The Holy Spirit & Prayer.

All right, guys. Today we're continuing our sermon series all about the Holy Spirit and a bunch of other stuff.

I just kind of want to start out by saying earlier this year in May, Pastor Abbie Sawczak and I had the really cool opportunity to go to London. And while we were there, we were with a bunch of pastors from all over the world and we had a lot of really cool moments. But one really particular thing that just became a common theme and occurrence with Abbie and I while we were there that the Holy Spirit kept pressing upon us at first individually and then together in a couple different really cool ways was just where New Culture Church is going and moving forward and the role that prayer is going to take in that and how prayer is going to be centerfold in our community and what that looks like.

So as I was preparing today's message, all I could think about was that time in London and just how important a message like what today's is. And that's because today we're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit and prayer and what the role of the Holy Spirit is in prayer. So I think it's fitting for us to pause and pray.

If you'll pray with me. Lord, we just thank you that the second we walked into this room, you had come in here before us and that your Holy Spirit had already prepared an atmosphere for us to hear from you today. We thank you that you've prepared our hearts for this very moment and for every word that you have for us. Holy Spirit, I just welcome you to take the reins and be in control and do what only you can do. In your holy name we pray, amen.

Access Through the Holy Spirit

So something we've been talking about for the past couple weeks is the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit is. And ultimately, the Holy Spirit is all about access. It's about access.

So there's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we've talked about, which every believer has. Once you've come into relationship with Jesus, you've accepted him as your Lord and Savior, you have the Holy Spirit and he is indwelling in you. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is all about access to the presence of God.

So when we look through the Bible and the history of how God communicates with his people, we see in the beginning where the Father would directly communicate to these individuals, the prophets, the patriarchs, these leaders, and it was through them and their access to God that the people could hear God's voice. Then we fast forward and there's Jesus, God in the flesh, walking on earth. And the way you had access to the voice of God was by talking to him in the flesh.

And then the Holy Spirit comes. And we're in this time now where we each have this indwelling of the Holy Spirit that gives us individually full access and the ability to hear from God and to be in God's presence. And then with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we have access to the power of God. And now these amazing things that we see Jesus do on earth, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' words ring true when he says that we would do even greater things than he did. And that's by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we have access to his power.

Every believer has access to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I think when we talk about the Holy Spirit and prayer, I really want to hone in today on that indwelling part where we have access to his presence. Because one thing that I've noticed in just talking to different people and in my own experience and journey with having a prayer life and all these things is sometimes it can feel intimidating to come to God some days. Some days it's like, I think I really might be talking to this brick wall.

But I think it's important to emphasize, if you are in relationship with Jesus, each time you pray, you are actively in the full presence of God. So what is the Holy Spirit's role in prayer? It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us to pray at full capacity.

Three Roles of the Holy Spirit in Prayer

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in prayer? How is the Holy Spirit the game changer in prayer? There are three different things that I want to emphasize today about the Holy Spirit in prayer. It's that the Holy Spirit empowers my prayers. The Holy Spirit enables me to hear from God in prayer. And the Holy Spirit guides me in what and how to pray.

So that first one, the Holy Spirit empowers my prayers. We're going to be reading out of Romans chapter 8, verse 26. And it says:

In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak. We don't know what we should pray for, but the Spirit himself prays for us. He prays through groans too deep for words.

Romans 8:26

Sometimes we just don't know what else to pray. And not that like initially, maybe you prayed, but sometimes you get to the point where you've been praying the same thing for a really long time and you don't know if you have anything left to say about it, right?

I think in the big scale of things, like what do we pray in the face of mass shootings? What do we pray in the face of political chaos? What do we pray when you don't know if you're going to be able to pay the bills this month? What do you pray when you're facing divorce? What do you pray when you're trying to parent somebody?

You know, I'm not a parent, but I imagine they shock you a lot. What do you pray? What do you pray when you're struggling with anxiety? What do you pray when you've prayed and prayed and prayed and you're still struggling with depression? What do you pray when you hate your job but you need to pay the bills?

Been there. What do you pray when you're really, really lonely? When we have the Holy Spirit leading us in prayer, and when all of our prayers are being funneled through the Holy Spirit, he empowers us in prayer. So when we don't stop, I don't know about you guys, some people I hear when they're in moments of distress and they're going through really hard stuff, that's when they find they pray the most. Maybe I'm broken or something, but that's not me, if I'm perfectly honest with you. Sometimes when I get going through something really hard, I get so frustrated that I'm not seeing the fruit of my prayer that it's a lot harder for me to pray when I'm getting desperate and when things are getting hard because now I'm getting frustrated.

But when we don't stop, when our flesh is frustrated but we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us through prayer and we continue and we press in, he empowers our prayers. He empowers us to pray, right? It says when we are weak, that scripture says that when we are weak, the Holy Spirit helps us. But it also tells us that when we don't know what we should pray for, the Spirit himself prays for us. He empowers the prayers themselves.

