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Prioritizing in the Busy Seasons of Our Lives - Ask Pastor Tim

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    This comes from Leah.
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    She says, "I don't have
    one specific question for you.
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    It's more of a situation
    that my husband and I
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    are just really becoming
    very discouraged by."
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    Now, you've got to follow this one.
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    "We've been Christians for about 7 years.
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    We've seen God work
    so much in our lives
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    and has brought us
    through many difficulties.
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    We made many financial
    mistakes in our early 20's
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    that we are now paying for.
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    My husband works 50 plus hours per week
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    and we are paycheck to paycheck.
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    I stay at home with our three boys,
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    ages 2 and 7 month old twins
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    who were born 11 weeks premature
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    and have some extra needs.
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    We're struggling both with time and money.
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    Soon my husband may need to
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    get a second job.
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    I spend the entire day
    bouncing back and forth
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    between different kids' needs,
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    trying and often failing
    at minimally keeping up
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    with the house, laundry, and cooking.
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    But the biggest problem here is that
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    we have less and less time for prayer,
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    reading the Word,
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    going to Bible studies,
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    evangelism, our marriage, etc.
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    We've cut out all
    luxuries like television,
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    going out to dinner,
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    and other things for both time and money.
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    We've been praying for a very long time
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    for help in paying off debt
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    and for an income source
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    for my husband that doesn't require
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    quite so much time away from home
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    at both the job and the drive time.
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    While in all other areas
    that we've prayed for
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    we have felt His presence
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    and have seen answers in
    one way or another,
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    this is one area that
    we just feel He is quiet.
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    I struggle with praying for issues
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    related to money because I spent years
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    in a megachurch that focused
    too much on money,
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    in addition to other major flaws,
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    so I am very apprehensive in praying
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    for this area of our lives.
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    We don't want our prayers answered
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    so we can add luxuries
    back into our lives.
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    We see how God is using this time
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    to strip us of things that have brought
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    sin into our lives and
    hindered our walk with Him.
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    We just want more time to spend with God
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    to grow spiritually,
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    to grow in our marriage
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    and to be able to pour into our children.
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    Right now, I just feel like
    we are simply existing.
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    We use the time we have to put
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    a sermon on in the background
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    while taking care of the kids,
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    and my husband uses his drive time
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    and his lunch hour to pray.
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    But we don't have the time to
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    cry out to Him for all
    that we need to pray for:
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    for our family, for church needs,
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    for this nation, for missionaries,
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    for our children's salvation,
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    and to be spending uninterrupted time
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    learning and memorizing His Word.
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    We just need some encouragement,
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    direction and prayer.
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    I want to be sure that I
    understand the difference
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    in His Word about
    praying for spiritual things
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    versus supernatural things.
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    I've listened to sermons and read
    about prayer many times,
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    but I want to be sure to be praying
    for these things in a way
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    that is honoring to God.
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    Thank you, Leah."
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    So, you kind of get the gist?
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    Anything jump out at you?
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    (from the room)
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    Maybe experientially, it sounds like
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    listening to sermons,
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    or maybe even reading books -
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    it can be very hard,
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    especially for a mother
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    to be hearing a pastor
    talking about praying
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    and long times of praying,
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    and then a mother trying
    to assimilate that
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    into her life with three children
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    and kind of feel like I'm not doing it.
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    I can't do what they're saying,
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    and feel like she's not doing enough,
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    which sort of sounds
    like that's the problem.
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    It sounds like she's pressing on,
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    but she has this high standard
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    that maybe has been created by
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    hearing of great missionaries in the past
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    or some sermon.
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    Tim: Yeah, it's interesting.
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    She says that her husband
    uses his drive time.
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    Now, she first said that her husband
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    is working 50 plus hours
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    plus the drive time,
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    which makes you think that
    the drive time is fairly significant.
