In Your Prayer Life
Get Your Joy Back
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Getting Joy Back in Your Prayer Life | Pastor Dean Deguara
If God could turn Paul’s time in prison into a platform for His plans and purposes, He can take whatever has you confined and use it as a catalyst to crystallize His plans and purposes in your life.
Philippians 1:3-6 TLB
3 All my prayers for you are full of praise to God! 4 When I pray for you, my heart is full of joy 5 because of all your wonderful help in making known the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. 6 And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns.
1. Paul’s Prayer Life was Full of Praise
Philippians 1:3 TPT
All my prayers for you are full of praise to God!
A prayer life that is FULL OF YOU and ONLY YOU will be empty of the joy and satisfaction that only comes by praying for others.
Philippians 1:3 NIV
I thank my God every time I remember you.
When I pray and give God praise I’m not leaving any empty space for unforgiveness and bitterness to take root and rob me of joy in my prayer life.
2. Paul’s Prayer Life was Full of Joy
Philippians 1:4
When I pray for you, my heart is full of joy
When my prayer life is filled with sincere prayer for others it causes my heart to be filled with genuine joy
Joy: cheerfulness, calm delight, gladness and exceeding joyfulness
There is a certain type of joy you can only tap into by praying for others.
3. Paul’s Prayer Life was Full of Hope
Philippians 1:6
And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns.
I AM SURE!!!
Hope: The confident joyful expectation of what God has promised
Getting your joy back in your prayer life for some of us means getting our confidence back in a covenant keeping God!
Psalm 139:4 AMP
Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken], Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
1 John 5:14 NKJV
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 Peter 3:12 NKJV
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
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(00:05) [Applause] …out very excited well the rest of November we're going to be in the book of Philippians focusing on how to get our joy back anybody ever lost your joy before few hands went up the theme of the entire book of Philippians is focused on how to get our joy back it's the ultimate joy in living for Christ I don't know about you but I think a lot of folks have lost their Joy you know anybody that's lost their Joy some folks have lost their mind but
(01:09) I can guarantee you that before they lost their mind they lost their Joy long before you see they lost their happiness before they fell into hopelessness we have a lot of people who are mad at everything and everybody a lot of people who are angry angry just to be angry upset at every little thing they can't change they react without thinking instead of responding appropriate appropriately one of the things that my son Josiah says that has stuck with me since he's been playing professional football he has the
(01:54) say and he says it almost every time I talk to him he says this Dad no reason to get mad I can only control what I can control I also believe a lot of Believers have allowed the enemy to steal their Joy from their prayer closet and therefore you don't pray with hope when life circumstances come that don't necessarily fit into our plan how many you know we can lose our joy when our relationship ship with Jesus becomes routine and religious instead of living a life by faith we exchange joy for just enough of Jesus to
(02:42) keep us going just enough of Jesus to keep us married just enough of Jesus to keep us miserable just enough of Jesus to keep us breathing and bar uh barely alive and I believe this morning the holy SP Spirit wants us to learn how to pray ourselves happy come on God wants us to emerge from our prayer closets with a smile on our face some of us have lost we are totally disconnected from uh We've disconnected Joy from being with Jesus instead of coming out of our prayer closets with a big smile and hopeful expression on our
(03:31) face we got our eyebrows cringed our face like this I mean it looks like we've been sucking on lemons for an hour in Paul's letter to the Philippians he's been in jail for two years he's been in jail for two years in a Roman jail cell awaiting his judgment in the Roman Court which actually would result in his acquittal and release before being arrested again four years later on the surface if you know anything about Paul's life he would have every reason to complain anybody ever have something
(04:16) to complain about lately Paul had plenty to complain about but he refrains from doing so why Paul had been through setbacks he'd been through sto storms he'd been through shipwrecks he'd been through accusation persecution in fact 39 stripes on his back a few times he had every reason to give up but how you know when you're ready to give up come on God is ready to raise you up every reason he had to allow the physical prison he was in the chains that had him bound to lock up his purpose and shut down his passion for
