Awakening Through Prayer: Spiritual Discernment, Growth, and the Battle Against Autopilot

 

Key Points

• Spiritual discernment was described as the ability to distinguish truth from error, good from evil, which cannot be found with natural eyes but only through seeking God through the Holy Spirit.
• Prayer was identified as essential for spiritual growth, with Wayne explaining that it opens doors to spiritual insights, growth, and gifts that can be awakened or refined through consistent prayer.
• The sermon referenced Matthew 13:14-15, highlighting how people's hearts can become hardened, preventing them from truly hearing God's message and being healed.
• Wayne shared personal experiences about struggling with prayer, including his battle with sleep apnea that makes consistent prayer difficult, yet emphasized the importance of trying despite physical limitations.
• A key message conveyed was that Christians should pray not only for themselves but increasingly for others, using their own experiences as a foundation for how to pray for people facing similar challenges.
• The speaker warned about spiritual autopilot, comparing it to driving without awareness, and emphasized the danger of not being alert in the spiritual realm where the enemy is always waiting for opportunities.
• Ephesians 6:18 was cited to reinforce the instruction to "pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion," emphasizing persistent prayer for believers everywhere, especially those being persecuted.
• Wayne addressed three common misconceptions about prayer: that it's doing nothing while thinking you're helping, that prayers are useless to dead children, and that God's plans are unimportant enough to change based on human requests.
• John 10:10 was referenced to explain how the enemy works to steal hope, kill faith, and ultimately destroy a person's future by making them believe God is the problem.
• The sermon concluded with an emphasis that thoughts and prayers are powerful weapons for Christians, with everything starting as a thought that prayer can bring to life if aligned with God's will.

Summary

Spiritual Discernment and Understanding

• Discernment involves the ability to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil, and what aligns with God's perfect will versus what does not.

• Spiritual insight and understanding cannot be found through natural eyes but must be obtained by seeking God through the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit was sent to reveal everything to believers as long as they seek Him diligently in spirit and truth.
• Jesus promised to answer anything asked in His name, but the motivation and alignment with God's will must be considered first.

Building Relationship with God Through Prayer

• Getting close to God requires spending time with Him through dialogue and prayer, similar to building relationships with spouses or friends.

• Wayne described sitting in his room, placing a chair in front of him, and asking Jesus to sit there while he poured his heart out without expecting immediate answers.
• Trust must be developed in the one you believe you're talking to, which requires encouragement and enforcement of faith.
• Through this strong relationship, believers gain the ability to make wiser decisions and recognize lies more easily.

Transformation Through God's Word

• Romans 12:2 explains that believers should not copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform them into new people by changing the way they think.

• The closer one gets to God, the more what bothers God will begin to bother the believer.
• Hearts begin feeding with desire and hunger for God rather than worldly things.
• Wayne shared his experience with video games, explaining how his desire for them slowly faded after accepting Jesus, though he still occasionally struggles with the temptation.

Spiritual Growth and Change Process

• Believers begin to die in their flesh while their spirit starts to thrive, though this change happens so slowly that individuals often cannot see it themselves.

• Others who see believers periodically can notice the changes more easily than the person experiencing them.
• Wayne recounted how a friend pointed out changes in him that he hadn't noticed during his struggle after divorce.
• Believers should not fight this transformation but let God do His great work in their lives.

Desperation for Spiritual Change

• Wayne emphasized the importance of being desperate for change, comparing it to the woman with the issue of blood who crawled through crowds to touch Jesus' robe.

• This woman had tried everything else and spent all her money seeking healing before turning to Jesus in desperation.
• Wayne shared his own experience of becoming desperate for change after his divorce, leading him to dive deeper into Bible study and prayer.
• Believers must reach a point where they are sick and tired of feeling the way they feel and become hungry for God's answers.

Jesus' Call to Wake Up and Pray

• Matthew 26:40-45 shows Jesus finding His disciples sleeping when He asked them to watch and pray with Him during His time of need.

• Jesus is calling believers to wake up spiritually and engage in earnest prayer rather than remaining spiritually asleep.
• Wayne acknowledged his own struggles with sleep apnea and the physical challenges of waking up to pray, but emphasized the importance of making the effort.
• Even pastors and apostles struggle with maintaining long prayer sessions, so believers should not beat themselves up over their limitations.

