WAN2TLK (Want to Talk?) Bottom Line: WHEN WE PRAY, WE ARE to ACKNOWLEDGE GOD’S GREATNESS, SURRENDER OUR WILL and DECLARE OUR DEPENDENCY

WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK (want to talk?) Bottom Line: WHEN WE PRAY, WE ARE TO ACKNOWLEDGE GOD’S GREATNESS, SURRENDER OUR WILL AND DECLARE OUR DEPENDENCY. introduction: If we spend time with God intentionally, if we make time for Him, then what do we say to Him when we get alone with Him? What are the things we talk about? After all, He knows everything about us—our lives and our worlds. It’s not like we have any “news.” It’s not like we have to give Him an update on how things are going. So what do we talk about when we are in our “place”? Jesus said there are three things—we acknowledge God’s wonder. greatness, surrender our will and declare our dependency. And in that process, what happens will not only change our discovery. perspective about what’s going on around us, but also our perception of God. passion. www.xp3students.org Chief EXECUTIVE Officer Reggie Joiner writer Andy Stanley XP3 Team Jared Herd Tim Walker Sarah Bragg Kristen Ivy Sarah Anderson Contributors Mike Hancock Laura Whelan Brian Withman CREATIVE DIRECTOR Scott Bragg Technical & Web Support Hadley Brandt Chief Operating USER AGREEMENT Officer The reThink Group, Inc. gladly grants permission to churches, schools and other licensees to tailor XP3TM materials Karen Odom to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences. However, if you wish to edit the content Partner Support substantively, including teaching scripts, small group dialog and any other content in which biblical principles and Kristie McCollister concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we’ve expressed in our Statement Debbie Joiner of Faith (see page 2).

These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work—including podcasts or video of this content—is a direct violation of U.S. copyright laws. The Andy Stanley Collection is a product of The reThink Group, Inc; © 2009 Andy Stanley. All rights reserved. XP3 and the XP3 logo are trademarks of The reThink Group, Inc.

www.xp3students.org A product of The reThink Group, Inc. © 2009 Andy Stanley. All Rights Reserved. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION Statement of Faith ABOUT GOD God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator, so everything belongs to Him and is under His control. God is holy, so He is righteous, majestic and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so He’s at work to bring about His will. No person, thing or idea compares to God. ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable and authoritative. ABOUT PEOPLE People are made in God’s image and for His pleasure. But everybody falls short of God’s intention, or ideal, for people. In other words, everyone has sinned. As a result, we are all separated from Him, even though He wants an intimate relationship with each of us. ABOUT SALVATION That’s why Jesus, God’s Son, came and lived on this earth, died and rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior, the only way to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Anyone who accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into God’s family and will live with Him forever in heaven.

Scripture marked “NIV” is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION Creating the ENVIRONMENT: CAN YOU HEAR ME? We believe that the set, stage, music and everything in your room communicates a message—without you saying a word. That’s why we put together a list of production ideas to help you set the stage for the session and the series. From the music you play when students come into the room to the worship set your band plays, we want to make sure that your room conveys “Can You Hear Me?” in a multi-sensory way. There is a downloadable checklist available in your series downloads that will give you all the elements for this session (and the entire series). Background Playlist for CAN YOU HEAR ME? Series: “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi (from Cross Road) “Listen” by The Goo Goo Dolls (from Let Love In) “Talk” by Coldplay (from X & Y) “Put Ur Hands Up” by Family Force 5 (from Business Up Front/Party In The Back) “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” by Jack Johnson (from In Between Dreams) “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath (from What If We) “Be My Escape” by Relient K (from MMHMM) “Sweet Talk” by The Killers (from Sawdust) “Awakening” by Switchfoot (from Oh! Gravity) “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt (from Tragic Kingdom) “Thank You for Hearing Me” by David Crowder Band (from Can You Hear Us?) Worship playlist for CAN YOU HEAR ME? session 2: “Be Near” by Shane Barnard and Shane Everett (from Carry Away) “Hosanna” by Starfield (from Everlasting God: 25 Modern Favorites) “All for You” by Starfield (from Starfield) “You Are the Light” by Fee (from We Shine) The set When it comes to prayer, most of us are completely distracted by everything around us. For this series, create a sensory and media overload for your students. For instance, you could arrange several TVs around the room or on the stage that are showing different things. They could just be showing static. Do anything that will distract your students while they are gathering. Of course, you will probably want to tone down the distractions once the actual session gets started.

