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The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Therefore, go around the world teaching and preaching the gospel to every creature, to the last of the earth. En Contacto, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today on En Contacto, we give priority to prayer. Jesus spoke about many things in the Gospels, he addressed many topics, but the two topics he addressed more than any other were two things that we should all have in our lives every day. Although there are many verses, I will not read them all, but of all the topics he addressed, prayer was the first and faith the second. When reading the Gospels, you will realize that Jesus spoke about both topics. And it is interesting that he spoke about them and also, of course, put them into practice. And I will ask you in your own life, but first look for a moment, Mark chapter 1, and in verse 35, then I will ask you a question about your life of prayer, so think about that for a moment. The Bible says in verse 35, getting up very early in the morning, being still very dark, now we are talking about 4 or 5 in the morning, more or less, maybe 6, he went out and went to a deserted place and there he prayed.

It was not that he got up and began to pray, but he went to an isolated place where he would not be found. And he looked for Simon and those who were with him, and finding him, they said to him, Everyone is looking for you. So they interrupted his prayer. Let me ask you, where does the prayer enter in your daily schedule? Is it on your way to work? Is it in your prayer at breakfast? Is it in the afternoon or at night? Where does the prayer enter in your daily schedule? He will say, well, I pray all the time. No, no, no, no, no. I know that your spirit may be in prayer, but if you are on the highway, 130 kilometers per hour, you are not in the attitude of prayer. How much time and at what time of your daily life do you set aside time just to talk to God? He does not want to be distracted either. Does he ever go to his bedroom or somewhere else, close the door and say, I need time alone? Think about it. God has given him a lifetime. He has 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, 2 years, 20, 30, 60, 70, 80, 90 years. That is, all these years, every 24 hours, how much time

do you set aside just so you and God can talk about your life or what concerns you? The main reason for weakness in the life of a believer is the lack of prayer. The main reason why there are needs without supplying lack of prayer. The main reason why someone does not treat their wife or husband as they should is lack of prayer. That is, the lack of prayer is a sin against God for the fruits it produces. He does not talk to God. He does not have the opportunity to talk to Him. He just gets up in the morning, gets dressed and goes out, and makes sure he looks good. He wants to get to work on time and perform well. He gets home, checks his mail and his television shows, or whatever. And where is God at his schedule? Well, where is His schedule? I write to Him every day and I put prayer first. And you will say, after all these years, do you still write to Him? Yes. We are all busy.

That is the first thing. The main thing. Because it affects everything else that happens the rest of the day. Time alone. Don't you think that God deserves time alone with you, without distractions? He is the source of every breath. God is the source of all good, of all the good that comes in His way. God wants time with you. Because in those moments, God gives us a clear direction. He answers our prayer. Our faith grows. We make requests, and God answers them. Prayer is an essential part of the life of every believer, but faith must be united. Without faith, nothing will happen. In other words, if you have faith to believe, or to experience this faith, believe in your heart that whatever God asks you to do, He will do it. Now you say, ask Him for what? We'll talk about that shortly. Not just ask for anything, but whatever you decide to ask Him for, make sure it is compatible with the teachings of Christ, the life of Christ, and that you honor God. In other words, someone can ask God for something that is totally out of their will for their life. So, when the Bible talks about what we ask for, things according to the life of Christ and according to the life of the believer as a follower of Christ, there are things that people pray for in their Christian life that are not according to God's plan for their lives. And often someone says, I prayed for a new car, I prayed for a new house, I prayed for this. What have you been asking for? Why do you ask for it? Do you believe that God will grant you how big the house you want is?

In other words, when we pray, God does this, God closes, He filters our prayer. You can start wherever you want, but now that God loves you, He knows that it is the best. Because He wants the best for you, God will choose the best. Maybe He gives you what you ask for, but maybe not when you ask for it. Maybe it is not the size or the shape, whatever. God will answer our prayer according to His wisdom, according to His love, according to His care for us, but He answers our prayer. He loves to do it. Due to His character, He is a God of love, kindness, and mercy, and we do not have for the reason that St. James said, because we do not ask. Many people do not feel worthy of asking God to do something for them. When you accept Christ as your Savior, you want immediate access to the throne of God to ask Him to fulfill your needs and the desires of your heart. God says that He delights in granting our desires. Delight in yourself in Jehovah, and He will grant you the requests of your heart. If you do not delight in Jehovah, you are not happy with Him, you do not want to spend time with God, you are not interested in Him, only in what you need or what you want, you cannot wait for God to grant your desires. God does not promise that He will do it. So prayer is a vital part of our daily experience. With prayer also comes faith, because one thing is to talk about God, and another is to speak to Him personally, and to believe that God will do what He says. That is why I say, this is the anchor. You can float all day talking about God, this and that, and yes, I believe in Him, but you are anchored, and the biblical verses about prayer must anchor us. In other words, you said this, Lord. So I invite you to this chapter 11 of Mark, and see this passage from which a question often arises. And here, in Mark chapter 11, Jesus, for example, cursed the fig tree, and the next day they passed by, and Peter, excited, said to him, Look, the fig tree has dried up from

