Maybe you haven’t been able to make it out on Tuesday nights but have been following along via the podcasts. Hopefully you have found some practical tips to help you out in these areas as well.

The question I really want us to circle back around on is the theme we’ve been using over the past eight weeks. We’ve been asking this question, “What’s at my core?” What’s the condition of my heart?

We’ve been looking at the prayer David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24. In this passage David is asking God four things.

• He’s asking God to SEARCH his heart.
• He’s asking God to KNOW his heart.
• He’s asking God to POINT out anything that offends Him.
• He’s asking God to LEAD him to real life.

This is really at the core of what we have been talking about these past eight weeks. While we need to continually be checking our hearts on these different things we talk about, we ultimately need God’s help to change our heart.

The question I leave you with is this. What are you asking God? Are you asking him to search you and know you? Are you asking him to point out those things that need fixed and then asking him to help you in the direction of real life?

What questions are you asking? What questions are you brave enough to ask?

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I don’t even think about praying that much. How can I start?

Emily - I’ve gone through seasons where this is a reality for me, too. A few practical things that have been helpful is not just remember that I need to be praying, but also recognizing why prayer is an important spiritual discipline. Through prayer, we can communicate with God. Among other things, prayer is an opportunity where we can be honest with him about all circumstances of our lives, our feelings and emotion; we have God’s undivided attention and He can speak to us, too. In order for a relationship to function, communication is imperative. After understanding why prayer is important, I have found that if I commit to doing one aspect of this well, my heart is propelled to follow in other ways. In the past, I’ve sent an alarm on my phone to go off during times in my day where I’ve consistently lacked in my connection with God through prayer. I’ve used a dry-erase marker to write reminders on my bathroom mirror so I see it each morning while I’m getting ready for my day. I’ve left notes in my car with verses to pray through. During my commute, I set landmarks that I use as reminders to pray for certain people. There are a multitude of ways make the communication with God on a regular basis sustainable throughout your day. I would encourage you to start small and find a rhythm that you can personally connect with.

Adam – I really thought what Matt shared on the Podcast and Tuesday night about putting reminders up to pray is a great idea. I think we sometimes forget the significance and impact of placing symbols in our life. Some of us may have grown up in churches where symbols were empty rituals, but that doesn’t mean the idea of symbols is a bad thing. Find little things that can remind you to connect with God and put them around yourself. Post-it notes, rubber band bracelet, reminders on your phone, etc.

Can you see the context of Jeremiah 29:11 as one that is similar to our world today?

Paul - Sure. I can see how it’s similar, especially based on the history that Matt Parks shared on Tuesday night. The people wanted a particular thing (a King). Years later, their request led to their destruction, to them being enslaved. And while we’re not being carried off to another country, there are other things that enslave us: work, debt, choices. So yes, I think the context can be similar to today. However, I’d be quick to say that while the context is similar, the promise that’s being made in Jeremiah 29:11 was to a specific people, to the nation of Israel. Many today try to “claim” God’s promises as personal to them when they were actually specifically for whoever he was talking to in the Bible. The important thing is to identify the principle that’s represented. Jeremiah 29:11 is not a promise to me. But the principle that’s established is that God knows our plans and his plans are good. So they can be trusted. That principle can be applied to my current context and shape my perspective about God and what I see happening around me.

We look at Matthew 6 when Jesus was asked to teach us how to pray and he reminds us prayer is first and foremost a personal thing between you and a God who deeply loves you, who loves you no matter what; and then how prayer calls us to move our perspective from ourselves to God.

And who doesn’t want to win?

But how do I win with prayer? Cause even the thought that I want to “win” seems messed up. But I think most followers of Jesus want to know how to pray and how to pray in a way that honors God.

I think one way that we mess up communication with God is by laboring over content rather that evaluating intent. Could I suggest to us that our intent is more important than any of the things we actually say or ask.

So some question I try to ask myself as I approach God…

- Am I just trying to use God?
- Have I first thanked God for who He is regardless of what I’m experiencing or want?
- Is how I’m praying consistent with how Jesus encouraged his followers to pray (for how Jesus encouraged his followers to pray check out Matthew 6:5-18)

How we approach God is so important. Do I recognize him as Creator of everything? Do I trust that he is able to do things that seem impossible to me? Do I really believe that I am loved by God and he wants to hear from me? Do I really understand that apart from Jesus, I’m incapable of no good thing? Even just reflecting on these questions for a brief few moments has a way of impacting me, of impacting my thought process, and straightening out my intent where it might be misled.