SERIES ART Art for PowerPoint backgrounds and for series promotional ads is available as a free download with every series. Visit the XP3 web site, log on to your account and download the images to use in your presentation, newsletters and web site.

VIDEO Both a video bumper and a video communicator are available for the “Can You Hear Me” series as a video download from the reThink store. You can purchase the videos by logging into your XP3 account and clicking on the “XP3 videos” link. The CYHM video communicator was created to be used in Session 3 of this series in place of a live communicator. The bumper video was created to be used as an intro for all three sessions of the CYHM series.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION

Middle School Adaptation: CAN YOU HEAR ME? The teaching outline and the middle school small group dialog questions are important ways you can adapt the content of this series to communicate to middle school students. Also, the following activities and illustrations are designed to help middle school students connect with the subject matter in ways that engage them physically, mentally, socially and sometimes emotionally.

GAME: Lifeline (Play this game as an icebreaker to Session 2.) Select two students to come to the front to compete against each other. Ask them a series of questions and have them write down their answers on pieces of paper. After they have answered all the questions, have each one call up someone they know on a phone, someone who knows them well enough to try to guess what their responses are. You’ll want to call from a phone that has a loud speaker option.

Each student can call anyone he or she wants to. Go through the list of questions, and ask the people on the phone to give the answer they think the student gave. Whichever student’s lifeline gives the most same answers as the student is the winner. Why not give them a candy cell phone as a prize? Here are a few sample questions:

1. What would you rather do, ride your bike to school or get dropped off by your parents? 2. Which is better, Coke or Pepsi? 3. When putting your shoes on, which one do you tie first, right or left? 4. Would you rather be invisible or have super strength? 5. Which do you prefer, chocolate or vanilla? 6. What’s better, reading one of The Chronicles of Narnia books or watching one of the movies? 7. Would you rather win the Vince Lombardi trophy (NFL) or the Larry O’Brien (NBA)? 8. Which is a better Halloween costume, SpongeBob or Batman? 9. Have you ever watched High School Musical? 10.If you had to eliminate all dogs or cats from Earth, which would you get rid of? Bonus Question Worth Triple Points: How do you prefer to eat your eggs?

ILLUSTRATION: clip: national lampoon’s christmas vacation (Show this movie clip during point “A” in the INTRODUCTION section of the teaching script.) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is, to many, a Christmas classic. And while easily thought of during the weeks leading up to Christmas, its value apart from that time of the year is debatable—until now. The clip selected for this illustration is from the Christmas Eve dinner when Aunt Bethany is asked to say “grace” before everyone digs into the food. What follows in the painfully awkward next minute or so, is a humorous look at what most of us have felt when the pressure is on us to pray. What if we don’t say the right words? Start the clip at 1:04:30 and end it at 1:05:36. Today’s lesson touches on why the words we say are not important when communicating with God, but where our hearts are, matters much more.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION

Teaching Script The teaching script is divided into five sections.

Introduction: This introduction is intended to connect you, the communicator, to the audience usually through a personal story or observation. We’ve included our stories, but you may want to substitute your own story in this section.

Tension: The tension moves the message from the “me” mentality of the introduction to a “we” mentality. For example, a transition statement might be, “At some point in our lives, we have all been jealous of someone over something.”

Truth: Once the tension builds, the next logical step is to uncover the truth of what the Bible says about the topic.

Application: At this point, the message moves to a “you” mentality in order to teach the application. The “you” is the student. Take God’s truth and unpack how it relates to each student so that he or she can apply it to everyday life.

Landing: Here it is important to land the message on what each student needs to know and do with what they’ve heard. Just as the message began with a personal story or observation, the message also ends with a “me” mentality. For example, one possible landing statement might be, “I have a greater sense of purpose knowing that God created me in His image.” Leave the students with a clear sense of what all of you should do with what you’ve heard.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION

CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK Bottom Line: WHEN WE PRAY, WE ARE TO ACKNOWLEDGE GOD’S GREATNESS, SURRENDER OUR WILL AND DECLARE OUR DEPENDENCY. TEACHING OUTLINE INTRO: “Jesus, would You teach us to pray?” TENSION: Place is important.

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7 NIV).

You are not going to move God by how long you pray or the words you use.

The reward is in the relationship.

“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8 NIV).

The reward is that inner sense of peace that God is with you when He says “yes,” when He says “no,” and when He says nothing. TRUTH: “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name’” (Matthew 6:9 NIV).

Jesus knows that by spending less time on you, you’ll spend more time recognizing who you are talking to.

