If it’s bad, pray about it. It can’t hurt.

Steve Brown:
If it’s bad, pray about it. It can’t hurt. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life, here to communicate the freeing truth that God’s not mad at His children. Steve invited our friend Jerry Parries to teach this week. Jerry is the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center, House of Grace and the author of Grace: The Real Good News of the Gospel.

Steve Brown:
If you’re just joining us, my friend, Dr. Jerry Parries is with us. He is like light in the darkness. Every time, you know, he’s going, if you were listening at the beginning of the week, he been through a really rough time over the last very few weeks. Two of his sisters died and his niece died. So, when he talks about going through hard times, he is not talking about them, he’s talking about him. He’s been there, and he’s done that, and this stuff is truth, and it worked for him, and it’ll work for you. Now, on Monday, we said, look for the joy. Yesterday, if you were listening, we talked about don’t cuss and spit, stop and think about God’s faithfulness in the past. Now today, Jerry, talk some more about maybe prayer and stuff like that.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, well, we’re coming from Philippians 4 and 4. Maybe somebody is listening to us for the first day. We’re talking about what is hallway experiences. My brother in-law gave me a story one time that he was really depressed and he was going through and I told him God never closes the door that he doesn’t open up a window. He said, brother in-law, I don’t have a problem with God closing the door. I don’t have a problem with God open up the window. It’s the hallways that get me. And so, we’ve been talking about how to get through hallways, how to get through the hallways of your life when times are dark, when times are tough, when you’re really having a difficult time, when it doesn’t seem like that God is there. Philippians 4 and 4, it gives us what we need to do and that is.

To rejoice in the Lord always.

So, we said point one is you’ve got to find the joy in it. Then 5th verse says.

Let your gentleness be known unto all men.

Why? Because the Lord is at hand. You’ve just got to know that God is there. Let the gentleness of God be in you. And don’t let them see you sweat because God is there. Then we’re going to pick up Steve on verse 6.

Be anxious for nothing.

Point three is don’t worry about a thing because God has you.

Because the Lord is at hand.

But then it says.

But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

That’s point four. Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. Wow. And you know, boy, I love to do this with God. I practiced this, Steve, that I’d make my requests known unto God. Once I make my request known unto God, it is totally in his hands and I accept yes, no, or wait.

Steve Brown:
Because he knows better than you do.

Jerry Parries:
That’s right. That’s right. I don’t give God a request and expect him to give me a yes. Because if I give him a request and tell him that I want a yes, then the yes may not be what God wants for me, because it may not be good for me. So, the Bible says, make your requests known unto God. Request is, here is what I desire. Here is what I want to happen, but the request is made, now you make the decision of what’s best for me.

Steve Brown:
And so, we don’t, as it were, bring a to do list of the King of Kings.

Jerry Parries:
No, not at all. Neither do we do, sometimes in the Kingdom of God, we have bad theology where we say, if I say it, it’s going to happen, cause I said it. Well,

Steve Brown:
Don’t hold your breath.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah. You’ll find out pretty quick that doesn’t fly with God. You know, the Scripture says.

Make your requests known unto God.

And once you make the request, then you leave it up to him to make the decision.

Steve Brown:
And there’s a place of joy once you, you know, there’s an old story about a guy in India who had everything he owned in a suitcase and he was going across the nation. And on the train there were known thieves there, and he realized during the night he had to stay awake. And he did most of the night, but about two in the morning, he couldn’t keep his eyes open for about 50 seconds. He closed his eyes, took a quick nap. When he opened his eyes, he looked up and his suitcase was gone. And he said, thank God, finally, I can get some sleep. So, that’s kind of what you’re saying.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, yeah.

Steve Brown:
You give it to him, you can get some sleep.

Jerry Parries:
And you can find joy. You can find joy in it.

Steve Brown:
Right, and you can find joy in it.

Jerry Parries:
Even in a bad situation. I have a story that’s relative to this.

Make your request known unto God.

My grandson, I use this illustration, this is so powerful.

My grandson, when he was young, he was probably about 8, 9 years old. He loved wrassling. And so, I used to buy him all the wrasslers. And one day I came in the house, he had all of his wrasslers, probably 50 or 60 of them laying on the table. And he said to me, he said, pawpaw he says, I tell you what I want for Christmas. He says, I want these two new wrasslers. And I said, I’m not buying no wrasslers. You got all those wrasslers on the table. I am not buying any wrasslers. You know what he was doing? He was making his request known unto me. He said, pawpaw, he says, but I want the two wrasslers. I said, I’m not buying any wrasslers. So, he walks out the room and I walked, you know, I’m doing whatever I’m doing. He just come past me and he said, Hey, pawpaw. I said, what? He said, thank you for the wrasslers. And he walks, he walks and, and the next day I’m driving him to school. And I’m driving him to school and I’m just going to say, I hope you’re having a good day. He said, pawpaw, I just want to let you know, before I get out of the car, I thank you for the wrasslers. I said, would you get out of the car, you know, next day, I’m coming around and he comes back and he walks past me while I’m watching TV. He said, pawpaw. Want you to know how much I love you, but I thank you for the wrasslers. You know what he got on Christmas?

