Gospel fluency—God is good
The following prayer guide is three of four where we will focus our prayers around one of the 4Gs of Gospel Fluency. To explore the 4Gs of Gospel Fluency further, you can check out this pdf by Tim Chester who developed this tool, or purchase Tim Chester’s book called You Can Change, or you can pick up Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt. The 4Gs are covered in chapter 6.
The 4G’s of Gospel Fluency are:
God is great, so I/we don’t have to be in control.
God is glorious, so I/we don’t have to fear others.
God is good, so I/we don’t have to look elsewhere.
God is gracious, so I/we don’t have to prove ourselves.
There’s so much more to God’s character than what is written above, to be sure. But much of what distracts our hearts on a consistent basis can be traced back to not believing one of these four essential truths.
In this guide, we will focus on “God is good, so I/we don’t have to look elsewhere.”
The United States Declaration of Independence tells us that we have been endowed by our creator with an unalienable right to pursue happiness. The idea is much older than that in Western thought. Nonetheless, culturally, this is ingrained in us: You have an inherent right to pursue happiness, so we do. We also live in a culture of immediacy. We are bombarded daily, moment by moment, with distractions of what will make us happy. We are often left empty when we pursue happiness and satisfaction by attempting to acquire more things that will deteriorate. We are left empty when we pursue happiness and satisfaction through a relationship with another person. We are left empty when we seek to find satisfaction in “leaving a legacy.”
Take a few moments in silence and ask Holy Spirit to highlight where you might be pursuing satisfaction in any other anyone or anything other than Jesus. This exercise is not intended to induce any toxic shame. He already knows what we pursue and what our idols are. Don’t rush past this moment. You don’t need to do anything else but take a note. Write them down in a journal if it is helpful. Ask Holy Spirit to give you the boldness to recognize these areas.
Consider these passages. Write down the phrases that stand out to you.
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 27:13
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
Psalm 145:5-9
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:8-9
Our God is never-changing. His awesome works stand forever. He is abundant in goodness and infinitely generous.
Tim Chester writes, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness… We look for joy in sin, and we are quickly bored and always moving on in search of more. We grow weary in our futile pursuit of ever-greater excitement. But in eternity there will be a rush to life running through our veins. Our life and joy will be gigantic, so that each moment will bring fresh ecstasy; each daisy will be a fresh delight, each sunrise a fresh wonder. We will cry to God, ‘Again, again, do it again.’ Now we are old and tired and cynical. But then we will be young again, forever young, forever delighting in God.”
Prayer of confession—unbelief: Consider taking what you have written above and beginning with a prayer of confession. You might pray something like, “Jesus, I confess I have been pursuing satisfaction in [insert what you’ve written] over you. I confess I thought that [insert what you’ve written] would be more fulfilling than you. Jesus, I confess that I did not believe that you are the only one that can satisfy my longing heart.” These are only examples. They might not be the prayer you need to pray. Write out the specific prayer you need to confess. Explore what you are feeling and tell Him whatever comes to mind as you confess.
Prayer of confession-—belief: Now that you have confessed your unbelief. Take a few moments to confess your belief. Take a few moments to declare, “You are good, so I don’t have to look elsewhere. I know this because [insert your own experiences of how you delight in God and His creation]. Declare, “You are good, so I don’t have to look elsewhere. I know this because [insert passages of Scripture or truths from Scripture that prove remind you of God’s goodness]. You can use this declaration from Psalm 34 as a guide. “I will taste and see that you are good. I will take refuge in you. I will look to you as I lay down these pursuits of satisfaction in things that will fade away and relationships that will not last.”
Consider and pray: When we pray together, we collectively “focus our prayer beam.” This has always been a desire as we share prayer guides. Today, let’s take a few moments to pray for other believers across our city to remember, “God is good, so we don’t have to look elsewhere.”
Here are a few ideas to consider during this time of prayer.
Jesus, I lift up believers across this city today. Help us to demonstrate what we believe at our core that only you satisfy our hungry and weary souls.
Jesus, I lift up believers across this city today. Give us words to share with those where we live, work, learn, and play how they might find their greatest joy in you.
Jesus, I lift up believers across this city today. Help us model how you give us the strength to walk away from habits that have consumed us to find our greatest fulfillment in You.
Pray that God’s people across our city will model joyful lives because their hope is in Jesus; that we will be a people that remember that fills He hungry with good things.
Pray that we will be a people today who surrender to the Lordship of Jesus in every area of our life.
