This sermon emphasizes the importance of shifting our focus from ourselves to God, highlighting the significance of prayer, obedience, and surrender in experiencing an unshakable life. It delves into the power of seeking God's will, forgiveness, and dependence on Him for daily needs, while stressing the need to treat others as we desire God to treat us. The message underscores the impact of living a life centered on God's kingdom and will, leading to a transformed and unshakable existence.

I was seeking the Lord for a word for the coming year. There's nothing sacred about December 31st or January the 1st because calendars were made by man but it was God who determined many thousands of years ago that the earth should go around the sun once in 365 and a quarter days. That was not determined by man. So whatever date you choose whether it's your birthday or December 31st or whatever it is, it's good once in a year to have a checkup on our lives. It doesn't have to be December 31st but that's a convenient date because everybody's emotionally ready to hear what God has to say. One of the things that the Lord says in Hebrews chapter 12 and I believe that this is something that will be more and more true in the coming year. Jesus said in the world you'll have tribulation but in me you will have peace. Tribulation is like you know earthquakes and peace is like stability. In the world you shall have tribulation he said but in me you have peace. John 16 33 and Hebrews 12 we read in verse 26. God's voice shook the earth. That's going back to the time when the law was given on Mount Sinai. The earth shook but now he has promised yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven and this expression yet once more denotes I want you to read listen to this carefully. The removing of everything that can be shaken as of creative things so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. So the coming year is going to be year of shaking. The things which can be shaken will be shaken and things which cannot be shaken will remain. Since we are receiving a kingdom verse 28 that cannot be shaken if you have planted both your feet firmly in the kingdom of God not one foot there and one foot in the kingdom of earth as it is with most believers but if you have planted your feet firmly both feet in the kingdom of God then we have a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Then let us show gratitude. That's how we serve God. It says here by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with the reverence and all. In the old testament they offered service to God out of fear the wrong type of fear fear of judgment if I don't do it God will punish me if I don't pay my tithe God will curse me if I don't give the stipulated offerings I may suffer my children may suffer but in the new covenant it says here we offer acceptable service how by gratitude do you see that word verse 28 gratitude that's not something that comes naturally it's something we have to it comes only when we meditate on how much God has done for us we are basically such selfish creatures that we don't think of expressing gratitude easily we think God owes us a living everybody around us owes us a living and we think we're such great people that we don't think of even giving thanks when people have done something for us it's a very rare thing that I have seen when people are really grateful gratitude is a not thing that you find commonly I mean we know the civilization teaches us to be courteous and to say thank you and sorry and all but gratitude is more than just saying thank you it's a deep attitude in the heart where I'm deeply thankful to God for what he's done for me and only then can I offer an acceptable service to him if my service does not arise out of gratitude it's worthless if it arises because I want to get some reward in heaven or because I want to show others how spiritual I am or get some position in the church or some rubbish like that it's not acceptable it says acceptable service must come out of gratitude and it must be offered with deep reverence for God that's what it says here if our service for God does not come out of deep reverence for him it's not acceptable we unfortunately we have a lot of approaching God today and you see that in some of the choruses that are I don't mean the ones we sing here but a lot of others that are sung in some churches where Jesus is like a buddy a buddy you put your arm around and say hi there's very little reverence and that's why their lives are shaky if you don't have gratitude and you don't have reverence I can assure you your whole life is going to shake in the coming year and let's turn to a passage where Jesus spoke about something that can shake and something that cannot shake in Matthew chapter 7 we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken we want to be both feet in that kingdom in the coming year do you want to go through 365 days in the coming year without being shaken I can think of many things that many things that I faced in my life and ministry particularly in the ministry in what's it 364 days of this year and we've got two more days left to complete the leap year but as far as I can think I can't remember a single day when I was shaken even when some terrible things happen it's fine God is on the throne and I believe we can live a life where 365 days of the year we will not be shaken no matter what happens in our life in our home and in our church it's only God who can do that it says everything created can be shaken if you depend on depend on your created abilities that's what he read in Hebrews 12 that everything created will be shaken even the heavens will be shaken so where are we going