Learn How To Thank God In Advance For Your Breakthrough with Rick Warren

- Hello, Saddleback. (congregation mumbling) If you'll take out your message notes, last week, we began 34 Days of Seeking God for a Breakthrough, and over 18,000 homes in our church, all of our campuses, 18,000 homes and individuals, signed up to pray for five minutes, three times a day, between now and Christmas Eve. And we started with a fast. Many of you did that fast, thousands of you did that fast. You were hangry, (congregation laughing) hungry and angry. By the way, I need to tell you that a fast, you never get the benefit of it on

that day. In fact, you usually don't feel that good when you're fasting. All the benefits come later. And I'll tell you this, if you do a longer fast, it actually gets easier. The hardest day is the first day of a fast because your body isn't used to it. And by about the third day, you're not feeling hungry anymore, and you're wondering how these people go long days 'cause you've stopped feeling hungry after a while. But because we're doing this Seeking God for a Breakthrough for 34 days, I wanna talk to you, this weekend, about how

do you pray a breakthrough prayer. I'm gonna teach you how to pray for a breakthrough prayer in your life. Now, a breakthrough prayer's different than any normal prayer. Normal prayer, you're saying, "God, I need energy, "God, I need strength, God, I need caffeine, "God, I need wisdom." And you pray those kind of prayers all the time. Breakthrough prayers are not for everyday use. Breakthrough prayers are when you have a crisis in your life that is uncontrollable. Breakthrough prayers are when everything is going wrong and you can do nothing about it, when you need God to

just step in. When you need to go home and clean your house, don't pray a breakthrough prayer, Just go home and clean your house. (congregation laughing) But when there's something beyond your scope, it's unknowable, it's unmanageable, it's uncontrollable, then you need to know how to pray a breakthrough prayer. The principles I'm going to teach you this weekend have changed my life, I've used them. This is how I pray. This is how I see God move mountains year after year after year. Now, one of the elements of a breakthrough prayer is actually thanking God in advance.

And I need to explain this to you like this. If I were to call you up this afternoon and I would say, "For your Christmas gift, I'm going to give you, this year, "I'm going to pay your mortgage for the next 12 months, "and I've already put the check in the mail." Now, I've already given it, but you haven't received it yet, does that make sense? So, I've put the check in the mail but you haven't got it yet, and there's that little delay. When do you start thanking me? After the check clears? Or would

you thank me when I called you on the phone? And you say, "Rick's an honest guy, he's got integrity. "If he says it, he's not conning me, "it's not a scam, it's not a job he's doing on me. "And if Rick has promised I'm gonna pay your mortgage "for the next 12 months," I haven't actually paid it, but you thank me in advance. Do you get that? That's just normal. This is what God wants you to do in prayer, and part of a breakthrough prayer, one of the five elements of a breakthrough prayer is actually

thanking God in advance. Now, I want you to notice, on the top of your outline, Jesus said this in Mark 11. "Any time you ask for anything in prayer, "believe that you have received it, "and you will receive it." Now, I really want you to get this. Notice the change in tense here. "Believe that you have received it." That's past tense. "And you will receive it." That's future tense. I want us to read this verse aloud together, And I want you to emphasize the word have. Okay, let's read it together. "Any time you ask for

anything in prayer, "believe that you have received it, "and you will receive it." You say, "Wait a minute. "I've gotta believe I've got it in order to get it?" Yep. That's called faith. I believe that I've got it already in order to get it. You say, "You mean I gotta believe a thing is so "even though it isn't so, so that it will become so?" Yes. That's called faith. If I send you that check for the next 12 months, you haven't paid 12 months yet, but you start thanking me instantly. This is called faith. Now,

this is the difference between gratitude and faith. And both of 'em are important in prayer, and we talked about gratitude on Thanksgiving, and those of you who signed up got that little email that I sent you that gave you a Thanksgiving prayer of gratitude that you could pray. But you might write this down on your notes. Thanking God after He gives something is gratitude. Thanking God before He gives it is called faith. And in the breakthrough prayer, you need to have faith, not just gratitude. Thanking God after He's given you something, that's just gratitude. Lord,

I appreciate what you've done. Thank you for this, thank you for that, thank you for all these things. But when you thank God in advance, before He's actually given it, You say, "I know I've asked for it, "you've promised to give it to me, "so I'm thanking you in advance." That's called faith. This is what you do when you keep praying for something over and over and over and over, while you're waiting for God's timing. We'll talk a little bit about that in the future. The persistence is another part of prayer. What do you do?

Do you have to just keep asking God, "I want this, I want this, I want this," Like you're wearing God down? No, no, you only need to ask God for it one time, but then, in all your future prayers, while you're waiting for the check to arrive, you thank Him, does that make sense? So, you don't have to keep going, "Please give it to me, "please give it to me, please give it to me, please," like you're begging God. No, you just have to say, "God, I want you to give this to me. "You've promised

in your Word to give it to me." I'm gonna teach you these five things. And then, for the rest of the time, until it arrives, you just thank God. That's faith. Now, Abraham did this. God told Abraham, "You're going to have a son, "and you're gonna be the father of many nations." Abraham started thanking God immediately. "God, thank you, you're givin' me a son. "Thank you that I have a son." Even changed his name to Father of Many Nations. You know how many years he thanked God Before he got his first son? 25 years. That's

a long time to thank God. God's timing was perfect. He was actually 100 years old when that baby was born, so it was a flat out miracle. When I started Saddleback Church many years ago, for 13 years, I thanked God that He had given us a piece of land, the first piece of land, the Lake Forest campus, long before we ever had it. But for 13 years, I wasn't saying, "Give us land, give us land, give us land, "give us a building." I was saying, "Lord, I asked for that the first year," and 13 years,