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    And then she says he's using
    his drive time for prayer
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    and his lunch hours,
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    but she says that she lacks -
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    "we don't have the time to cry out to Him
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    for all that we need to pray for:
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    for family, church needs, nation,
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    missionaries, children's salvation..."
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    And you know the reality is,
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    (incomplete thought)
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    if you use - I don't know how
    much of the lunch hour,
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    but if you use the majority of
    an hour at lunch for prayer -
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    let's say you bring your lunch;
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    you pack it, you bring it with you,
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    you take some time to eat it.
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    You could easily give a half
    hour to devoted prayer.
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    And let's assume he's driving
    a half hour each way.
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    I suspect that Christian men
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    who give an hour and a half
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    to dedicated prayer is
    probably the exception.
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    And so, yeah, I think you're right.
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    I think her standard -
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    she may desire something
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    that she feels like she's
    not able to accomplish,
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    but the truth is we do often
    get into certain chapters
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    of our life where there are needs -
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    especially when there's children.
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    What we all have to do is prioritize.
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    And life is changing all the time.
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    You talk to R.L.
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    R.L. getting a mechanical
    engineering degree.
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    This portion of his life looks different.
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    You talk to my wife.
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    From about the time that
    we had the four children
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    until the youngest child
    got to five or six years old
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    where the oldest was actually
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    significantly able to
    start really helping out,
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    that time in her life is far different
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    from this time in her life.
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    The thing is, there was a time
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    when I was seeking to plant a church
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    down in Stockdale, TX,
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    and I was the primary guy down there.
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    I was doing the preaching.
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    I was leading the prayer meeting.
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    I was leading the evangelism.
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    I had a full time secular position.
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    And I had a full time family.
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    And so life looks different
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    in different chapters of our life.
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    That's just the way it is.
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    And what you have to do is prioritize.
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    Many of you know about Susannah Wesley
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    and all the children she had.
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    What? Upwards of 20?
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    And this lady has three.
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    And I'm not diminishing the
    difficulty of having three -
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    especially twins, but when you have 20...
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    There are ladies historically
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    who have walked with Christ
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    and what would she do?
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    She would put her apron over her head.
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    She would choose those choice times.
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    One of the godliest men
    you could read about
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    is John G. Paton's father.
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    He would go into an inner
    room in the house.
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    He had a business right there
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    in his home,
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    and at lunch time he would go in there
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    and he would pray.
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    And they would hear him just crying out
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    on behalf of their souls.
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    You know, we have to prioritize.
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    The Lord doesn't expect us
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    to do what we can't do.
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    But He does expect us to do
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    everything we're supposed to do.
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    And you need to capture that thought.
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    If God has given you ten responsibilities
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    in your life, He expects you to take care
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    of those ten responsibilities
    in your life.
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    But the thing is,
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    prayer may be one aspect of that.
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    The time you spend in the Word
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    may be one aspect of that.
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    But at that certain time in your life,
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    you also have to balance
    the other 8 things.
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    He doesn't expect you
    to pray 24 hours a day.
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    He doesn't expect you to
    pray all your waking hours.
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    In fact, there is a time
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    when praying would be wrong.
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    You can go to work for somebody.
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    This very man, if he thought,
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    I need to pray more,
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    and so you know what I'm going to do?
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    Aside from my lunch break,
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    I'm going to sneak away at different times
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    and find a secluded closet somewhere
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    that I can go pray,
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    and his boss would not
    think that's a good thing.
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    And I don't believe God would
    think that's a good thing.
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    You say, he needs to pray.
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    We need more prayer.
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    No, not at that time you don't.
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    If you do need more prayer,
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    then there needs to be
    proper prioritization.
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    One thing is you need to sleep too,
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    and if you're not well slept,
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    you're not going to
    give your employer
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    the kind of time that you need
    to be able to give to him.
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    So, I would also say this.
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    There seemed like this woman
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    had a hesitation to pray
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    because of some experience
    she had at a megachurch.
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    She had a hesitation to pray for money.