We need to take the time to declare God’s greatness.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 NIV).

The purpose of prayer is to bring our wills, our purposes, our plans, our visions for the future into alignment.

If we’re not at the place where we can recognize and declare God’s greatness, if we’re not ready to fully surrender every aspect of our lives to Him, like Jesus in the garden, we just need to stay there awhile.

When your faith intersects with His faithfulness, He comes alive in your life.

Acknowledge your dependency.

“Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:11-13 NIV).

Declare His greatness; surrender your will; acknowledge your dependence.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION

CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK Bottom Line: WHEN WE PRAY, WE ARE TO ACKNOWLEDGE GOD’S GREATNESS, SURRENDER OUR WILL AND DECLARE OUR DEPENDENCY. TEACHING OUTLINE (Cont’d) APPLICATION: When you get in your room and acknowledge who God is and how much you need Him, He will remind you of just how much you can trust Him. LANDING: Your heavenly Father is honored by your honesty.

Jesus wants to hear you say, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done in my life.” When we can say this, life changes.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK TEACHING SCRIPT by andy stanley

Introduction

A. We began talking last week about something that is kind of sensitive, something that could be misunderstood or possibly even confusing. We’re talking about prayer. What we said last week was that even though most of us have prayed all of our lives, perhaps we haven’t been praying correctly. Wouldn’t you be offended if somebody were to hear you pray, and this person interrupted you saying, “Excuse me, but you’re not doing it right”?

B. Yet there was a time in the ministry of Jesus when His disciples saw Him praying, and apparently the way He prayed and the way they prayed were different. And the disciples were good Jewish boys who grew up around people who prayed. They had heard many Old Testament prayers. They definitely had some prayer experience. Yet when they saw Jesus pray, they felt compelled to ask, “Jesus, would You teach us to pray?”

Now that’s kind of an odd request. I bet hardly anybody in this room has ever said to anybody else, “Hey, will you teach me to pray?” Because after all, isn’t prayer just talking to God? But apparently that’s not all there is to it. Because when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He didn’t say, “What do you mean ‘teach you to pray’? Just talk to God; get out of here. Ask me something more important.” He said, “Okay, I’ll teach you to pray.” And from there, He launched into a discussion on prayer that may shake up some ways we normally think about prayer. Tension

A. If you remember from last week, the first thing Jesus talked about was where you pray. And maybe you’re like, “Wait a minute; that’s not important. Can’t you pray anywhere?” Yes, you can, but if you want to know how to have a deeply personal conversation with God, how to really pray, Jesus says you need to go in your room and close the door. What are you going to do in there? I’ll tell you in a minute, but place is important. Jesus was saying, “I don’t want you to only pray while driving to the mall or on your way to school. I want you to carve out some time, I want you to be intentional, and I want you to go somewhere, close the door and get alone with Me.”

B. But what do you talk about when you’re there alone with Him? Before we get to what you do say, let’s clear up what you don’t say. Let’s pick up where we left off in Matthew 6 last week, starting in verse 7. Again, this is Jesus telling us how to pray: “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7 NIV). That word “heard” means “taken seriously.” They think God will take them more seriously “because of their many words.” Jesus is saying, “Okay, now look. If you think you’ve got to impress me with what you say, how you say it or the amount of time you spend saying it, forget that. And if you think that somehow I am more moved by certain words or certain phrases than others, then you don’t understand prayer. You don’t understand the Father.”

C. So basically, you’re not going to move God by how long you pray or the words you use. The pressure is off. But when you’re in that unseen place with the door closed at that specific time you’ve chosen, God rewards that. That reward goes beyond getting the answer you want. Like we said last week, the reward is in the relationship. And then Jesus says something that’s really crazy. This is the most significant thing of all. This is the thing that will make you throw up your hands and either quit praying or say, “Good grief, there is something about prayer I didn’t understand.” Listen to this: “Do not be like them.” Who? The ones who use all the words and stand out there wanting everybody to know what they’re doing. “Do not be like them.” Ready for this? “For your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (v. 8).

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK TEACHING SCRIPT TENSION (CONT’D)

C. (continued) Now if your response to that is, “Then why am I praying? I mean, if He already knows what I need before I ask Him, what’s the point?” If that thought has ever gone through your mind, you are on the verge of an incredible breakthrough in the realm of prayer. If something in you says, “You know what? That statement that He knows what I need before I ask, that’s not motivating; that’s kind of de-motivating,” then you’re on the verge of understanding that maybe there is something about prayer that you never, ever understood before, something beyond just asking for what you want.