I just thanked God for it in advance. That's part of a breakthrough prayer. Now, the best example of a breakthrough prayer is in 2 Chronicles 20. I've taught on this passage before, but it fits so perfectly, and we need to come back to this text. In fact, last week, I read you the first five verses of this. It's about a guy named Jehoshaphat, he's a king in Israel. And three enemy nations decide to tag team and come up against him, and three enemy armies are coming against Israel, and he knows he's gonna get creamed. He

knows he's gonna be defeated. There's no way he can overpower three to one odds. And so, he prays a prayer. Now, last week, we read the first five verses, and I showed you what he did there. This week, we're actually gonna focus on the actual prayer. What I'm going to teach you right now, You should take this home and use it as a guide when you're praying three times a day. Now, you need a breakthrough in your life. I don't know where you need it, and until you know what you're praying for, you're not gonna

have one. If you don't know where you need a breakthrough, then you don't know that God can answer that. Now, you might need a breakthrough in your finances, you might need a breakthrough in your job, or in your marriage, or in your relationships, or you wanna get married. You might need a breakthrough in your health, or some area. It's any area that's not controllable. You can't control it. You can't manage it. And by the way, most of the important things in your life, you can't control and can't manage. So, you're gonna use this prayer a

lot, but it's different from normal praying. And I mentioned, this king, Jehoshaphat, that he had three enemy nations coming against him. They're on your outline. We read this last week, these first five verses. It says this: 2 Chronicles 20. "After this," they'd had a big spiritual revival in the nation, "three enemy nations united to attack King Jehoshaphat. "And spies told him, 'A huge combined army "'is marching to Jerusalem right now to defeat you.'" That would be overwhelming. He can't do anything to stop it. "Scared and worried, King Jehoshaphat resolved "to seek the Lord." That's what

we're gonna do these next 30 so days. "Resolved to seek the Lord, "and he announced a nation-wide fast." We did that on Monday. So then, "Everyone came together "to fast and to pray, and to seek help from God. "And when they all got to the temple in Jerusalem," they'd come from all over the nation, "the king stood up and he prayed aloud." Now, this guy does three things right when he's in a crisis. You need to do these same things too. He prayed privately, he gets other people to pray, And then he prays publicly. And

this is what you wanna do when you're in a major crisis in your life. First, he prays privately. It says he resolved to seek the Lord. Now, instead of worrying, I got three enemies coming against me, and there's no way we're gonna beat 'em. Instead of worrying, he worships. Instead of panicking, he prays. And he turns to God, and before he does anything else, it says he resolved to seek the Lord. He doesn't seek a consultant. He doesn't seek a business plan. He doesn't seek a bankruptcy advisor. He goes directly to God. And the very

first thing he does in a crisis is he resolves to seek the Lord. Prayer should always be the first choice in your life, not the last resort. The first choice in your life, when you're facing a problem, should be pray about it, not the last resort. Too often, we act like prayer is the last thing you do. Say, "Well, all we can do now is pray." (congregation laughing) And somebody goes, "Has it come to that?" (congregation laughing) Like, wow, it's that bad? All we can do is pray? No, it ought to be your first choice.

And so, he prays privately, and then he enlists others to pray. This is what I've been doing. I've been praying privately for your breakthrough, and then, a few weeks ago, I enlisted you, And about 18,000 homes in this church said, "Okay, why not? "I'm in, for 34 days, I'll pray three times a day, "morning, evening, and the middle of the day." And five minutes a day, and I'll send you stuff, and you give me your email, and we tell you how to pray. And here, he enlists others, and the entire country gets together to pray

for God's help. There is power in group prayer. And in the days ahead, I'm going to teach you how to pray for everybody else in the church because everybody else is gonna be praying for you. Now, there's enormous power in this, It's like a chain letter. You give out one prayer, but you got 18,000 people praying for you between now and Christmas Eve. That's a big deal. And there's power in group prayer. Now, why are we gonna do this? Because in the Book of Job, Job has everything fall apart. He has the crisis of all

crisis. Loses his wife, no, loses his kids, loses his health, loses his home, loses his job, he's wiped out, very wealthy man. And the Bible, in the last chapter of Job, says God restored everything that Job had lost, double fold, double, when he began to pray for his friends. It doesn't say God restored everything in Job's life when he began to pray for himself. But when Job began to pray for other people, God did a breakthrough in his life. And I want a breakthrough in your life, and as your spiritual coach, as your pastor, as

somebody who loves you, I wanna see a breakthrough in your life. I'm gonna have to teach you how to pray This kind of prayer, and I'm gonna teach you how to have to pray it for other people so then other people will be praying it for you, and you can see the breakthrough that God wants to do. Now, this week, we're gonna look at Jehoshpahat's prayer, which is the rest of 1 Chronicles 20. Verse 3, it says, "Jehoshaphat was afraid, "so he set his face to seek the Lord." Now, you may be afraid about some

problem in your life. That's okay. It's okay to be afraid. It's what you do with the fear. And it says here that what he did was he set his face to seek the Lord. Does that phrase sound familiar? We talked about it many times in the series on Daniel. Every time Daniel got in a crisis, he set his face to seek the Lord. You remember I told you that I learned, after 41 years of marriage, that when my wife speaks, I set my face to seek my wife. (congregation laughing) And I look at her, and

she likes it, when she talks to me, That I'm looking at her. God does too. And so, this phrase is used all through the Scripture. The Bible says Jesus set his face to look to God, to look to the cross, to look to Jerusalem. And so, it just means turn your attention. Now, what do you do in a breakthrough prayer? Well, you do five things. These are the five things that he did, write these down. Number one, the first thing you do is you start by focusing on God, not my problem. When you're in a

crisis, it's natural to start saying, "God, I'm in a crisis!" And you start telling God all the crisis, as if He doesn't know it. God knows you're in a crisis. He knew you were gonna be in the crisis long before you did. Before you were even born, He knew that crisis would happen in your life. So, you don't start your prayer by saying, "God, here's my prayer. "I need money, I need a wife, I need a new job, "I need to get out of bankruptcy," or whatever the crisis is, "I need a healing." You start

by focusing on God. And what do you do is exactly what this guy did, and he does four things here. You might write these down. First, in my prayer, I remind myself of God's greatness. Now, this is what you're gonna do first when you're praying in a crisis. When you're praying for a breakthrough, when you're praying for something you cannot control, you don't focus on the problem, you focus on God's greatness. God, you're a great God. You're a big God. You're an amazing God. You're a loving God. You're a faithful God. God, you created the

