This is Pastor Rick Warren’s Daily Hope. If you’re new, we’re so glad you found us. And if you’re a daily, daily hoper, welcome back.
Today, we’re going to continue with our series called 40 Days of Prayer. Such a great series because Rick is going to help you cultivate a powerful prayer life so you can experience breakthroughs. Breakthroughs in your relationships, breakthroughs in finances, health, and really every area of your life.
So don’t miss a day of this life-changing series. All right, here comes Pastor Rick with the final part of a message called Praying in Five Dimensions.
Where do you start in this third dimension of I pray and I ask God for helping me as I look within? Where do you start? Well, you might start with the fruit of the spirit.
Galatians 5, 22, and 23, that’s a good verse to write down. Galatians 5, 22, and 23 are called the nine fruit of the spirit. And it says the fruit of the spirit are these things.
Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. I’d like all those things in my life. I’d like to be more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more patient.
I’d like to be more self-controlled. There’s not a thing on that list I don’t want. What is it?
It’s the perfect picture of Jesus. And so, you say, Jesus, you’re in me. Show me what needs to change, and start producing some fruit in my life today.
Help me to be a little bit more loving today. A little more joyful today. A little more at peace.
A little more patient. And every day, that could be a godly checklist, because it’s just a picture of Jesus. Jesus produced some fruit in me today.
Okay, number four. I did a backward look at the cross. I did an upward look at the Father’s face.
I do an inward look at Christ in me. Then number four, fourth dimension, I look around, and I ask the Holy Spirit to use me. This is the fourth dimension of prayer.
And I like to do this, I just say, you’ve heard me say this many times, that the most dangerous prayer you can pray is just two words, use me. I dare you to pray that prayer and meet it. Because if you get usable, God will wear you out.
The world is waiting. So you just take the fourth look, you look around, and you look at the world around you, and you say, Holy Spirit, show me where you want to use me today. And instead of criticizing the world, or complaining about the world, or judging the world, that doesn’t work, or whining about the world, or, for heaven’s sake, blogging about what’s wrong with the world, why don’t you just say, Holy Spirit, show me what’s wrong and show me how I can make a difference.
Use me. I dare you to pray that prayer. That’s the fourth dimension prayer.
Romans six, verse 13. Give yourself completely to God, every part of you, since you’ve been given a new life, and you want to be used. There’s nothing like it.
You want to be used as a tool in the hands of God, used for his goods purposes. That’s a purpose-driven life right there. God says, I want to use you for my purposes.
And there’s nothing, friends, if you’ve never felt what it feels like to be used by God, I pity you. It’s better than sex. It’s better than food.
It’s better than anything. When you know, I am doing exactly what God made me to do. I’m in my niche.
I’m doing what God made me to do. This is why I was born. I was made for this.
That’s the fourth kind of prayer. God, use me the way you want to use me. Use me anyway you want to use me.
I don’t know who I’m supposed to say this to, but somebody here listening, the world is waiting for your contribution.
I don’t know what it is, but we live in a world that desperately needs your help. When the world is waiting for your contribution, I’m making my contribution, are you? You were made for more.
You were made for more. And you need to pray the fourth dimension prayer. God, use me.
I don’t even know where. But look around. When you find a need, and you have an interest, or you’ve got an ability, guess what?
Those things fit. Backwards to the cross, upwards to the father, inward for examination and to communicate with Christ in me. And then around me at the world and go, Lord, where can you use me today?
Stop trying to do something great. Stop trying to do something great with your life. Just do normal things with a great amount of love.
And God will bless that. By the way, I didn’t think that one up. That’s from Mother Teresa.
Don’t, you know, stop trying to find some significant place to serve. Make what you’re doing significant. Because you’re pouring your heart into it.
And God will notice. That’s the fourth dimension. The world’s waiting for your contribution.
The world needs your help. And by the way, the best launch pad is your church family. Because we’ll give you the support here.
Finally, there’s the fifth dimension. And it is this. I look forward.
I look forward to my future in faith. I look forward to my future in faith. And now, in my prayer, I’ve looked at the past, I’ve looked up, I’ve looked within, I’ve looked around, and now I’m looking forward.