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    It's almost like, we
    pray for spiritual things,
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    and God answers us,
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    but we're kind of hesitant
    to pray about this.
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    It's kind of like coming
    out of a background
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    where you have this
    mindset that sex is dirty.
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    And now suddenly you're saved,
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    and you want to cast that off.
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    God created that.
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    Or you have this idea, you know,
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    miracles or whatever - that's charismatic.
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    But wait a second, what we have to do
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    is we have to look again at Scripture.
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    Scripture has to guide us.
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    Would Scripture ever indicate to us
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    that praying for financial things;
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    asking God to supply our needs
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    is carnal or secular or unspiritual?
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    It's interesting this lady's saying
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    we know lots of answers to our prayer,
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    but it just seems like this area -
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    she's admitting we don't really pray.
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    We're not getting the kind of answers
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    that we want, but we're
    not really even asking.
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    And I would say to somebody like that,
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    well, you need to ask.
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    Why would you not ask?
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    Especially when she's emphasizing,
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    well, look, it's not that
    we want luxuries.
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    It's that we don't want my husband
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    to be working 50 plus hours
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    and now maybe even have
    to find a second job
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    for us to make ends meet.
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    I would say this,
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    you definitely want to pray.
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    I think they ought to be praying about -
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    she didn't say anything
    about their giving,
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    but I do know that Scripturally,
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    I'm often drawn to the text
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    that says there's one who
    gives more than he ought,
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    and the thing is it seems that he only
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    becomes all the more richer.
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    Then you have somebody that withholds
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    what they shouldn't withhold.
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    And it tends only to their penury
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    as the KJV says - poverty.
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    And so I would say this,
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    give sacrificially and then pray.
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    Here's the reality.
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    In fact, I would encourage this woman.
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    I've found great help and I know many have
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    in our church, especially
    in the early days,
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    often quoted from Isaiah 53.
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    But in Isaiah 53, there are promises there
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    about you pouring yourself
    out for the hungry;
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    you giving to the needy,
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    (chapter 58, not 53)
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    Isaiah 58.
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    And the promise there is this:
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    that when you cry,
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    God's going to say, "Here I am."
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    And I have always found that to be
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    a great argument in prayer.
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    Lord, we've given.
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    Lord, we've given. We've
    sought to be sacrificial.
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    We've sought to pay our debts.
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    We've sought to help the needy.
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    We've sought to support the family.
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    After all, if you don't
    support your family, what?
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    Worse than an infidel.
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    So, God wants you to support your family.
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    God wants you to give to
    the needs of the needy.
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    God wants you to pay your debt.
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    I can show you texts that
    say all three of those.
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    And so if you're doing what God
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    wants you to do with the money
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    and now you're running out,
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    you have every reason to come and say,
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    Lord, You promised to supply all my need.
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    You've promised.
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    And You've promised
    that if I would be merciful,
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    that when I cry, You'll say, "Here I am."
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    And Jesus talking about storing up
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    treasure in heaven.
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    And see, I don't want to stretch this
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    where it ought not to go, but listen.
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    I think because of texts like Isaiah 58,
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    I have reason to believe that this fits
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    into the words that Jesus said.
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    When He talks about storing
    up treasure in heaven -
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    not storing up here.
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    So my mindset is this.
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    I'm going to strive to
    not build empires here.
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    I'm going to strive not to
    build up huge savings here.
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    I'm going to strive not to build
    up huge retirement here,
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    but rather I'm going to store it there.
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    And then when I come to have needs here,
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    I'm going to look and say,
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    Lord, I stored it all there.
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    I don't have anything here
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    and I have a need over here.
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    When I'm thinking about storing up
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    treasure in heaven, I'm not just
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    thinking about when I die,
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    I'm going to go to heaven
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    and there's going to be treasure there.
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    Now, obviously, that is a primary emphasis
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    of what Jesus is saying there
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    in the Sermon on the Mount.
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    But, I also believe that storing up
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    treasure in heaven carries the reality
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    that that's where my surplus is.