whole universe. This is not a problem for you. The bigger God gets in your mind, the smaller the problem becomes. And God says, "Nothing's too hard for me. "All things are possible with God." So, I start my prayer not by thinking about the problem, but by reminding myself of God's greatness. In Verse 6, here's what he prayed. "O Lord, are you not the God who's in heaven?" I mean, didn't you make this whole thing, the whole universe? Aren't you the God in heaven? "You rule over every kingdom and every nation. "And you are so powerful

and mighty "that nothing and no one can defeat you." I focus on God's greatness. Second, next thing I do is I remind myself of His power. I remind myself of God's unlimited power. And when I realize that God has all the power in the world, I don't have to have any power, God's got it all, and I can just trust Him. And so, in my prayer, I think of all the ways that God has helped me in the past, all the ways God has helped other people in the past, all the ways God has helped

people in the Bible, and I go, "Remember when you did that? "And remember when you did that? "And remember when you did that? "You had all the power to, you know, you split the Red Sea "and you brought water to the thirsty people in the desert, "through a rock, and all these miracles of God. "God, you're a miracle-working God. "You're powerful. "God, you're great, and God, you're powerful. "And didn't you help me in the past? "Yes, you did." And he says this in Verse 7. "And God, did you not drive out those "who tried to

keep us from living here "when you brought us back home?" What's he talking about? He's talking about the Exodus. Remember, God gave the land of Israel to Abraham, And He said, "I'm gonna make you a great nation." And it began to grow and grow. The Jewish nation began to grow and grow. Then there was a famine and they disobeyed God, and they left their own country because there was food in Egypt, and the whole nation moved to Egypt, where they were enslaved for the next 400 years. It was a bad deal, bad decision. Finally, Moses

brings them back to the Promised Land, back to the land that was given to them, and guess what. In those 400 years, other people had moved into their place, And they didn't want the Jews to come back. And they said, "God, you gave us this land." And he said, "God, didn't you drive out those "who tried to keep us from coming back here, "from living here?" He said, "You've helped us in the past." I remind myself of God's greatness and I remind myself of God's power. And here's the third thing you do in a breakthrough

prayer. You remind God, not yourself, you remind God of His promises. This is a real important key for you to get. In your prayer, you say, "God, "didn't you promise to help us? "Didn't you promise to take care of us? "Didn't you promise to meet all our needs?" We've told you many times there's, like, four, five, six, 7,000 prayers, I mean, promises, in this book, in the Bible. And in the next verse, he says, "And God, by the way, "did you not give us this promised land "to your friend Abraham's descendents," that's us, "to be

theirs forever?" So, he's saying, "God, you promised!" Now, God loves to be reminded of His promises. We don't. If we're parents, we don't. I mean, if your kid comes to you, "Dad, you promised! "You said, Dad, you said you'd do this! "Mom, you promised! "How can you break your promise?" Because we're imperfect, because we're not always loving, and because we're not always in control. When our kids remind us of promises we made to them, it's pain, but it's not a pain to God. In fact, God loves when you come to Him, say, "Hey, by the

way, God, you said you'd answer prayer. "By the way, God, you've said, you've promised "to take care of all my needs. "By the way, God, you've promised to care for me, "and to heal me in this situation." And God loves to have His word quoted back to Him. So, what I'm gonna do this week is, those of you who signed up, you gave me your email, I'm gonna send you a list of promises you can quote back to God. You say, "God, look, you said it right here! "All I'm asking you to do is just

keep your word. "I'm your child and, Father, you said you'd do it." That's part of a breakthrough prayer. And so, he said, "God, I need your help. "And I'm asking you to keep your promises." And then, finally, the fourth thing he does is he asks God for a breakthrough. He asked God for a breakthrough. And he says, "God," in Verse 10 to 12, "our enemies want to destroy us. "Will you not stop them from defeating us?" Now, notice, in this prayer, he's very specific. He gives a very specific request. Here's the breakthrough I need. Do

you know what you need to ask God? If you don't, God can't give it 'cause you gotta know what you wanna ask for. So, you need to clarify where do I need a breakthrough in my life? Don't ever ask God, "O God, bless my life." It's such a general vague thing. How are you gonna know if God did it or not? What is a blessing anyway? Can anybody right now give me a definition of a blessing? What is a blessing? Sometimes, a blessing is a problem. It's a blessing in disguise, and it keeps you from

a bigger problem. Is that what you're praying when you say, "God, give me a lot of blessings, "God give me a lot of problems?" You might wanna be careful about asking God to bless you. It's very vague, it's very general. You can't actually measure it. But when you say, "God, I need to get out of debt. "God, I need a healing for this particular thing. "God, I need this relationship to be healed. "I need the conflict to end." That's measurable, that's specific. You'll know when that's happened. And so, you ask God for a breakthrough. Now,

that's all in just the first step. You start by focusing on God. "You're great, you're good, you're powerful, "you've made a bunch of promises, "and so I'm asking you to do it again." Notice, in that passage, that Jehoshaphat asks four questions. He said, "Are you not God? "Did you not help us in the past? "Have you not made promises to us, "and will you not do it again?" You can pray those exact same things in your breakthrough prayer. Now, here's the second part of a breakthrough prayer. I tell God I can't do this, I need

you to do this. That's the second thing you do when you pray a breakthrough prayer. You tell God, "I can't do this! "It's impossible for me. "I'm powerless, it's hopeless, I'm helpless. "I can't do this, I need you to do this." This is what makes breakthrough prayers different than other prayers. When you say, "God, I need your help." That means you still think you can do it. And that's okay. A lot of times, you say, "Lord, I need your strength today. "Lord, I need your help today. "Lord, I need your wisdom today." That's a normal

prayer. In a breakthrough prayer, you go, "God, I can't even possibly do this "'cause it's beyond my control. "I need you to do this. "I need you to do this." It's when you feel powerless. Have you ever felt powerless? Let me ask it another way. Have you ever held a screaming baby? (congregation laughing) And tried to get it to be quiet, and it wouldn't? A little tiny baby can control you and wrap you around its fingers because you go, "I'm an adult, I'm going crazy "if this child doesn't stop screaming." And no matter what you

