Skip to content How to Pray a Breakthrough Prayer — pt 2 (Problems, Powerless, Strength, Praying) Sep 24 · 24 min ...more
How to Pray a Breakthrough Prayer — pt 2 (Problems, Powerless, Strength, Praying)
September 24, 2025 · 24 min
Our problems can often leave us feeling powerless. In this message, Pastor Rick encourages us to pray: “Lord, I need your strength and wisdom today. I can’t do this without you.”
Series Seeking God for a Breakthrough
Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
September 24, 2025 · 24 min · Seeking God for a Breakthrough
Our problems can often leave us feeling powerless. In this message, Pastor Rick encourages us to pray: “Lord, I need your strength and wisdom today. I can’t do this without you.” ...more Show the full description Show less Our problems can often leave us feeling powerless. In this message, Pastor Rick encourages us to pray: “Lord, I need your strength and wisdom today. I can’t do this without you.”
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In this video 0:00 How to Pray a Breakthrough Prayer
How to Pray a Breakthrough Prayer 0:02 Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so glad that you found us today. I've got a question for you. Are you feeling stuck? Like maybe you've hit a wall and0:14 just nothing's moving forward. Well, you're not alone and you're not without hope. You know, the Bible is full of people who faced impossible situations like Mary,0:26 Noah, Job, even the Apostle Paul. And they all experienced 1 thing that changed everything, a breakthrough from God. So today, Pastor Rick0:37 continues his series called seeking God for a breakthrough. Rick's gonna walk us through biblical accounts of faith, prayer, and perseverance, reminding us that God0:49 still moves in powerful ways. Whether you're in a season of waiting or searching for hope, this series offers encouragement and biblical truth to help you keep going and1:01 get the breakthrough you need. Now let's join Rick right now for part 2 of a message called how to pray a breakthrough prayer.1:11 Now here's the second part of a breakthrough prayer. I tell God, I can't do this. I need you to do this. That's the second thing you do when you1:23 have pray a breakthrough prayer. You tell God, I can't do this. It's impossible for me. I'm powerless. It's hopeless. I'm helpless. I can't do this. I need you to do this. This is what makes1:35 breakthrough prayers different than other prayers. When you say, God, I need your help, that means you still think you can do it. And that's okay. A lot of times you say, Lord, I need your strength today. Lord, I need1:47
1:55 Let me ask it another way have you ever held a screaming, baby?
2:07 Let me ask it another way. Have you ever held a screaming baby and tried to get it to be quiet and it wouldn't? A little tiny baby can control you and wrap you around
2:19 its fingers because you go I'm going I'm a I'm an adult I'm going crazy if this child doesn't stop screaming and no matter what you do that baby won't stop screaming
2:32 That's feeling of powerlessness And when you feel that way you need to pray a breakthrough prayer Now you tell God I can't do this It's beyond my ability
2:45 I need you to do this By the way, do you know what this is? It's the first step of celebrate recovery That's the first let me read you the first step of celebrate recovery I realize I'm not God I
2:56 admit I'm powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong things and my life is unmanageable That's the first step of celebrate recovery. It's the second
3:08 step of a breakthrough prayer. God, I'm powerless. I I can't do it. Notice verse 12. Here's the second thing he prays. After he says, God, you're great, you're powerful,
3:20 he says, we are powerless. We're powerless against this mighty army that is coming to attack us, and we don't know what to do. But we're looking to you for
3:32 help. Now, this is very important. Look at that passage again. You should do this exact same thing when you're praying for a breakthrough in your life. First, you tell God exactly how you feel. God, I feel powerless. I
3:44 have tried and tried and tried and tried and tried, and I can't control this. I can't manage this. I can't manipulate this. I can't change this. I've been batting my head against the wall for weeks,
3:56 months, or years, or decades, and it's not changin'. That's when you need a breakthrough prayer. We're powerless. You tell God, it feels hopeless. And you admit your inability. It's beyond my
4:07 control. And you admit even he says not only, he said, we're powerless, but he says, we don't know what to do. He says even if we did have the power we don't even know what to do. I don't know
4:19 what to do in this situation You ever been in those kind of situations for a lot You've been in them a lot Where you I don't even have the slightest idea what to do this net this mess,
4:31 this knot is so tangled and it's out of my control. I don't know what to do. Well, you do that this. God, I'm powerless. I don't know what to do, but I'm looking at
4:43 you. I'm focusing on you. I'm turning to you. God, I can't do this. It's not like I need your help. I can't do it even with your help. I need you to do
4:55 this. You have a family member or loved 1 who's dying. There's nothing you can do about it And nothing you can do about that if anything is gonna be done it
5:06 has to be done by somebody greater than you If your company moves overseas, you're gonna lose your job. There's nothing you can do about it Most of the big things in your life. There's nothing you
5:18 can do about that's why you need to learn the breakthrough prayer Now, did you notice that that in that verse 12, it says we're powerless? But 6 verses earlier when he started the prayer, he said
5:30 you're all powerful. I don't have to be powerful if I'm connected to God because he's all powerful. I don't have to be all knowing if I'm connected to God because he's all knowing.
