We are so excited with what God is doing! Last Sunday, we covered the importance of selfless prayer. Jesus asked this of his disciples in Matt 26 when he asked them to keep alert and pray for him. They had one job to do in that moment and that was to back Jesus up in prayer but they fell asleep!

​Passionate prayers are a direct result of selfless prayers.
Key Thought: Selfless prayers produce passionate Christians.
Jesus showed that in this instance. He knew trouble was looming and all he wanted to do is pray and do it with his friends.
Jesus was the epitome of selfless, and his passion for people showed it.

God is ok with you coming to him in prayer because you need something, but if that is the only reason why we pray, we have completely missed it!

4 Ways we can Nurture Reliable Prayers:
1. Pray with your church crew:
a. "Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:36-38
b. Check on your crew: "Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?" Matthew 26:40
Back each other up!!

2. Pray Constantly (Jesus prayed 3 times for the same thing).

3. Pray what you feel (If it’s hard, pray that!)
a. “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.”
b. “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me..”

4. Pray regardless of the answer. (Some people stop praying because things are hard)

​God always answers prayers, he just doesn’t always answer it the way we think he should:
• Sometimes God answers immediately.
​• Sometimes God’s answers to prayer are delayed.
​• and Sometimes our requests are denied.
God always knows what is best for us, and we should be constantly thankful for His divine wisdom. Many of us have prayed for things in the past and now we're saying, whew, I'm glad that didn't happen!
​Selfless prayers are the act of giving God the control.
• You can’t control the unexpected.
• You cannot control what you cannot change.
• You cannot control people.

Be prayed up before trouble arises! Get involved, sign up for LifeGroups and pray with a crew! Don’t miss this Sunday as we wrap up WWJP and celebrate our big move next week! See you at 1 PM Sunday!

It was a special Sunday last week with lots of excitement from a baby baptism to a growth track’s graduation. Pastor Juan continued on the series, What would Jesus Pray? Little did we know, the reminder in the importance of prayer would help guide us through the trail of circumstances that were to come this past week with the hurricanes and earthquakes.
KEY THOUGHT: Our troubling circumstances become the path for passionate prayers.
Why? Because we cannot control troubling circumstances. It’s out of our hands. Trouble is fertile ground for sprouting a miracle because when we cannot control our circumstances, and we have no choice but to let God control them.
There are many things that we can learn from Jesus’ prayer life.
1. Jesus prayed alone & often: Luke 5:16 reads, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
2. Jesus prayed in nature: Luke 6:12 says, "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray ..."
Nature prayer walks is where you see the greatness of the God who made the heavens and the earth.
3. Jesus prayed long and short prayers: Prayer is about what’s in your heart, but the more you are passionate about it, the more you will need to pray.
4. Jesus prayed with others: Luke 9:28 reads, "[Jesus] took Peter, John and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray."
5. Jesus prayed passionately. (John 17)
What was he passionate about? He was passionate about his purpose and PEOPLE.
People a lot of times show their passion before they leave this earth and it was the same with Jesus.
Jesus in his soon to be final moments on this earth, spent time praying to God for his purpose and for us. We were His passion.

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are...”(read John 17-1-26)

Let’s continue to focus on keeping passion in our prayer. And not just when troubles and circumstances arise but consistently so we are prepared when the battles come. And so our passion will be revealed to others - Our love for God and our love for people.
Bring a friend and join us tomorrow at 1 PM for word, worship and fellowship!