Now is the time to talk to God about my schedule today, this week, this month, this year, the next 10 years, my 20 year plan, my life goal. Now is the time to talk to God. Abba, daddy, papa.
This is stuff God wants you to talk about. Any parent loves to hear their child talk about their dreams. Any good parent.
God wants to hear your plans, your thoughts, your ideas, your dreams. You talk to your father about the day ahead of you. And you say some stuff like, father, Abba, would you help me prioritize?
I got 19 things to do today. I’m not gonna get them all done. Help me to prioritize.
Show me what matters most. Father, help me to make the right decisions in the right way. Father, help me to have the energy.
Help me to know who I should contact who’s got the wisdom that can help me pull this off. Lord, I’m going into a meeting. What should I say?
Father, help me to have a tough skin and a tender heart. Help me to be tender without surrender. You know, you can read a lot of self-help books that talk about one of the common suggestions for people in personal development is you should build a mastermind council.
A personal mastermind council that coach your life. Well, that’s not a bad idea. I’m not against that.
But can I recommend some members? How about the Trinity? Put the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit on your mastermind council.
You’ll make a whole lot fewer mistakes. You say, come on, Rick. How do they coach?
Oh, they have an incredible foolproof manual.
And it’s all been written out. You just have to read it.
The more you use this book, the more confident you’re gonna be in life. besides, ultimately, as God’s child, your father has already rigged the system. Did you know this?
You’re not gonna get everything you want in life. I’m not telling you that at all. But I’m telling you this, what God wired you for and made you for and wants you to accomplish what he wants you to be in your life, it’s already been wired.
Look at this next verse. Philippians 1, 6. I am confident of this, that God who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
You can go to the bank with that one, folks. I am confident of this, that God who began a good work in you just started a little tiny bit, he will continue to complete it. It’s not dependent upon you.
He will continue to complete it. He will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Why?
Because God does not sponsor flops.
Now this five dimensional praying, it’s just another way. I’m just giving you another way to freshen up your prayer life. But you know that the five things I just shared with you are all brought to us in remembrance in communion.
Jesus gave us a tool to remember these five dimensions. It’s called the Lord’s Supper. It’s called communion.
It’s called the Eucharist. And the first question I want to ask is, what is the purpose? You know about communion.
If you’ve grown up in a church or you’ve ever been to a church, you know people take the symbols of wine and bread or juice and bread as the symbols of the body and blood of Christ. When Jesus transformed the Passover into the Lord’s Supper, he announced the reason, the purpose for it. Twice, he says, do this to remember me.
This is a reminder. Communion is a reminder to… What we’re gonna do now in the last five minutes is take a visible symbol of everything I just taught you.
I want to show it to you. It’s a reminder of a memory tool. What specifically are we to remember?
Well, in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul explains that communion teaches us five very important truths. Guess which one they are? I just taught them to you.
First, he says communion reminds us to check our hearts. That’s the third dimension of prayer. Notice there, that verse, 1 Corinthians 11.
Paul is talking to the people in Corinth, the Church of Corinth, and he’s talking about the Lord’s Supper, and he says this. Pay attention, if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That’s a big deal.
This is why, notice, you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. Third dimension. We just talked about that.
You should examine yourself. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without recognizing, in other words, committing to, the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment on yourself. Whoa.
This is not something light. That’s why many of you are weak or sick, and some of you even died. So there are consequences.
But if we examine, if we examine and judge ourselves, into me see. If we examine and judge ourselves, we’re not going to be judged by God. Good news.
Now, this says we are not to take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. None of us are worthy of the Lord’s Supper. It’s all by God’s grace.
But he’s saying, it’s only for those who have accepted the gift of Christ’s salvation. If you haven’t accepted Christ in your life, please do not take the Lord’s Supper, because it’s worse off for you, not better. It has no meaning, it has no power.
In fact, it’s wrong for you to take the symbols of Jesus dying for you and then rejecting Jesus dying for you. So I’m not sure if I’ve ever really accepted. Then we will confirm that in just a second, all right?
He says, examine ourselves and judge ourselves, then we won’t be judged by God. Let me give you a chip. Memorize Psalm 139, 23, and 24, so that in the Lord’s Supper, or on a daily basis, you can pray this prayer.
Look up here on the screen, here’s what it is. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts.
