# Be in the game of prayer

Key Passage: Exodus 32:14
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your mind to Exodus, Exodus chapter 32 in God’s Word this morning. I am so thankful I can stand redeemed and holy, righteous, at the side of Almighty God because of Jesus. What a blessing that is, and praise the Lord for it. Exodus 32. We are going to read one verse. We will not really discuss that verse until later on in the message, so kind of put that back in your hat. We will go back to it in a little bit here. So Exodus 32, verse 14 is where we will start out in the Bible. Exodus 32:14. If you are there, would you say, “Amen?” Good deal.

Would you please stand as we read the Word of God, trying to show it respect and honor? Exodus 32, verse 14 of God’s Word.

And the Lord—by the way, that is all capitalized—means Jehovah. And the Lord repented. That is interesting. Repented. That word often gets misused. There is a great debate about the meaning. I am not trying to get in all the debate, but it is vital that we just discuss the word for a moment to get to the truth we are trying to get to.

The Lord repented over 20 times in the Bible, over. So if it always means to turn from sin, we have a problem because the Lord never sinned. It simply means a change of mind. When dealing with salvation, it is a great change from trusting in whatever you are trusting in. You begin to say, “Whoa, I got a change of mind. I need to trust in Jesus alone.”

But the Lord repented here. He said, “I am not going to go. They are going to go here, if you will.” And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

Now, let me explain also the word “evil” there. Evil does not necessarily mean sinful. It is like he was about to take them out back and, whew, he is going to whip up on them. That is Tennessee vernacular there. You know, he is going to do some evil to them. He is going to chase them in a great way. And that is what he means by that.

So let us just look at it one more time. Then we will dive into the message. We will pray and get going. “And the Lord repented of the evil, which he thought to do unto his people.” He did not bring the judgment on them that he was planning on doing.

Let us pray. Father, Lord, I need to grow in my prayer life. Father, I believe all of us here could grow in it. Lord, I think about the apostles. Lord, teach us to pray. Father, we come to you today. Would you teach us to pray? Would you grow us? Father, Lord, please grow me and grow us in this area of prayer. And take us, if you would, Lord, to another level, or maybe get us back to the level we ought to be at. Lord, you speak to even young people today. And Father, you give me the words to say, and you do the working in hearts. Well, thank you for it. And we ask for this, Lord, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. How do you remember back in the day, you remember seeing in front of Kmart a lot of times, the electric horse? You put the quarter in, whatever. Raise your hand if you have ever seen one. Good deal. They are hard to find. I do not think you can hardly find one. Maybe in the front of Family Dollar every once in a while. Does anyone know where one of those are today in front of this store? All right, so they are pretty much gone, you know. But some young people are looking at me like, “What in the world is he talking about right there?” you know. How many have ever ridden on one of those little horses? Come on now. Yeah.

Now, here is the thing. You know, you get little junior on there, or you—little junior—get on there, whatever it is, and somebody would put a quarter, or if you got a lot of wisdom about you, maybe you put a dime there, you know, whatever it is. And, man, that horse goes through the motions. I mean, the up, the down, the back, and the forth, and all that good stuff. I heard one fellow, he actually rode horses a lot, and I was surprised. He said, “Actually, it feels a little bit like you are really riding a horse.” And it does pretty good going through the motions, you know. Y’all with me out there? Yeah.

And here is the thing: The only problem is when you get off that horse, you get at the same place where you started at.

Now, here is the thing. Sometimes in our prayer lives, we go through the motions. We do the up, we do the down, we do the forward, we do the backward. We are not accomplishing anything sometimes. We get off where we got on. We are not trying to get things from God. We are not trying to see someone saved. We are not trying to maybe get an answer to prayer in our finances. We are just kind of going through the motions. We might even have some thrills and some emotions involved there. And I am for all that. I love all that when you get emotions involved in your prayer. I am for all that. But we may even get a little bit of that going on, but we are just not accomplishing anything. We are not going anywhere in our prayer time, my prayer life.

Can I give you right off the back here a couple of maybe reasons why some wrong philosophies lead us in our prayer time? We just go through the motions; we are not accomplishing anything. Let me give you some wrong philosophies here, if you would. Here it is. Here is one: “Well, God’s will is going to be done no matter what.” How many have you ever heard that? Sure, I see a lot of you, your hands raised, a lot of you shaking your hands.