5:43 I don't have to be in every place if I'm connected to God because he's in every place. And so what do you do when you're in a situation that you cannot control,
5:55 you cannot change, and you cannot manage? What do you do in that kind of situation? You wait and you trust. You wait and you trust.
6:07 Sometimes faith, it means doing nothing. You just stand still, you just stand there, you wait and you trust. You trying to do something puts it
6:19 back in your court. Sometimes there's something so big in your life, you can't do anything about it, and you keep saying, You know, if I just figure this out, I'll just work it out. Things will work out great, and you
6:29 just get more and more tired. Sometimes faith means doing nothing Sometimes faith means just standing there and waiting while the enemy is headed straight at you
6:42 You just wait Look at the next verse verse 13 then all the men of Judah stood before the Lord This means they literally all the people the guys in the nation They stood up before
6:54 God doesn't mean 5 minutes They might have stood before the Lord for hours What what are they doing? Simply by standing and saying, god, we're looking to you. This thing's too big for us. We're gonna have a national
7:05 crisis. We're going under for the last time. We're at the end of our rope, but we're hanging on. We just stand before the Lord. We're gonna wait, watch, and trust. It says, then all the men of Judah stood before the
7:17 Lord with their wa waiting with their wives and their young children and even their babies. So the whole family can get involved in your breakthrough. And if you're a parent
7:29 and you're praying for something during these 34 days, a big thing, you need to tell your kids. You need to get everybody praying about it at the dinner table. Husbands and wives, your spouse,
7:41 tell your spouse the breakthrough prayer you're praying. Get your kids involved in praying this. And you just say, We're gonna stand before the Lord. We can't change this. But, God, you can. And it is our
7:52 faith in you that's gonna make the difference. Now, here's the third part of praying a breakthrough. After you have told God, focused on him, his greatness and all that, and
8:04 you've told God, you can't do it, you need him to do it, here's the third thing. Listen for what God says. And that's why I told you in prayer prayer is a conversation It's not a
8:16 monologue prayer is not you doing all the talking you mean wait a minute in those 5 minutes I don't have to be talking the whole time. No a Person who talks all the time
8:27 that's not a conversation that's a monologue You want to have a conversation with God you can't build a friendship if they never get to talk You're not spending the whole time
8:39 talking to God you're spending some time letting God talk to you How through this book? Through through reading this book This book is filled with what God wants to say to
8:51 you Everything God wants to say to you, he's already put it right here. People are always looking for some sign. I wish God would tell me what he wants to do. I wish he would write it in the sky.
9:05 God is not gonna write it in the sky. He's already written it in a book and you won't read this. Why in the world do you think you're gonna look up at the sky? Stop looking
9:17 for a sign and start looking for a scripture Stop looking for a vision and start looking for a verse God's will is
9:28 in God's word And the more you read this book, the more you're gonna know what to do. Now, I want you to listen to what god said to these guys
9:40 because they're all praying, Lord, the enemy's coming. We don't know what to do. We can't we don't have the power. We're gonna die This is a crisis and it's uncontrollable verses 15 to 18
9:52 is packed with encouragement for you and God would say the same thing to you in his word if you would just read it Here's what the Bible says verses 15 to 18 This is
10:04 what the Lord says to you Do not be afraid or discouraged Because of this vast army the 1 that's coming to attack you For the battle
10:16 is not yours but god's. Woah. We'll come back to that. The battle's not yours but god. He says, you won't need to fight in this battle. Strange battle.
10:28 Just take up your position and stand strong, then just wait and watch, and you will see the Lord deliver you. You're not gonna deliver yourself. This
10:40 is a breakthrough prayer. I'm gonna deliver you. And, again, don't be afraid or get discouraged. He says, listen. Get the message. Don't be don't be worried. Don't be afraid or discouraged because the Lord
10:52 is with you. And after they had listened to what God had said to them, it says, then the king and everybody else bowed down on the ground and they worshiped God.