So, as you continue to pray and talk to God, don’t worry about saying everything just right or asking in a A+B=C fashion. Don’t just try to “win”. But put all your faith and trust in this person who listens, this person is able to accomplish anything, this person who wants greater things for us than we even want for ourselves and see how that guides your communication with God.

I grew up in a house where 95% of the prayer happened before meals and before bedtime. Canned, memorized, sterile. The other 5% happened in times of great need. Prayer was either a brief part of daily routine – like brushing teeth, or changing pants – or it was an ER-style critical care visit.When Adam posted one of his goals for 2012 on his blog, putting out there that he is looking to do a better job communicating with God this year, I felt convicted. For too long I’ve coasted in this area.

What I am very much in the process of learning (as in, nowhere close, but hope to be on the way to) is that nothing in my faith life can be successful as a formula. My Bible reading, my worship, my daily work, and yes, even my prayers, can only grow towards Jesus as an authentic outpouring of the change God is effecting within me. Discipline helps, sure, but simply being disciplined won’t get me from here to there. It’s a God thing.

I’ll be spending this year trying to be disciplined and authentic in a lot of different areas, leaving enough margin to hear and respond to what He is doing in my life.

Thanks God, for a place like LCBC, and for the Saturate team and their commitment to helping us grow. (See? Praying better already.)

How about you – where are you on your prayer journey?

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I think of serving as an activity I do and then I’m done. Tonight you talked about serving as a lifestyle. How is it a lifestyle?

Paul – I think it’s a lifestyle in that it’s a natural part of our daily life. There are certain things I don’t think twice about as I go through life: Loving my wife, helping my daughter if she needs things, even simple stuff like filling up my car with fuel when the tank is empty. I eat each day, I sleep, I communicate with folks. I’d say a lifestyle of service means it’s as second nature to me as those things simply because it’s important to me, I value it, and I’m eager to serve as I grow in my relationship with God because at the core of his heart is serving us…that was modeled through Jesus’ life. Check out Philippains 2:5-11. For Jesus, it was his attitude…his lifestyle.

Emily – Like Paul said, serving as a lifestyle takes place when serving others and meeting the needs we see around us comes naturally. I think this begins with making a conscience decision to make your life about the needs of other people and opportunities before our own…taking on the perspective that others are more important than ourselves. It’s an awareness and almost training yourself, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to have your eyes wide open looking for moments you’ve been entrusted to step into and make a difference. Coupled with the verses in 2 Corinthians 5 when our motivation to serve others is to, in a very practical way, open their eyes and hearts to the love of Jesus, serving as a lifestyle is attainable.

What does the phrase “Persuasive for Christ” mean?

Paul – I think it means we live in such a way and talk in such a way, that people can clearly see Jesus through and in us. It is a life that has been changed. And that’s compelling, that’s persuasive. I don’t think it means we try to engage in arguments designed to convince others with our persuasive speech or knowledge. Our life, our actions, and the Good News about Jesus we share will be persuasive and compelling through a life of serving.

Emily – When I hear this, in my mind I immediately think of allowing our lives, through the way we choose to live, speak, act, think, interact with those around us, etc. to cause people who don’t yet know God to drawn nearer to him, simply because they see and understand something different about us because we are his. Christ has chosen his followers lives, out of all the ways he could’ve chosen to reveal himself to people, to bring the lost into relationship with him…we all have responsibility to allow our lives to represent him well.

At what point do you consider your own needs before another’s without feeling selfish?

Paul – I’d encourage you to check out Philippians 2:3-5. It’s constantly encouraging us to give of ourselves for others whether that’s time, resources, whatever. Perhaps a better question could be, how much of myself could I give away? Make sure your needs (that’s a word that could use defining…a lot of what we think are “needs” aren’t really) are met…don’t feel bad about that. But make sure you keep your head up and looking out for others just as much.

Josh – It is very important to take care of ourselves and to make sure that we don’t get to run down. But at the same time, we don’t want to be selfish by satisfying our own needs all the time. And most of the time, the things we do for ourselves, aren’t really needs at all. If we change our mindset and perspective to focus on others, big things will happen. If we are constantly putting others in front of our needs, we will be living like Christ. And if we are living like Christ, He will make sure our needs, our absolute needs, are taken care of.

Adam –  I think this is a great question. The goal of what we are talking about is heart transformation. If we are serving from a heart that is transformed for others first, then we are probably filling ourselves up with (read: taking care of our spiritual selves) enough to pour out onto others, and serve them. Let me rephrase, if you are serving people out of a place of transformation in your life, wanting to love on others like Christ loved on you, then you know you’ve taken care of your needs.

