Origin
Origin
I Prayed the Prayer, pt 2
How can "I Prayed the Prayer" be a deception? What if God doesn't answer the way we expect, in the time-frame we expect? Can we get off track? Do we get disillusioned? It is so important to have some foundation stones of prayer in place. This conversation around the table of Origin will help us disarm this possible deception with the Truth of God's Word.
Welcome back to the table of Origin. I'm Regina Johnston. Joining me at the table are my friends, Jina McAfee and Kyli Rose. This season, we're meeting every other week to disarm deception. The last time we met, we talked about the deception, I Prayed the Prayer. That really doesn't sound like deception, but we were disarming the thought that salvation is just praying a prayer. Salvation is actually developing a relationship with Christ. If you haven't listened to it, go back and listen. We know you will be inspired and encouraged and grow in your walk with Christ. In fact, that's what we pray for. This week, we're going to talk about another deception that we've given the same title, I Prayed the Payer, Part 2. We can become deceived when we pray and we pray and we pray and we do and we pray, but it's just not happening in the way that we expected it to, or we feel like we're not receiving answers. We can get deceived in the midst and think that there's certain things that we need to do right or do differently or that God just doesn't listen. So we want to talk about that deception for a little bit, unpack that and be real about our disappointments and our disillusionments. So Kyli, lead us into this conversation.
Kyli Rose:This is a really important subject matter, being disappointed with God, God not answering the way we wanted HIm to, maybe perceiving that He didn't answer at all. It's a big deal. I was looking back on my own prayer timeline. I'm 34 years old, I got saved as a small child, I have known Him my whole life. And as I begin to look back on this timeline of my life, there are all these moments that stand out, moments when God answered my prayer, even as young as eighth grade. I had this big shining moment where I didn't make the cheerleading squad, and I just began to feel as though I was supposed to be on that squad. So I began to tell everybody, "It's okay that I didn't make it; I'm going to be cheering on that squad next season." It got to the point where it was a little weird, right? We were a few months post tryouts. I was still not on the squad. The girls had already been fitted for the uniforms. They were getting ready to go to camp. And I just knew that I knew that I knew I was going to be on that squad. And I just kept saying, "It's okay, I'm going to be on that squad." And lo and behold, a week before camp, I get a call and and the counselor asks me if I would like to join them, that I was the alternate, one of the girls dropped out and I was going to get to go to camp and be a cheerleader. And I was like, "Well, of course I am; God told me that I was, and He came through." I know that that seems kind of trite, in light of all the things that we bring to the Lord, but really He was trying to solidify something in that little 12-year-old's heart. I am God, and I answer prayer, and prayer is powerful! As you get older, there are more moments. I remember praying for a family member who had this chronic issue and God healed her. I laid hands on her body, and her body was restored that night. Again, God is saying,"Hey, Kyli, prayer is powerful!" I have a broken sexual past. I really made some poor decisions, some poor choices. No one made those choices for me. They were all me, and the Lord came in and He redeemed me. He pulled me out of a pit that I dug myself. I cried out for help, and He met me there and began to restore. It was just another moment where I could say, "Prayer is powerful!" We've seen that with our children. I've seen it in my marriage. Prayer is powerful, but it can also be really, really confusing. On that same prayer timeline, there were several moments where it didn't turn out the same way like it did with the eighth grade cheerleading tryout or me laying hands on somebody. I thought it would look a certain way. I prayed in the same posture to the same powerful God and He did not do what I wanted Him to do. He didn't do what I knew that He could do. So while it is powerful, it can also be very confusing sometimes. I know that those listening and those at the table have probably experienced this. He didn't do what I knew He could or maybe He didn't do it in the way that I thought that He would or like I had seen Him do it before. That's the tension we're unpacking today. What is that about? Why didn't God answer my prayer? It's a question worth looking at. Studies show that many people who profess to be atheists, those who have walked away from God altogether, actually walked away because of this tension right here. I prayed that God would do something, move something, provide something, He didn't do it; therefore, He either doesn't exist, or He is not good. That's a big statement, so we really want to unpack it. Why does He "not" answer prayer? Is He real? Is it a matter of Him being good or not good? Is it a matter of Him being able to or not able to? It's worth looking at.