to stand but if we have what the Bible calls an indestructible life in us yeah maybe I should show you that verse before you go to Hebrews 7 I hear in Mark Matthew 7 if you're not familiar with that verse it's a lovely verse in Hebrews in chapter 7 where it speaks about an indestructible life in verse 16 he says the Old Testament priests became priests because they belonged to the tribe of Levi a physical requirement no matter how zealous you were you couldn't be a priest in the Old Testament if you didn't belong to the tribe of Levi but in the New Testament he says priesthood is not according to any physical requirement that he must belong to a particular community or nothing physical it's nothing created created will all shake but to the power of an indestructible life something that cannot be destroyed that's the type of life God gives us that's what he gives us through the Holy Spirit I'll tell you something a lot of people who claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit are not filled with the Holy Spirit don't be fooled by it the Holy Spirit it's an absolute insult to say a man's filled to the whole to for a person to claim he's filled with the Holy Spirit and then lose his temper or love money or get bitter or be unforgiving or be anxious what type of Holy Spirit is that it's absolute insult to the Holy Spirit to say I'm filled with the Holy Spirit and to lust after women and watch internet pornography and all the other wretched things that a lot of people who speak in tongues they say they speak in tongues and do all these other things as well it's not the Holy Spirit if you have the Holy Spirit he'll give you an indestructible life a joy that nobody can take away from you a peace that passes understanding these are scriptural verses and the love that passes knowledge so there's an indestructible life that the Holy Spirit gives us so in everything I'm going to say please remember it's the Holy Spirit who's going to make this real in your life and the Holy Spirit will fill you if you yield every area of your life to him he's waiting to fill you a lot of people think that I'm more eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit than God is eager to fill me that's not true I formed a definition of faith which has helped me a lot it's based on scripture but I can't find it in one particular verse it's the overall truth of New Testament one definition of faith there are many definitions but one of them that I found helpful is this to believe that God is more eager to bless me than I am to be blessed you got it God is more eager to fill me with the Holy Spirit than I am to be filled with the Holy Spirit God is more eager to make me holy than I am to be holy God is more eager to cleanse me of all my sin than I am to be cleansed of all my sin God is more eager to help me to live according to the standard in the New Testament than I am eager to live according to that standard that's faith if any of you got the crazy idea that you are more eager for something and God is reluctant and you got to twist his arm and force him and pray and fast and you're not how you don't have faith you don't have faith at all no wonder you don't get anything you can pray all night you won't get anything it's not the length of hours we pray the prophets of Baal prayed for hours they got nothing Elijah prayed for half a minute and look what he got the fire from heaven it's faith and not the type of faith that you read up in books in the Christian bookshops is this type of faith that gives us an indestructible life by the power of the Holy Spirit a life that cannot be destroyed where people throw cold water on you and the fire still burns that's indestructible fire that's the power of the Holy Spirit and if you haven't got that I want to tell you ask God for it and believe believe means believe that he is more eager to give it to you than you are to receive it the sunlight is more eager to come into your room than you are eager you pull a curtain that's why the sunlight doesn't come in so if you pull a curtain or pull the blinds down and say oh sunlight come in come in it's not going to come in and that's exactly how a lot of people are praying for the fullness of the Holy Spirit you can pray for a hundred years the sunlight won't come in if you pull the blinds down pull the curtains there you go where's the sunlight going to come in it's exactly like that I want to urge you don't waste your time praying for the Holy Spirit like that just see if there are areas in your life that you're completely shut off to God rooms in your heart that you don't want Christ to enter and cleanse and get rid of things in your home do you remember in the in Ephesus when Paul preached there was a revival people brought files of books worth hundreds of thousands of rupees and burned it all up think of a day comes in your life when you get rid of everything in your life that's dishonoring to God books and dvds of movies and music and all that Jesus Christ would never want to hear and you don't you give it to the junk man who'll sell it to somebody else but you'll destroy them oh when you're serious I tell you you'll get filled with the Holy Spirit pretty soon when you say Lord take care of my finances I'm going to give you everything area of my life I'm going to return everything I took wrongfully and even if people have forgotten the debts they owed me I'm going to repay it and you open up every single area of your life and you're quick to acknowledge your fault especially in your relationship as husband and wife I'll tell you something it's very easy to acknowledge your fault to a stranger but let me see whether you can acknowledge your fault quickly to your wife or