do, that baby won't stop screaming! That's the feeling of powerlessness. And when you feel that way, you need to pray a breakthrough prayer. Now, you tell God, "I can't do this. "It's beyond my ability. "I need you to do this." By the way, do you know what this is? It's the first step of Celebrate Recovery. Let me read you the first step of Celebrate Recovery. "I realize I'm not God. "I admit I'm powerless to control "my tendency to do the wrong things, "and my life is unmanageable." That's the first step of Celebrate Recovery. It's the

second step of a breakthrough prayer. "God, I'm powerless, I can't do it." Now, by the way, holidays are difficult. We have Celebrate Recovery every Friday night here at Lake Forest, and we have it all the other campuses on other different nights of the week. Notice verse 12. Here's the second thing he prays. After he says, "God, you're great and you're powerful," he says, "We are powerless, "we're powerless against this mighty army "that is coming to attack us, "and we don't know what to do, "but we're looking to you for help." Now, this is very important,

look at that passage again. You should do this exact same thing when you're praying for a breakthrough in your life. First, you tell God exactly how you feel. "God, I feel powerless. "I have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried, "and I can't control this. "I can't manage this. "I can't manipulate this. "I can't change this. "I've been batting my head against the wall "for weeks, months, or years, or decades, "and it's not changing." That's when you need a breakthrough prayer. We're powerless. You tell God it feels hopeless, and you admit your inability.

"It's beyond my control." Even he says not only, he said, "We're powerless," but he says, "We don't know what to do." He says, "Even if we did have the power, "we don't even know what to do." I don't know what to do in this situation. You ever been in those kinda situations? A lot. You've been in 'em a lot. Well, you go, "I don't even have the slightest idea "what to do, this net, this mess, this knot is so tangled, "and it's out of my control, I don't know what to do!" Well, you do this.

God, I'm powerless. I don't know what to do, but I'm looking at you. I'm focusing on you. I'm turning to you. God, I can't do this. It's not like I need your help. I can't do it even with your help. I need you to do this. You have a family member or a loved one who's dying, there's nothing you can do about it, there's nothing you can do about that. If anything's gonna be done, it has to be done by somebody greater than you. If your company moves overseas, you're gonna lose your job, there's nothing

you can do about it. Most of the big things in your life, there's nothing you can do about. That's why you need to learn the breakthrough prayer. Now, did you notice that in that verse 12, it says, "We're powerless?" But six verses earlier, when he started the prayer, he said, "You're all-powerful." I don't have to be powerful if I'm connected to God 'cause He's all-powerful. I don't have to be all-knowing if I'm connected to God 'cause He's all-knowing. I don't have to be in every place if I'm connected to God because He's in every place.

And so, what do you do when you're in a situation that you cannot control, you cannot change, and you cannot manage? What do you do in that kinda situation? You wait and you trust. You wait and you trust. Sometimes, faith means doing nothing. You just stand still, you just stand there, you wait and you trust. You trying to do something puts it back in your court. Sometimes, there's something so big in your life, you can't do anything about it, and you keep saying, "You know, if I just figure this out, "I'll just work it out,

things will work out great," and you just get more and more tired. Sometimes, faith means doing nothing. Sometimes, faith means just standing there and waiting while the enemy is headed straight at you. You just wait. Look at the next verse, verse 13. "Then all the men of Judah stood before the Lord." This means they, literally, all the people, the guys in the nation, they stood up before God. Doesn't mean five minutes. They might have stood before the Lord for hours. What are they doing? Simply by standing there, saying, "God, we're looking to you. "This thing's

too big for us. "We're gonna have a national crisis. "We're going under for the last time. "We're at the end of our rope, but we're hangin' on. "We just stand before the Lord. "We're gonna wait, watch, and trust." It says, "Then all the men of Judah stood before the Lord, "waiting with their wives and their young children, "and even their babies." So, the whole family can get involved in your breakthrough. And if you're a parent, and you're praying for something during these 34 days, a big thing, you need to tell your kids. Need to get

everybody praying about it at the dinner table. Husbands and wives, your spouse, tell your spouse The breakthrough prayer you're praying. Get your kids involved in praying this. And you just say, "We're gonna stand before the Lord." We can't change this, but God, you can, and it is our faith in you that's gonna make the difference. Now, here's the second, or the third part of praying a breakthrough. After you have told God, focused on Him, His greatness and all that, and you've told God you can't do it, you need Him to do it, here's the third

thing: Listen for what God says. Listen to what God says. And that's why, I told you, in prayer, prayer's a conversation. It's not a monologue. Prayer is not you doing all the talking. "You mean, wait a minute, in those five minutes, "I don't have to be talking the whole time?" No. A person who talks all the time, that's not a conversation, that's a monologue. You wanna have a conversation with God. You can't build a friendship if they never get to talk. And that's why, in these five minutes a day, three times a day, you're not

spendin' the whole time talkin' to God. You're spendin' some time letting God talk to you. How? Through this book! Through reading this book. This book is filled with what God wants to say to you. Everything God wants to say to you, He's already put it right here. People are always lookin' for some sign. "I wish God would tell me what He wants to do. "I wish He would write it in the sky." God is not gonna write it in the sky! He's already written it in a book! And you won't read this, why in the

world do you think that you're gonna look up at the sky? (congregation laughing) Stop looking for a sign and start looking for a Scripture! Stop looking for a vision and start looking for a verse. God's will is in God's word, and the more you read this book, the more you're gonna know what to do. And that's why, three times a day, For 34 days, we're developing the habit of having a conversation with God. Part of that five minutes each morning, afternoon, evening, you're gonna read a little bit. Now, if you haven't signed up yet, you

need to write 34 days on the flap in the bulletin, drop it in a basket, because I'm going to be sending you, I'm doing it every few days, some Scripture, and some questions, and we're sending you, every single morning, a morning devotion, and every single evening, an evening devotion, so you get a little bit, a few minutes of intake, In the Word, every day. And you listen to what God says. If you don't listen to what God says, you will never have a breakthrough prayer. Now, I want you to listen to what God said to

these guys, 'cause they're all praying, "Lord, the enemy's coming, "we don't know what to do. "We don't have the power, we're gonna die." This is a crisis and it's uncontrollable. Verses 15 to 18 is packed with encouragement for you. And God would say the same thing to you in His word if you would just read it. Here's what the Bible says, verses 15 to 18. "This is what the Lord says to you: "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army," the one that's coming to attack you. "For the battle is not yours,