Can I say this? That is not necessarily true. Well, that is the height of pride to think that I can change your mind of God—me, a little peon that I can actually change, or God can actually do something and I can change your mighty, almighty, all-eminent God—me, a little peon like me? That sure is boastful, prideful of you. These philosophies.

Can we just, first of all, talk about that one for just a moment? And let me just say right off the bat, I think I already said it before it is supposed to, but God’s will on earth is not always done, friend. I know you are like, “Whoa, man, what is this guy? He is preaching heresy.” Think with me a little bit. Let us think biblically.

The Bible says, God—Second Peter 3:9—“God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Is that what it says? Does everybody get saved? Do some people perish and go to hell? Sure. So it is God’s will done there? No.

Friend, you know the Lord’s Prayer we call it, the model prayer, the outline of prayer. What does he tell us to pray? He says, “Pray, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Why in the world would he tell us to pray that if it was already done? Friend, it is not always done. In a sin-messed-up, sin-cursed world, God’s will is not… God’s will is not that somebody go out and murder somebody. That is not God’s will. Now, it happens, and God’s kingdom rules over all, so Psalm 103 says that. He allows man to make decisions. It is not his will. Can he intervene? Yes, but he allows man to make some decisions.

Can I just say something here, and I am getting off track here, but if someone molested you when you were young, that was not God’s will for them to do that. God’s will is not always accomplished for him. That is sinful man that did that, a wicked man.

And our philosophies sometimes get out of whack a little bit here. Let us go back to the thing of prayer. We are trying to stay—I am getting off here there and yonder, you know, this morning. By the way, did you notice that when the roll is called up yonder? That must have been a southern person that wrote that song, I tell you for sure, you know.

But here is the thing. When it comes to prayer, sometimes some things are in God’s unchangeable will. God is not going to change on it. In 1992, you cannot—I am not smart enough. I have to have my cell phone to do the math—but in 1992, I lost my fingers in an accident about ten minutes until midnight. They took me to a hospital in… And at the hospital, they said, “Hey, we think maybe we can reattach your fingers.” Before that, most of my family is in Florida, sister in Michigan, whatnot, and I said, “Don’t wake them up, you know. I will be all right and all that good stuff.” Then they said, “We think we can reattach them.” I said, “Hey, call them. I will wake them up. Tell them to pray that they can put them back on.”

And my sister in Michigan, she is a good prayer warrior, she started praying, “Lord, help them to be able to reattach Paul’s fingers.” And the doctor, when he took the fingers, he examined them. He took them back and he looked at them. He said, “They are just… they are just…” She already knew that because in her prayer life over there, she was letting the Holy Spirit be a prayer partner. He had confirmed to her, “This is one of these sayings that I am not going to change about.”

And so she changed her prayer that night from praying, “Lord, help them be able to reattach them,” to, “Lord, would you give Paul the grace to handle it when they tell him you are not going to have those fingers.” I mean, I used to pick my nose real good with that finger, and it is gone, folks. That is tough. That is a rough life, I tell you what, now, you know. You have to adjust, you know.

Now, there are some things that God is not going to change about. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. I am not going to change. But there are some things—there are some things that God is waiting, if you will, for you to spend the time in prayer, and he will change.

I think of Ms. Darlene Hart. Someone asked me yesterday, “Do we ever lay hands on someone in prayer over them?” I said, “Sure, when they do something wrong, we lay hands around their neck. We choke them,” you know. We think about that. But we do. Now, we do not do this circus show, you know, hit them in the forehead, knock them out, and breathe on them because you have brushed your teeth, as it were. We are not going to do all that. But it is a Bible practice on a Sunday night. Sometimes we will have some of the men of the church. And we will dismiss, and well… we will know it is some oil. We use good oil. We use Mobil One 10W-30. I mean, that is what we always use. But no, we will get some olive oil. We will do that and we will pray. And boy, we have seen God—not all the time—but we have seen God do some miracles.

I think about Ms. Darlene Hart. She had an affliction, just severe, and been to the doctor many times. And they said that because of that, she was having migraine headaches. She could not just function. Some of you know what that is like. She could not function. And it was getting… They needed to do surgery, but they said, “It is too close to your brain. We do not want to have to do surgery. It is dangerous. It is right by your brain.”