ReGina Johnston:I talked to a friend just this week about an acquaintance of hers who grew up in church, had the Word of God planted in her from a very young age, is now a young mom, and is not serving the Lord. I asked her what happened, and here's what she said, "She believes in God; she just doesn't like Him." She doesn't think He's good. She's asking, "Why would a loving God_______?" It really is an issue. The bottom line is, we're all going to have these moments as we journey with the Lord. We're all going to have these moments where what we believe about God is tested. One of the things we know is that we have an enemy who would love for us to get discouraged in our walk with the Lord. So Jina, tell us about this enemy.
Jina McAfee:We need to realize this is our enemy's goal. He would want you to walk away from God. That's who he is. He's busy, and he watches us. He doesn't know what we're thinking, but he sees our actions and hears our words. It
says in John 10:10, "He's a thief and a murderer." John 8:44 says, "He's a liar; there's no truth in him." If he can get a foothold in your life, he will. We're talking about Satan, the
enemy of our souls. 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." We know that Scripture is powerful, that prayer is powerful, but we also know that Satan is busy. The second thing I saw here is that if we don't get a godly perspective about what we're going through right now, then Satan would love to give us his perspective which is the deception. it's a deception, because he's a liar. He's full of lies. That's all he does. The deception is this: "I prayed the prayer but God didn't answer, so that must mean___________________." Fill in the blank. I prayed the prayer, but God didn't answer so that must mean, "God isn't good." I prayed the prayer but God didn't answer so that must mean, "He's distant, He's not close," and we know that's not true. I prayed the prayer, but God didn't answer so that must mean, "He's not able." But we know He's got all power. I prayed the prayer, but God didn't answer so that must mean, "He's mad at me." That's like saying that as a parent, you're mad at your little ones. You're not. You want the best for them. I prayed that prayer, but God didn't answer so that must mean, "He doesn't care." That's why we have to spend time in the Word. Because when we're faced with disappointment, and we're waiting and waiting and waiting, like Regina said, the deception can begin to feel and look and sound like truth.
ReGina Johnston:Right. So today, we're going to discuss a few foundational stones for prayer that will help us navigate this thing called unanswered prayer, help us understand it. These are some things that we need to solidify as a believer if we're going to live a fruitful life and be peaceful in our living and powerful in our walk. These are tools that will help us. Kyli, help us with that first foundation stone.
Kyli Rose:The very first foundation stone of prayer is that it begins with the Person, it begins with God. I want us to
look at 1 John 5:14 & 15. It says, "And how bold and free we become in His presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that HE IS listening. And if we're confident that He's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours." So we see here that prayer begins and ends with God. Oftentimes, we get very disillusioned in our prayer life because it doesn't begin with God. It begins with me, and it begins with what I want. I become so fixated on the method, I become so fixated on what I want, I become so fixated on my plan and what I think it should look like and my timeline, that I kind of eliminate God altogether. He really just becomes kind of like the Santa Claus. So that really is one of the first foundation stones of prayer that we have to solidify. It begins and it ends with God. He is God, and He knows more. Whenever I can trust that, it changes the way I pray. We were talking about people walking away from their faith, atheists. That is probably not going to be like most of the people who are listening to this podcast. I dare say that there are so many believers, who don't pray at all, and if they do, they pray small prayers. If we do not deal with this tension, it will denigrate your prayer life so that you are not praying with faith. You won't pray anything that would require faith, because, honestly, at the end of the day, you might not say it, but you are scared that you're going to be disappointed with God. So you don't even put yourself out there in the position to be disappointed. He is not going to disappoint. He is faithful. So we see that prayer begins and ends with God. But specifically, God's goodness. The goodness of God is actually the cornerstone of our theology. You often hear it said, if you've been raised in the church, the pastor saying, "God is good!" And the whole congregation would say, "All the time." And, he'd say, "All the time, God is good!" And we did this whole thing back and forth, back and forth. And it's true. God is good. But it's more than just this positive thought, right? More than just this kind of out there theological concept. What we do and the degree to which we believe these three words, "God is good," actually defines our reality, right? It determines our destiny. Look at Adam and Eve. This problem goes all the way back to the garden. That was the question. That's really what Satan was saying to Adam and Eve, "Is God really good? Because it really looks to me like He's holding out on you. Is He good?" Satan called God's goodness into question, three chapters in. And we've been asking that same question generation after generation. Is God good? Really, that is where it starts. It has to start there. Yes, God, You are good! It begins and it ends with You. And You are good, regardless of whether this feels good, whether it looks good, whether it sounds good. I can acknowledge that it doesn't feel good. But at the end of the day, You are good. Your goodness reigns and it covers everything I'm seeing, feeling, thinking. And so it's a big one. That is our first foundation stone. And everything builds on it.