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    That's where my supply is.
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    And I'm storing it up there
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    just kind of like putting it in the bank,
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    but I'm storing it there.
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    I'm giving it to the Lord.
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    I'm trusting Him.
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    Not just that there's going to be
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    treasure there when I die and get there,
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    but that there's treasure there
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    to be drawn on anytime
    that I need it here.
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    And like I say, I take that from promises
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    like, "You'll call and
    I'll say, 'Here I am.'"
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    I take it from the promises of God
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    concerning finances,
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    that both are a reality.
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    That what I'm doing is
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    I'm storing up and there's a promise
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    in my storing up there that when I
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    come to have need here,
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    God's going to meet it.
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    When it's a need,
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    and He sees it as a need -
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    not just when I want my
    standard of living increased.
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    Not when it's something that
    He doesn't think I need,
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    but I think I need.
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    See, that's one of the problems.
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    We like to put it in the bank
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    because see, then I can tap that
  • 15:41 - 15:45
    when I think I have a need.
  • 15:45 - 15:47
    Sometimes it has to do
    with trusting the Lord.
  • 15:47 - 15:48
    If we give it all to Him,
  • 15:48 - 15:51
    well, what if I'm in need
    and He doesn't give me.
  • 15:51 - 15:53
    But you know what I have found
  • 15:53 - 15:55
    is He always does.
  • 15:55 - 15:57
    He always does.
  • 15:57 - 16:00
    (incomplete thought)
  • 16:00 - 16:02
    I have typically found,
  • 16:02 - 16:04
    even when it's things that seem
  • 16:04 - 16:07
    really practical - like
    that just makes sense
  • 16:07 - 16:08
    that we should have that -
  • 16:08 - 16:10
    He provides for it.
  • 16:10 - 16:13
    Even though I had no
    funds there before that
  • 16:13 - 16:14
    or very little.
  • 16:14 - 16:18
    I mean, yes, I'm 52 years old
  • 16:18 - 16:20
    and I live paycheck to paycheck.
  • 16:20 - 16:25
    But, we are seeking to store up
  • 16:25 - 16:26
    treasure in heaven,
  • 16:26 - 16:27
    and I really have confidence
  • 16:27 - 16:29
    that the Lord is going to provide
  • 16:29 - 16:31
    whenever there's need,
  • 16:31 - 16:34
    even if that's retirement.
  • 16:34 - 16:36
    And the thing is, I can tell you this,
  • 16:36 - 16:38
    that I've walked with
    the Lord for 26 years
  • 16:38 - 16:41
    and He hasn't let me down once.
  • 16:41 - 16:45
    He hasn't failed me.
  • 16:45 - 16:49
    So I would say that to this lady.
  • 16:49 - 16:51
    One of the things that
    you don't want to do
  • 16:51 - 16:53
    when you're in financial difficulty
  • 16:53 - 16:57
    is stop giving.
  • 16:57 - 16:59
    Now, look, I'm not saying,
  • 16:59 - 17:01
    well how much did they give?
  • 17:01 - 17:03
    I would just say this.
  • 17:03 - 17:07
    Let the highly praised,
  • 17:07 - 17:10
    highly commended Macedonians
  • 17:10 - 17:14
    be your example when you're in straits.
  • 17:14 - 17:15
    They gave liberally.
  • 17:15 - 17:19
    They amazed even an apostle.
  • 17:19 - 17:21
    I would say that.
  • 17:21 - 17:25
    Go to 2 Corinthians 8-9.
  • 17:25 - 17:27
    Right there in 8, you've got the example
  • 17:27 - 17:28
    of the Macedonians.
  • 17:28 - 17:31
    Let them be an example.
  • 17:31 - 17:36
    Give something in the spirit of that.
  • 17:36 - 17:39
    Take care of your family.
  • 17:39 - 17:42
    Take care of your debt.