to your husband that is where you decide whether you are willing to open that door of humility in your life you're not quick to do that if you have to hesitate and think about it and all that brother sister I have to warn you you'll be shaken in the coming year you will be shaken and don't wonder why there's an area of your life you refuse to yield to God to give you that indestructible life so let me turn you to Matthew chapter 7 she's you know the story very well of the two builders one man built on the rock that was unshakable verse 24 and 25 Matthew 7 24 25 the rain fell the floods came the winds blew and slammed against that house what a word slammed against that house and it did not fall unshakable of the foolish man the rain fell and the verse 27 the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall what was the difference Jesus said the difference is just this both of them verse 24 and 26 they heard my words in that area they were both alike there was one similarity with both these people they both heard the words of Jesus in other words they both came for the Sunday services how can they hear the words of Jesus if they didn't come for the Sunday meetings you know those days nobody had a Bible I don't know whether you know that these printed Bibles have been available only the last 500 years in the days of Jesus nobody had a Bible in their home if you wanted to hear the Bible you had to go to the synagogue and in the early days of the Christian church if somebody had a copy one copy for the church they were lucky you'd have to go to church Sunday morning to listen to the words of God so let me read it like this these two people were people who went to Sunday services regularly they never missed a Sunday and yet one man's life shook and the other man's was unshakable there's going to be a line drawn here in our midst between those whose lives will shake in the coming year and those whose lives will not shake in the coming year and it all depends on whether you just listen or like the wise man listen and obey that was the only difference one man decided I'm going to obey and that obedience was costly because he had to dig until he hit rock he had to spend more money spend more time he had to blast the rock they didn't have dynamite those days I don't know how long it took to for him to just lay the foundation but because he took time to make sure that there was a deep foundation and remember the foundation is the hidden area of our life this building got a foundation none of you have ever seen it I saw it when it was being built otherwise I wouldn't see it either but that is what gives strength to this building the hidden part and there's a hidden area in your life which determines whether when the wind slams and the floods come you will shake or not it's not the visible part which everybody can see it's that hidden part every building that you see is that foundation that determines whether it'll shake or not and Jesus was talking here not about the beauty of the building not how many floors it had the wise man the foolish man could have had many floors that's not the point may I put beautiful paint on it it's not the point the important thing is what's the foundation like the wise man's house may have been a small one but it lasted so don't be impressed by the externals in the Christians you see around you don't be taken up with the externals in churches look for the hidden light what you are when you're alone before God that's what you really are the rest is all public show what you are when you're alone before God that's what you really are so in that area of our life which nobody can see there's something you can do with the help of the Holy Spirit that can make your life unshakable 365 days of the coming year now there are many things you know Jesus was saying these words of mind that means particularly referring to the Sermon on the Mount and that's why through all these 37 years of this church we have kept on preaching frequently on the Sermon on the Mount why because that's the only way to build an unshakable life that's the only way to build an unshakable family life and home and that's the only way to build an unshakable church that's the only way to put our children on an unshakable foundation because we if you follow what's written in these three chapters Jesus guaranteed that the storm and the winds and the waves and everything will not shake you at all I believe his word I've experienced a little bit of it so I don't have time to go through the all of Matthew 5 6 and 7 but there's one particular part of it which I wanted to share with you is just about seven or eight verses and that's relating to prayer Jesus said in verse 6 when you pray go into your inner room Matthew 6 verse 6 sorry Matthew 6 6 when you pray go into your inner room close your door and pray to your father in secret your father who sees in secret will reward you openly that reward will be that you will not shake but there's got something you have to have in secret and you know it's not that we cannot pray in public very often we have prayer meetings we are praying and other people are listening he was not saying that every single time you pray you must pray in secret because Jesus often prayed in public too but there's a principle here and that's the thing we need to understand he was contrasting it with people who like to pray verse 5 don't be like the hypocrites who pray in the synagogues to be seen by men that's the point the point is not how you pray or where you pray but do you pray to be heard by people or to your father who sees in secret that's the contrast to be heard by people or to your father who hears in secret and if you were to examine