(05:06) people in other words he could have had a pity party in prison and it would have been okay because he had every reason to throw a pity party in that cell but Paul didn't let that happen and I don't think we should either why while po while Paul was in prison he wrote some of the prison Epistles he wrote this book that we're reading today he wrote Ephesians Philippians Colossians and philimon while in prison I don't know I don't know how but God made it possible for him to have visitors where he could
(05:43) still share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them and they would go from there and they would spread the gospel today I don't know what has confin you I don't know what has you bound I don't know what has you locked up but I do you know this if God could turn Paul's time in prison into a platform for his plans and purposes he can take whatever has you can find and use it as a catalyst to crystallize his plans and purposes in your life too this morning I feel like the Holy Spirit wants to turn prisons into
(06:24) platforms he wants to turn trials into testimonies we've had some powerful testimonies shared the last several weeks we just heard Britney share a testimony of healing someone just pulled me aside a dear woman she pulled me aside and told me about her healing that she got she'd been in back hip and knee pain for six years she and she said pastor Dean I have not had pain since Wednesday come on how many you know that's a service you shouldn't have missed she said said yesterday for the first time since my son was born we went
(07:04) on a hike as a family she said I walk them till they wanted to quit I just wanted to keep going cuz I haven't done this in so long God is doing amazing things he wants to turn your trials into testimonies again we had our uh RLC business Network and I had two folks share testimonies uh our dear sister Nicole who's in this service she wrote she just wrote her book and she just released it it's an awesome testimony of her going through the fire how many you know sometimes we got to go through it to get to it she went through the fire
(07:40) and at the end of that God gave her a a a devotional and she just released that gave me a copy and then I just heard from Jeremy and Jen Patton and their testimony is powerful God through the a craziest of circumstances has birthed a business and they are doing well and it's just a powerful testim that I'm going to be sharing here in a few weeks he wants to turn your pain into purpose and he wants to turn your setback into a comeback and how does he do it through joyfill prayer joyfill prayer this morning I want to
(08:19) talk to you about getting the joy back in your prayer life let's look at Philippians 1: 3- 6 again we're going to be hopping around the book of Philippians the rest of this month it says this I'm reading from the living Bible it says this all my prayers for you are full of praise to God I want you to underline that word full verse four when I pray for you my heart is full of joy so we see right off the bat Paul's prayers are full of praise and full of joy because of your wonderful help in making known the good good news about
(09:00) Christ from the time you first heard it until now and I'm sure that God who began a good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns as we look at Paul's prayer life we see some key components that kept his prayer life vibrant filled with energy and enthusiasm and joy of the Holy Spirit while he's locked up while he's in jail he's still enthusiastic enthusiastic and joyful in prayer three elements that I want to
(09:47) give you today that will help you get the joy back in your prayer life and the first is this Paul's prayer life was full of Praise His prayer life was full of Praise he said all my prayers for you you are full of praise the word full there is defined as having no empty space no empty space Paul even though he was in jail even though he he had he had room to to put complaints while he was in prison Paul left no empty space for his prayer life to be solely focused on himself a prayer life that is full of you and only you will empty it of joy
(10:35) and satisfaction that only comes by praying for others how many people besides you are on your prayer list do you have a prayer list how many problems instead of people are on your prayer list you say Pastor Dean people are my problem that's why they're on my list how many of you have problem people on your list be honest you're still working through it how are you praying for them Lord get them Lord I pray your fire and I'm not going by Holy Fire you know here's the challenge Paul not only prayed for others every
(11:34) prayer he prayed was full of praise to God for them think about that Philippians 1:3 says this in the NIV I thank my God every time I remember you how many you know that's discipline right there has anyone ever been reminded of someone while they were pray praying and it actually messed up your prayer time I mean it sucked the joy right out of your dvo I mean you're praying for someone and they come to mind and you remember what you should have said back to them and what you should have did in response to them in other words listen
(12:21) you are having a conversation all by yourself of what you should have did and it and what you remembered robbed you of your joy during your prayer time Paul said when thoughts about you come to fill an empty space of my prayer life he said I thank my God every time all the time because I'm not going to waste my time dwelling on the negative he says no I'm I'm going to allow my praise to God for you change my my perspective about you someone told me something someone said about me and it cropped up in my prayer
