If you feel disconnected from God right now, please would you
just listen to what I've got to say?
I hear so often people say to me, Joe, I just don't feel like
God is near to me. I feel like he's a million miles
away. I feel like when I'm praying,
it's like the heavens are like brass.
I just can't. I can't feel God.
It just feels like he's so far from me and maybe it's because
I'm a Sinner and I've I've committed these repetitive sins.
Maybe that's why God is is distant and and the Bible does
say that you know, if if you're double minded, don't expect to
receive anything from God. If you are living with sin which
you're you're covering and you're you're choosing not to
forsake, that could be one of the issues.
But I think there's a lot of people the main reason why they
don't hear from God is because they don't put the work in.
Can I say that to you? You see, if you look at anything
in life, anything that's worth having, there's always work
involved in marriage. Many of you will know if you
don't work at your marriage, it, it doesn't work, does it?
If I can again say that it's difficult marriage.
Any marriage therapist will tell you you need to put work in
anyone who's built a massive big business and it's successful.
They will tell you there was many late nights.
It was many nights staying up, working hard, many mornings
rising early. Lots of hard work.
Any man who's in the NBA, any footballer in the Premiership,
they'll all repeat the same message.
It was hard work that got me here.
And actually it's the same with our relationship with God now.
The beautiful message of the Bible is that we don't work for
our salvation. We don't have to do anything.
We just rest. We just rest that Jesus Christ,
when he said it is finished. All those who come to me, I will
not cast out all who come to me and receive my name.
I'll save them. That's the beautiful message of
the Bible. We don't work for that.
We we cannot work our salvation. But the Bible does teach us that
we are. If we draw close to God, he will
draw close to us also. I mean, if I told you right now,
I've been away travelling for two months, I've been preaching
around and I didn't ring my wife once on all of this time away
you'd say to me, you're a terrible husband.
Don't be surprised if your your wife wants nothing to do with
you. If you neglect your family,
don't be surprised if if you feel distant to them.
Now I haven't been away preaching.
I've not been invited anywhere. But no, all jokes aside.
But the truth is this. I do know that if I I put time
in with my wife, our marriage is healthy.
And so it is with God. We've got to make time for God.
We've got to protect our quiet times, our devotion.
Now, for a long time, I did used to feel like my Christianity was
just made-up of being around Christians, you know, doing
evangelism, going to church. I felt like a Christian when I
did those activities, but when it was just me and the Lord, I
really did feel like, am I just on my own here?
What what is this that everyone keeps talking about, this
intimacy with the Lord God. And then I started to do this
method and that's really what I want to tell you about.
And it's called the axe prayer method.
If you've watched any of my videos on my main channel, on
the Off the curve channel, you'll probably know.
I've talked about this before. It's a very simple method and I
think it'll help you. So AXE, it's an acronym.
The A stands for adoration. When I pray, I start by adoring
God. I think about his attributes.
Lord God, you are the creator. Look all around me right now.
Here. These trees, they were made by
you. They started as a tiny seed and
you created them. This beautiful green grass.
All of creation cries out that you are Lord.
And I praise him. I praise him that he's a
merciful God. I praise him at times that he is
a God of wrath. He's a God of justice and he is
to be feared, and that he holds my my very heartbeat in his
hands right now. I'm alive right now.
You are alive right now because God has given you permission to
live. I praise him and I come before
him and I adore him. Then the sea is at confession
and I confess. I I sort of go over the things
yesterday. Typically if I'm praying in the
morning I'll think of the things yesterday that I did the the
sins. Yes, we are to to keep short
accounts and constantly if we sin, we say, Lord, forgive me,
but I think it's helpful also to remember those sins and to
confess them. Lord, I was, I was proud
yesterday, Lord, I was jealous of that person.
Lord, I lost my temper with my my family.
Lord, I I looked when I shouldn't have that person going
by in the street. You know, we confess these
things and we say, Lord, forgive me.
And then I I remind myself that by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I'm washed whiter than snow.
Then we come to tea. Tea is for Thanksgiving.
And I just say thank you for all kinds of things, you know, thank
you that I can walk today. And thank you that, you know, my
health is good today. Thank you that I've got two
beautiful children at home. Thank you for a wife.
Thank you above all things. Thank you that my name is
written in heaven. Like Jesus rebuked his disciples
when they were saying, you know, we're able to cast out these
entities. We're able to do this and that.
We're doing all these amazing things.
And Jesus said, no, don't rejoice in these things.
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
So I make sure I do that every day.
I thank him that I'm saved. I thank him for this ministry.
I thank him that this people are getting saved.
I thank him for all kinds of things.
And that's something that's so important that we are to to
count our blessings. And then S that the last letter
of Acts S is supplications, where like the Bible says, he
will supply our every need. And that's when I I lift up my
requests before the Lord God. Lord, I pray for that man who
has a terrible health problem at the moment.
I pray for this person, this person's baby, who in the womb
is not well at all. Lord, I pray that that baby
would be born healthily. And no matter what the
scientists say, no matter what the doctors say, Lord, you have
the final say. Lord, I pray for everything
that's going on, all the conflicts around the world, in
Ukraine, in Russia, in Israel, Gaza, Armenia.
Lord, please bring peace to these people.
Lord Godda, I do pray that my ministry, this next video I'm
making, would reach many people and souls would get saved.
All these different things, you, you know, these things.
I don't have to share my particular prayer request, but
you get the idea. And every day I try to do that I
seek to read the Bible and I seek to pray.
And the way I do it is I I walk because I find if I sit down,
I've got ADHD kind of brain where I I'm so quick to to think
about different things and you know my mind will switch between
tasks. But I find if I walk I'm able to
concentrate. I'm able to focus better and as
I walk past particular sort of landmarks, if that makes sense,
people's houses or or trees and that kind of thing, I remember,
oh, at that point, yes, I was praying for that person.
So I'll pray for them again now. And it helps you remember and it
helps you to stay focused. So please do try the axe method
of prayer if you've got another one.
I know there's another one there.
I think it's it's the pray method, which is, yeah, I'm not
going to go there, I can't remember all of that.
But whatever method you use, whatever works, just make sure
you spend much time in prayer, because prayer is where we draw
close to God and we gain that closeness.
And I know the days when some days I've had the privilege of
being able to spend hours in prayer when I've taken a day
off. And those days have been the
most unforgettable days where I know that the Lord God has drawn
close to me and it's almost as if I could reach out and touch
my Saviour who has saved me. As you know by now, I'm trying
to make videos as well As for unbelievers on my main channel
off the Curb Ministries. I also make the sort of
unscripted videos for Christians.
So if you've not yet subscribed, please do.
I really would love to see you again.
And if you'd like to see a video all about the new year and being
consistent in the new year, please click this video right
now. God bless you all and thank you
for watching.