but God's!" Whoa, we'll come back to that. The battle's not yours, but God's. He says, "You won't need to fight in this battle," strange battle. "Just take up your position and stand strong. "Then just wait and watch, and you will see "the Lord deliver you." You're not gonna deliver yourself. This is a breakthrough prayer. "I'm gonna deliver you." And, "Again, don't be afraid or get discouraged." He says, "Listen, get the message. "Don't be worried. "Don't be afraid or discouraged "because the Lord is with you." And after they had listened to what God had said to

them, it says, "Then the king and everybody else "bowed down on the ground and they worshiped God." Imagine the scene, an entire nation, getting on the ground, Bowing down on their knees and worshiping God, 'cause God had said, "I'm gonna take care of it." Now, this is an amazing thing. When you pray the way these people prayed, Jehoshaphat the king, and everybody else, you're gonna get God saying the same thing to you. So, let's write these things down. God says four things to you when you pray a breakthrough prayer. He says these same things to

you. Number one, the first thing God says to you is this: "Relax. (laughs) "Don't be afraid or discouraged." This is what the Lord says to you. "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army." You can chill out, you can relax. He says, "It's not a problem with me. "I'm bigger than that army." That's the first thing God says to you when you have a problem that you can't control. "Relax, don't be afraid or discouraged." Second thing God says, and He's gonna say it to you too, "It's my battle and I'll handle it.

"It's my battle and I will handle it." Verse 15, "The battle is not yours, but God's." You guys, you wanna know why you're tired all the time? Why you're frustrated, why you're fatigued, why you're worn out by life? The reason you're so tired is you're trying to fight battles that belong to God, and you're not God. "The battle is not yours, it's God's." That problem out there you think's your problem? God says, "You're my child. "Fathers take care of their children. "It's my battle. "It's my battle." "The battle is not yours, but God's." You see,

what happens in life, 'cause we're, particularly in America, we're very independent, and so, what happens is when we see a problem, we think, "If it's to be, it's up to me. "I gotta figure it out, I gotta plan it all." And what we start doing is we assume God's role. God says, "The battle's not yours, it's mine." Now, you say, "I can solve this mess." And so you try one thing and it doesn't work, you try something else, it doesn't work, You try another thing and it doesn't work. And you've been batting your head, trying

to solve this problem in your marriage, trying to solve this problem in your body, in the economy, in the world, in the nation, at school, and you're trying to solve it on your own power, you're trying to fight the battle on your own, and you're gettin' tired. And finally, you just give up and you come back to God, and you say, "Lord, I've made a mess of this." And you say, "O Lord, I'm so sorry, "I've really let you down." Now, you may have never actually prayed that, but you thought it. "I'm a big disappointment

to God "'cause I really tried on this, "I tried to solve this problem, "and God, I've messed up, I've made a mess of it. "I'm so sorry, God, I've let you down." And God says, "Nope. "You didn't let me down, 'cause you weren't holdin' me up." You don't hold God up! He holds you up. You don't have God in your hands. He's got you in His hands. If you got God in your hands, it's not God. If it's an idol, if you think you can control God, it's not God. It may be a lucky charm,

a talisman, it may be a rabbit's foot, or a, you know, good luck horseshoe, or some little thing you think is gonna give you special power, that's gonna give you special energy, and you keep it in your pocket or on your wrist, or whatever, and you think that's gonna help, if you can control it, it's not God. You're not letting God down 'cause you're not holding Him up. Get this through your mind. As your friend and pastor, God is not disappointed in you because He's not expecting you to do what only He can do. You

don't hold God up, He holds you up. Couple weeks ago, you know, I went to India. And Sunday, I got there, and I spoke to 110,000 people. And then, the next several days, I did a pastor's conference for 12,000 pastors from all over India. And on the last day, we had a stadium rally and I spoke to, I don't know, 50, 60,000 people. And when I left LAX, I got on the plane. Can you imagine how stupid this would look, is that we're on the tarmac, we start goin' down the runway, and as the jet

starts picking up steam, I'm in a 747, it's a 16-hour flight to Dubai, and then another five hours to Hyderabad. And as that plane goes down the runway, would it be stupid if I started doing this? (congregation laughing) And as the speed picks up, I'm startin' doin' it faster, And faster, and faster, and as the nose guides in the air, I'm goin' really, really fast, really, really fast. And the steward comes back, the flight attendant comes back, and says, "Mr. Warren, what are you doing?" "Oh, I'm helping us get off the ground." (congregation laughing) "Mr.

Warren, it has enough power on its own. "It doesn't need your help." "Oh no, it might crash if I don't do this." (congregation laughing) Three hours into the flight, I'm going. (congregation laughing) And the flight attendant comes back. "Mr. Warren, you really don't have to do this. "The battle is not yours, it's God's." Okay, you get the point. Okay, you get the point. You're not holding the plane up, you're not holding God up. Let me ask you a very personal question. Are your arms gettin' tired of flapping? In what area of your life have you

been flapping for months and maybe even years? "In my marriage, trying to make it work. "In my job, trying to make it work. "In my health, trying to make it work." And you're just flappin' and flappin' and flappin', and flappin', and you, right now, you're on the verge of just sayin', "God, I give up!" And God says, "Great, now we can get something done! (congregation laughing) "I've been waiting for you to realize "you're not holding me up. "Great, give up." And as you're praying today, I'm telling you, give up! The battle is not yours, it's

God. Now, once you give up, God says, "Now I can get something done." So, God says four things to these people, and He says the same things to you: "Relax, it's my battle, I'll handle it." Here's the third thing He says. "Keep serving in your position. "Keep serving in your position." The next line in that verse says, "Just take up your position and stand strong." Here's the enemy coming against them. He doesn't say, "Go home and light a fire and watch TV." He also doesn't say, "Go fight 'em." He says, "Get in your position and

stand there." That takes an enormous amount of faith. Now, I don't have time to get into this, but God has a position for everyone in the family of God. He has a ministry for you to do, a service for you to perform, a non-serving Christian is a contradiction. God has a niche, a niche for you, and it's based on your shape, S-H-A-P-E, spiritual gifts, heart, ability, personality, experiences. We got a whole class helps you discover what's my place in the body of Christ? What's my place in the world? What's God's purpose for my life? And