(13:14) time and for a moment I started revisiting the past and uh reliving that situation and I stopped and I just began to pray for them Father bless them I pray you help them see my heart and God if I if I hurt them I pray that you would heal them of their pain you see what I've learned is a lot of people will throw up on you not because of what you did but because of what someone else did you were just in proximity when they decided to vomit when I pray and give God praise everybody say praise praise when I G
(13:57) pray and give God praise for someone when I'm not leaving any empty space for unforgiveness and bitterness to take root in my life and rob me of joy in my prayer life you see Paul's prayer life was full of Praise therefore there wasn't any room for anything else you guys get this he he began with praise before he even prayed for folks he began with praise because he knew that praise would fill that jail cell with any neg it would prevent any negativity from getting inside that cell from getting inside his mind he knew if
(14:40) he kept his focus on Jesus and his praise uh Praise on Jesus it would change his perspective about everybody that he prayed for and this is what God wants to do in our lives Paul's prayer life was full of Praise therefore there wasn't any room for anything else secondly Paul's prayer life was full of joy Philippians 1:4 says when I pray for you my heart is full of joy the word prayer there means this seeking asking and intreating the word intreating means making an Earnest plea on behalf of someone else
(15:29) you see when I seek God on your behalf when I ask God on your behalf when I intreat God when I plead with God on your behalf when my prayer life is filled with sincere prayer for others it causes my heart to be filled with genuine Joy I call this praying for others principle the praying for others principle it's this when I pray and I have somebody else's back God will always have my back this is what we have to learn I believe going into 2024 this is what we have to learn listen we've got to get away from just like hey I'm
(16:13) going to pray for you brother and we never do sister I got you but you really don't I believe God wants to up the prayer level that he wants us to apply this principle to our lives that says listen when I have somebody else's back in prayer God will always have my back I've seen it over and over again that when I pray for somebody else's finances God provides for me that's called The Backwards upside down kingdom by the way you mean you mean dean don't pray for your no you can pray for your finances but I'm just
(16:57) saying I have seen over the 30 years of ministry when I pray for other people's finances and I have a need in my life God says I'll take care of their need and your need too thank you I needed you as a vessel to pray I I prayed for people that needed healing and I got healed too I prayed for somebody else's breakthrough and God gives me mine why because God is looking for people to stand in the gap for one another you see some of us don't even enjoy praying for others because we're waiting for God to answer our prayers
(17:33) first well God I can't pray for their finances my finances are a mess God I can't pray for their healing I'm strugg I've heard people say this well when I get it all together I'll start praying for people how you know we goingon to be praying for waiting a long time to be praying for other people and what I've witnessed is when you take that step somebody comes to you listen don't run to the don't run to the person that you think is stronger than you listen just stopped and this is what
(18:02) I've been learning listen when when people are just talking I'll just hear a prayer request and I'll just stop and say hey let's just pray for that right now let's just pray for that right now you don't have to go find me Pastor Jesse Pastor you can actually pray for them right now and as you're praying for them God takes note of their need and your need someone comes to you and says man I need you to really pray for my teenager and you got teenage issues at home too pray for their teenager and God will
(18:32) take care of your teenage issues at home this is how it works the praying for others principle says put others first make others a priority in prayer and God says know this I will have your back when your back is against the wall joy in this particular verse is defined as this cheerfulness calm Delight I love love that one calm delight gladness and exceeding joyfulness let me just say this those four words and phrases are not usually words and phrases that we tie to prayer listen there is a certain type of joy you can you and I can only tap into
(19:26) by praying for others you can't get it any other way you can't fake it you have to be intentional and deliberate in praying for others if you want to experience this exceeding joyfulness you see getting your joy back in prayer in your prayer life actually has everything to do with you praying seeking asking and intreating God for others what I've discovered is Joy often often comes to us as we see prayers being answered for others they don't even have to know that you've been praying but how many you