the roots. And I heard Jesus' answer to this great sense of what had happened to the tree. Jesus only said, in verse 22, Have faith in God. For I say to you that whoever digests this mountain, take thee away and throw thee into the sea, and doubt not in his heart, but believe that what he says will be done to him. Someone will say, Oh, he has asked me about moving mountains. We will get to that. Therefore I say to you that whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it will come to you. Now, that says exactly what the original says, verse 24. Therefore I say to you that all that you ask in prayer, all that you ask in faith, and because you have faith in God, believe that you will receive it. In other words, faith says, thank God, I know that you have done it. Is that true in all that God asks of you? No. But there are things that we ask of God that are His will for us, and we believe, we thank Him as if it were a fact. That's what it says. Thank Him, believe that you will receive it, and God will come. And when we think of the emphasis that Jesus gave to prayer in our life, and the fact that He did not wake up early, once a week, but every morning, before facing the day, before seeing His disciples, Fathers, I would say that you would be wise in waking up early to speak with God before the rest of the family wakes up. Or your wife, mother, wakes up before the rest of your family, and spends some time speaking with the Father. Look, that is setting the course of the day. That is the direction of the day, the compass of the day. He is telling God what He thinks He needs for the day, and asking for direction, wisdom, guidance, care for His children, etc. Or His husband, wife, whatever.

That is what Jesus was doing. He was speaking with the Father of His disciples. He was speaking with the Father of His will for His life, but He would wake up early, every morning, before anyone came, He had a place. I ask Him, does He have a place? Does He have a time? Does He have faith? Does He believe that God answers to His prayer? Does He ask Him for things that worry Him? When He asks Him, does He get up from His knees or whatever He prays, pray in faith, believing that what He has asked God, He will do it? Perhaps you will say, I don't think He always deserves it. That has nothing to do with it. It has to do, look, we never deserve God's grace. That is what grace is about. It is not that we deserve it. God does not listen to the prayer of one of His children. Perhaps someone will say, well, I don't know how to pray. Let me teach you briefly. Heavenly Father, thank you for listening to me. I am not very good at this, but I want you to teach me how to pray. But this is what I have in my heart. And so on and so forth. Anyone can do that. Anyone can talk to God and you will say, I don't think He deserves it. That is not the point. There is nothing in the Bible that says that God listens to prayers and people deserve it. Look, Peter denied the Lord Jesus in the most critical moments of his life. He had to repent. The point is not how he prays.

The point is not where he prays, but where he really prays. He gives God time, a common and ordinary day, to tell Him what he thinks, how he feels, what he needs. And he blesses Him, praises Him, and thanks Him for being where God has placed Him in this moment in his life. We all need to pray. The Father needs time alone with His children. Not for what we tell Him, but for what He needs to tell us. And I ask again, Adrede, do you have time with God? A time when God can count on you? Do you have a place? We all need direction and advice every day of our lives. We need to listen to the Father. So when I think about that, I think about what this passage says. I would like to go back to the issue of moving mountains, because people say, what is that about? Verse 23. For I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, Take thee and go into the sea, and I will not doubt in his heart, if he does not believe that what he says will be done, what he says will be done. What he is saying is, look, this is how powerful God is. God can move heaven and earth to answer His prayer. That is just what God can do. He can do it. And here it simply says, have faith in God. There is nothing that is too difficult for God. I have a couple of affirmations. One of them simply says, Las mayores Difficulties that are possible can be eliminated if we have faith. And that's really what Jesus meant when he spoke about moving a mountain and throwing it into the sea. Look, the greatest possible difficulties can be eliminated if we have faith that God, poor, in our favor, nothing is impossible for God.