And so she called the Bible said, “Let them call for the elders of the church.” And so she did. And we prayed over her. And anyway, she was supposed to go to the doctor. And he said, “Look, if it is not better, we are going to do surgery.” She never went to the doctor. Never had another headache. It was gone. Now, we have seen that and others. Some of you have been around here for a while, and you have seen… Look, God sometimes—he will change what it is going to do because of your prayer.

Now, here is the thing about it: You will never know which one it is until you pray. You always keep praying until God answers. He may answer as he did with Paul about the thorn in the flesh: “No, my grace is sufficient for thee,” and God changed his heart. But you keep praying until God lets you know. But sometimes God is waiting for you to spend the time in prayer.

Such was the situation over there in Exodus 32. You are there? Exodus 32. Let me just kind of give you a little background. I am going to read some more, all right? We are in church. We are going to use God’s Word, all right?

But Moses here had met with the Lord up on Mount Sinai, and God had given him the Ten Commandments. It was about to go down, and Israel had backslid. You know the story. They made the golden calf, all those things that happened. And Aaron was part of it all. It was just a sad situation. And God said, “Moses, I am going to get those people.” And that is the story where you are in Exodus 32. Are you still there? Amen? You are there?

Look in verse 7. We are going to read more than usual. Stick with me here. Exodus 32. Look in verse 7. “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.’” Isn’t it interesting how God said “thy people”?

“'They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, ‘These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’” What a sad thing.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘I have seen this people, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. They are rebellious.’” They never would yield to the Lord. “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them.'” That is pretty amazing. “And I will make of thee a great nation.”

“And Moses besought the Lord his God.” Wouldn’t it be good if we besought the Lord our God for our country like that? He begged, he besought. “And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, ‘Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, with a mighty hand?’”

“'Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, ‘For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?’ Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.”

“'Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

“And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

Now, friend, you listen to me, listen. God very clearly in Scripture said he was going to consume them. Is that what it says or not? I will just take the Bible over some doctor or some book wherever. I will just take the Bible over that. The Bible says he was going to consume them. Yet Moses besought the Lord, he begged God in his prayer. He called on God, and Lord, Lord, you can’t do this, saying, and even argued a little bit with God. They are your people, Lord. And what about your testimony? What about your promises? And Lord, you can’t do this, saying.

And the Lord said, “All right, Moses, I won’t destroy them.” Now, friend, don’t you listen to the devil when he says, “Well, you can’t—you can’t change what God is going to do.” According to God’s Word, you can. Yeah, friend, don’t you believe it when the devil says, “Well, God’s will is going to be done.” You don’t know that, friend. Yes, in heaven, and we pray for it to be done here on earth.

But no, no, no. That is what prayer is: is you going to God, and God invites you to come. He wants to, oh, if you will, discuss and commune with you. He wants to. He longs for that. He allows that.

Look over in the book of Jonah, if you will. Jonah chapter 3, very briefly here. Jonah chapter 3. God is going to bring his judgment on the city of Nineveh. You remember that? “Forty days, and my judgment is coming.” The actual wording is, “In forty days, Nineveh shall be overthrown,” is his actual wording of God’s Word.

And God sends this really backslidden preacher, Jonah, over, and Jonah preaches that message: “Thirty days, or else you are going to get it.” And let’s look and see what happens. Jonah chapter 3. Look in verse 5. Jonah 3 and verse 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Don’t jump up to verse 4 just so you won’t think I am just making it up. Verse 4: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’” That is what God told him to preach.

“So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, ‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way, from the violence that is in their hand.’”

“‘Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn from his fierce anger that we perish not?’” That is a pretty honest statement right there. Who can tell?

Verse 10: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.” And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.

Friend, don’t you let the devil tell you, “Your uncle will never overcome. He is always going to be an alcoholic.” “Your parents are never going to come to church. It doesn’t matter if you pray or not.” That is a lie. For when you pray and you pray and you seek—and sometimes the Spirit of God says, “All right, hey, it is over. Ichabod. You need to change your prayer.” “Hey, I am not going to remove that thorn from your life,” but many, many times, the fact that it doesn’t get changed is simply because I don’t pray enough. Don’t let that philosophy stick.

Now, sometimes God will say—I hope we don’t mind, I wasn’t planning on mentioning it—but I think about Brother Glenn. If anybody prayed and sought God, Brother Glenn did about Ms. Ritha. God said, “No, this is my will.” Sometimes it is. And by the way, sometimes it takes more faith to accept that than it does when God answers.