(20:08) know your joy is coming I don't know about you but I get excited and encouraged when I see God answering my prayers and other people are getting their breakthrough it was so awesome this this Wednesday night 200 people came out on a Wednesday night it was it was an amazing environment and atmosphere in this place and to see people respond I heard another I heard another testimony of a mom yesterday um she brought her 10-year-old son who was having uh food allergy issues and GI intestinal issues and and and and the
(20:41) young boy came forward there was a a word of knowledge about somebody having some stomach issues and he came the power of God fell on the boy and he hasn't had any stomach pain since Wednesday night I don't know about you but I think God is moving my heart is thrilled and filled when big miracles happen through my little prayers you say Pastor Dean that's all fine and good but what about my breakthrough can I tell you this Joy is your breakthrough Joy is your breakthrough some of us all need to allow joy to get
(21:21) a hold of our face you got got joy on the inside it just isn't being revealed on the outside yet you got joy on the inside you just got to like communicate that to your face people remind me of this all the time why are you frowning I'm like oh yeah thank you this is what I know some of us are experiencing a prayer life absent of all joy life has robbed you of your joy a diagnosis has stolen your joy a relationship you had to break off has killed your joy a business deal gone bad has completely bankrupted you of Joy a
(22:12) divorce has diminished your joy a loss of job has resulted in the loss of your job and you're so or joy and you're so focused on what you lost and what was wrongfully taken from you you can't seem to find Joy let alone get your joy back and this morning I felt like the Holy Spirit want to encourage every single one of us to find someone who is going through something just like you are it doesn't have to be the same thing and begin to pray for them listen don't wait say I I'll go pray for somebody when somebody prays
(22:52) for me no you go find somebody and pray for them car carry them in prayer and watch God begin to carry you encourage them in prayer and watch how God encourages you pray them through and then see how God breaks you through with joy unspeakable God is doing some amazing thing in our men's Community tomorrow night is our last night before we hit the holidays but last week was special our uh Community men's leader Marcus Tucker he spoke on fasting and prayer and we went around just our table our our our assignment was this uh
(23:35) share your needs and then choose a day to pray over those needs in my group The Needs were spiritual growth how you know we all need to grow spiritually second one was healing need healing for my family healing for my marriage another was Financial Freedom I need to get out of debt I need to be financially free the other uh prayer request was I need guidance on leading my family and we took that aside this week and we just prayed those things over one I can't wait tomorrow to see what God did this week I'm not going to wait till
(24:18) I spiritually grow to pray for somebody else's spiritual growth I'm not gonna wait for my healing or somebody else's in my family's healing before I pray for somebody else's health or healing finances it goes right down the list Paul's prayer life was full of joy everybody say Joy now look at your neighbor and smile and say Paul's prayer life was full of joy and the last thing as the team comes Paul's prayer life was full of Hope full of Hope Philippians 1:6 I love this he says and I am
(25:06) sure how you know there's a lot of uncertainty in the world and Paul says you know what my prayer life full of Praise My Prayer life's full of joy and because my prayer life is full of praise and full of joy he says I am sure everybody say I'm sure I'm sure he said says I am sure that God who began a good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns I love what Paul says here listen he says
(25:48) listen praise has has increased my faith for you Joy has me laughing over God's possibilities about you and because of that listen he says I have joy he says because of that I am certain I am sure will you say I'm sure sure because of the praise I'm giving to God it's changing my perspective about you because of the joy that is set before me in my prayer room I see God's plan over you and I am certain that what God began in you is going to be completed this is this is the faith that is released when
(26:31) Joy comes in our prayer room Paul prayed hope filled prayers hope is this the confident joyful expectation of what God is Promised that's what hope means biblical hope is The Confident joyful expectation of what God has promised that is always stuck I learned that when I was 18 18 years old that definition right there shared by Greg Seamus my youth pastor he defined it I never forgot it you see getting your joy back in your prayer life for some of us means getting our confidence back in a covenant keeping
