Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] Hey, welcome to episode 143. Brian Phillips here with you today. Want to talk about prayer and why it matters in our lives.
[00:00:17] And what is the point of prayer? I was asking God that the other day, what's the point? Or what is prayer? You know, all these answers come to our minds, all these things we've learned comes to our minds. Scriptures. From scriptures to lessons, all kinds of stuff comes. And I'm just kicking this around in my head like, God, what is prayer? Why does it matter? What is the purpose? I mean, and the simple answer came to me and this is what I want to talk about.
[00:00:43] Prayers like wax melting beneath the flame right here.
[00:00:51] Prayer is like wax melting beneath the flame.
[00:01:00] That answer got my attention. I was like, dang. I mean, Jesus, the scripture says that he often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
[00:01:09] I mean, if Jesus was a man of prayer, then we need to be men of prayer. In our culture. Our first value is about honoring God and building a lifestyle of prayer, building prayer into our lifestyles, making sure that we're depending on God. It's a priority. And then we've got war as a value. And warrior war is about the spiritual disciplines. Go, say you're going to pray, say you're going to read your Bible, say you're going to, you know, fellowship with some men around, some to have a biblical engagement and see what happens. It's a war, There's a war, there's warfare on that place of spiritual engagement.
[00:01:47] So this answer, what is prayer? And the answer was like, it's like wax melting beneath the flame.
[00:01:55] Now that moves me. And that, that shows that's what prayer is.
[00:02:01] It's us in his presence. Moved, ready, pliable, moldable, fired up. He, the heat's coming. We can feel his heat. We can feel his presence. We, we're not just checking boxes and the right dogma and theology and all that stuff's important. But, but the prayer that matters, the prayer that moves us, the prayer that, that helps us engage his kingdom, helps us change and transform our lives. Right here and right now is the prayer life, the prayers, the connection. And you know, I got this candle here for a reason.
[00:02:42] Because the wick represents our connection to God.
[00:02:46] We've got to put forth effort.
[00:02:49] The flame represents God, represents His presence, his power, his fire. The scripture says God's an all consuming fire.
[00:02:58] The wax is like our heart.
[00:03:02] When we're under his flame, we're moldable, we're transformed, we're melted in his presence, ready to be used.
[00:03:11] But then there's this other wax out here that's in the midst of the flame.
[00:03:16] It's close, but not close enough.
[00:03:18] And I feel like it's like this religious spirit, this religious playground out here where we can be close enough, know enough, but not transformed, not moved.
[00:03:32] Maybe our hearts are hard.
[00:03:34] Maybe you're there. I don't know where, you know, where are you today in this analogy? And this, where are you? Because the goal is to get to the place of being melted like wax.
[00:03:46] And under the flame, we want to be there. That's the heart, says, I'm ready, ready to engage. I'm ready for you to move.
[00:03:55] I'm here, Father. The wick is our discipline. It's us. It's us reaching out. It's us putting in effort to connect, make. You got to make energy. You got to make effort to connect.
[00:04:08] And I'm sorry, but just fly by prayers and just quick Hail Mary type style. You know that? Yes, we're supposed to pray that, pray those prayers. But that's not the only type of prayers we pray.
[00:04:20] We got to spend time with God. Mark the calendar, carve out time until your heart's melted like wax underneath the flame.
[00:04:31] And the flame is God's presence. So get in his word. That's a great way to get in God's presence is to open his word. Open the Psalms, open. Open the Bible, study the Bible, read the Bible, engage with the Holy Spirit in. In the Bible, withdraw like Jesus did. Withdraw from the busyness, the hustle, Withdraw from the grind and go be with God. Go get time with God. Go spend time with him.
[00:04:59] Honor him by giving him time, giving him priority.
[00:05:04] And how long does it take for this wax to melt? How long does it take?
[00:05:14] It happens right away.
[00:05:17] So get in his presence.
[00:05:19] Get in his fire.
[00:05:21] Don't be the wax out here playing games. Don't be the wax out here satisfied with. With religion. And we've all been here, if you're following Christ. We've all been stagnant at times. We've all. We've all walked in the flesh at times. And that's why community is so powerful and why brotherhood's so powerful and why families are powerful is because we're helping each other stay close to the flame.
[00:05:46] We're helping one another, spurring one another on this power of community.
[00:05:52] So the heart in prayer is the. The wax that's melted in its presence. It's that place of prayer of, Lord, not my will. Your will be done. It's that place of prayer of like, Father, I I renounce ungodly things in my life. I renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. And it's identifying those things, it's, it's like truly taking communion. When we understand that communion. Those passages in First Corinthians. First Corinthians tells us to judge ourselves.
[00:06:22] And if we judge ourselves correctly, God, even God wouldn't have to judge us.
[00:06:27] So it's that place of prayer. Go judge yourself. Go judge yourself up against God's holiness. And then be thankful for the cross, Be thankful for the finished work that'll begin to melt your heart quick. I mean, how long does it take for this wax to melt?
[00:06:42] Didn't take long at all, not even a minute. You see, you get, it's. You get into that intense place of his presence, an intense place of his fire, and you want to be there. You want to be melted. I'll be looking. And what's the purpose of that place? The purpose is transformation. The purpose is that you're moldable and pliable and you're not stiff necked. I think the purpose is that you be obedient, that you would, you would love what he loves, you would grow in that. I love what you love. And the things that you're calling me out of the darkness, you've called me out of and saved me from, and you've planted me into this kingdom light. I'm beginning to hate those things.
[00:07:22] And it's like about doing this every day. It's about spending time with, in his presence every day, all the time. That's this concept of abiding.
[00:07:34] So the purpose of this place of prayer, this purpose of being melted like wax in his presence, is that you're different, that you want to obey him, that you want to actually walk in faithfulness and that you long to have his favor on your life more than anything else so that you can impact your family, you can impact your neighborhood. That's what you know, that's what it is to advance his name, advance his kingdom.
[00:08:02] So you want his favor, you want his, his fire on your life. And then you walk in community. That's what community is for. Get some friends, get, get your family focused on this. Get your, get some community, some biblical community so that what you're doing is you're just helping each other stay on fire.
[00:08:21] That's it. It's right there. You're staying on fire for God.
[00:08:31] So that's the simplicity of what I want to talk about today.
[00:08:37] Prioritize this place of his presence.
[00:08:40] Prioritize this word make time 10 minutes, an hour, sometimes whatever, two or three hours if you got time. Grow in this, right? It's like a workout sometimes.
[00:08:52] Sometimes we just hit quick workouts, sometimes we hit longer workouts. But we're. We're the goals being attained, right? The heart rate's going up, we're sweating, we're engaged, we're getting to a place. It's a rep. It's many reps. It's. It's a time frame carved out. It's a discipline carved out. And that's what we must do in our spiritual development.
[00:09:12] Carve out time.
[00:09:14] Do the workout. Do the workout of prayer. Get into his presence. Renounce and godliness. Renounce worldly passions and realize that grace is here, training us, speaking to us, coaching us, helping us live upright and godly lifestyles. To see those things, those dark things, those sinful things, those. Those things. Those are things that entangle you and hold you back. Those are temporary distractions. And those are things that need to be burned up in the fire so your heart can be molded and ready so that you can minister to your wife, you can minister to your family. You can minister to those that you work with. You carry his hope into a hopeless world. You carry his light into dark places.
[00:09:56] Until next time.
[00:09:58] Melt like wax in his presence.
