The Rock San Diego – 9/21 message

• Never go to church without a question you want to have answered
• It’s better to not make a vow, than to break a vow
• God is constantly active in your life, every moment
• Stop focusing on what you want or what you don’t have, and start focusing on what God is doing in your life and what He’s trying to teach you
• In being obedient to God’s moment by moment direction, He is going to show you the answer to your prayers
• When praying, ask yourself ‘Is that the right prayer?’
• ‘God works in mysterious ways’ – so follow His lead
• If you ask God to look at you, you better look at Him (focus your heart on Him)
• Acknowledge God is there and that He hears your pain (He died for you)
• Acknowledge your position as servant
• Understand entitlement versus blessing
• The fact that you’re alive in this moment is a gift from God
• The body has functionality that occurs without you even thinking about it.  The reason God designed you that way is because if you had to think about it, you’d kill yourself.
• Make sure that everything you ask of God has something to do with how you are going to serve Him
• Answered prayer is prayer that is aligned with what God has called you to do
• Acknowledge how the delayed answer is changing your heart
• Are you copping an attitude?
• Have you changed your mind, because you’re just tired of waiting?
• Or are you humbled and being more patient and more focused?
• Delayed prayer response ‘tenderizes’ your heart and mind (preparation time)
• Delayed prayer is not necessarily a ‘no’ – it could be a ‘yes’ to something else
• If God gave you what you wanted today, and you are not ready, you would waste / squander / unappreciate the blessing
• Unanswered prayer could be His way of teaching you that you are not focused
• How consistently do you pray for it?
• What are you going to do with it?
• KEEP PRAYING, but acknowledge what He’s doing in your life – He’s not wasting your time
• If you stop pursuing it, then you really didn’t want it – and you didn’t deserve to get it in the first place
• God is saying, ‘You want it, come get it’
• Acknowledge how God will benefit if He answers ‘Yes’ to your prayer
• If You answer this prayer, here is what I will do
• If you can’t answer how God will benefit from answering your prayer, it won’t be answered
• It’s a matter of asking for something for God, not for yourself – enlist in His work
• Plan it, really think it through – come to God with a proposal and say ‘God, here’s what I’m going to do’
• If you can do this, your prayer life will explode
• It’s not about you, it’s about God
• Submit control of your answered prayer to God – A proposal IN WRITING
• I’m asking for [something]
• Here’s why I think I need it
• Here’s how I’m going to serve You and Your kingdom with it
• If you can’t write it down, you don’t know it
• Write your prayers every day – don’t pray without a pen and paper in your hand
• When God speaks to you, write it down