11:05 Imagine this thing, an entire nation getting on the ground, bowing down on their knees, and worshiping God because God said, I'm gonna take care of it. Now, this is an amazing thing. When you pray
11:16 the way these people prayed, Jehoshaphat the king and everybody else, you're gonna get God saying the same thing to you. So let's write these things down. God says 4 things to you when you pray a
11:28 breakthrough prayer. He says these same things to you. Number 1, the first thing God says to you is this, relax. Don't be afraid or discouraged.
11:40 This is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. You can chill out. You can relax. He says, It's it's not a problem with me. I'm bigger than that army.
11:53 That's the first thing God says to you when you have a problem that you can't control. Relax. Don't be afraid or discouraged. Second thing God says, and he's gonna say it to you too, It's my battle and I'll handle
12:06 it It's my battle and I will handle it verse 15 the battle is not yours but God's You guys, you
12:17 wanna know why you're tired all the time, why you're frustrated, why you're fatigued, why you're worn out by life? The reason you're so tired is you're trying to fight battles that belong to God, and you're
12:29 not God. The battle is not yours. It's God That problem out there you think's your problem. God says you're my child Fathers take care of
12:41 their children. It's my battle It's my battle. The battle is not yours, but God's. You see, what happens in life, because we're we're very independent, and so,
12:53 what happens is when we see a problem, we think, if it's to be, it's up to me. I gotta figure it out. I gotta plan it all. And what we start doing is we assume god's role. God says, the battle's not yours. It's mine.
13:05 And you say, I can solve this mess. And so you try 1 thing and it doesn't work. You try something else and it doesn't work. You try another thing and it doesn't work. And you've been batting your head trying to solve
13:15 this problem in your marriage, trying to solve this problem in your body, in the economy, in the world, in the nation, in at school. And you're you're trying to solve it on your
13:27 own power. You're trying to fight the battle on your own, and you're getting tired. And, finally, you just give up and you come back to God and you say, Lord, I've made a mess of this. And you say, Oh, Lord, I'm
13:39 so sorry. I really let you down. Now you may have never actually prayed that, but you fought it. I'm a big disappointment to God because I really tried on this. I tried to solve
13:50 this problem, and, God, I've messed up. I've made a mess of it. I I I'm so sorry, God. I've let you down. And God says, Nope. You didn't let
14:02 me down because you weren't holdin' me up. You don't hold God up. He holds you up.
14:15 You don't have God in your hands He's got you in his hands if you got God in your hands, it's not God If it's an it's
14:27 an idol if you think you can control God it's not God. It may be a lucky charm, a talisman, it may be a rabbit's foot or a, you know, a good luck horseshoe or
14:39 some little thing you think is gonna give you special power that's gonna give you special energy, and you keep it in your pocket or on your wrist or whatever, and you think that's gonna help, if you can control it, it's
14:51 not God. You're not letting God down because you're not holding Him up. Get this through your
15:03 mind as your friend and pastor God is not disappointed in you Because he's not expecting you to do what only he can do You
15:15 don't hold God up he holds you up Couple weeks ago, you know, I went to India and Sunday I got there and I spoke to a hundred and 10000 people
15:27 And then the next several days, I did a pastor's conference from 12000 pastors from all over India. And on the last day, we had a stadium rally and I spoke to, I don't know, 50, 60000
15:39 people. And when I left LAX, I got on the plane. Can you imagine how stupid this would look? Is that we're on the tarmac, we start going down the runway,
15:51 and as the jet starts picking up steam I'm in a 7 47. It's a 16 hour flight to Dubai and then another 5 hours to Hyderabad. And as that plane goes down the runway, would it
16:03 be stupid if I started doing this? And as the speed picks up, I'm starting doing it faster
16:15 and faster and faster and as the nose guides in the air, I'm going really, really fast, really, really fast. And the steward comes back, the flight attendant comes back and says, Mr. Warren, what are
16:26 you doing? Oh, I'm helping us get off the ground. You know, Mr. Warren, it has enough power on its own. It doesn't need your help. House. Oh no, it might crash if I don't
16:38 do this. 3 hours into the flight I'm going. And the flight attendant goes, Mr. Warren, you really
16:50 don't have to do this. The battle is not yours. It's God's. Okay, you get the point. You're not holdin' the plane up. You're not holdin' God up. Let me ask you a very personal question.
17:02 Are your arms gettin' tired of flapping? In what area of your life have you been flapping for months and maybe even years? In my marriage,
17:14 tryin' to make it work, in my job, tryin' to make it work, in my health trying to make it work. And you're just flapping and flapping and flapping and flapping and
17:26 fine, and you right now, you're on the verge of just saying, God, I give up. And God says, Great, now we can get something done. I've been waiting for you to realize
17:38 you're not holding me up. Great, give up. And as you're friend today, I'm telling you, give up. The battle is not yours. It's God.