ReGina Johnston:In fact, I think there was a Scripture there that stood out. Psalm 119:68 says, "You are good and the source of good. Train me in Your goodness." Knowing He's good, and knowing that He does good, reassures us of a few things regarding unanswered prayer. So Jina, what does that reassure us of?
Jina McAfee:One thing is delay is not denial. A lot of times, it's not an unanswered prayer, it just doesn't come the same way we wanted it to, the same time we wanted it to, how we wanted it to. But when I'm pursuing the Person, when I'm having conversation with the Lord, when I get to know Him, then I can trust that He's good. And because He's good, I know that He will answer so that I will be strengthened and He will receive the glory. His way is better. We have to know up front that He sees everything beginning to end, and He knows.
1 Corinthians 13:12 says, "We don't see things perfectly." We see things like reflections in a mirror. And we know that we don't see it all from beginning to end like He does. We don't know everything with perfect clarity. We know that upfront too so we trust that He does. Sometimes it's not a "no," it's just a "not yet." So how are you waiting on the Lord? I know my husband, Richard, had a word spoken over him, and it was 20 years before he saw it fulfilled. But he saw it fulfilled. 20 years, that's a long wait. Another truth, another reassurance, is that God not only opens doors, He also closes them. As we've prayed in our life, we have said, "God, open the door You want open and close the rest." We know because He is good that He's going to open the right door. And He's going to close the wrong door.
Kyli Rose:But, we love yeses, right? I mean, we're yes people. We want a "Yes," and we want it fast.
ReGina Johnston:We know two-year-olds that like yeses. They like to say, "No," but they want their "Yes."
Jina McAfee:We see "No's" as a rejection, but really, and I love this, it's a redirection. How many of you would want to take the job that wasn't right for you? Or marry the person that God didn't have for you? Or in the wrong timing? Isaiah
55:8-9 says, and I say it a lot,"His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts." Just repeat that. Say, "Lord, I know, Your ways are higher than my ways and Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. You are perfect. And You're the best Dad." He's a good Dad. So it's not a punishment, but a promotion. It doesn't feel like it. But it is--a promotion in disguise. So the question is, "Will you trust Him? Will you trust that He's a good Dad?" We live in this culture, where we really promote following your heart, your truth, your comfort, your convenience, your passion, your way, but without Jesus's direction, we will follow our hearts right off of a cliff. We don't know. We think we do. But we don't know. We do not see everything, beginning to end. He does. We do not.
ReGina Johnston:And that's why our first foundation stone begins and ends with God. Because I don't always know. I don't always know the "why." But we're going to pursue the "who" no matter what, no matter what we see, no matter what we feel. Because we know He's good, and we've settled that. As long as I'm alive, He's Not Done! Sometimes His answer is a wait, sometimes it's yes, sometimes it's no, but if it's not good, we know He's not done. And we can change our question in the midst of something, and changing that question helps change our perspective. So maybe instead of asking, "Why," we can begin to ask God, "What are You doing in this season? And how can I partner with You in it? Because I know You're good, and You're either going to deliver me from it, or You're going to see me through it. And I know that somehow in the midst of it, I'm going to grow, and I'm going to look more like Jesus, and You're going to be glorified." Those are things we have to settle in our minds. So instead of asking the why, let's change our questions. That first foundational stone is knowing the Person, the Personage of God. So, Kyli, what's another foundation stone?