D. So based on this Scripture, God is saying, “Okay, when it comes to prayer you can cover what you want or need, but let’s not spend a lot of time on it because I already know.” If we’re left wondering what we’re going to pray about, then obviously we’ve missed something. God gave us the gift of prayer for a very specific purpose. And it isn’t to convince God of stuff; it’s not a good-luck charm; it’s not a “help me, bless me” quickly spoken in passing. God invented prayer for you to cultivate a relationship with Him. And this relationship is characterized by closeness and connection. That happens behind a closed door, alone, with your heavenly Father. And you know what the reward is? The reward is that inner sense of peace that God is with you when He says “yes,” when He says “no,” and when He says nothing.

E. Now listen to how Jesus closes this in verse 9: “This, then, is how you should pray.” Now, He has covered some preliminary things: Get a time and a place, don’t worry about what you say, don’t worry about how long it takes, don’t worry about what words you use. And by the way, when you get in that small, quiet place alone, and you get to the part about what you need and want and wish, that’s fine. Go ahead and cover that, but remember God already knows. That’s not what this is about. And having cleared all of that out of the way, Jesus says, “Now, I want to tell you how to pray.”

TRUTH

A. In Matthew 6, we read some verses commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer. Now maybe you’re familiar with the Lord’s Prayer because your grandma cross-stitched it on a pillow or you had to memorize it when you were younger. You’ve said it without really paying attention to the words or meaning or anything like that. Or maybe you’re not familiar with it at all. But the Lord’s Prayer comes on the heels of Jesus telling us to get alone, close the door and don’t spend a lot of time on your wants, needs and wishes because God already knows about those.

Then Jesus answers the question you and I would naturally ask next: “So what are we going to talk about in there?” He says in Matthew 6:9: “This, then,” which means in light of all the stuff I’ve just covered, “This, then,” in spite of what you may have done and may have experienced before now, “This, then, is how you should pray.”

B. Jesus says, “This is how you should pray: The first thing you do is you declare God’s greatness. It sounds something like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed,” or holy, “be your name” (Matthew 6:9 NIV). In other words, when you pray, don’t start with you. Jesus is telling us to start with the God who has invited us to call Him, “Father.” Jesus says, “When you start your prayers, and you’ve got the door closed behind you, and you have a little time, I don’t want you to rush past this. I want you to pause long enough to recognize who it is you’re talking to. Because when you begin to understand who God is, you get a greater understanding of who you are and why you’re here.” He says, “When you start, don’t rush to you. I want you to spend a little time on the Father.”

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK TEACHING SCRIPT TRUTH (Cont’D)

B. (continued) Jesus knows that by spending less time on you, you’ll spend more time recognizing who you’re talking to. And because you know who it is you’re talking to, you’ll be less concerned with all those unresolved issues you can’t wait to ask Him to resolve. The more time you spend acknowledging, pausing, embracing and experiencing who it is you’re talking to, the more confidence you have when you leave your room that He’s with you, and that He can handle whatever it is you bring to Him. I don’t know about you, but if your prayers are like mine, we don’t spend much time there. We say, “Dear heavenly Father,” most of the time just because we think Jesus said something about a Father in heaven. We usually say something like, “Dear heavenly Father, thank You, thank You, thank You. Now I’ve got some stuff I want to ask You.”

We need to take the time to declare God’s greatness. How? To start, we can read back to Him something someone has written about His greatness, maybe something from the book of Psalms, or something God reveals about Himself, like in Job 38-41. The point is to be reminded of how great this God truly is. It puts “me” in proper perspective. It puts my struggles, my issues, my junk within the context of this mighty God who is so great. Next to the greatness of God, our problems don’t seem so pressing or so worrisome.

C. Your next question may be, “How much time should I spend there?” Jesus already told us that it’s not the number of words that matters; it’s not the quantity of time that matters. Jesus says, “I just want you to spend some time. And the reason I’m telling you this is because if I don’t, you’ll rush right by it. I want you to pause, and before you move on to something else, I want you to stay on that subject long enough so that it begins to sink in who it is you’re talking to. Because the longer you stay there, and the more God’s greatness begins to sink in, the more every other facet of how we pray and how we live our lives is effected.” Wow!

D. Next, Jesus comes to the part we want to forget. This is the speed bump. This is where we put the brakes on, where we bail, where we get too busy. But this is the point of prayer—if we get this, it will change our lives. And there will be times when this will feel like a wrestling match with God. But listen to what Jesus says: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Look at this: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 NIV).

