1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Life Audio. 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:12,040 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Untangling Prayer Podcast. I'm Rachel Wojo, and 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 2: each week we unravel life's notts through prayer. Here you'll 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 2: find practical wisdom and prayer encouragement to guide you through 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 2: life's hardest seasons. Join me as we untangle life's messes together, 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 2: one prayer at a time. 7 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Rachel, and I'm so glad you've joined 8 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: me today. Before we get going, I wanted to tell 9 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: you a little bit about my prayer journal, the Praying 10 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: the Promises of God Prayer Journal. It's a fifty two 11 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,559 Speaker 1: week guided journal, and the honest reason it exists is 12 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: because I kept hearing the same thing from women over 13 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: and over again for many years. They tell me they 14 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: didn't know what to pray, or they'd say their prayers 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: felt like they were bouncing off the ceiling, and sometimes 16 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: they said they were stuck. And I know that ache 17 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: because I've been there, and what has always pulled me 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: out of it is anchoring my prayers in something that 19 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: God has actually said his promises, not I wish he 20 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: would say, but what He has promised. And that's what 21 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: this prayer journal does. It walks you through fifty two 22 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: of God's promises with space to write your own prayers 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: right there next to His word, and you can get 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: your copy at Promises Prayerjournal dot com. I'll leave the 25 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: link in the show notes. Thanks for listening. Now let's 26 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: get into this week's segment of Questions in Hard Spaces. 27 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,559 Speaker 1: Today's question is one I don't think it's asked out 28 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: loud very often, but when I read it, I knew 29 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: we had to talk about it. And here it is, 30 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: how do I stop comparing my prayer life to everyone else's? 31 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: And I want to be honest with you. I had 32 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: to sit with that one for a minute because we 33 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: talk about comparison often. You hear it comparing our houses, 34 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: our kids, our bodies, our marriages, and that conversation is 35 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: on social media everywhere, But comparing your prayer life. Nobody 36 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: really says that one out loud, and yet I think 37 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: almost every person I know has felt it in some way, 38 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: And I want to tell you what it feels like, 39 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: to make sure that we all know what we're talking 40 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: about so that we understand it. It's like sitting in 41 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: a prayer circle and listening to someone else two chairs 42 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: over and while they're praying instead of praying along with her, 43 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: you're thinking I would have never thought to say it 44 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: that way, or her prayers sound so I don't know, 45 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: deep mine sound like a grocery list, or it sounds 46 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: like I'm reading in a testimony somewhere about how God 47 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: moved a mountain. And then you look at your own 48 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: prayer journal or your own life life, and you wonder 49 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: if God is even paying attention to what you have 50 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: to say, and so wishing your prairie quests were different, 51 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: or wishing you were praying about different problems or a 52 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: different situation, a house, a baby, a different diagnosis. Instead 53 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: you're praying about the kid who won't come home, or 54 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: the discouragement. And sometimes prairie questions just don't compare. I 55 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: used to think that, well, at least I'm not being prideful, 56 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: or at least I'm recognizing that someone else is further 57 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: along than I am in their prayer life. But that's 58 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: not humility, that's just comparison wearing a really convincing costume. 59 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: And so if you think about comparison in your prayer life, 60 00:03:53,840 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: the sneakiest version there is when you're doing it. At first, 61 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: you just feel small. You feel like your prayers don't matter. 62 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: You feel like maybe if you could just pray more 63 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: like somebody else, God would lean in a little closer 64 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: to you. And I want you to know that God 65 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: is not creating your prayers against yours or hers. He's 66 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: not in Heaven saying which woman is prayed the best 67 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: prayer this morning. He is not more moved by elegant 68 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: words or elegant words or eloquent words. And I just 69 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: wonder if we understand how God really works. We know 70 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: who he is, We know it in our heads. The 71 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: trouble is moving that knowledge from our heads to our hearts. 72 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: And so what do we actually do when I look 73 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: at this story that Jesus told. I'm going to share 74 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: an answer prayer story also from a woman that many 75 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: of you will recognize. But listen into the prayer principles. 