Kyli Rose:So whenever you know the person of God, that changes your posture. When I know that He is good, when I know that He is safe, when I know that He is for me, it changes how I
approach Him. Hebrews 4:16 talks about how we can actually approach the throne of grace with confidence. And that word"confidence" has lost a little bit of its original meaning. It's not about swaggering in to the throne room of grace. It's not demanding. In its original context, it actually means "an open and honest speech." That's what the word means in its original language. I can come to the throne room of grace openly and honestly, vulerable. It's like you can come stripped of all the filters, the fear, all the things we cover parts of ourselves with. You know the shame. We cover the broken parts, we highlight the great parts. He says, "I don't want you to do that. I want you to bring every part of yourself openly and honestly to Me. And if you will bring all of yourself to Me, I will give all of Myself right back to you." You can only do that when you know the Person though. My children know me and their father. When they make requests of us, they don't practice in their rooms before they come, they don't go tidy up. They don't try and bring the best parts of themselves. Actually, I think they bring themselves to us like we're the safest place to them. So sometimes we get all the emotion and all the messiness. That is how God wants us to approach Him. How do you approach Him? Do you feel like you have to tidy yourself up before you come? Have you stopped approaching Him altogether? Pay attention to that. I don't like to really spend a whole lot of time with someone that I don't necessarily know has my best interests in mind. I can't be my most vulnerable self when I'm sitting across from somebody that I know is not my biggest fan. So, how will you approach the Lord in prayer? Your prayer life is indicative of how you see God. How you know the Person adjusts
the posture. 1 John 5:14&15 says, "And how bold and free we become in His presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that HE IS LISTENING. And if we're confident that He's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours." So He tells, in fact, He implores us in Scripture, come boldly, come boldly, boldly, that's the word, openly and honestly, come boldly. You often don't have because you don't ask. He wants us to pray. And then He says, "come confidently. I want you to make your requests known. Bring it to Me, all of it. Bring it to Me. It's a way of showing Me that you trust Me." And then He says, "You come confidently." Sometimes we do not know how to pray. There is something my husband and I are praying about right now. It looked like He was opening all these doors, but honestly, right now guys, it looks like He's closing them. My husband and I are actually legitimately confused. We thought He wanted us to do this. But now, we're not sure. So the golden standard for prayer is, "God, I want Your will. I thought I knew what to do, but I don't know what to do. I don't even know how to pray right now in this. I don't know what to ask. So I want Your will more than I want my own. I want Your way more than I want my own." Even Jesus in the garden said, "If this can go down any other way, if We can bypass the cross, let's do that. If this cup of suffering can just kind of go to someone else, and not Me, let it be so. But if not, I want Your will more than My own." So really, that is the gold standard, the place of maturity that we are trying to get to. I just want Your will. I'm willing to let go of the way I thought it was going to go down, to let go of that dream, to just let it all go because I want Your will more than my own. I trust You, that You love me and You know what's best. That is not an easy place to get to but it's the place we're being called to, to grow in our faith. There are some things that Scripture is really specific about that can hinder our prayers. There are some times where our prayers don't get answered, and it's actually an issue on our part. There are some things that in some ways create a ceiling for our prayers. One those things is
wrong motives. James 4:3 says,"God is the only one who knows our motives." We think we do, but we don't. So sometimes we're not actually praying for wrong things, we just have the wrong motive in praying for them. There's nothing wrong with us wanting a house or a car or this or that, but oftentimes our motives are broken. Why do you want that house? Why do you want that promotion? Why are you contending and praying so hard for that? And so we really need to sit with that. The Holy Spirit shows us oftentimes when our motives are wrong. You will not be able to discern your own motives. You will always give yourself a pass. I always give myself one. But the Holy Spirit shows me. Like, you don't want this for My glory. You want it for your own. Really, at the end of the day, guys, He is the center of the story. It's all for His glory, not ours. The posture of your heart being in the wrong place can really create a ceiling. Another one, He's very specific, in 1 Peter
3:7 when He talks to husbands,"Your prayers will not be answered if you are not good to your wife." And I would assume that would be vice versa, if we are not good to our spouse, if we are not loving them the way Christ calls us to, He will not. If you are not honoring your spouse, He will not honor your prayers. And He makes that very, very clear. We are called to lay down our life for them and honor them and serve them. A third is giving up. Sometimes we just honestly give up too fast in our prayer lives. We want things fast, and it doesn't happen, so we just simply stop praying. And sometimes we stop right before the breakthrough. If that's you, keep praying. If you have not seen that thing come to pass, keep bringing it to the Lord. Don't stop! Don't stop! And then lastly is willful sin. Psalm
66:18 says, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." That word, cherish, means that I am protecting that thing. I don't want anyone to know about it. I don't want to deal with it. I don't want to necessarily bring it to the Lord, ask Him to forgive me and change my ways. It feels good. It's my pet. And I'm going to keep it. If you are not actively dealing with sin, God cannot answer your prayers. He can't. And so we've got to look at some of these things, our coping mechanisms, our trust issues, our priorities, our order of operations, where we go first, all of it. It requires something of us.