your own life the times whenever you have prayed in public even if it's three or four people in your home and you pray if you're honest and sometimes it's very difficult to be honest but those are the people who really get blessed if you're honest you will acknowledge that much that you pray in public is not for God to hear it's just a formality other people are listening sometimes it is to impress them but certainly you're very conscious so the people who are listening and you got to make sure that the prayer is according to their act will be accepted by them so this business of closing the door is something we can do even when we are in public you know it's something i've tried for years to train myself to do that when i pray in public as i shut my eyes i want to close the door to everybody around me and be conscious only of the father and pray to him it's not easy but if you work at it work at it it'll become easy it's like learning how to swim or learning how to type i mean in the beginning it's difficult but over a period of time it'll become easy if you train if you don't train yourself i mean if you never practice typing you'll never learn how to type if you never practice swimming you don't learn how to swim and if you never practice this shutting the door even when you're praying in public even after 50 years you'll be praying seeking honor but if you work at it and say lord i want to shut the door and i want to focus on you that's the main thing to focus on god there's no verse in the bible which says you must shut your eyes when you pray you can keep your eyes open jesus sometimes opened his eyes and prayed looking up but the point the reason to shut our eyes is so we don't get distracted we want to focus on god we want to focus on god and and it says here that's how it says in this other paraphrase the focus will then shift from you to god and it says here the world is full of so-called prayer warriors do you like the phrase prayer warrior it's a very common phrase nowadays in christian circles never found in the bible but a lot of people like to imagine that they are prayer warriors and they like to talk about being prayer warriors it says here they are prayer ignorant i agree what a lot of things people do to get honor i'm a prayer warrior wow what a wonderful person there are so the world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer ignorant i'm reading the message paraphrase they are full of formulas and programs and advice peddling their techniques that means they sell their books for money how to become a prayer warrior peddling techniques for getting what you want from god don't fall for that nonsense you're dealing with a father in heaven he knows better than you what you need and with a god like this loving you you can pray very simply i like that and the focus shifts from you to god true prayer is when the focus shifts from you to god ask yourself when you pray has your focus shifted from you to god no even when we pray we're asking for ourselves it's not on god i'm not saying we shouldn't ask for ourselves but question is where is our focus and that is the secret of the christian life an unshakable life is one where our focus has shifted from ourselves to god not only in prayer but in everything it's god's name and god's honor and god's kingdom that concern us more than us and what i'm going to get and how other people are treating me and expecting things from other people i was telling somebody the other day that if you want to live a happy life you got to die spiritually inwardly and one characteristic of dead people is they have no expectations you walk through any graveyard nobody there is expecting anything from you expectations zero that's the mark of a dead man you want a happy married life have zero expectations you want a miserable married life have plenty of expectations my wife must do this and my husband must do this the more expectations you have the more miserable your married life is going to be no matter what denomination of christianity you claim to belong to or whatever experiences you say you have had or whatever doctrine you believe if you haven't died with christ you're not going to have a happy life so expectations when the focus shifts from you to god and that hasn't shifted with many christians that's why their life is shaky that's why they fight and quarrel that's why there's so much of shaking in their homes that's why christians divorce nowadays they get fed up they've got expectations they claim to be christians but they haven't died with christ you cannot be a disciple of jesus without dying with christ we have this false gospel that's being preached today saying come and christ will give you this and christ will give you that christ will give you the other thing whereas jesus would say come and die that's the message we need to preach that's what we preached in this church come and die who wants it you don't like that message brother sister there are hundreds of other churches that will give you whatever you want please go there we don't preach that message here we preach the truth of scripture come and die because that's what jesus said if you want to come after me take up your cross which is another way of saying die daily and follow me paul says in 1 corinthians 15 i die daily and he says even more than that in 2nd corinthians 4 10 always bearing in my body the dying of jesus so that's what it means to shift our focus from ourselves to god let me show you that verse in 2nd corinthians chapter 4 it's a verse that we have often quoted in our church in the olden days when we haven't quoted it recently i notice 2nd corinthians 4 verse 10 this is the secret of having the life of jesus