I wrote those classes years ago, class 101, 201, 301, and 401, talking about different parts of your position. If you haven't taken those, you need to take 'em. We offer 'em every month in every campus, and take 101, then 201, and 301, where you learn your shape, and 401, you learn your mission in life. He says, "You got a position. "Just stand strong." And then that's the fourth thing He says, is wait and watch what God does. That big problem in your life? "It's my battle." Stand firm, stay in your position. Wait and watch what

God does. Now, this is the strangest battle in history. And at verse 17, here's what He says. "Now, you're not gonna need to fight in this battle." Would you agree, that's a pretty unusual battle? Say, "You don't need to fight in this one. "Just take up your position and stand strong. "Then just wait and watch, and you will see, "you will see the Lord deliver you." You're not gonna deliver yourself. "Again, don't be afraid or discouraged," second time, "because the Lord is with you. "And then the king and everybody else "all bowed down on the

ground and worshiped God." That passage I just read, in three words, here's what God says to them: "I got this. "I got this, okay? "It's not your problem. "I got this, I will handle this." By the way, that verse there, verse 17, 2 Chronicles 20, is the middle verse of the Old Testament. Some of you, that's the only thing you're gonna get, little trivia, write it down, middle verse of the Old Testament. But He says, "In this battle, you don't need to fight, "you don't need to move, and you don't need to worry." You get

that? He says first, "You don't need to fight in this battle." You can resign as general manager of the universe And it's not gonna fall apart. You're not Atlas holding everything up. God's holding you up. You don't need to fight. He says, "You don't even need to move." He says, "Stand strong." You don't have to manipulate God. You don't have to help God, just let God be God. He says, "Stand strong, you don't have to move." Now, listen, this is for somebody here. Some of you are thinking, "If I could just move, "all my problems

would be different. "If I could just move away, "if I could just go to Tahiti, "then I would not have any stress." You know what the problem with that is? When you go to Tahiti, you take you. (congregation laughing) And where is the stress? It's not in the air, it's between your ears. So, you're taking your stress to Tahiti. Some of you think, "Life sucks, I need to move." Well, maybe not. Maybe you're exactly where you need to be And you need to be at church every week, hearing this kinda teaching, so you know how

to handle stress, instead of being out there on your own, and doing it in the wrong way. I know guys who've turned down promotions 'cause he wanted his kids to grow up in this church. Lots of families have done that, because I said, "You don't need to move. "You don't need to manipulate. "You don't need to help God. "You don't need to move." It's an attitude of quiet confidence. I want you to write this down. It is never God's will for me to run from a difficult situation. Would you write that down? It is never,

never, never, never, never, never, never God's will for me to run from a difficult situation. 'Cause if you run, you're gonna face it again somewhere else. Now, God says, "Stand still, don't move. "Just wait. "Be quiet, stand strong." If you run from a difficulty, you run from a difficult marriage, you tend to fall into another marriage and you're gonna have difficulty there. God wants to teach you that He's sufficient in every thing. So, He says, "You don't need to fight, "you don't need to move." He's saying, "You don't even need to worry." Twice, God says,

"Don't be afraid." Why does God say that? Why do I not have to worry in a breakthrough prayer? Well, here's the question. Has God ever lost a battle, in all of history? No. We lose battles. God has never lost a battle that He fought. So, you can't lose. If God's fighting the battle for you, you can't lose. You're going to win. Now, what do I stand firm? He says, "Just stand strong, stand firm." How do I stand strong? How do I stand firm? There's so much in this chapter, I couldn't even put it all on

the outline. So, look up here on the screen, verse 20 says this. Here's how you stand strong. "Put your faith in God, and you'll be able to stand firm. "Have faith in His prophets, and you will succeed." Now, as your coach, as your pastor, that's what I'm praying for you every day. I'm praying that you'll be able to stand firm in life, you won't fall over, and I'm praying that you'll succeed. I pray for your success in life. My goal is to help you be successful In every area of your life. And He tells us

there how you do it. Well, the way you get stability is by putting your faith in God, His character, and the way you get success is by putting your faith in what His prophets have said. This is it, it's the Word, and the more you get in this book, God spoke to us through these prophets. He said if you do that, you're gonna succeed. The more you're in this book, the more you're gonna succeed in life. If you're not in this book, you're gonna make all kinds of mistakes. And God said, "Yeah, you didn't need

to make that one." So, He says stand firm on the character of God, and stand firm on the truth of the Bible. Now, here's the fourth step, the fourth thing you do in a breakthrough prayer. There are five things, and you can do this every day in these little five-minute things. Thank God in advance for the answer. Thank God in advance for the answer. And the reason I chose this particular story from the Bible Is 'cause it perfectly illustrates the power of thanking God in advance, before you get the answer. And notice, this is an

unusual battle strategy. George Patton would have fainted if he had been given this order. Verse 21. So, then, based on all of what God had said, "The king appointed musicians and singers in robes," in choir robes, "to march out in front of the army." In front, circle the phrase in front. He appointed musicians and singers to march out In front of the army, "and to loudly praise and thank the Lord," as they're going out to the battle, to the battlefield. It even tells us what they sang. Here's the song, this is what they sang: "We

thank God. "His love never quits!" I think we've got a song like that. His love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me. He's saying, "We thank you, thank you God, "thank you God, we love you, your love is cool, "it's always there." Now, would you agree this is a bizarre way to organize an army? The king goes, "Okay, musicians, "okay, guitars, trumpets, keyboards," they didn't have keyboards then. "Everybody get out here, you're in front. "You're in front of the army, "and let's start marching down to the battlefield." Now, imagine this.