ReGina Johnston:I know Scripture says we should pray. And we should pray according to God's will. So how do we know the will of God when we pray?
Jina McAfee:Knowing God's Will begins with that first foundation stone which is knowing the Person, knowing the One. We know the One through the Word. We know God through the
Word. 2 Timothy 1:12, the apostle Paul says, "The confidence of my calling enables me to overcome every difficulty without shame [and here's the key] for I have an intimate revelation of this God. And my faith in Him convinces me that He is more than able to keep all that I've placed in His hands safe and secure until the fullness of His appearing." An intimate revelation of God. And my faith then convinces me that He's more than able to keep every single thing I've placed in His hands safe and secure. To get the fullness of what Paul is saying, you've got to know Paul's life. Paul lived a life where he was no stranger to hardship, to trials, to setbacks. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, he lists all of the things he's gone through. He said, "I've worked harder, been in prison more, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times, I received 39 lashes, [with 40 lashes, you could die, so to the point of death] shipwrecked, spent a whole night and day adrift at sea, traveled on many long journeys, faced danger from rivers and robbers and my own people, faced danger in the cities and the deserts and the seas. I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not [that's one of the hardest, you know]. I've been hungry and thirsty and gone without food. I've shivered in the cold. I've had sleepless nights [because I'm concerned for the church, for the people]." That's Paul, and it's this Paul, who says, "I don't have to worry, because I know God's got it, because I know Him intimately." I love that. And I love this too. It's not anything mystical or unreachable. He just wants us to know Him. We were saved to know Him and grow in Him. It's His delight when we come to Him. We don't just come with our petitions. We come to talk to Him, to hear Him, to know Him. And Paul trusted Him with his most valuable possession, his soul. He knew he had eternal life in Christ.
ReGina Johnston:We have a part in the process of knowing Him. He has His part, and we have our part in the process of knowing Him and in the process of knowing His will. Jesus doesn't give us unattainable responsibilities, but rather, He lays down foundational and practical ways that we can partner with Him and walk with Him. So let's talk just a little bit about the practicality of our part.
Kyli Rose:Yes, God has a part, the part, but He calls us to partner with Him in prayer. That is our job. In some Scriptures, it says that we are contenders, we actually contend for the will of God to take place, to show itself on the earth. I think one of the questions, especially in this train of thought, is if God is sovereign, if He's all powerful, then I can just lean back. He's going do what He wants to do anyway. This is a fatalistic approach, not backed by Scripture. We see where God's heart is moved by the prayers of His people in Scripture over and over and over again. We have a responsibility and a mandate to pray because it brings His will on the earth. And so we see in
Matthew 7:7-8, it says, "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you asked for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For anyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door wil be opened." It's the idea of lifestyle. This is how we live our lives, in this continual state of prayer. We keep on and we keep on and we keep on. Even when we're discouraged, we keep on. Even when it appears that it's a "no," we keep on seeking the Lord. We keep on seeking His face and the Person, not the thing per se, but the Person. I think Paul was able to keep on keepin' on because it was all about Jesus. He had his eyes so fixed. It wasn't about Paul; it was all about God's glory. He was able to keep the thing about the thing, and so he was able to keep on keepin' on. I love that. And really, what that means is we don't stop. We don't stop. We go to God first. So we see the promise here that what we ask, we receive, what we seek, we find, and when we knock, it will be open. But there are some conditions. We talked about our posture in prayer. It matters. And it's determined by how well you know the Person. So what does your prayer life look like? Do you come openly and honestly to the throne? Or are there hindrances because you're not sure about the Person you're approaching? Do you need to spend more time getting to know Him? We come confidently, and that word confidently and humility actually go in tandem. I come confidently. I come in humility. I come honestly. I'm able to be raw and real with Him. I come with perseverance. And then at the end of the day, I want my will to align with His.
