that sparked this morning's message…

Some of you are aware that I’m a Bad Sleeper. Everyday at 2 or 3 in the morning I head down to lay on our couch…While laying there one morning, I got to thinking…

• How’d I get to the point of being a Pastor at Faith Fellowship in Marshfield, WI?
  
  • Praying for myself. Grandparents, parents, in-laws, many others praying for me.
    
  • Faith Fellowship in Marshfield, WI. was praying for a Discipleship Pastor. 
    
• How’d the Faith Fellowship facility end up where it’s at today? 
  
  • Midge, Roger, and others praying for a church property. 
    
    • Land given to us. 
      
    • Recently at one of our Coffee & Prayer events. 
      
      • A member of the family that donated the church land walked up to our team and expressed how thankful he is that the land is being used for such things. 
        
• Yesterday, we had Darren Christensen as our guest speaker at Real Dudes. 
  
  • His Subway Managers are solid believers. 
    
    • Darren was unsaved during his High years.
      
    • At College he gets saved. 
      
    • Returns to tell his managers…and they tell him that they’ve been praying for him. 
      
    • Now, Darren has impacted the lives of many people worldwide through Wycliffe Bible Translators. 
      
• How did any of this happen? 
  
  • How did I end up in Marshfield? 
    
  • How did I end up becoming a Pastor? 
    
  • How did Faith Fellowship land at this location? 
    
  • How did Darren Christensen get saved? 
    
• This leads us to the last point this morning…
  

When it comes to prayer…WHAT IF?

• SOOOOOO…while laying on my couch at 3am, after considering 
  
  • how I got to this point in my life, 
    
  • and how we have Faith Fellowship facility today,
    
  • this is the next question that came to my mind that morning…
    
  • How did the events in scripture come to be? Did they “just” happen because that’s how we’ve trained our minds to think? We know God did it, or allowed for it, and it’s recorded for us, but how did they come to be? Which leads to the main question that I’d like to raise…
    
• What if most, if not all of the events in scripture happened out of a result of answered prayer? 
  
• What if they didn’t “just” happen? 
  
• We all know that God is consistent in His words and actions. You ask, He’ll respond according to His will. Do we have in front of us (in the Bible) all that was done according to His will (His will be done) because someone asked? We see His will being done, but maybe there were prayers behind His actions. So what if the Bible is all about people who prayed because they obeyed the command to ASK, God answered according to His will, and that’s what we get to read about today.
  
• I told you I’d tie this altogether eventually…What if the prayer prompts I just mentioned weren’t just prompts, but rather, actual prayers throughout history and God is recording for us the answers to these prayers in His Word that we can read about today? 
  
• What if such intercessory prayers for self or others actually happened and God answered them according to His will because someone obeyed the command to ASK? For instance…
  
• So, going back to the prayer prompts…this first one…
  
  
  

• Lord, I feel alone and discouraged in life. Please send someone to minister to my needs.
  Answer: God provided for Elijah In 1 Kings 19. 
  
  • After a dramatic victory over the prophets of Baal, Elijah fled for his life from Queen Jezebel, who sought to kill him. He experienced deep discouragement and felt completely alone, even asking God to take his life. Despite his victory, he felt isolated and fearful. God ministered to him by sending an angel, providing food and water, and assuring him that he was not alone in his faith. 
    
• Lord, a relative of mine is single/widowed and needs companionship in life, please provide her with a spouse who she can share life with.
  Answer: Ruth and Boaz in the Book of Ruth. God provides Naomi’s daughter-in-law Ruth with Boaz. 
  
• Lord, my wife has been unfaithful in our marriage, she wants to return, please reveal to me what my response should be to her.
  Answer: Hosea and Gomer in the Book of Hosea. 
  
  • The marriage of Hosea and Gomer is a powerful illustration of God's relationship with the Israelites. Gomer's unfaithfulness to Hosea symbolizes Israel's unfaithfulness to God, as they turned away from Him to worship other gods. Hosea's continued love and forgiveness towards Gomer, even after her infidelity, represents God's unwavering love and willingness to forgive His people despite their unfaithfulness to Him. 
    