In other words, we come to the point where we say, “Before I get to my needs, wants and wishes, I just want You to know that whatever the answer is, I want Your will before my will, Your kingdom before my kingdom. God, I want You to know that I’m going to declare Your greatness. I want You to know that Your plans for my life come before my plans for my life. Your plans about whether or not I date come before my plans. Your plans for my college, for my athletics, for my future husband or wife—Your plans come before mine. Father, I just want You to know before I get to all that, I want You to know I am fully surrendered to Your will for my life.” “On earth”—in my world—“as it is in heaven.”

We hear that, and that’s where we go, “Wait. I can’t do that. But how’s two out of three? What if I just do one and three and we skip over number two?” And God goes, “No, you’re missing the point of prayer. It’s not to get stuff from Me. It’s to bring our wills, our purposes, our plans, our visions for the future into alignment. I want you to come, and I want you to close the door, and I want you to declare My greatness. Then, I want you to surrender your will and I want you to stay there until you’re genuinely, authentically, 100-percent surrendered to Me.” See, when we can pray like that, when we get this as the purpose of prayer, something changes. This is how God moves from being a distant Spirit to a personal heavenly Father.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK TEACHING SCRIPT TRUTH (cont’D)

E. Some of you may be familiar with this story from the gospel of John. One day Jesus went to a town called Bethany where a guy named Lazarus had died. Lazarus was dead; he had been dead for four days, and he was already in a tomb. Have you ever felt like God is late sometimes? Well, that is what the people were feeling in this story. But Jesus actually showed up late on purpose, so we know that sometimes that is just what He does. In this story, Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead and He says a ten-second prayer. Did you catch that? He’s about to raise a man from the dead and He prays for ten seconds. The prayer in John 11 basically says, “Let’s do it. The only reason I’m really talking to You is so that they’ll see Me talking to You and know You are the One doing this. So, would you move the stone away from the tomb?” Here’s Jesus, about to raise a man from the dead and all He prays is a tiny, itsy-bitsy prayer. Wow, that didn’t take long. Jesus recognized God’s will, and He went with it.

But on the night before Jesus is about to lay down His own life for the sins of mankind, He prays all night long. He prays until He sweats drops of blood from His body. For hours, He wrestles, prays and struggles. And the reason this prayer takes so long is because Jesus recognizes what God’s will is, and He doesn’t like it. He basically says, “I’m going to stay here, on My face, in this garden, until I can get to the place where I can say, ‘Not My will, but Your will be done.’” He says, “God, if You can find any other way to do this, if You can solve the problem of sin any other way, please do it. But I want You to know, and it’s taken me all night to get there, I pray not My will, but Your will be done.” (See Luke 22:39-44.)

F. What does this mean for us? If we’re not at the place where we can recognize and declare God’s greatness, if we’re not ready to fully surrender every aspect of our lives to Him, like Jesus in the garden, we just need to stay there a while. Some days, when life is going well and we’re submitted to God completely, it may only take five minutes. But there will be other days, harder days, where it takes much longer. When things have taken a turn for the worse, your parents are fighting again, the family finances aren’t what they’re supposed to be, you’ve got more than you can handle at school and you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders, the idea of getting to that place is much harder.

You can’t imagine saying, “Okay, God, You know what I’m about to ask You, but I want You to know ahead of time that even if You say ‘no’, that’s okay.” It just seems too difficult.

And God says, “I understand that. Let’s stay here until you are ready to say that. If we run out of time, why don’t you come back tomorrow and let’s pick it up there? Let’s declare My glory and let’s focus in on that one element of your life that you have such a difficult time releasing to Me. Let’s wrestle with that. And if at the end of our time, you still can’t surrender that to Me, it’s still okay. We can come back to this. But let’s try. Let’s make it personal.”

This is when your faith, your working to get to the place where you can say that you trust God intersects with His faithfulness. And when we get to that place, that’s when God says, “Now watch what I’m going to do.” When your faith intersects with His faithfulness, He comes alive in your life. It gets really, really, really personal, and at times it even gets emotional, because finally, it’s relational. That’s what Your heavenly Father has invited you into, and that’s why learning to pray is so important. Prayer paves the way for that kind of intimacy and relationship.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK TEACHING SCRIPT TRUTH (CONt’D)

G. Declare His greatness, surrender your will, and then the third part is to acknowledge your dependency. This is the part we usually start with. It’s our favorite word in verse 11: “Give.” Listen to what He says next: “Give us today our daily bread.” This statement communicates to God that you are dependent on Him. You are just as dependent on Him to provide when you have nothing as you are when you have more than you need. So when you pray, it is okay to ask, but ask as a declaration of your dependence on Him to provide. “Give us today our daily bread.”