But I don’t want it to be because I haven’t prayed for my country, haven’t prayed for my neighbor to get saved, I haven’t prayed that God works in Spurgeon, Tennessee. I don’t want it to be because of my wrong philosophy that God’s will is always done. No, it’s not always done.

God—he wants us to get involved with him in prayer. He invites us. I mentioned this verse, I think, two Sundays ago, Matthew 7:11. It is a great verse: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father, your Father, your Father which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him.”

So what is the difference between someone getting those good things or not getting those good things? Asking, friend. God wants you to go to him in prayer. He is an almighty God. He has got all the resources in the universe. He is in control of it all. He wants this people to come to him. He invites you to come to him. He leaves the door open through Jesus. Jesus is the door. He said, “Come on boldly over here. Let’s talk about this thing.”

That is what prayer is all about. Yes, God changes us. It’s amazing how he does it during our prayer time. And nearness and closeness becomes often likeness when it comes to God. But friend, God also wants to invite you into the prayer closet so you can get things from God. “Ask, and it shall be given to you.” He wants you to ask.

Yeah. I love Philippians 4:6. He said, “Let your requests be made known unto God.” Yes, after you have given thanks in all things, you don’t worry about everything, you supplicate it. Yes, but he does say, “Hey, let your requests be made known unto God.” What the Bible says. Oh, friend, don’t you believe that false fake news. Don’t believe the fake news. Amen. God hears prayers, and he does things because people pray. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

It is amazing. This is amazing. But did you notice how God Almighty, God Almighty that inhabits eternity, the infinite, omniscient—that means he knows everything—all-wise God, he let a little mortal man named Moses argue with him? Did you notice that? God did… God said… He said, “Moses, those people are yours.” Did you notice how Moses—Moses kind of turned around, if you will? Now, God let it, but Moses said, “Lord, those are your people, Lord. I was on the backside of the desert, minding my own business, and you showed up there in that burning bush, and that’s your people, Lord.”

Now, I am not trying to be facetious, and I am not saying you don’t reverence the holy God; you do. But God Almighty let Moses argue with him. That is why he says, “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord.” That is why he says “together.” That is when you are not right with God, by the way. “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.” He wants to reason with you.

Moses argued with God: “Lord, those are your people. Lord, hey, what about your reputation, Lord? If you kill all those Israelites, what are the Egyptians and all these other people going to say about you? Trying to witness to them? What are they going to say, Lord?” He is arguing with God. Yeah. God lets us do that.

God—if you wanted to, it would be kind of like me playing Brother Patterson in chess. I mean, he would beat me before we ever started in chess. I would do that with you in prayer, but God lets you. How many grandparents here? Amen. I am a part of the grandparent family now here. Yeah. Those grandkids come to you, and they want to discuss something with you, and they really don’t know what in the world they are talking about, but you kind of like them just come and talk to you about it. And you might even give them what they are asking for, not that they are all that knowledgeable and intellectual and all. By the way, every grandchild in the world is the smartest person in the world to the grandparent, though. God’s the same way. It’s not a matter of where great, great arguers. And God likes to hear from his grandchildren.

Moses, Moses, he said, “Hey, Lord, what about those promises you gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?” What about those promises? God likes it when you believe his promises. And that didn’t offend God when Moses used his words, what he had, the promises he gave to Abraham back over there in Genesis 12 and so on. That didn’t bother God. God knew. God said what he meant, meant what he said. He liked it that Moses actually believed the promise and was using it in prayer. He liked that.

God let that little peon of a man, like all of us, Moses, come and debate, if you will, with God. And Moses even got God’s words out and used God’s words, if you will, against God. It didn’t offend God. God was proud of it. God said, “Hey, I’m glad you believe my words.” And God answered his prayers. Yeah.

The classic, the classic is, remember Jacob? He is about to meet his brother the next day, Esau. You remember that? I believe that was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, God in flesh. And the angel of the Lord came, and he wrestled with him. Isn’t it amazing God let little bitty Jacob… Jacob, I don’t think Jacob was a big old strong fellow. I mean, his brother Esau was a guy that was a woodsman and all the rest of that. But Jacob, I want to stay inside, you know, some might call him the sissy, if you will, you know. Jacob, that was him. But God said, “I’ll have that little boy there wrestle with me.”