• Lord, I have no male influences for my son, please send a mentor for him.
  Answer: The Lord sent the Apostle Paul to work with Timothy (1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:5; and 2 Timothy 3:14-17). 
  
• Lord, my city is turning farther from you each day, please send someone who can revive it.
  Answer: In the book of Jonah, the Lord sent Jonah to the city of Nineveh and a revival took place there. 
  
• Lord, my son isn’t the biggest and strongest physically, but he has a huge heart for You. Please find a way to use him to help further Your Kingdom.
  Answer: Out of all of Jesse’s sons…the Lord chose David (1 Samuel 16:6-13). 
  
• Lord, our leader doesn’t have much of a backbone, loves the praise of men, but continually lives in fear. Please send someone who can go to battle for us when we need it most.
  Answer: The Lord chose David to go into battle with Goliath, since King Saul was too cowardly to do so (1 Samuel 17).
  
• Lord, my son has some learning disabilities and really struggles with communicating with others. Please reveal his strengths to him so he can see how he can still be used by You someday.
  Answer: The Lord singled out, and asked Moses to lead His people (Exodus 3 & 4).  
  
• Lord, my estranged child left home on not so great of terms. Please find a way to bring him home, and do a work in me to prepare my heart for how to react when he does return.
  Answer: In Luke 15 we read about the prodigal son coming to the end of his rope and returning home. And then the father threw a huge celebration in response to his son’s return.  
  
• Lord, I’ve hit a dry spot in my life and can’t understand what it is that you’re trying to communicate to me. I need some guidance.
  Answer: The Lord sent Phillip to the desert to speak with the Ethiopian Eunuch so that the Ethiopian Eunuch could come to a saving knowledge of the Lord (Acts 8:26-40).
  
• Lord, I know I wouldn’t have this earthly possession without You providing me with it. How then can I use it for Your honor and glory?
  Answer: The owner of the donkey and colt in Matthew 21:2. 
  
  • (NLT) “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”
    
• Lord, I pray for my enemy. Please find a way to save his soul, lead him to Yourself, and use him in a way like You’ve used no other.
  Answer: What if prior to Stephen’s execution, he was praying for God to save Saul. God, then, saves Saul on the road to Damascus. He changes his name to Paul, and the rest is history (Matthew 5:44; Acts 6 & 7:58-60).  
  
• Lord, please send someone to speak into my ex-wife...she just keeps making one mistake after another...seems like she’s always in and out of unhealthy relationships.
  Answer: Jesus meets the woman at the well (John 4). She goes back into the city and many others come to know Christ through her testimony.
  
• Lord, I have stolen or taken money from others that doesn’t belong to me, please speak to my heart and show me how to repay these people.
  Answer: Immediately after his salvation, conviction sets in and Zacchaeus pays back four times as much to those he stole from (Luke 19:8). 
  
• Lord, many people would see me as a religious leader in our church or community, but I have come to realize that I only have head knowledge of You and not a heart knowledge. I long for a relationship with You, please save me from my sins and come into my life.
  Answer: Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Religious Ruler of the Jews becomes born again after his meeting with Jesus at night (John 3; 19:38). 
  
• Lord, because of some regretful actions, my friend left the ministry and stopped serving. Please do a work that only you can do that’ll bring him back into serving You however You see fit. 
  Answer: Lord, just ask him if he loves you…see what he says. The Lord restored Peter and asked him to feed His sheep (John 21:17). 
  

How does that happen? How did any of these events in Scripture happen? The Lord commands us to ask, Jesus sets the example for us, and ultimately the Lord’s will is done. What if that’s most, if not all of scripture? 
Let me ask you this…
Have your actions of faithfulness and obedience played a part in answering someone’s prayer? 
Has your obedience of ASKING / PRAYING played a part in fulfilling God’s will in your own life or in the lives of others? We may never know the answer to these questions. BUT…
The point of all of this, and command is…Ask!!! Don’t stop praying. What if…just what if we get a front row seat to witnessing His will being done and prayers being answered. 

Pray for His will to be done.