In other words, he was not referring to land and sea, but to the giant things that we face in life. God can handle all of them, and each one of them, whatever they are. And perhaps I could say that many of you would testify to things that God has done in your lives that you never expected him to do. He helped you overcome situations in which perhaps you had lost all hope. When you see the mountains in your life, you will think, there is no way out. But God has helped you time and time again. He took time to thank you. After getting you out of that disaster, he followed his happy path. Or he spent more time than ever talking to God, listening to him, loving him. If you are married, one thing is to live in the same house, under the same roof. Another is to love each other. A totally different situation. And I think that we are saved by the grace of God. We are in the kingdom. Our name is in the book of life. But God wants communion with us. He loved us so much that he died for us. And we don't have to worry about whether or not he answers our prayer, because if he died for us, he can take care of any need we have. And we should spend eternity praising him, thanking him for everything he has done. So another way to see this passage is, and people get stuck in the matter of moving mountains, it simply says, There is no work in harmony with the will of God that is impossible to do for those who believe, without a doubt. The second affirmation I would like to give you. There is no work in harmony with the will of God, not just anything, that is impossible to do for those who believe, without a doubt. Whatever God commands you to do, remember this, God, with his mandate, promises power, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding

to help you, no matter what. That is the house of God, which says, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Call, and it will be opened to you. Does it work? See what I will do. Because as a father is taking care of his son, he takes care of him, I am taking care of you. The Father is just what he says he is. He is our heavenly Father. He takes care of us, he sustains us, he supports us, he protects us, he is interested in us, he gives us direction. He has a will for my life, a plan for my life, and he is willing to show it to me if I seek it diligently. Now, sometimes God shows you the next step, and you think, Well, that can't be. The next step is the one that follows the next one, which is the step that you seek. When God tells you that in the next step, because you can't see around the corner, don't stop there, just say, Well, this is what you want me to do for now. Look, if I can see my path from beginning to end, I don't need faith. If God asks us to do something and we only see the next step, that is faith. God will show you what to do. Now, if you listen to me, say to me, God has already planned the best for your life. The best.

It doesn't matter who you are. Look, God doesn't plan anything second-hand for anyone. It's the best for you. Maybe it's not the same as the best for someone else, but God wants the best for you. And Jesus gave us an example of himself, praying alone with the Father, teaching his disciples to pray. Now, if you left here today and someone said to you, Well, what did you learn from that message? Oh, I don't know anything about prayer. I just want you to take out two things. Give it time and a place where you and God meet every day and see what happens in your life. Now, if you're not a believer, you might say, Well, where do I start? Start by asking God to forgive your sins. You don't have to mention each one just because you want to, but ask God to forgive your sins, and one of those is prayer. to have abandoned Him, to have not lived according to His will, has made a disaster. And perhaps he believes that he has lived quite well. His pride has stolen the best from him. He must ask God to forgive his sins and repent. Stay away from them. And give up your life to Jesus Christ. Tell Him that you want His will in your life, that He should surrender Himself and ask Him to save you according to what He did on the cross,

by giving His blood in Calvary. Then find a place in your house, apartment, wherever, and remember this. For the prayer to be effective, it must be anchored in the word of God. And say, I don't know how to pray. Start reading the Bible and God will show you what to ask in prayer. Remember that this is the anchor. If you go to the Bible, see this, your prayer will also go down. Because the devil will fill his mind with other things, unless he keeps the anchor, the main thing in his life. Because what does God do in His word? He speaks to his heart. It's amazing how the Lord says, I don't know exactly where to read at this moment. I opened the Bible and read, bow your ears, come to me, hear and live your soul, and I will make with you an eternal covenant, the firm mercies. Hallelujah. And maybe someone says, well, I don't know where to read, and I could open my Bible and give you many wonderful verses. So he says, well, I don't know where to read. Look, God knows what He needs. He will lead you to the right place. Read the Psalms, Proverbs, to begin, or the Gospels, wherever, but it's in the anchor. Look, you can't, no, you can't live consecratedly with the Bible closed. You can't. But when you open the word, what you say is, what you say is, Lord, I don't know exactly where to begin.

But it's interesting that you have guided me to this passage. Mucha paz tienen los que aman tu ley, y no hay para ellos tropiezo. No planeé leer este versículo, solo lo abrí. Dios le guiará si usted se lo permite. Mi oración es que este mensaje llegue a su corazón e impacte toda su vida. Padre, cuán agradecido estamos por tu palabra. Nuestra ancla en la tormenta, que nos recuerda tiempos de paz. Nuestra vida consiste en ti. Y te pedimos que toda persona que escuche este mensaje comience a darse cuenta de que no será posible lejos de tu palabra. Y que estás dispuesto a suplir cada necesidad de nuestra vida. Te amamos y alabamos y bendecimos tu santo nombre, por lo que eres para nosotros, en el nombre de Jesús. Amén. Amén.