God has chosen his followers to be the vehicle to draw others closer to him, not just through our words, but also through our actions and the way we go about our daily life. Scripture tells us that we are his ambassadors and that Christ makes his appeal through us. Therefore, we are each entrusted with unique opportunities to bring others along on this eternal journey, to make serving not just a task we accomplish or a project we complete, but rather a lifestyle choice motivated by the actions of a pure heart and a desire to impact others with the love of Jesus.

As you give this week’s podcast a listen, I hope you’ll consider what appeal you’re making and the motivation behind it.

Jesus has taught us to pray….. “your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” One of my friends has taught me that God’s kingdom can be seen coming to earth whenever we love people as Christ does. I find it pretty cool that God invites us to be a part of his kingdom work, and one way we can participate in this is by sharing Christ’s love for people through serving.

Christ lived a life of love, humility, and service. Beginning with his humble birth in a stable to humbling himself to God’s will in his death at Calvary. Jesus never lived from a position of power and arrogance, although they were always at his disposal.

Serving can be an activity we participate in occasionally or a lifestyle we live. To move from activity to lifestyle we have to reject lives that are motivated by selfishness and arrogance to embracing lives that imitate Christ’s example of love, humility and service. Yes serving can be inconvenient, demanding and messy, both physically and emotionally, however there is no greater joy I know than seeing God’s kingdom come to earth through the experience of Christ’s love being shared by people through serving.

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We thought it would be fun just to show some pictures highlighting what you guys are already doing in regards to serving around LCBC. It’s pretty amazing to walk around any of our campuses on a weekend and see so many 20somethings helping out. So below are just a few pictures of the amazing ways you guys are already serving.

How do we apply biblical standards of purity when our modern environments are riddled with sex and lust?

Emily – This is an area where I think a lot of people wrestle because our culture and environments are so riddled with pictures, music, movies, television, books, etc., that encourage or promote the exact opposite of purity. A few weeks ago, we talked about guarding your heart and part of that is fixing your eyes directly ahead, your feet on the right path, and keeping your mouth from saying perverse things. All of these things, when walking closely with the Holy Spirit will help you to have a better gauge on what around us is pure and what is not. Jason mentioned on Tuesday evening that first committing to doing what is pure and then practicing it are great starting points.

Paul – We have to first be familiar with what those biblical standards are. We can’t be committed at all if we have no knowledge of what God says is best. Once we know what God says is best then we have to be disciplined in our carrying out of those standards. The reality is it only becomes easier and easier to justify our own actions as our culture becomes more and more infiltrated by sex and lust. For many, the simple decision to prioritize and act on God’s standards is the hardest. But it’s easier to pursue purity when we value it as much as God does.

Does lust only involve using someone in a sexual nature? There’s many ways to use people without sexual intentions.

Adam – No. Like Jason said in the podcast and last night at Saturate Eight, lust can be much more then a sexual thing. For some women it could be a relationship that they are lusting over. It might play out that they give them selves sexually to someone to get that relationship, but the core of what they are lusting after isn’t physical.

Paul – No. Lust is an obsessive desire for anything. Like you said, there are many ways to use people…and that’s what we’re trying to raise awareness of and challenge our perspective on. Our hope is that we’ll choose to give value to others, to anyone, by giving them honor and appreciating them the same way that God does.

Lusting after someone’s relationship with God is sketchy right?

Emily – I think this could be an issues of semantics and how we choose to define lust. Like any relationship, each person’s relationship with God is different and unique to them based on the circumstances and journey that have gotten them to where they’re at now and how they choose to invest in the relationship. I think it’s fair and relatively safe to look at someone’s relationship with God and long for or desire the depth and/or some of the elements of that relationships and, perhaps, long to share in some of that (i.e., time spent in prayer and communicating with God, knowledge of God’s Word, etc.) while not lusting or doing anything to intentionally interfere. If you know someone who has a deep connection with God, perhaps asking them to share their story and some of the qualities of that relationship and how it has formed into what it currently  is is a good place to start. God desires each of us to connect with Him in a way that is unique to us because he longs for each of us to know him personally.

Paul – I’d say yes. Our ultimate goal ought to pursue God himself…not someone else’s interaction with him. I really believe he is able to exceed our expectations and longings…even the best ones we see in others. Long for God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

If I know I’ve lusted after someone, what are some practical things I can do to correct that and make right with that person?

Paul – If it’s happened internally (in your own mind), I don’t know that anything needs to be said to them. I’d definitely confess it to God and ask for his forgiveness as well as confess that to a trustworthy friend of the same sex who can keep you accountable and encourage to keep your thoughts in check. I’d also pray and ask God to guard my mind and fix my thoughts on things that would honor him.