It is the Holy Spirit that ushers us into the unrestricted presence of God when we have nothing left to offer in our own strength.

Hearing From God in Prayer

The second thing that the Holy Spirit does in prayer is that it enables us to hear from God in prayer. The baseline definition that you'll get for prayer is always like it's talking to God, which is very true. But I always emphasize it's not just talking to God, it's having a conversation with God.

Part of the point of prayer is to hear back from him. Have you ever had a conversation with someone and it starts with like, hi, how was your week? And then they tell you nine million things. And then they go, it was great catching up with you. And they walk away. That was not a conversation. You're a very good listener. I'm so impressed. I'm so proud of you. But that's not how prayer is supposed to work.

And God is a great listener and he wants to hear everything you have to say. But he has something he wants to say back. And it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to hear from God in prayer. So John chapter 14, verse 26 says:

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 14:26

The way that God talks back in prayer is via the Holy Spirit. And that looks different in different ways. I think sometimes I'm like, God wants to talk back to you. You're like waiting for the audible. You're like waiting for, oh, I was going to say Morgan Freeman.

Um, but I bet a lot of you, and we were just talking about it. Have y'all seen Top Gun? Okay. Warlock, his voice, like that one dude, he's like one of the admirals, his voice, like that's the voice of God. And we're waiting for that to be like, go to this school instead of that one, right?

Like we got like this clear answer from the voice of God. But the Holy Spirit speaks to us in so many different ways. Sometimes it's just you were so confused about something and when you make the decision, you feel a peace. And that peace is the Holy Spirit saying, yeah, I'm with you, go. You know, sometimes it's just this weird feeling in your stomach saying, don't go. Sometimes it's a thought that pops into your mind and it sounds like your voice, but you know you wouldn't have thought that.

I've had that a couple times. I'm like, that must have been God because there's no way I would randomly decide to move to Wisconsin. That had to have been God, you know? Sometimes you just hear these things, right? Sometimes it's someone you love and know and trust speaking to you, right? The Holy Spirit speaks to us in a lot of ways, but we have to learn to listen to what God is asking.

I remember one time when I was in college, I was talking to this girl, and super sweet girl, we were having a great conversation, and I went to a Christian university, I went to Southeast University, and everything's like super, super hyped up all the time, to be perfectly honest with you. It's like all the time everyone's like, I heard God say that I'm gonna marry you? It's a lot, you know? It's always a thing.

But I remember talking to this girl one time, and she was like, I'm trying to decide about this. I'm trying to decide about this thing. And I was like, okay, like, have you prayed about it? And she was like, no, I haven't. So we talked about it. We prayed together, sent her on her way. And then the next time we sat down together, I was like, hey, like, have you decided on this thing?

And she was like, yeah, I made this decision. And I'll tell you, it was not the decision that I think she should have gone with. It was not a wise decision at all. I said, wow, is that where you felt God leading you? And she was like, well, I prayed about it the one time. And then I just kind of like did it, right? Because I prayed about it.

And I was like, oh, okay, okay. You know, sometimes it takes a second, right? Like we want God to answer us right now. But sometimes we just need to wait, right? Sometimes we've got to ask a couple times. Sometimes we need to use discernment. We talked about that last week, right? Like that discerning of spirits and let the Holy Spirit lead us in that.

One of the things that I love about this scripture, it says, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. I love both of those because they're actually a call to how the Holy Spirit teaches us to hear God's voice in Scripture. Right? I think a lot of times we're waiting to hear God speak when he's constantly speaking in his word.

I love it says he will teach you all things. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us understanding of Scripture, right? Last week we talked about the gifts of the Spirit. It's him that gives us that wisdom and that knowledge when we read Scripture. It also says he'll bring to remembrance all that I have said to you. This is why I'm a really big advocate for meditating on pieces of scripture and even committing scripture to memory.

Because it's in these moments when like you're about to do the thing. Listen, it's when you're like sitting in traffic and the guy cuts you off and you are ready to use all the words you know you shouldn't use and then you hear the Holy Spirit say that out of the mouth speaks that which is in the heart. And you're like, oh, I did read that in Luke that one time. Oh, I don't. And the switch flips, right?

The Holy Spirit continues to speak that which God has continuously been speaking. As you're learning to listen to the voice of God and listen to the Holy Spirit, I really wanna encourage you, write stuff down. If you feel like you heard God say something, even if you're like, I don't know, that could have been God, it could have been the Taco Bell, who knows? Like, write it down.

I think one of the coolest experiences in my life that was so solidifying it was one of the first moments where I was like God talks to me. Like God says I can hear God. It was actually my freshman year of college and I had a journal and I was just, at this point, I had been following Jesus for like a year or two, and I had never like done the prayer journaling thing. I had a really bad prayer life. I had no consistency to it, and I remember somebody saying like to write out our prayers, to write down the stuff that God said to us.