(27:15) god listen he's not done yet he's not finished yet but this is what I know I'm sure I'm sure he's not done I'm sure he's still working in your situation I I know it doesn't look like you think it should look but I know that I'm sure because praise is is changing my perspective and I'm leaving no room for doubt and unbelief Joy has filled the room and I've got hope that believes I am confident I am expecting that the god listen who showed up for me is going to show up for
(28:02) [Applause] you Paul's prayers for others were not prayers of uncertainty Paul's prayers for others they weren't delusional they weren't doubtful Paul's prayers for others were not built on a maybe Paul's joy and prayer was based on a certainty in a God who finished what he starts everybody say I am sure I sure he wrote to the Philippians who I'm sure in this moment because again he had people coming to his jail Cale giving him updates and I'm sure Paul heard something that caused him some concern
(28:49) to sit down and write this letter right here he wrote to the Philippians who I'm sure were not sure anybody ever been there not sure that what God began in them would surely be completed by him and I felt like this morning as I Was preparing that some of us are wondering if God even hears us and I just felt like this morning that we all needed to leave knowing this I'm sure I'm sure I know that I know that I know I am certain I have the hope I have The Confident joyful expectation of what God is about to do
(29:53) Psalm 139:4 says even before there is a word on my tongue still unspoken behold O Lord you know it 1 John 5:14 says now this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears US 1 Peter 3:12 for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil you see some of you are you're wondering about delayed answers to your prayer can I just tell you delayed answers to your prayer if you allow it it will steal
(30:38) your joy if you don't understand that the delay does not mean God is not doing anything delay could mean that he's developing you for the answer delay could mean he's working on something greater than what you're praying for Ephesians 3:20 that he wants to do above and beyond all that we could think or imagine listen if he answered your prayer right now you might be getting robbed of what he really wanted to do in your life come on tell your neighbor don't settle in 2004 my confidence was shaken through a
(31:25) set of circumstances and I sat in silence in my prayer times for two years and I just listened I said God I'm not going to pray for my will to be done I just want to listen to your will for my life I I'm tired of of telling you what I'm going to do God I want to know your will for my life but but if I'm honest my confidence was shaken that was not a joyful time because I wasn't hopeful I had lost The Confident joyful expectation of what God had promised me and I believe that there are some of us
(32:18) today that we've lost Joy because we lost hope and God this morning and maybe you're sitting in your prayer closet like I was some days with your arms crossed protesting instead of praying God I'm just going to sit here and wait God this morning is calling you out of the silence into a new place of confidence the holy spirit is saying it's time to break the Silence with hope everybody say hope hope confidence joyful expectation this morning maybe you don't have true Joy because you don't have a relationship
(33:08) with Jesus the only one who can give you true Joy your life is full of a lot of other stuff but it surely is not full of praise and it's surely not full of joy in fact all that other stuff has crowded Jesus and joy right out of of your life and Jesus wants to change all of that today this morning with every head bowed and every eye closed listen you don't have a relationship with Jesus and because of that the enemy the one who comes to steal kill and destroy has sucked Joy right from your life you're
(33:47) living literally a joyless life and God listen wants to change that today he wants to put put a smile on your face because what he does on the inside of your heart and today if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ or maybe you've backslid and you've distanced yourself from him and you want to come back to him today listen if that is you with every head bowed and eye closed we you say Pastor Will you pray for me this morning is there anybody in here you say Pastor de this message has been a bullseye on my
(34:20) back will you pray yes thank you for your boldness anybody else yes thank you for your boldness anybody else you say Pastor Dean I yes yes thank you Jesus for these for hands anybody else you say Pastor Dean I want to get yes I want to get in on this prayer thank you Lord Jesus we thank you Jesus we thank you Jesus Hallelujah the holy spirit is moving in this room those five people who just raised their hand with everybody else I want us to pray this Prayer of Salvation with all our hearts trusting him with everything that we
(34:56) have we're going to give everything to him and we're going to when we pray it listen we're going to pray with hope that God would restore that confident joyful expectation that only we can H we can experience when we put our trust and faith in him Amen on the count of three the entire church I want us to pray with these five folks who slipped their hand on the count of three 1 two three Jesus I believe you are the Son of God that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin sin and death to restore me to the