And Jacob wrestled all that long. And God hung around, let Jacob wrestle with him. It’s amazing. The Bible says Jacob had power with God through his strength. That is an amazing verse to be. Jacob wrestled.

Now, it’s very interesting at the very end what happens. God… God just took his finger and he just barely touched the hollow of his thigh. Here’s the thing about that: That is one, if not the strongest place. I’m getting old. Got to have my glasses. Amen. We were on the property. I lost my new glasses, so I bought new ones that don’t have scratches on them. I needed them anyway. My wife found my old ones, believe it or not, out there. They’re in the truck. Where was I at? Glasses will get you off every day. Oh! Miss Barb, I appreciate you listening. That’s pretty good. She knows. Let’s go.

Some have said that that part of your body is so strong, it would take like you’d almost have to hook the lower part of the body, the top part of the body, and hook up to two tractors and let them pull to pull that part. It’s like the strongest parts of the body that God just touched it. And he walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

Here’s the thing. When it comes to power, Jacob, you ain’t got no power. I can just barely touch you in the strongest part of you. You’re messed up for life, but I’ll let you wrestle with me all that long.

And some of you in your marriage or your finances or whatever may be, God wants you to wrestle with him. God, if you will, he’s met there, Jacob over there, and he’s waiting. He wants to meet with you, and he wants you to come and debate and reason with him and talk about it. And he’s waiting for you to come to him. And by the way, God changed Jacob that night. Changed his name from Jacob to Israel.

I’m saying, God lets us. He invites us. He wants to see… I’ve got all the resources of the universe. You talk about voter fraud? God said voter fraud is no big deal for me. You talk about the media? God says, “I got the stars of heaven and the sun for a media.” How about that? Amen? These things are no problem for an Almighty God.

And look, when we get into prayer, close, I’m saying, “Lord, I want to talk to you about…” That doesn’t offend God. God wants you to come to him in prayer. He invites you to come in prayer. Yes, God listens, and sometimes he even changes his mind because of our prayers. When’s the last time you prayed through—they used to call it? And somehow I got along that prayer closet and they said, “Lord, I’m not letting go. I’m just hanging on. Oh, Lord, you’ve got to do this. You’ve got to do this. You’ve got to do this.”

Brother Patterson, that’s not vain repetition. Nothing vain about it. Someone came to me years ago, said, “I just continue. I asked the Lord, ‘Save my…’ I can’t remember who it was. ‘Save my uncle. Save my uncle.’ Is that vain repetition?” I said, “Nothing vain about that if you’re praying sincerely.” “God, I want you to save my uncle.” That is very worthy of prayer. Somebody that is willing—we talked about this prayer—but get up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. or whatever it is and pay the cost on their knees and begging and pleading with God. God wants that, friend. He invites you. He allows you to come and talk to the infinite—excuse me—the omnipotent, infinite God of heaven. He lets you come talk to him about it. He says, “I give good things to them that ask.”

I’m seeking and asking and pleading. And the interesting thing is God said, “Ask, and seek, and knock.” I believe it’s almost the intensity is building. I’m just not going to take no for an answer. That’s an opportunity. I’m just going to… I’m not going to take no for an answer. Now, God Almighty comes and says, “That’s my will.” And God will change your heart. Paul said, “I take pleasure in infirmities now.” But that comes after Paul had sought the Lord thrice. I believe it means he spent some seasons of prayer, probably fasted about that, and begged God. And God said, “Let me change your heart, Paul. I got a different view on that one.”

Sometimes, as I mentioned my sister, God says, “Hey, this is what I’m going to do here.” Your wise prayer warrior says, “All right, I’ll change gears to fit you anytime, God.” But you don’t get there until you’ve been pleading with God in prayer. Ask, and he wants you to ask. He invites us to ask. It’s amazing how God wants us involved with him. I’m always shocked. I always thank God, “You can do a whole lot better job without me.” He doesn’t need me. God always comes back. He says, “But I want you. Won’t you involve me?” Same thing with the prayer closet: God… God can do anything, but he wants this people to come and plead with him. He likes that.

You know, it’s amazing. God… God didn’t have to tell Moses he was going to bring judgment. God, almighty God, didn’t have to go to Moses and say, “Moses, I’m about to do this.” God didn’t have to do that. God didn’t have to say, “Hey,” as we say, God didn’t have to say, “I’m fixing to do something down there, Moses.” God didn’t have to do that. But God was kind of opening the door, allowing, letting Moses know, “Moses, I’m giving the opportunity.”