So it was like October of my freshman year. I felt like I heard God say the university was used to send out mission trips. And I felt like I heard God say that he was going to send me on a trip, but that he would get all the glory for it. And I was like, that sounds super churchy. I totally could have just made that up, but I'm going to write it down. So I wrote it down.

I was horrible with this prayer journal. I was extremely inconsistent. And then at some point I ripped the like three pages I managed to write on out of it and like tuck them away and use the journal for something else. Fast forward months, it's March. Prior to that, I had tried to sign up for like three different missions trips and they all got canceled. Like they all just got canceled.

I was like, okay, I definitely heard God wrong in that one time. So fast forward, it's March. And I have a friend that I grew up with that goes to the university with me and he's leading in this missions trip. And he's like, hey, hey, hey. And at the time I was, you know, I'm always about kids. But that was like my thing, my niche. Everyone knew me as just being the one that always did stuff with kids and kids ministry.

He was like, hey, I need someone who's fluent in Spanish to do kids ministry on our missions trip. And I was like, you know, every time I sign up for a trip, it gets canceled. Are you sure you want me to do this? And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, I'm going to pray about it. I had no intention of praying about going on this trip. I'm just going to be honest with you. I absolutely said that to make him leave me alone. And so that when he asked me again, I could be like, yeah, I really just felt like the Lord said no. You know, go about my business.

The next day he comes running up to me. Hey, so how are you feeling about it? He didn't even give me the opportunity to say no. He just like continued on his sales pitch. And he knew my dad. We grew up together. So he grew up around my dad and everyone at our church we grew up at knew my dad as like Rambo. Like that was just his whole personality. And they were all like a little scared of him.

So I told him, I was like, listen, I'm gonna text my dad and tell him that I need $2,500 by Thursday. It's Wednesday, guys. And if he says to go for it, I'll go for it. And you had to like support raise and raise money. So it was a whole thing. And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead and do that. And I text my dad, and I didn't want to go. So I texted my dad, I have the opportunity to go to Cuba in two weeks, and I need $2,500 by tomorrow. What do you think I should do?

And all this man, this overprotective man, my whole life, and in this moment, I needed him to be like, absolutely not. All he does is text me and go, go for it. We'll talk about it later. End with the emoji with the sunglasses. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm out of excuses. So I said yes. It was like 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

I said yes. They didn't set up my account to fundraise until like 9 p.m. that night. So at 9 p.m. I get the link to fundraise. I go on Facebook and I say exactly what I said to my dad. I have the opportunity to go to Cuba in two weeks. I need $2,500 by tomorrow. I shut my laptop and I went to bed because I go to sleep when I'm stressed out. I went to bed.

I woke up the next morning. The first thing I did, I opened the account and I had $2,100 in the account and donations, including an anonymous donation for $1,500. by 1 p.m. the next day, exactly 24 hours, I had exceeded my budget. I was freaking out.

And I go home, and I'm like freaking out, all this stuff. And then when I'm packing, I'm going through all this stuff, and I find this loose piece of paper I had ripped out of that journal from October. That's what I'm going to send you on a missions trip, and I'll get all the glory. And I was like, God talks to me. I heard him.

Like even if you don't know if God said it, write it down and he will bring it to remembrance because everything he says comes to pass, man. If he said it, it happens. That's who he is. So as you're learning to hear the voice of God, as you're learning to hear the Holy Spirit and prayer, write down even what you think he's saying. Because don't worry, I write stuff down he didn't say. There's a couple people I wrote down in my journal that I'm like, thank God I was wrong. Amen.

Learning to Pray at Full Capacity

All right, I'm going to tell you guys a story. I have a picture for you. All right, go ahead. Okay. I played tuba for four years. This photo, I was honestly, this is me in A-script.

And I started playing the tuba in sixth grade. Fun fact, a tuba on average is about 30 pounds, and in sixth grade I weighed 64 pounds. This is actually 20 pounds up from when I first started playing that tuba. So yeah, that was a choice I made. I made that decision because I can be a little bit spiteful.

What happened was that in sixth grade, like our first semester, we would like try out all the electives and we got like two weeks or something like that in each of the electives classes. And then we got to pick the elective that we wanted to participate in like full time. So when I ended up picking band, we like got to try all of the instruments to like decide what we wanted to play. And I remember it was like my turn to try the tuba and some boy was like, she can't play the tuba. She's a girl and she's too small.

And I was like, oh, I'm going to be first chair tuba. Watch me. Okay. And so I decided to play the tuba. When I first started, my friend used to have to like pick it up and put it on my lap for me. Not kidding at all.