Three enemy nations, three times as many people, on the other hill, and they're looking down And they see this choir in front of the army. They're going, "What is going on?" The Israeli army, the Jews who'd been trained in the forces, they got the army in front, they're going, "Yeah, what is going on?" The choir, who's headed toward the enemy on the front line, going, "Yeah, we'd like to know what's going on, (congregation laughing) "'cause we're the tip of the spear, "and we don't even have any weapons. "I got my little flute. (congregation laughing) "And

we're gonna sing a song, "thank you, God, thank you, God, "we love you, you're great, your love is eternal." What's going on here? It's a symbol. It's a metaphor of the principle. We're thanking God before the battle. We're thanking God in advance. We're puttin' the choir before the army. Okay? Now, prayer and praise, when I praise God, that's verbalized faith. Thank you, God, you're taking care of my bankruptcy. Thank you, God, you're taking care of my pain. Thank you, God, you're taking care of this conflict. Thank you, God, and I'm thanking God in advance. Now,

I want you to notice the power of thanking God in advance. The next verse. Verse 22. "At the moment they began to sing," they're thanking God, "at the moment they began to sing and to praise, "the Lord caused the armies of," these three enemy nations, "Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir "to begin fighting among themselves, "and they destroyed each other." Now, that's cool. They haven't lifted a finger and they win the battle by thanking God in advance. When are you gonna start thanking God for that breakthrough in your life? You've wanted it all your life, but

you haven't been thanking God for it in advance. You've just been begging, like you have to bargain or bribe or pressure God to say yes. God wants to say yes. He's waiting for you to show faith. When are you gonna thank God in advance? When are you gonna put the choir before the army in your life? I know people who come late to church so they miss the music. I'm going, "Are you kidding me?" That's part of putting the choir before the army. You need to sing those songs from your heart 'cause you have no

idea how God is gonna use them during the week. When you thank God in advance, when you praise God in advance, it's not just singing. And by the way, you don't have to sound good. The Bible just says make a joyful noise. Even a pig can do that when it's eating. (congregation laughing) Okay? Some of you are prison singers. You're always behind a few bars, never have the right key. (congregation laughing) But the Bible just says make a joyful noise. Anybody can do that. So, you thank God in advance for the answer. Now, here's the

final part, the fifth part of a breakthrough prayer. This is the kind of prayer I'm teaching you to pray every day for your breakthrough. Number five, expect God to turn battles into blessings. Expect God to turn battles into blessings. I want you to notice what happens when you let God fight your battles. Verse 24 to 26 says this: "When the army of Judah," that's the Israelites, the Jews. You know Jew comes from Judah, you know that, And Judah was one of the largest tribe in Israel. "When the army of Judah finally arrived "at the battleground."

Okay, they're a little late to the party. When they get to the battleground, "the valley was covered with dead bodies." It's already been fought. "For as far as they could see. "No one had survived." So, the battle's been fought. All they had to do was thank God in advance. Nobody had survived. They turned on each other. "So, they went out to gather the plunder," you know, the spoils of war. You know, "We could use those swords, "we could use those clothes. "We could use that cart, we could use those wheels, "all those things." "So, they

went out to gather the plunder, "and they found huge amounts of equipment, and clothing, "and other valuables, more than they could carry back." The material blessing was so big, they couldn't even carry it off in a day. "More than they could carry back. "In fact, there was so much loot," on that battlefield, "it took them three days to collect it." (laughs) That's over an abundance of God's blessing, material blessing. "On the fourth day, they gathered for a worship service "in that valley, which they named The Valley of Beracah, "Beracah, because the people had thanked "and

praised God there." The word berakh means to bless in Hebrew. The word berakhah means a blessing. And the valley, The Valley of Bitterness, the Valley of Burden, the Valley of Battles, was renamed the Valley of Blessing. God wants you to live your life in the Valley of Blessing, not in the Valley of Battles. God wants you to live your life in the Valley of Beracah, the Valley of Blessing, where there's so much blessing, it takes you three days to carry off the spoils of war. It's super abundance, it's overabundant. God doesn't want you to live

in the battleground, in the Valley of Battles. You've been fightin' this battle against your parents, or your spouse, or your kids, or the teachers at school, or your boss, and you're in battle after battle after battle after battle. God says, "I don't want you in the Valley of Battles. "I want you in the Valley of Blessing. "And I wanna bless you so much, "it takes you two or three days "to carry off all the spoils." Because they thanked and praised God there, they renamed the valley. Now, that tells us the three results Of a breakthrough

prayer. The first thing is you get more blessing than you can handle. You're praying now to the end of the year, basically. You're praying for a breakthrough in your life. You say, "How am I gonna know when I've had a breakthrough?" Oh, you'll know it. You'll know it. If you don't know it, it's not a breakthrough. It's so big, it's so cool, it's so amazing, you'll go, "God did that." It's not one of these ones, well, That was kind of a cool little thing, but maybe I could explain it away as a coincidence, or maybe

I just did this. No, no, no, when there's a breakthrough, you just go, "The only way that could have happened "is God did it." And that's what I'm praying for you, and that's what I'm gonna teach you how to pray for others in the church, and 18,000 homes are gonna be praying for you, so something should be happening in your life. He says there's more blessing than they can handle, Outdone expectations. God wants you to live in the Valley of Blessing. The second thing that you know you've had a breakthrough is you love God more,

and you wanna worship him more. Because when God does that kind of thing in your life, He just did for these people, you go, "God, you are too cool, you are so great. "You are so wonderful." People say, "I don't think I love God enough." No, you don't realize how much He loves you. When you realize how much He loves you, you're gonna love Him. You're gonna love Him 'cause nobody loves you like God loves you. It makes you wanna worship God more. Look at this verse on the screen, verse 27. "Then, Jehoshaphat led his

troops back to Jerusalem "where they joyfully celebrated," that's called a party, folks, "they joyfully celebrated the great victory "that God had given to them." In these 34 days, we're gonna have some parties break out in this church. And when you have your breakthrough, Inside your program each week, you can write, write it, and we're gonna share your story with everybody else. I've already received a bunch of these from people who said, "There was no way this could have happened "except I'd been praying three times a day, "the way God wants me to pray, for a

breakthrough." And so, you share your breakthrough story, and it makes you wanna worship God. It makes you wanna give thanks. It works out great that we're at Thanksgiving time while we're studying this. Today, we're giving our thanksgiving offerings. Why do we do this? I don't know why you do it, I'll tell you why I do it. I give a thanksgiving offering to God every Thanksgiving. First, God says to do it in the Bible, but there are three reasons: past, present, and future. Any time I give, I give back to God for three reasons. First, in