(35:29) father I choose Now to turn from my sins my self sinness and every part of my life that does not please you I choose you I give myself to you I receive your forgiveness and ask you to take your rightful place in my life as My Savior and Lord restore me live in me in Jesus name I pray amen and amen can we give God praise for what he's doing listen if you were one of the five that rais their hands in the back John back there he has these packets there our next step packets and if you made a decision today to follow
(36:13) Jesus or to get right with him listen we want you to go from that decision to becoming a disciple a joy filled disciple I think you were handed a card or you can scan this code on the back of the seat and just let us know that you made that decision and take that back to John and we'll put this in your hands and in the New Year we're beginning a new class it is an awesome class John's been and I have been putting it together but we'd love for you to be a part of a community that can change your life amen
(36:45) so make sure you see John on your way out he's on the left back there secondly will you stand with me today is there anybody in in here that you could say listen my need has been overwhelming me to a point that I've lost my joy is there anybody in here that would be honest and you would raise your hand will you raise your hand will you look around you and will you find a person with their hand up and will you place a hand on their shoulder if you're close enough just ask them hey what just in one word what what what can I pray
(37:20) for it could be finances it could be healing it could be relationships it could be whatever and I want us to just spend a moment praying for one another and you might lay your hand on somebody and they might say finances and you might be saying ooh I got I need provision too in my life Listen by faith I want you to pray as you're praying for their need God is going to meet your need as well can we just take this take a moment just turn this into a prayer room father we just you pray with me you guys pray over them like you want
(37:47) somebody to pray for you father we thank you God that you're moving mightily in this place I thank you Father God that as we prioritize Lord Prayer for one another God you are going to move like we've never seen you move before I thank you that Financial Freedom God is coming to homes and households I thank you Father that relationships God that have been broken God people that are hurting God from breakups father I pray in jesus' name that you would pour out your healing bomb this morning oh God I pray
(38:22) for those struggling with health in their bodies God from a DI nosis God or something that has been bothering them for a long long time father I pray in jesus' name that you would heal them Father we pray for marriages in this place God we pray father for peace in the home God we pray that you would unite Us in the home father in Jesus name we thank you for our brother we thank you for our sister God we give you praise for their life come on give God praise for their life give God praise for their life give God praise for their
(39:01) life come on God's going to give you a word for somebody right now father we thank you God we worship you we bless you hallelujah thank you again for joining us we pray that message ministered to your heart and lifted your spirit today hey to find out more about joining the RLC online family you can find us on the church Center app you can also subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't and follow us on Instagram and Facebook God bless you Hallelujah I believe somebody already got their breakthrough I'm going to ask
(39:40) our prayer ministers to come as we close listen if if you need more if you need more prayer extended prayer listen there is an anointing listen at these altars that we are seeing that are unprecedented if you need a touch in your body a touch in your mind a touch in your emotions listen I want you to just come we're going to find you pray for you but if you need prayer in any area of your life I just want you to come and respond as the worship team leads us out before I let you go just a couple of things after third service we
(40:13) have our Discovery track if you're wanting to know more about the church come eat lunch with us that'll be after third service if you're getting trained we need more altar workers we definitely need more altar workers if that's something that interest you after third service there's altar training happening in the cafe and then Glory night this Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
(40:38) one last thing and I'll let you go last week we did a truth talk and I said that I'd have these books available I got 20 copies for this service if you will really really read the book all right these are for free on your way out I only got 20 copies per service but if you'd like to learn more about about Islamic Exodus into the freedom of Christ you're welcome to pick up a copy pick up the Thanksgiving back church I love you respond to him as the altar team leads us out God bless you Hallelujah hey RLC fam thanks for joining us today for our service we hope
(41:14) that you were strengthened and encouraged by the message again if you're guests we would love to connect with you and you