Pray: Part 4 - "How Do I Know What's Best?" with Sam Roberts - LifeChurch.tv

Knowing What Is Best Starts With Knowing God

Scripture References

• Philippians 1:9-10
• Numbers 11
• John 3:16

Overview

Pastor Sam Roberts closes the “Pray” series by unpacking Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-10. Paul asks that believers’ love overflow “in knowledge and depth of insight” so they can discern what is best. Sam shows that the surest path to that kind of discernment is an ever-deepening knowledge of God. Through personal stories, practical steps, and a challenging question from Numbers 11, he demonstrates how God guides ordinary decisions when we seek Him in love, counsel, prayer, and Scripture.

Context

Sam’s wife had been praying that he would grow in passion for prayer. Weeks later he learned he would preach the final week of the prayer series—proof, he says, that God answers such prayers and often teaches the teacher first.

Main Points

We all long to know what is best

• Everyday choices—college, purchases, investments, even social posts—reveal our desire for direction.
• Paul’s prison prayer for the Philippians tackles that longing head-on.

Paul’s prayer: love that leads to discernment

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you will be able to discern what is best.”

• The love is agapē: God’s unconditional, needs-focused love.
• When that love grows inside us, it reshapes how we think, act, and see.

Let God’s agapē love transform your perspective

• God often delivers that love through other believers willing to speak truth.

• Story: Early in ministry Craig confronted Sam for never taking vacation, calling it insecurity and disobedience to rest. The tough conversation steadied Sam for long-term ministry.

• New knowledge changes vision.

• Illustration: Once you notice the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo, you can’t unsee it—just as deeper knowledge of God forever alters what you see in life.

Key thought

The key to knowing what is best is knowing God.

Three practices for knowing God (and therefore what’s best)

1. Seek godly counsel

   • Proverbs teaches that “plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
   • Look for trusted Christ-followers whose lives show wisdom.

2. Pray—and listen

   • Prayer is a two-way conversation.
   • God often answers through inner promptings that are “too loud to ignore.”

3. Anchor yourself in Scripture

   • Ask God for a verse that grounds the decision.
   • An anchor verse provides clarity when circumstances or opinions oppose the choice.

Personal story: Should we become foster parents?

• Story: Jamie felt led to foster; Sam hesitated—already four kids, heavy workload, logical objections.
  1. Counsel affirmed the idea.
  2. Prayer produced a persistent inner “yes.”
  3. Reading Numbers 11, Sam heard God ask Moses:

     “Is the Lord’s arm too short?”

  • The question pierced Sam’s fears: God’s capacity, not Sam’s limits, decides what’s possible.
  • Result: the Roberts family welcomed Brooklyn, their fifth child—“our little princess Boo.”
  • Looking back, the real question was never “Can we add a fifth child?” but “How could we not?”

Paul’s prayer becomes ours

• When agapē love overflows, knowledge grows, insight deepens, and believers learn to choose what truly honors God.

Key Truths

• God’s agapē love doesn’t give us what we want; it gives us what we need.
• Discernment is a by-product of love-fueled knowledge of God.
• God speaks through His people, His Spirit in prayer, and His written Word.
• An anchor verse steadies faith when logic or critics push back.
• God’s arm is never too short to accomplish His will in and through us.

Response

• Invite God’s agapē love to fill your heart daily.
• Ask trusted believers for honest counsel before major decisions.
• Schedule unhurried prayer times that include silence to listen.
• Search the Scriptures until God highlights a verse for your situation; memorize it.
• Act on what God shows you, trusting His arm is not too short.

Closing

Sam prayed Paul’s prayer over the congregation, asking that our love abound “in knowledge and depth of insight so that [we] will be able to discern what is best.” He then invited those facing decisions to seek God through counsel, prayer, and Scripture, and he led many to place saving faith in Jesus—the ultimate provision of what is best.

Prayer

Sam thanked God for working all things for good, asked Him to grant wisdom for current decisions, and pleaded that many would experience forgiveness and new life through Jesus.

Resources

• Book: “The Christian Atheist” by Craig Groeschel