And see if there’s any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. I quote that every time I come to the third dimension in prayer. Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Test me, try me, and know my thoughts, anxious thoughts. See if there’s anything offensive in my life. Show it to me.
And lead me in the way everlasting. If you’ll pray that prayer, memorize that, that’s like a soap bar verse. Every Christian should memorize that verse, so you can use it in prayer.
Search me, God, know my heart. Entomacy, intimacy. So first, communion reminds us to check our hearts.
But then communion reminds us of the five transforming truths we just talked about. So fill this in, all right? I’m not gonna teach you on this, but I will read the verses.
Number one, five great truths that we learn from communion. No one loves me more. No one loves us more than our father, our heavenly father.
We just talked about that in detail. Nobody loves us more than our father in heaven. And the cross proves it.
Paul says, for I received from the Lord what I passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, this is my body.
Which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In other words, it’s a memory tool.
In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it. In remembrance of me.
I’ve written a couple questions I want you to consider later on this week. When, in other words, the time of the day of the situation, when am I most likely to forget how much my heavenly father loves me? You need to know.
Is it Friday nights? Is it Monday morning? Is it in a certain tempting situation?
When am I most likely to forget how much my heavenly father loves me? How about this question? What sin or sins do I habitually fall into when I forget God’s love for me?
You realize that’s a source of everything that happens wrong in your life. We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. He says, God loves you.
Now, there’s a second great truth, and it’s this. We belong to each other in God’s family. Communion says not only does God love me more than I will ever understand, that’s the cross, but we belong to each other in God’s family.
That’s why we take communion. Now, in Corinth, there were three big problems in that church, and it was ruined in the Lord’s Supper. And when Paul is writing this to these people, he says, you got three problems, guys.
Number one, you got members in your church with unresolved conflict, and you’re not right with each other. He said, how can you have a happy church? How can you have a harmonious family?
How can you have unity and harmony when you have people in the church arguing with each other? They’re disagreeing, they’re taking sides, they’re even fighting with each other. That’s a problem.
He said, the second problem you got is you’re acting like the Lord’s Supper is just for individuals. Everybody please look up here. The Lord’s Supper is not for individuals.
Now once in scripture, does it ever say, take the Lord’s Supper on your own? Not once. Why do you think they call it communion?
It’s communal. It’s community. It is only to be taken with other people.
Never in scripture are you ever, ever commanded to take the Lord’s Supper. How can you have communion by yourself? It is the symbol that we’re part of the body of Christ.
You can take it in a small group. The Bible says where two or three people are, that’s community. But nowhere in scripture is it says take the Lord’s Supper on your own.
Not once. There may be people who do it, but it’s not in the Bible. In this church, we teach what the Bible says.
They’re acting like the Lord’s Supper was for individuals and it’s not shocking to you, not a single time in the Bible does it ever say take communion on your own. You’re part of a body. And communion actually says you’re part of a body.
That’s why we take it with each other. The third problem in this church was that they were oblivious to the needs of other people and their own family. And there were some really rich people and some really poor people and they weren’t taking care of each other.
And there were some people who were coming and eating and other people were hungry. Here’s what he says. 1 Corinthians 11.
I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church. So when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you’re eating because as you eat it, each one of you goes ahead without waiting on anybody else. And then he says here, one member goes hungry while another gets drunk.
Obviously, they didn’t have Celebrate Recovery in that church. By the way, notice something here. It says when you meet as a church, circle the word meet, and it says when you come together, you can’t have church without meeting.
You can’t have church without coming together. There’s, I’m a part of the church, where do you meet? I don’t meet anywhere.
Where do you come together? Then you’re not a part of a church. Church means you have to come together.
You have to meet. You meet as a church when you come together. It says not the Lord’s Supper.
It says, so here’s some questions to ask yourself. What issue or issues have I made more important than being in harmony and unity with my brothers and sisters and God’s family? When you come to church, it should be harmony and unity.
Not politics, which divides. Not a lot of other stuff, which divides. What issue has become more important to me than my fellow Christians?
I want to go ahead and tell you that. Would God be pleased where your loyalty has been? 1 Corinthians 11, 33.
So, dear brothers and sisters, when you gather at the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. Now, there’s a larger principle here. He said, the church should be the one place where we put each other’s needs ahead of our own.