gratitude for the past. God, I wouldn't have anything I've got if it weren't for you. I wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for you. I wouldn't have air to breathe. I wouldn't have a brain to think. Everything comes from you. So, I give in gratitude for the past. Then, I give to make sure my priorities are right in the present. Whatever you want God to bless, you put Him first in. Seek first the kingdom of God. God, I'm saying you're number one. You're number one in my time, you're number one in my heart, you're

number one in my day, spend first time with you, you're number one in my money. Whatever I put God first in, He blesses. So, past, gratitude, present, priorities. And then, when I give, it also is a statement of faith in the future. I'm thanking you in advance. Here's my thanksgiving and I'm giving thanks by giving thanks and giving go together. God, I'm giving to you because I know, just like you've taught me in the past, you helped me in the past, you're gonna help me in the future, and you're gonna make what I've got go

further. It's a statement of faith when I'm giving thanks by giving. The Bible says this, up here on the screen. It says, Deuteronomy 16, "Celebrate the Harvest Festival," that's what they were called back before it was called Thanksgiving, thousands of years ago, "to honor the Lord, your God, "by bringing Him a thanksgiving offering "in proportion to the blessing He's given you." So there, we do that. Now, the third benefit, the third benefit, when you have a breakthrough, makes me love God more, More blessing than I can handle, third one is, this is cool, unbelievers start

noticing. And the people who don't know God around you start going, "What is going on in her life? "Look at that man, he has some kind of blessing. "He's got favor of God on his life. "I mean, if he's got the same problems, "that family has the same problems we do. "They're just handling them a whole lot better. "What gives, what's with this?" Unbelievers take notice, and when you have a breakthrough in your life, it is a witness to unbelievers. It is a witness to people who don't know God yet. It is a testimony. God

gets honored. And you get blessed, God gets honored. Look at this, last verse on the screen here, verse 29. It says, "When the nations surrounding Israel "heard how God had fought and defeated the enemies "of His people, those nations were all afraid to attack." I guess so. Yeah, yeah, that choir before the army thing, well, let's try that one. They were afraid to attack. "So, Jehoshaphat enjoyed peace and security "for the rest of his reign as king." I like that. That's what I'm praying for you. Wouldn't you like to have peace and security for the

rest of your life? Breakthrough prayer. Breakthrough prayer. Not any other way. Let's bow our heads. I'm gonna pray for you, but I want you to pray too. Let me ask you first, where do you need a breakthrough? If you don't know, how can God give it? God brought you to be a part of this church at this particular time in history 'cause He has a breakthrough for you. He wouldn't have brought you here today to just listen to this and not experiencing it. The fact that you're here means God is saying, He's signaling to you,

"I wanna do a breakthrough." You need to get that clear in your mind. What am I asking God to do? And then you can use this outline as a guide for your prayer times, three times a day, Between now and Christmas Eve. Let me ask you, do you know Jesus Christ? If you don't, I'll lead you in a prayer in just a minute. You can do this, you can have a breakthrough in your own heart. And while we're at it, let me ask you, what gift are you gonna give at Thanksgiving to express your gratitude

for the past, your priorities in the present, and your faith in God in the future? Father, I pray for our congregation. I pray for our family, the family called Saddleback. As I look out on all these people, I love these people, but you love them even more than I do. And I'm asking you to do things that only you can do. Lord, we're not asking you to do stuff that we can take care of ourselves. We're not asking you to do things just so we could be lazy. Lord, all of us have problems that are

uncontrollable. We have things in our lives that are unmanageable. We've tried. We have things in our life that are unknowable, we can't figure it out, But it's not a problem to you. So, I'm asking, on the behalf of my family here, my flock, our body of Christ together, that you do breakthroughs in the days and the weeks, and even months, ahead, because of the prayers that are gonna be prayed between now and Christmas. Now, you pray. Say Lord, help me to start my prayers focusing on you, not my problems. Help me to remember your greatness

and your power. And help me to remember your promises And remind you of them. God, you're great, God, you're strong. God, there's nothing too hard for you. God, you're all-powerful, you're all-knowing. You knew every problem I'd have long before I was even born. And God, are you not the God of heaven, who can do anything? And God, did you not help me in the past? And have you not made promises to me? And will you not do it again? I'm asking you for a breakthrough. And God, I'm being as honest as I can, that I'm

looking to you, not to a consultant, not to myself, not to anybody else. I'm powerless. I can't change this thing on my own. I don't even know what to do, but I'm looking to you for help. And I'm willing to stand before the Lord, three times a day, just waiting and watching and listening. Help me to listen to what you say in your Word, to make sure that I'm in the Bible every single day, so that I'm gettin' that soul food to grow spiritually. Lord, I thank you for the things that you said in the

past that you're saying to me today, to relax, to not be afraid or discouraged. Thank you, God, that it's your battle, and you've got it. You'll handle it. Help me to just keep serving in the position you put me in, to discover my place of service, and help me to just wait and watch and see what you do. And God, today, I wanna thank you in advance. I'm gonna stop begging you for this answer, And I'm just gonna start praising you and thanking you in advance for the answer. Thank you, Lord, that the check's in

the mail, that the answer's already on its way. I'm going to expect you to turn the battles into blessings. I'm gonna expect you to bless me in a way that I can't even handle it, and that I will give more back to you as you give more to me, and as I give more to you, you give more to me, and I learn the blessing of generosity, thanksgiving. And I pray that my life will cause unbelievers to notice That my breakthrough, that the blessings on my life are so great, that people wanna know you too.

If you've never asked Jesus Christ into your heart, say Jesus Christ, come into my heart and life right now. You be the manager of all the unmanageable things in my life. You be the controller, the CFO, the CEO of my life, the chairman of the board. You be the Lord. I wanna learn to trust you, I wanna learn to love you. I wanna learn to have a friendship with you in the days ahead. And I ask all of this because of what Jesus Christ did when he came at Christmas, and rose again after his death

at Easter. And so, I pray this in his name, amen.