manifested in our body if i were to ask you how many of you want the life of jesus christ to be manifested in your body through your eyes and through your tongue and through your hands and through your personality we would all say yes now my question is are you willing to pay the price you know you go to some shop and you find a wonderful gadget which will really help you in your home you say i'd like to have that and the shopkeeper says are you willing to pay the price you have the money but you don't want to pay the price you can't have it so do you want to pay the price here it is always carrying in our body the dying of jesus that's the price always means 24 7 24 7 i die with christ to this world to my self-life to focusing on myself i die but because christ lives in me i'm not dead i mean if i died and christ didn't live in me i'd be in the grave but if i die the bible says if we die with him we live with him and inwardly if i choose to die christ will live that's what it says here if i die always the life of jesus will be manifested always if i choose to die one minute a day the life of jesus will be manifested me one minute in a day the rest of the 24 hours it'll be my old adamic life that's manifested that's my choice so and there's no partiality with god the price is the same for everybody and who are the people who think this is a very hard message i'll tell you listen those who think their own life is better than the life of jesus i don't want the life of jesus my own life is pretty good okay brother keep it those who think that the life they inherited from adam is much better than the life of jesus they won't die to it i've often compared this to uh you know if someone were to come to you and say if you give me a bucket of garbage i'll give you an equal bucket of gold you say let me pray about it and see whether i want that or not can you imagine anybody so crazy i mean you think it's a joke i mean can it be possible who in the world will exchange a bucket of garbage i want to get rid of this garbage in any case i don't want anything in exchange the guy's willing to give me a bucket of gold this is exactly what it is how many of you believe that this adamic life aren't you sick and tired of it everything that's come forth from it that's made your home life unhappy that's made your relationship with other people unhappy that's made you miserable that makes you not get proper sleep at night and causes all types of problems don't you are you haven't you aren't you convinced that it is garbage are you sick and tired of it enough to get rid of it and why are you hesitant to die and say lord give me your life it's exactly like that illustration a bucket of garbage for a bucket of gold and i decided years ago sure lord even if you give me nothing i want to get rid of this garbage leave alone on top of that you're going to give me gold that's great always bearing in my body the dying of jesus why did jesus come in our flesh so that he could die to the self-will that he had all the way to get semen he was saying not my will but thine oh father that's why he lived such a perfect life he had no expectations from anybody no zero he never got upset when people left him he didn't have an expectation that they should always be with him give him some sense of security and we read in john 6 so many people left him and he was just with 11 12 people and he said do you also want to go and peter said no we all got the words of eternal life he said yeah you can say that but one of you is still a devil one of you will leave and then later on in john 16 verse 32 he says all of you will leave yeah you'll hang around me now but when the roman soldiers come and get something you'll all run away fearing for your own life but i'm not alone i'm not insecure because you're all going to leave me my father is with me how many of you would feel insecure if everybody left you your family turned against you and all the brothers all all the brothers and sisters in the church turned against you and you're sitting alone at home nobody to visit you anymore would you be happy i'll be happy i'll say lord you can all they can all go i got my father i got my father he's with me all the time and like one old brother said there are so many angels in the house that i got to push my way around to go from one room to the other that's how i live it's a wonderful way to live it's real it's real if you if heaven becomes real in your home it's like that you're missing something brother sister when you don't die to that adamic life when your focus is on yourself how other people are treating you what they are speaking about you behind your back and what you can do with your life are you willing to die to all that what about the ambitions you have for yourself are you willing to die to that you think you can make a better plan for your life than god can make for you you got to be crazy you really got to be crazy to think that you can make a better plan for your life than god can make for you it's like a beggar thinking that he can invest his money better than some expert banker it's crazy all your ambitions are you willing to die to them habits hobbies everything i had a lot of habits and hobbies and ambitions and i said lord you can do something better with all that that if i give them all up but we can be so strong i'll give up everything except this you'll never be filled with the holy spirit even if you pray for 100 years because there's one thing you won't give up and that's why we remain in bondage i remember hearing a story of a little small little girl who put her hand inside a flower vase and it got stuck and she couldn't pull it out and mommy said straighten your fingers and