  • 17:42 - 17:43
    And look to the Lord
  • 17:43 - 17:44
    and call upon the Lord
  • 17:44 - 17:46
    and ask the Lord to provide.
  • 17:46 - 17:48
    She's admitting that she hasn't prayed
  • 17:48 - 17:50
    because of this megachurch mindset
  • 17:50 - 17:52
    that's been pressed upon her -
  • 17:52 - 17:54
    something like the love of money
  • 17:54 - 17:56
    is the root of all evil,
  • 17:56 - 17:58
    and sometimes we get it in our heads
  • 17:58 - 17:59
    that money is the root of all evil.
  • 17:59 - 18:02
    Well, we need money.
  • 18:02 - 18:06
    There's a place for money
  • 18:06 - 18:09
    so that dad can be with the family more.
  • 18:09 - 18:17
    There is a place for that.
  • 18:17 - 18:21
    Any other thoughts on that?
  • 18:21 - 18:22
    (from the room)
  • 18:22 - 18:24
    I think one thing that stood out as well
  • 18:24 - 18:27
    is that she said that through this time
  • 18:27 - 18:28
    and season in their life,
  • 18:28 - 18:30
    that it's made her more like Christ;
  • 18:30 - 18:33
    or at least, it's shown
    her and her husband
  • 18:33 - 18:35
    their sin in their lives.
  • 18:35 - 18:37
    And I think there's a certain aspect
  • 18:37 - 18:43
    of thinking about just
    embracing the suffering.
  • 18:43 - 18:46
    And I hope I don't sound
    apathetic in any way,
  • 18:46 - 18:49
    but I think there's room
    to embrace it in some way
  • 18:49 - 18:53
    where texts such as James and 1 Peter,
  • 18:53 - 18:56
    and just seeing that our suffering
  • 18:56 - 18:59
    makes us more like Christ.
  • 18:59 - 19:05
    And it helps us not to
    settle in here on earth.
  • 19:05 - 19:09
    And it really just fixes our
    mind on heaven, basically.
  • 19:09 - 19:11
    That's just my thought.
  • 19:11 - 19:12
    Tim: Right. Embrace it.
  • 19:12 - 19:14
    And there may be a place for that.
  • 19:14 - 19:16
    Because the reality is working 50 hours -
  • 19:16 - 19:18
    even though that might
    not be what you want,
  • 19:18 - 19:21
    and you might want more time with dad
  • 19:21 - 19:22
    being with the children,
  • 19:22 - 19:24
    especially when they're at a certain age
  • 19:24 - 19:27
    and you know having
    devotions and everything.
  • 19:27 - 19:28
    But you know what?
  • 19:28 - 19:35
    Working 50 or 60 hours a week is not bad.
  • 19:35 - 19:39
    And it sounds to me like they are
  • 19:39 - 19:41
    giving up some of the non-essentials
  • 19:41 - 19:43
    in their life, and that they do
  • 19:43 - 19:46
    actually have reasonable time.
  • 19:46 - 19:49
    She said it feels like
    they're just existing,
  • 19:49 - 19:53
    but perhaps that's because certain things,
  • 19:53 - 19:56
    certain endeavors that
    they would like to have
  • 19:56 - 20:00
    in their life that God's just
    now allowing them right now.
  • 20:00 - 20:03
    Maybe they're putting too much
  • 20:03 - 20:07
    of a high priority on.
  • 20:07 - 20:12
    And very often, we do get into situations
  • 20:12 - 20:17
    where things are tight.
  • 20:17 - 20:19
    When our children were small,
  • 20:19 - 20:22
    the amount Ruby had to spend on food
  • 20:22 - 20:26
    was extremely tight.
  • 20:26 - 20:28
    But you know, there are seasons like that.
  • 20:28 - 20:31
    And certain Christians
    in certain countries,
  • 20:31 - 20:37
    we might say there's lives like that.
Title:
Prioritizing in the Busy Seasons of Our Lives - Ask Pastor Tim
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
20:38

English subtitles

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