Can I give any example where I put the needs of my brothers and sisters in my church family ahead of my own? Can I give any example? Do I know of anybody in our church in need?
We say, well, I don’t know any. Well, talk to me. The third great truth, Lord’s Supper teaches us, God loves me completely.
We belong to each other in God’s family. The third thing is that the Spirit of Jesus lives inside of me. The Spirit of Jesus lives inside of me.
That’s what communion says. In John 6, 56, 57, those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. Remember, it’s a symbol.
In remembrance of me. The living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. Question, what happens when I forget this fact?
When I forget that Christ lives in me? Number four, fourth big truth. In the five dimensions, this life is not the end of the story.
Did you know the communion teaches that? This life is not the end of the story? John six, Jesus said, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
But those who do eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. This is not the end of the story. There’s more to life than just here and now.
So am I using my time? Am I using my money? As if that’s all that matters is this life.
Am I investing anything in the next life? Or am I going to spend eternity? What would have changed if I kept reminding myself to ask, how long is this going to last?
Friends, I’m giving you some really tough questions, and I hope you’re not going to throw them away. I hope you’re not going to lay them aside. I hope you’ll ask yourself these in your prayer time.
The fifth thing we get from the Lord’s Supper is this. Jesus is coming back one day to judge and reward. Jesus is going to come back one day to judge and reward.
And Paul tells us in verse 26, every time you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death, that’s past, until he comes again. That’s in the future. There’s a past look, there’s a present look, and there’s a forward look in community.
What’s that called? Multidimensional. Let’s bow our heads for prayer.
If you’ve never opened your life to Jesus Christ, he loves you so much it hurts. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for you. Would you accept it right now?
Would you say, Jesus Christ, I don’t understand it all, but as much as I know how, I surrender my life to you? Just say that in your heart, Jesus Christ, I don’t understand it all, but as much as I know how, I surrender my life to you. I want to know the purpose you made me for.
I want to live the kind of life you made possible.
I want my past to be forgiven.
Hi, everybody, this is Rick, and I hope you enjoyed today’s broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time, or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you let me know about it? There’s something real about sharing your commitment.
So write me, Rick, at pastorrick.com, and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment, I gave my life to Christ, and I’ll send you some material that’ll help you on your journey with Jesus, and I’ll also pray for you. God bless you.
I am so grateful for that message by Rick, and I hope you are too. And now here’s Rick to tell you how you can partner with Daily Hope to take the Word of God to the world.
There are nearly 8 billion people on this planet, and God wants us to reach every one of them with the Gospel. Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you. And surely I’m with you always to the very end of the age.
That’s called the Great Commission. It often seems like mission impossible, but if we’ll work together to fulfill the Great Commission, God will turn it into the Great Completion. You know, the Bible says that in heaven, an enormous crowd of people from every race, every tribe, every nation, and every language will one day stand before Jesus Christ to worship him.
That’s in Revelation chapter 7, verse 9. And that’s why I’m asking you, friends, to partner with Daily Hope by becoming a partner in hope. What is a partner in hope?
Well, right now, we’re able to take the good news of Jesus into almost every country of the world, including regions where it’s difficult or dangerous to share the gospel. But thanks to your prayers and your financial support, we reach millions of people around the world every month through radio, the internet, podcasting, TV, and we’re translating Daily Hope into 25 languages that enable us to reach over 80% of the world’s population. That’s because of your faithfulness.
And yet, there are still billions of people that need to hear about the hope we find in Jesus. So please, pray about becoming a partner of hope today. Partners in hope provide vital monthly support that will help us reach millions more people around the world, including these regions we’re going to that have no Bibles, no believers, and no bodies of Christ.
If God puts it on your heart, then please, join us. Become a partner of hope today. With your first monthly donation, we’ll send you a special gift to welcome you to the partner in hope family.
Now, there’s nothing more important that we can do together. Than to make sure people all around the world hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and have a chance to grow in God’s word. Join us today as a partner in hope.
It’s easy to become a partner in hope with convenient automated monthly giving. You just go to pastorrick.com or text the word hope to 70309. And when you do, we’ll send you a special welcome gift to say thanks.
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We hope you’ll join us next time as we look into God’s word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