pull out your hand she said if i straighten my fingers i lose that coin that i'm holding on to well then of course you never get free that's it there's something you're holding on to and you're wanting liberty you'll never get free examine your life is there something you're holding on to i i'll give up everything except that i prophesy you'll never be free you'll never be filled with the holy spirit you'll get some counterfeit experience in some pentecostal charismatic church to satisfy you but it'll never bring you this indestructible life of jesus for that you have to die stop focusing on yourself and let your focus be on god and that was what he was saying here to shut out the world and you know when you're alone before god then you pray thinking of god not of others and then he told us how we should pray it's not a question of many words he said in verse seven the gentiles think that if they pray a long time they'll be heard you know you read these biographies of people who prayed for two hours a day and four hours a day i don't know how long peter prayed and paul prayed the bible always says pray always luke 18 1 men should pray always 1 thessalonians 5 verse 17 18 pray without seizing every place that i read in the new testament it never says pray for half an hour or 10 minutes or two hours or four hours it's pray without seizing so some people come to me and say brother zach i've heard that some great man of god prayed for four hours some prayed for two hours and brother zach how how long do you pray i say 24 hours it's like breathing for me you're asking me how often do you breathe i say well not two hours a day i'd die if i pray for breathe for two hours a day i say i follow scripture in luke 18 verse 1 pray always 1 thessalonians 5 17 18 pray always it's like breathing all the time it's the life of dependence upon god all the time don't be fooled by biographies read the bible don't be impressed by biographies read the bible and see if it is there follow scripture the follow the words of jesus make his words your guide and he said when you pray pray like this verse 9 if you don't want to be shaken listen to these words of jesus and obey them there's nothing wrong in saying oh lord oh god you know the apostles also sometimes prayed like that you read in acts chapter 4 but your attitude should be you must recognize that you're praying to a father so i prefer when i pray to pray to a father just like jesus said and if that has not become a habit in your life try and develop it in my younger days i used to whenever i prayed i said oh god there's nothing wrong in that because we are praying to god provided at the back of your mind you recognize that he's also your dad but if that is a problem then you should discipline yourself to pray father father dad that's the way we're supposed to pray jesus said that he says not like those people in the old testament you never read this in the old testament nobody in the old testament prayed saying oh father not even one they prayed oh god and when i pray like that i'm an old testament person but i'm i don't want to live in the old testament i want to live in the new covenant i want to obey what jesus said he said when you pray talk to god is your father and not that means one who knows all your need one who cares for you think of think if you think of the best earthly father when you pray to god that's a good way to think about it you know those of you for example who have a problem wondering whether god forgave some sin you committed a few years ago maybe it was a terrible sin and you confessed it already 500 times but you're still not sure whether god forgave you then i say i think of god as a father supposing i have a five-year-old son who comes to me and says dad you know you did something wrong today i'm sorry i disobeyed you will you please forgive me i said sure son forgiven forget it and the next day he comes to me and says dad you remember what i did yesterday will you please forgive me i said listen i told you yesterday it's forgiven and one year later he comes to me and says dad you remember one year ago i did that thing will you please forgive me i said dear me am i a liar i want to ask you do you go to god like that lord you remember that thing i did one year ago have you forgiven me your god is a liar right he said he'd forgive you but he didn't forgive you your earthly father was more honest than your heavenly father you don't have a correct picture of god when he says i've forgiven you i've forgiven you when he says i will not remember your sins anymore he means it i'm telling you the battle i had in my own life with this till i saw he has plotted out the past not to make me take sin lightly no when i realized he blotted out the past and the price he paid to blot out the past that he had to hang between heaven and earth on a cross boy that didn't make me take sin lightly it made me take sin much more seriously father he's a father who cares provides little children don't have to be anxious orphans have to be anxious because they don't have a father or mother they don't know whether their uncles and aunts will treat them kindly but children do your children have to worry they're not orphans think if both their parents you and your husband or wife had died and they're alone and at the mercy of some uncle or aunt i don't know what will be their fate but have you got a uncle in heaven or a father some of you pray as a dear uncle he's not your uncle he's your dad i hope these things will become clear to you my brothers and sisters it made a tremendous difference in my life it'll be your life will be unshakable and when you pray our father pray our father who is in heaven don't forget that