17:50 Now once you give up, God says, Now I can get something done. So God says 4 things to these people, and he says the same things to you. Relax, it's my battle, I'll handle it. Here's
18:02 the third thing he says. Keep serving in your position. The next line in that verse says, Just take up your position and stand strong. Here's the enemy coming against
18:14 them. He doesn't say go home and light a fire and watch TV He also says doesn't say go fight them He says get in your position and stand there
18:25 that takes an enormous amount of faith Now, I don't have time to get into this, but God has a position for everyone in the family of God. He has a ministry for you to do, a service for you to
18:37 perform. A non serving Christian is a contradiction. God has a niche, a niche for you, and it's based on your shape, S H A P E, spiritual gifts, heart, ability,
18:49 personality experiences. We got a whole class that helps you discover what's my place in the body of Christ, What's my place in the world? What's God's purpose for my life? And I wrote those classes years
19:01 ago, class 101, 2 0 1, 3 0 1, and 4 0 1, talking about different parts of your position. He says, you've got a position Just stand strong And
19:13 then that's the fourth thing he says is watch Wait and watch what God does That big problem in your life? It's my battle. Stand firm. Stay in your
19:24 position. Wait and watch what God does. Now this is the strangest battle in history. And at verse 17, here's what he says.
19:36 Now you're not gonna need to fight in this battle Would you agree that's a pretty unusual battle? So you don't need to fight in this 1 Just take up your position and stand strong Then just wait and
19:48 watch and you will see you will see the Lord deliver you you're not gonna deliver yourself again Don't be afraid or discouraged second time because the Lord is with you
20:01 and then the king and everybody else all bowed down on the ground and worshiped God That passage I just read in 3 words. Here's what God says to them.
20:12 I Got this I Got this okay. It's not your problem. I got this. I will handle this. By the way, that verse there, verse 17, 2 Chronicles 20,
20:24 is the middle verse of the Old Testament. Some of you, that's the only thing you're gonna get, little trivia. You write it down, middle verse of the Old Testament. But he says in this battle you don't need to fight you
20:36 don't need to move and you don't need to worry You get that? He says first you don't need to fight in this battle You can resign as general manager of the universe and it's not gonna fall apart
20:48 You're not Atlas holding everything up God's holding you up. You don't need to fight. He says you don't even need to move He says stand strong you don't have to manipulate
21:00 God you don't have to help God just let God be God He says stand strong. You don't have to move now. Listen This is for somebody here. Some of you are thinking if I could just move all my problems would be different
21:13 If I could just move away if I could just go to Tahiti, then I would not have any stress. You know what the problem with that is? When you go to Tahiti, you
21:25 take you. And where is the stress it's not in the air it's between your ears So you're taking your stress to Tahiti some of
21:37 you think life sucks. I need to move Well, maybe not. Maybe you're exactly where you need to be, and you need to be at church every week here in this kind of teaching
21:48 so you know how to handle stress instead of being out there on their own and doing it in the wrong way. I know guys who've turned down promotions because he wanted their kids, his kids, to grow up in this church. Lots of
22:00 families have done that. Because I said, you don't need to move. You don't need to manipulate. You need to help God. You you don't need to move. It's an attitude of quiet confidence. I want you to write this
22:12 down. It is never God's will for me to run from a difficult situation. Would you write that down? It is never, never, never, never, never, never, never God's
22:23 will for me to run from a difficult situation. Because if you run, you're gonna face it again somewhere else.
22:38 Hey. You know, if you're like most people, you're carrying something heavy right now. Maybe it's your health or your finances, your career, or a relationship. What you need
22:50 is a breakthrough, and that begins with prayer, real, powerful, life changing prayer. And that's why I'm excited to let you know about a dynamic bible study from pastor
23:02 Rick called experience god's power through prayer. This study provides the tools and inspiration you need to unlock god's power in your life. So be sure to
23:13 request your copy of experience God's power through prayer bible study today when you give a gift to daily hope to help take the word of God to a world in need. And that's
23:25 our way of saying thanks. Just go to pastor rick dot com to get your copy of this great resource. That's pastor rick dot com, or just text the word hope to 7 0
23:37 3 0 9. Again, that's the word hope to 7 0 3 0 9. And really, thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us because your gift to Daily Hope
23:49 helps us share the hope of Christ with people all around the world. We hope you'll join us next time as we look into God's word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by pastor Rick's
24:01 Daily Hope and your generous financial
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