76 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,799 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the segment of questions and hard Spaces. 77 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: Will be right back after this word from our sponsors, 78 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: and thank you for tuning into this sword from our sponsors. 79 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,280 Speaker 1: And now for this week's segment of Pray More worry 80 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: Less Encouragement. Today's principle is God is not grading your 81 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 1: prayer life. He's listening for honest prayers. Jesus told a 82 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: story in Luke eighteen that I've read so many times, 83 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: but I saw it differently when I started thinking about 84 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: that whole prayer life comparison thing. Listen to how it 85 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,799 Speaker 1: opens in Luke eighteen nine to some who were confident 86 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else. 87 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the 88 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: temple to pray, one a pharisee and the other a 89 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:53,160 Speaker 1: tax collector. We'll stop right there. Two people, same temple, 90 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: saying God at the same time, and they're praying almost 91 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: next to each other, and Jesus is telling us at 92 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: this it's one of those prayers that he explains. And 93 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: here's what the first guy prais Verse eleven. The pharisee 94 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: stood by himself and prayed God, I thank you that 95 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: I am not like other people robbers, evildoers, adulters, or 96 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: even like this tax selector. I fast twice a week 97 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: and I give a tenth of all I get. Do 98 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: you see what just happened? The phariseees praying, and somewhere 99 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 1: in the middle of his prayer, his eyes are glancing 100 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: sideways he's looking up at God, and he stops looking 101 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: up at God, and he starts looking at other people, 102 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: and his prayers stop being prayers. They start becoming a performance. 103 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: And if you look at the words he's using, he's 104 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:49,239 Speaker 1: not even really talking to God. He's talking about other people. 105 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: Look how much better I am than him? Look how 106 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: much I do more than he does. Look at how 107 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: much more I give. That is comparison trusted up in 108 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: religious language, and it's happening inside of a prayer in 109 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: this situation. But if you look at the other guy 110 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: verse thirteen, but the tax collector stood at a distance, 111 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: he would not even look up to Heaven, but beat 112 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 113 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: That's it. There was no mention of anybody else in 114 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: the room. He's not paying attention to anyone else. He's 115 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: not standing over there thinking about, well, at least I'm 116 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: not that guy. He doesn't care what anyone else is doing. 117 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: He doesn't care what the pharisee is doing. He's too 118 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:40,119 Speaker 1: desperate to care. He just needs God. And Jesus says 119 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: in verse fourteen, I tell you that this man, rather 120 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: than the other, went home justified before God, this man 121 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: rather than the other. God heard the nine word prayer, 122 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: he did not hear the impressive one. The Pharisee had 123 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: way more more words than nine. He had way more discipline, 124 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: he had way more credentials. His prayer was longer, it 125 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: was prettier and more articulate. But if you had been 126 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: in that temple and you'd listen to both of those prayers, 127 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: I am telling you you would have walked out thinking 128 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: that the Pharisee was the one doing it right. But 129 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: God wasn't listening to the Pharisee. He was listening for 130 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: the honesty. That's the whole thing. That's what I wanted 131 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: you to walk away with Today, when you're in that 132 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: prayer group where you're wishing that your prayers sounded more 133 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 1: like someone else's, you're looking sideways. And the second you 134 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 1: look sideways, you're not praying anymore. You're performing or looking 135 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: for an answer from anywhere other than God. If you're 136 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: looking sideways today, can I just ask you to stop. 137 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: God isn't comparison your prayer to hers. He's listening for 138 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: your heart. That is what he's listening for. I want 139 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: you to remember that the prayer God heard that day 140 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: in the temple. Wasn't even a happy prayer. It was 141 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: nine desperate words from a man at the end of himself, 142 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: and that's the one the win home justified. So maybe 143 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: this week, if you catch yourself trying to measure your 144 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,559 Speaker 1: prayer life against someone else's, or even a previous life, 145 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: do what the tax collector did. Don't look up if 146 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 1: you can't, don't look sideways. Just pray the honest words. 