God did not have to bring a preacher—a backslidden preacher, Jonah—over there to tell them, “Hey, forty days, I’m going to get you.” God didn’t have to do that, but God was, if you will, giving them the opportunity to come to him in prayer and get things right and repent and seek God. God… God was offering them the opportunity. And God Almighty, in the New Testament age, offers you the opportunity to come to him and come boldly to his throne and get things from God. He wants that. He gives you the opportunity.

It’s very interesting. Genesis 32:24: “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” God didn’t have to show up there. But Jacob, in many ways, you got yourself in the fix. We’ll let you get out of it. God could have said that. But God showed up there. Yeah. And God shows up in your prayer closet. And he just waits. He says, “Is somebody going to believe me? Somebody going to come and talk with me, commune with me, and plead with me? Somebody going to get a hold of me?”

I like for you too. When I was in my eighth-grade year, I started to get into basketball. I loved football before that. Never was the biggest and all the other stuff, but I loved it, you know. Dumbest thing in the world: they love to get hit and knocked down. That’s just dumb, you know, in football. Tim, you like that too much. But my eighth-grade year, I started kind of changing. I started to play basketball. I was such a hillbilly of a boy. We lived in Florida at the time, born in Tennessee, but the first time I really played serious basketball, I played barefooted. Everybody warned me, “Don’t do that. That’s going to hurt.” I said, “I’m barefoot all the time. I’m tough.” Two weeks later, I had the big old blisters on the bottom of my feet. I said, “I’m not so tough anymore,” you know. I learned the hard way about basketball.

We used to go play at a school down in the neighborhood there, and I didn’t know a thing about it. You know, I figured like football: you get the ball in your hand and try to run down there and hold on to it as tight as you can, get down and try to make a basket. They said, “No, you got to dribble the ball.” We never did that in football. You know, “What’s wrong with you?” I was learning. I just learned it all.

And there’s a guy named Casey. Casey was tall, a man. He could play basketball. He was good at it. He was tall. He could play down low down there under the boards. He could get rebounds. He could dribble. He had handles, as they say. He could shoot threes. He was good all the way. He just could play basketball. And here’s the thing I liked: He liked me to be on his team. Woo-hoo! Come on now. Let’s play ball, fellas, you know?

And God wants you on his team in prayer. And God said, “Come over here. I want you on my team. Why don’t you get involved in the prayer life? Come on over here. I put you on my team.” We’re not great prayer warriors, but we’ve got a great God to pray to. And God wants us on his team, on his team.

It’s amazing. He’s an almighty, infinite God. Nothing God can’t do. Now, maybe there are a couple things. Can’t lie. I understand the three doors. I remember those. Some of you know what I’m talking about; some of you don’t. All-powerful God. And yet he wants me to come over there and be a part of the team. You know, in basketball, refs won’t let you—they won’t let you get five players. I mean, you’re going to play in regulation; you got to have the players. God wants you involved. Wouldn’t it be sad if God didn’t have the players on his team to answer some prayers? Wouldn’t it be sad if the referee says, “Well, I can’t play that game; not enough players”? God could do it all, but he wants you. He gives good things to them that ask. God could have changed his mind for sure; he’s God. But God wanted Moses involved. God wanted all those individuals be involved. He wants to be involved in prayer.

The church was kind of dead. Nothing happening. Nobody getting saved. And all of a sudden, it seemed like things changed. And the pastor couldn’t figure it out. And finally one day the janitor heard him say something about it. “It seemed like things changed. People getting saved. Lives changing.” And the janitor said, “Let me tell you. Let me show you why.” And he said, “Tomorrow morning, 6 a.m., the preacher showed up.” And he said, “These men here in this room, they’ve been gathering together at 6 a.m. praying.” He said, “When they start meeting together at 6 a.m., he said, such and such time. He said, that’s when things started happening around here.” Because of prayer. God’s people praying. Saints are not afraid of you and I, but oh, when we get a hold of God in prayer, oh, he trembles. He trembles. Satan’s no match for God. God gives us the right to come to Him in prayer.

Original File: Be in the game of prayer - Pastor Paul Chisgar 102520