But I remember that night, after picking the tuba, I went home and my parents knew it was my day to pick an instrument. And they like what did you pick. And I was like I picked the tuba. And I don't think my mom knew what it was. She was like very nice, very nice. And then my dad was like that's great, sweetie. You have asthma. So yes, I was a 64-pound little girl with braces, an inhaler, and a tuba.

But he was right. I had asthma. And in case you're curious, tubas take a ridiculous amount of air to make any sound out of. Like just to make any level of noise, not if it's pretty, not if it's a good volume, just any sound out of a tuba takes a lot of lung capacity. It takes a lot of air to actually make it sound good and play notes correctly. You need a lot of breath control. You need a huge lung capacity.

I eventually did marching band with the big tuba that wraps around your body. And then you're like over here being like, with the tuba while playing music. That takes a lot of air. And my dad was like, are you sure you can do this? You don't even run the mile at PE. And I was like, well, that boy I said I couldn't. So I will.

And that was it. And I decided I was going to play tuba. And it's funny because I first got asthma when I was in first grade. And my asthma attacks stopped about four months into playing tuba. Why, you ask? It's not that I didn't know how to breathe, right? Like we all know how to breathe. Intrinsically we breathe. Your body does that. If you hold your breath, you can hold it all you want to. Your body will force you to take in a breath. It's what we do. Our bodies breathe because we need it to survive.

It's not that I didn't know how to breathe. It's I did not know how to breathe at full capacity. I didn't know how to use my lungs to take all of the air in. I didn't know how to do that. I had to learn how to do that. And as I learned to play tuba, I learned how to. I learned how to take in a good amount of air. I learned how to control my breathing. I learned how to control how much air was coming in and out. The more physical and active you get while doing it, I learned how to do all of those things.

You know, it's real ratchet. In high school, I had to go to band camp. I really was that kid, guys. I had to go to band camp, and they used to make us like run laps with our instruments in Florida. It was hot, but you have to learn how to breathe. So I joke all the time that the tuba taught me how to breathe, but that was the end of my asthma attacks was when I was playing tuba, and you know, I bet you weren't prepared to come here and hear me say that prayer is like playing tuba. That's what I'm here to tell you.

We know how to pray. Like if you've ever had one of those moments where you're like, please, please, please, please, you don't know it, but that's a prayer. Okay? Like we know how to pray. We know how to go, oh, God, please, no. You know like we know how to do these things. We know how to pray. If you've ever like gone skydiving, if you've ever like done strange things like that for joy, there's a moment where you start praying before you think about it.

Okay? You just, you don't even believe in God, and you're talking to God. Okay? But we know how to pray. We need to pray. Our bodies, we need to be in communion with God. We know how to pray, but it's the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to pray at full capacity. It's the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to hear God. It's the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to pray prayers that have power behind it. It's the Holy Spirit that teaches us to pray at full capacity.

Because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have full access to the presence of God, and we have the ability to access his presence without anything in the way. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to pray at full capacity.

In just a second, Elena's going to come up and she's going to do that thing where she makes pretty sounds on the keyboard. But we're going to have just a time of response. And she's not going to sing. It's just going to be the keys. Because we're going to practice together just hearing the Holy Spirit and just praying in a way where the Holy Spirit is leading us in prayer.

It's when we're in this time of listening that we're learning to recognize what God's voice sounds like in our lives. During this period, you can ask things like, Lord, what do you expect me to do? What is your will for me? This is the time to receive and ask for guidance from the Word of God. This is a time to deliberately ask God to reveal his will and strategies or plans to you.

In waiting on the Lord, the emphasis is on loving God. During meditation, we want to learn more from God. During the period of listening, we want to hear what God wants to say to us. You can ask the Lord specific questions, perhaps some difficult questions that you do not have the answers to. But this is just a time to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and hear what he has to say to you and whatever your situation has been, whatever that burning question has been, or maybe it's just you're like, well, I don't know if I hear from God, and you're like, God, I don't know what you're going to say, but I'd like you to say something.

This is just going to be a time for us to practice that together and get to the point where we're praying at that full capacity, and it's because we've allowed the Holy Spirit to come in and teach us how to pray in that way. So I'm going to pray for us, and then we're just going to pray on our own, all right?

Lord, I just thank you because your presence is here, it is felt, your presence is moving. Holy Spirit, I thank you because it is by your power that we have this complete open access to the presence of God. There is nothing between us and you. I thank you because you desire to speak to us. So Lord, right now, anything that might be distracting us, that might make our thoughts wander, that might pull our attention in different directions, Lord, I pray that you just remove that now, that this might just be a pure and clean and safe space to hear exactly what you're saying.

I pray that you make our ears attuned to your voice, our hearts soft to your touch and your pressing. And Lord, give us the boldness to ask of you, to hear from you, and then to act on that, Lord. It's in your holy name I pray. Amen.