Next, He says: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (v. 12). That is, we should pray, “I’m declaring my dependency on You for my provision; I’m declaring my dependency on You for my forgiveness from sin. And just as You’ve forgiven me for sin, I plan on forgiving the people around me from the sins they’ve committed against me. I’m so dependent on You.”

H. Then Jesus says: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13 NIV). That is, “I’m going to declare my dependence on You for my protection. I’m asking You to protect me from sin, protect me from evil, protect me from myself, protect my family. God, I acknowledge I am so dependent on You every single day for protection.” Declare His greatness; surrender your will; acknowledge your dependence. That’s it. APPLICATION

A. And that is the point of prayer. Jesus wants you to recognize who it is you’re talking to. He wants you to be able to say with authenticity, “Not my will, but Your will be done on earth—in my life—as it is in heaven.” If you can’t say that, then spend a little time wrestling with Him there until you can. If you can’t resolve it, come back the next day and talk about it some more, because that’s when it starts to get personal. That’s why He gave us prayer.

All the things that are making your life so crazy, all the unanswered questions that make you anxious, all the fears and “what ifs”—all of those things seem so big, so overwhelming until you go in your room. But when you go to that place, that intentional place and that intentional time between you and God, remember who we’re talking to, the One who already knows what is going on.

You don’t have to convince Him to get engaged in your life, He already is. But when you get alone with Him, when you remember who we are talking to, it puts things in perspective. Acknowledge who He is, how He is bigger than anything going on in your world. Open your Bible and read Psalm 103 aloud to get you started. Read other psalms, other Scriptures.

B. Then declare your dependence. “I need You for all my provisions. I am dependent on You for forgiveness; I’m dependent on You for every element of my life, especially my protection—protection physically, and from sin and for my family.” And Jesus says, “That’s how you pray.”

Because independence is just an illusion, isn’t it? So many of us think we’re in control. We think we have our lives ordered just like we want them, and when something goes differently than what we expect, our first inclination is to ask God to put it back in our control, to make things work the way we intended. But when we get alone in our rooms with God, when we acknowledge who He is, then we realize just how little control we have over anything. We need Him; in fact, we need Him more than we ever realized. We are completely dependent on Him.

THE ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION CAN YOU HEAR ME?(2): WAN2TLK TEACHING SCRIPT APPLICATION (CONT’D)

B. (continued) How much of what’s going on in your life is actually controllable by you? Probably a lot less than you realize. Spend some time acknowledging that. Spend some time walking through all of the areas that deal with your situation. Can you heal someone? Can you create something out of nothing? Can you change a person’s heart? Not really. God’s the only One who can do that.

And every time you go into that room and pray, you’ll have to declare your dependency. Because just when you think you’ve surrendered everything from your life, something happens and you realize just how much you’re clutching for ownership, for control. But when you get in your room and acknowledge who God is and how much you need Him, He will remind you of just how much you can trust Him. He cares about you. He hasn’t forgotten about you. And He wants all of you.

C. See, when you do that, when you surrender every last issue, problem or worry, you give God the last piece of your heart. And that’s what is most important to Him. Why? Because you are important to Him and He wants a relationship with you. God’s saying, “I want that. I want that last piece of you. I want that because that’s the key to having all of you. And you are what I want.” LANDING

A. What would it be like to spend some time, maybe today, alone, in a room, with the door shut? What if you got on your knees and you spent a few minutes just declaring God’s greatness? It may be weird for you, and that’s okay, but what if you just tried it?

B. And then what if you got to the second part and said, “God, I’ve never done this, but I want to say, with as sincere of a heart as I can, here’s all of me. I’m surrendering all of me to all of You. And God, as I’m doing that, I realize there are two little areas that scare me to death. So I’ll tell you what, what if I give you 8 out of 10 today? Let’s spend some time wrestling over these other two. Let’s keep working at it.”

C. I think your heavenly Father is honored by your honesty. Now you’re pursuing a relationship. And when Jesus died on the cross, you know how much of you He died for? All of you. Because Jesus died for you, He has demonstrated that He cares about you and wants you. And Jesus wants to hear you say, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done in my life.” When we can say this, life changes. Then God finally becomes personal. That’s what your heavenly Father is after, and prayer is the way He accomplishes it.

TRANSITION INTO SMALL GROUPS