Prayer as Spiritual Nourishment

• Prayer serves as the life form for believers' spiritual bodies, just as food nourishes physical bodies.

• Prayer can open doors, shut doors that should never be opened, provide spiritual insights, and awaken or refine spiritual gifts.
• The only way to feed the spirit is through God by praying and seeking help from the Holy Spirit.
• Believers must be willing to sacrifice fleshly desires, wants, needs, and personal desires to put God first and foremost.

Dangers of Spiritual Autopilot

• Wayne compared spiritual sleepiness to driving on autopilot, where people arrive at destinations without remembering how they got there.

• This spiritual autopilot is dangerous because the enemy is always lurking and waiting for opportunities when believers are not spiritually alert.
• Satan looks for those who are asleep at the wheel of their own lives, seeking to devour or destroy them.
• Believers need to wake up before they crash spiritually, which could lead them back to worldly ways or even worse conditions.

Persistent Prayer for Others

• Ephesians 6:18 calls believers to pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion, staying alert and persistent in prayers for all believers everywhere.

• Wayne emphasized praying for believers in countries where they face imprisonment, torture, and execution for their faith.
• Believers should use their own struggles and experiences as foundations for praying for others who face similar challenges.
• The Holy Spirit will guide believers in their prayers and show them what to pray for, even revealing people who need prayer through dreams and spiritual promptings.

Power of Thoughts and Prayer

• Thoughts become the foundation and formation of one's world, creating everything within and around individuals.

• Thoughts when first waking up can create the flow of an entire day, whether positive or negative.
• Thoughts have the power to bring things to life through actions and prayers, and they can shatter through all boundaries and possibilities.
• Prayers and thoughts shape the world around believers in ways they cannot fathom, not because of what they do, but because of the God they serve.

Spiritual Vision and God's Plans

• Wayne used a physical demonstration to show how human vision is limited compared to what God can see and has planned for believers.

• Humans can only see so far physically and spiritually, but God has prepared things beyond their current vision.
• Believers must get on their knees in prayer to be able to see past their current limitations and access what God has for them.
• God may have great things prepared, but believers are often too spiritually blind to see past their immediate circumstances.

Attacks on Prayer and Faith

• The enemy is poisoning the world and causing people to believe lies about prayer and God's ways, leading to the removal of prayer from public spaces.

• Wayne identified three specific attacks he researched including the idea that prayer is doing nothing while still thinking you're helping, that thoughts and prayers are useless to dead children, and that God's plans are so unimportant that He'll change them if asked.
• These attacks attempt to undermine the power and importance of prayer in society and among believers.

Constitutional and Religious Freedom Issues

• The separation of church and state principle is being used as a weapon against Christians to remove God from schools and public spaces.

• Christians are being accused of undermining the Constitution while simultaneously being told they cannot exercise their religious freedom.
• Wayne referenced the movie "God's Not Dead 2" and various court cases where Christians faced legal challenges for simply answering questions about Jesus or expressing their faith.
• The enemy is manipulating constitutional principles to be used against believers while forcing them to accept opposing viewpoints.

Enemy's Strategy to Steal, Kill, and Destroy

• According to John 10:10, the enemy's goal is to steal hope, kill faith, and destroy futures.

• Hope represents feelings of expectation and desire for certain things to happen, and when the enemy steals hope, people become lost and unable to see past their pain and disappointments.
• When hope dies, faith in God's ability to accomplish or grant those hopes begins to die as well.
• Without faith, people have nothing to look forward to and begin to believe that God is the problem, ultimately destroying the future they were meant to have.

God as the Ultimate Solution

• God's name "I Am" signifies that He is anything and everything believers need in any situation.

• Whether believers need comfort, provision, peace, or healing, God declares Himself as the answer to every need.
• The Bible serves as the ultimate instruction manual containing everything believers need to navigate life's challenges.
• Everything believers go through is somehow addressed in the Bible, though it may not be immediately apparent and may take years to discover, as Wayne experienced with learning about self-forgiveness.

Next Steps

• Believers need to wake up spiritually and engage in persistent, earnest prayer both for themselves and others around the world.

• The church must recognize the enemy's attacks on prayer and faith in society and respond by strengthening their prayer lives and relationship with God.
• Christians should use their personal struggles as foundations for interceding for others facing similar challenges while trusting God to reveal His plans beyond their current spiritual vision.