he's not some old buddy of yours whom you can just say hi there's a balance here he is our dad but he's not just an earthly dad he's in heaven don't forget that the sinless angels sinless angels cover their faces when they come before him you read in isaiah 6 and they say holy holy holy sinless angels cover their faces this is the one we are praying to holy holy holy one who is holy one who's totally pure and one who is the ruler of this universe one for whom nothing is impossible jesus said before you even begin to pray get your foundation right see who you're praying to you know why there's so much unbelief in our prayer because we don't begin with our father who art in heaven and understand the full implication of that simple statement one who loves me one who can do anything he wants that's the one I'm praying to and he Jesus prefaced it by saying in verse 8 your father knows what you need before you ask him what a wonderful thing he knows what I need before I ask him then why does he want me to ask because he wants me to have the joy of answered prayer there are thousands of things he gives us without our asking for example the functioning of our bodies in perfect ways perfect functioning of our bodies it's all God's provision he he does that he's kept your heart beating for so many years without even you're asking him I don't think any of you have prayed saying Lord please keep my heart beating today the whole day but he answered that without you even you're asking for so many years doesn't he love you he there are millions of things like that which we don't even think of which he does for us without our asking but he wants us to have the joy of answered prayer when you pray for the conversion of your children he wants you to believe that you're praying according to his will when you're praying that your children will grow up to be God-fearing that they'll marry God-fearing partners you're praying according to God's will you got a father in heaven you you want an unshakable life learn to pray to a father in heaven and then in this prayer there are six requests six requests you that we pray to our father in heaven and the important thing to recognize is the first three concern God and the next three concern us that's what I mean by shifting our focus to God and not to us this is what it means this is how we are going to be unshaken if you don't learn to pray like this and prayer means our life if you don't learn to live like this your life will be shakable and will shake see when we pray I'm not saying that every single time we pray we must pray in exactly these words we're talking about the direction of our life and the focus of our life that my primary ambition in life is not concerning myself the focus has shifted from myself you know sometimes whenever musical performance and there are a whole lot of people on the in a dark stage whole lot of people playing various instruments the searchlight will focus on that one singer who's standing in the middle and the others you see in the shadows they are there but the searchlight is on this one person standing and singing in the middle so that's what I mean by making the focus on God yeah our needs are there like the other musicians in the background they are not ignored but if you put your focus on God those other needs it'll be met quicker that's what the Lord is trying to say the whole problem with man is that he's centered in himself and the Lord says get out of that when you pray let your first request be Lord let your name be hallowed respected honored number one God let your name be honored in India I prayed that prayer for India many many times let your name be glorified and honored in India I don't pray for the conversion of people in India because Jesus said very few will find the way to life so I don't believe all 1,200 million people are going to come rushing into God's kingdom but I do pray this Lord let your name be glorified in India let your name be glorified in my home that must be your number one request that your name be respected and honored and secondly let your kingdom come boy when I hear about all the way women are being molested and raped and murdered a spontaneous cry comes out from my heart Lord this wicked world Lord Jesus come soon and establish your kingdom you find a prayer like that where does it got to be established first in my heart then in my home then in my church and then in the world so I got it if I want that to be established the world let me pray first of all it'll be in my heart Lord I want your kingdom kingdom means government we don't use the word kingdom so much but government government of India the olden days it was the kingdom of Israel the government of God Lord I want to come under your government like we obey the rules of the government of India I want to obey the rules of your government my let your government come in my life and let your will be done in my life exactly as it is done in heaven what a prayer just like those angels are just waiting to do your will and when God says something no angel says I'm going to think about it only foolish human beings say that and they read something in Scripture to think about it are you a Christian that you read something in Scripture and you got to think about it no let your will be done in my life as it is done in heaven Lord I want and I want you know how did the angels know God's will they don't run around it all the time busy doing something or the other they'd never hear God some of us are so busy life with doing so many things we have no time to hear God then you never know his will is your life so busy if the devil can't get you to sin I'll tell you what the next thing he'll do he'll get you