If you have a Bible, we are going to be in Luke 17 today. The title of the message is,

Something Came Up. That's what we say when we need to explain our absence, right?

When we didn't show up for a friend in a way that we had maybe committed to or intended to,

and we're then like trying to explain it to them, we will tell them, I meant to, I was going to,

but then what do we say? We say, something came up. It kept me from doing what it was in my heart to do. I want to

teach you today what to do when you have a downcast soul. What to do when you're down in the dumps,

what to do when you find yourself low? We're talking in

these weeks about prayer, and specifically how to harness and utilize the different sorts of

prayer, the different types of prayer, the different opportunities we have to pray, and the fact, even just that the knowledge is power, that there are different styles of prayer, the different opportunities we have to pray, and the fact, even just the knowledge

is power that there are different styles of prayer that Scripture talks about. When we don't

pray, I don't believe it's because we're bad people, right? Now, we end up doing bad things

because we don't pray, but that's a different line of thinking.

I want to free you from the self-flagellation that creeps into all of us when we consider how powerful prayer is, but how little we use it.

There's nothing in the universe that has a greater disproportionate

relationship than the power of prayer and how infrequently we actually utilize the power of prayer,

right? Nothing in your life could propel you further in your relationship with God that you

use little, littler, less.

But when we don't pray, I don't believe it's because we're bad.

It's simply because in those moments we were busy.

Right?

It's not that I don't want to pray.

It's not that I don't mean to pray.

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