ReGina Johnston:That's the whole purpose of that relationship.
Kyli Rose:Yes. D.A. Carson is a theologian, a really smart guy, basically. One of the things he says is, "Effective prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God, not a technique for acquiring blessings." I think oftentimes our prayer lives can be a bit manipulative. Pay attention to that. I've done
that:if I just speak a little louder, if I just ask and ask please, and if I'm just good enough, if I just bring enough good works to the table, like it's this exchange, like I'm bartering for His approval. That is not how this works. This is all taking place in the context of a life-giving relationship with an all knowing, all sovereign God.
ReGina Johnston:And along with what you're saying is this, we have a responsibility to pray out of relationship, taking a request and our petitions to God. But that's not all of our part. We also have a responsibility to listen. So Jina, talk to us about that responsibility.
Jina McAfee: John 10:27 says this, and this is Jesus talking,"My sheep listen to My voice.[Jesus says] I know them, and they follow Me." So there's a listening and a following, right. We know that God primarily speaks to us through His Word, through the Bible. It's so easy for us to fall into self deception. We know that we can fall into self deception. Even if we believe for a long time, we can fall into self deception. It's not wise to accept any idea or thought that just enters your mind. Satan will plant thoughts in your mind. When we hear from God through any of our other senses, it will always line up with His written Word. Earlier Kyli shared that she and her husband thought God wanted them to go in a particular direction. They believed they had heard His voice in that. And now, they're not sure, so they're just waiting, waiting for His confirmation to make sure because they want to go in His direction. So the priority is to go to the Word first and pray the Word, actually pray the Word. Say, "Lord, You open the door You want open." His Word says, "I stand at the door and knock." He tells us, "I go before you and I come behind you," and "I tell you the way to go." He says, "I'll lead you on the path." So whether we have believed and followed the Lord for five minutes, or get this, for decades, we still have the responsibility to go to His Word and to invite Holy Spirit to guide us in knowing God's voice, to recognize His voice, His will and His truth. And listening requires an action. We said not only listening, but following. He is listening to us. We LISTEN to His voice and do according to his Word. When we do that, we're going to hear His voice more and more. We will. And when we begin to do the Word, we start to imitate Jesus. Love that. We go where His Spirit leads us and we yield, we submit to His guidance and seek to be led by Him.
ReGina Johnston:Jina, you talked about the responsibility of following which is a response. We do have a responsibility to respond to the Lord, not only in our following, our footsteps, our obedience, but in our demeanor and our emotions and our thought processes. The Bible says in
Isaiah 26:3-4, "You will keep in perfect peace, all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You. Trust in the Lord always for the Lord is the eternal rock." So there is honestly a choice that believers have. Will we continue in peace? Will we walk in peace? Will we come to peace? When our peace is disturbed, we get to choose. Will we come to peace in the midst of that? It's almost like this place we can walk to and stand on--the rock. We get that choice. So it's not just response in our steps, it's response in our whole being really. And at the root of that response, that doing, that being, is our trust in Him. Is He good? What have we established? I just want to talk about that perfect peace for a little bit and what it looks like. I thought this is really interesting. Perfect peace is being undisturbed. To be disturbed is to be agitated. We've all been disturbed, we know that. We're distressed, we're very upset emotionally. Being undisturbed means that everything could be going wrong and falling apart all around us, but we're not moved by what we see or what we hear, because we know the One who gives us perfect peace. I love that. It's how God supports our minds in the middle of every valley, in the wilderness, and in the storm, and every storm we'll walk in. He gives us that peace that passes all understanding, the Bible says. So remember, today's delay is not a denial. Rather, it's a call to stand on the Person and the posture of prayer. And I love this Scripture. We're going to end with this Scripture today, and I'm really not even going to pray us out. I just want to end with this resounding Scripture. At the end of everything, as you have prayed, as you are waiting, wherever you are in the process of prayer, whether it be that the answer is right before you or whether it be that you've been praying and the answer is somewhere out there, if we know the Person, and if we've addressed our posture, here is our declaration: Psalm 119:89,"Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven." I love that!"Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven." God bless you. We'll see you at the table of Origin in a few weeks.