Steve Brown:
Wrasslers.

Jerry Parries:
He got the wrasslers. He made his requests known and he gave the praise necessary that it touched my heart for me to do what he had requested. And when you make your requests known and begin to give God praise and glory and thanking for it, if it’s good for you, he will give it to you. As he says.

No good thing he’ll withhold from them, that walk of right.

Now, maybe something you requesting that may not be good for you. And you have to say, God, I thank you that you delayed that and did not give that to me because I trust you.

Steve Brown:
Oh Jerry. That’s so good. And you know, we need to remember there’s no limit to the request.

Jerry Parries:
No. No.

Steve Brown:
Somebody went to G. Campbell Morgan and said, is that all right if I pray about little things. And he said, Madam, can you think of anything that isn’t little things to the God of the Universe. So, in everything, you know, I have a list every morning of requests, and I’ve, and you explained to me in what you taught us today. You explained to me why I feel so much better after I tell him. I don’t necessarily think those things are going to happen. They may, they may not, but knowing that he’s my Father and I can trust him, I can thank, and what we’re talking about, we can rejoice.

Jerry Parries:
Yes. Yes. Cause you know that he got you. And these, this is hallway experience. This is when you need God to do it and you need him to, but you just.

Make your requests known unto him.

Here’s what the Philippians says.

Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication

here it is

with Thanksgiving.

So, you’ve got to add that Thanksgiving in there. You’ve got to say, God, I thank you for it in spite of what I see. And when you just, when you begin to give God the praise and glory, he doesn’t need your praise and glory. He needs you to realize that he is the one that is greatly and greatly to be praised. And once you praise him and give him the glory, then it eases your mind that he’s capable. You’ll be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I won’t bow because our God is able, even if he doesn’t deliver us. And once you get to that point in your life, God, you’re able to do it, but even if you don’t deliver us, I’m still going to thank you. Even if you don’t come through, I’m still going to serve you. Even if you don’t make a way, I’m still going to praise you. And when you get that way in your life to make your request known to God, with Thanksgiving, you will find yourself moving through the hallway with joy, even though it’s difficult.

Steve Brown:
You know, I visited a man in a hospital one time, as I often did when I was a pastor. I would say, would you like for me to pray for you? You know what he said to me? No Reverend, it’s not that bad yet. But you’re talking about life, aren’t you? This is kind of like the praying without ceasing. It’s not a formal thing. It’s where we live.

Jerry Parries:
Yes. It’s life be lifeing. You know, life be doing some tough things. And you’ve got to learn how to pray always, you know, as I said, don’t worry about a thing, you know, or don’t worry about anything, but pray about it everything. Let me say that again. Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. And just allow the Lord to take you through those situations because you know, he’s at hand, he’s there, your gentleness, just find the joy in it, relax in it and watch him take you through the hallways. And this is how I’ve been conducting my life. When I get into the hallway, I find joy. When I get into a moment, I let my gentleness, I pray and praise.

Steve Brown:
Such good stuff. And if you’re going through a tough time, take it to heart. Cause as I said, Jerry knows what he’s talking about. He’s been there and done that. And the truth of God’s word works. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Don’t worry, pray. Thank you Steve Brown and Jerry Parries for those words of encouragement from Philippians 4. If those hallway experiences of life are wearing on you, man, you are in the right place. We do still have one more day with Steve and Jerry and that’s tomorrow. Don’t miss it. And by the way, if you’d like to re-listen to any of this week’s broadcast with Steve and Jerry, or maybe something encouraged you and you’d like to share it with a friend. Great news, all of our shows, podcast, articles, and videos can be found at keylife.org hey, and while you’re there take a look at our transcripts, they’re available for each and every episode of Key Life. We use AI to do a first pass on those and then we go back and meticulously double check them by hand, line by line, word by word. Is it a lot of work? Yeah. Is it worth it? Well, yeah, of course it is. And as always, all our features on keylife.org are still there and free thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. If you’d like to send your donation by mail, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Or e-mail [email protected] you can charge a gift on your credit card, you could include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone to give safely and securely by text. Just text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life one word or two. Doesn’t even matter. Key life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.