to be busy and he'll accomplish the same thing you think is only by sin that he ruins people he ruins people by keeping them so busy they have no time to listen to God Jesus said about Mary sitting at his feet saying Mary has chosen that good part which is to listen listen you'll never know God's will if you don't listen the angels listen God Almighty what do you want me to do and God says to Gabriel go down to Nazareth and speak to that woman Mary and he goes down and tells her and then comes back and says okay God I've done that what next that's how they do God's will in heaven God what do you want me to do an attitude not consciously saying it but an attitude Lord I'm always available I want your will to be done on earth as it's done in heaven then come our requests give us this day our daily bread now we would think that a spiritual person should put the spiritual request like forgiveness first Jesus said he was very realistic we need physical health in order to do God's will I see the connection between let your will be done on my life as it is done in heaven and in order to do your will on earth Lord I need help so please give me my daily bread you see the connection between those two we have a right to ask for material things that's what he taught us here and by food that means includes clothing housing education for my children so that they can earn their daily bread when they grow up it's all included but Jesus taught us to ask for necessities not give us this day our daily ice cream but give us this day our daily I mean God may give you ice cream he gives us a lot of extras but we can ask for necessities Lord I want this don't be ashamed to ask God I asked you to want healing ask him for healing sure he'll help you he cares for us he's a father he's interested in your getting a job how will you earn bread if you don't have a job is God interested in getting you're getting a job of course is he interested in your finding a good marriage partner of course doesn't he want another generation to come up is he interested in you having children sure so that there can be another generation that grows up for God you know we we don't understand how much God cares for us he's interested in all these things don't be ashamed to ask him Jesus taught us to pray and forgive us our debts as we forgive others very important God will treat you listen God will treat you exactly like you treat other people you are hard on the servant in your home you wonder why God is hard on you you don't forgive somebody God won't forgive you because God will treat you exactly like you treat others are you hard on your wife brother don't be surprised that God is hard on you the Bible says that in 1 Peter 3 7 some husband doesn't treat his wife in a good way says God won't even listen to his prayer no wonder God doesn't listen to the prayers of so many people you don't seek to respect your husband and well God's not going to treat you properly either learn to treat other people the way you want God to treat you even if that's the only reason selfish reason treat others the way God you want God to treat you forgive us Lord just like we forgive others completely and don't lead us into temptation meaning don't lead me into temptation that's too strong for me and God will do that this like saying God will provide us our daily bread but we still pray for it God has promised that he'll never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability but we still pray and when we pray we are acknowledging Lord there are some temptations too strong for me I don't want to go to that internet pornographic site because it may be too strong a temptation for me I don't want to prove it like an overcomer I don't want to walk into dirty bookstores it's temptation may be too strong for me lead me not into temptation and then deliver me from evil no you can't ask God to deliver you from evil if you yourself walk into temptation the two go together Lord I recognize that some temptation too strong for me so I don't want to go there and please help me that you'll never take me there and deliver me from all evil Lord I have a great longing to be completely free from sin deliver me from all evil deliver me from the devil having any part of my life or my home and I promise you I'll give you all the glory verse 13 it's all yours this must be our way of life and Jesus said the wise man hears these words and he patterns his life according to this and the wind slammed against his house and the floods came and the rain fell house didn't fall we've got the opportunity to begin a new year in this way where our focus is shifting from myself to God and you will discover that he'll take better care of you and your family than last year when you focused on yourself because his promises seek the kingdom of God first and your earthly needs will be added to you I have proved that for many many years and I wish you a happy new we are approving that 365 days of 2013 let's pray Heavenly Father it's really very simple what you have spoken to us not 10,000 complicated things but just one thing to stop focusing on ourselves and to focus on you Lord Jesus that's what you came to earth for to deliver us deliver us from our self-centered life to be centered in you to treat other people the way you want we want you to treat us help us to learn that way to die to our self-centeredness and the demands we make on other people that make us upset with them and make us gloomy and miserable ourselves give us that indestructible life of Jesus Lord in this coming year we pray through the power of the Holy Spirit we want to open up every area of our life and any area that's not yielded please show it to us we pray in Jesus name