147 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: Doesn't need to be pretty or long. But God is 148 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: not grating your prayers, He's listening for them. In this 149 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: week's Answer Prayer Story, I wanted to share with you 150 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: a story from nineteen forty four to a prison in 151 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: the Netherlands and to a woman that most of you 152 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: would recognize. Her name, Corey Tenboom. If you've never read 153 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: The Hiding Place, put it on your list. Corey and 154 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:12,079 Speaker 1: her family had been hiding Jews in their home during 155 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: the Nazi occupation, and somebody turned them in. The Gestapo 156 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: rated their home at the end of February nineteen forty four, 157 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: and Corey and her sister Betsy, and their father were 158 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: all arrested. Her father died imprisoned ten days later. He 159 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: was eighty four. Corey was eventually put in solitary confinement, 160 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:37,199 Speaker 1: and the cell was five by two. There were no windows, 161 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: no people, no conversation. The guards weren't even allowed to 162 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: speak to her, just her and the walls. And how 163 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: many of her days were piling up around her. And 164 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: if you've read her account, you know she didn't pray 165 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: polished prayers in that cell. She wasn't writing poetry, she 166 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: wasn't crafting anything elegant, or crafting Bible study studies. She 167 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: was just surviving. She was cold and sick, and her 168 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: fingers hurt, and she was alone in a way that 169 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: many of us will never understand. And from the depths 170 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,439 Speaker 1: of it, Corey cried out to God with a prayer 171 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: that was barely a prayer at all. She said, God, 172 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: I can't be alone anymore. That was the whole prayer, 173 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: no scripture references, just a desperate woman in a prison 174 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: cell saying what was true. And here's what happened next. 175 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: Shortly after she prayed that prayer, a tiny ant came 176 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: into her cell. And I know that sounds weird, like 177 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: out of all of the things that God have done 178 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: could have done, he sent an aunt but think about it. 179 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: Corey had asked for one thing. She said, I can't 180 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: be alone anymore, and God, who is not a god 181 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: of coincidence, has sent her a living, breathing, moving creature 182 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,959 Speaker 1: to share herself something that was alive and a place 183 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: where everything else was dead. She watched that aunt come 184 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,319 Speaker 1: and go. She started saving a few crumbs from her 185 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 1: prison bread to share with it, and she said that 186 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,319 Speaker 1: aunt brought her joy. Corey Tenboom, sitting in a Nazi 187 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 1: prison cell, prayed a six word prayer and God answered 188 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:27,080 Speaker 1: her with an aunt, and that aunt brought her more 189 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: comfort than I think any of us can even possibly 190 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: wrap our heads around. And I wanted you to hear 191 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: that story today because if we are comparing prayer lives, 192 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: Corey's prayer that day was not impressive. It was not long, 193 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: it was not theologically rich. If she'd been in our 194 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 1: prayer group and she'd prayed that out loud, some of 195 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: us would have thought, Wow, that's a sad little prayer. 196 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:57,440 Speaker 1: I hope somebody answers that. But God heard her prayer 197 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: and he answered it, and that answered became part of 198 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: one of the most powerful prayer testimonies of the twentieth century. 199 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: So the next time you feel like your prayers are 200 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: too small, or too desperate, or too broken, or whatever 201 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 1: it is, I want you to remember that aunt because 202 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: God's not looking for impressive prayers. He's looking for beautiful 203 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: people who have a heart that they want to turn 204 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: towards him. If something in today's episode hit you, can 205 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: I encourage you with one thing, just stop trying to 206 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: pray like someone else and start praying like you. If 207 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: you need a little help angering those honest prayers in 208 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,320 Speaker 1: something solid, grab on to the Praying the Promises of 209 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: God prayer Journal. It is fifty two weeks of God's promises. 210 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,559 Speaker 1: Space for your real prayers, not the perfect ones or 211 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: the impressive ones, but just the simple ones, the kind 212 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: that God wants to hear. Order yours at Promises Prayer 213 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: Journal dot com. The link is in the show notes. 214 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: And thank you so much for joining me on the 215 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: Untangling Prayer Podcast. I pray today's episode has encouraged your 216 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: heart until next time. Remember God sees you, he hears you, 217 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 1: and he knows youore needs. 218 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me on the Untangling Prayer Podcast. If 219 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 2: this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who 220 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 2: could use a little hope, and be sure to subscribe 221 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 2: for more until next time, Keep seeking, keep trusting, and 222 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 2: keep praying.