Discipleship Class #4 - Understand Prayer

All right, we are now in Lesson 4, Understand Prayer, Discipleship class, and really excited that you've gotten this far. This lesson on prayer will teach you how to breathe in your new spiritual life. You know, prayer is talking with God. It's a two-way conversation, and many times, many people believe prayer is just you getting on your knees and just praying for five minutes and kind of dumping all your stuff on God and then start your day. Prayer is talking with God. It's a two-way communication, in the same way a cell phone. A cell phone calls out, a cell phone calls in, and you can have a conversation. They can hear you, and you can hear them. So when you pray, you need to be frank and sincere, in the same way the Bible tells us how Jesus spoke with God and taught his disciples. And this is what today's lesson is about. So I want to start off with this question is, why do we need to pray? That's a great question. Well, it is God's command. I want to read in Luke 18, 1, and it says, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. So if you have the PDF, if you have your notebook, I want you to write, number one, A, it is God's command. Why do we pray? The first answer is, it is God's command. And we see it here in Luke 18, 1, that Jesus says that we ought always to pray. You know, to be honest with you, you could finish the whole study right there, because if Jesus says we ought to pray, then we ought to pray. But we have more here. Also in Ephesians 6, verse 18, I'd like to read that. It says, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

And you can write that in also on your PDF sheet if you printed it out. And pray in the spirit, it says, at all times. So not only do we see in the gospels that Jesus says we ought to always pray, but we see here, Paul writing to the church in Ephesus, that we need to be praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. Now, I know some people say, what do you mean in the spirit, depending on how you grew up or what church you grew up on. This is not necessarily saying to pray at all times in the Holy Spirit in tongues. A lot of times we get that mistaken. To pray in the spirit is to pray in the spirit, not in the flesh. It is as simple as that. We don't want to add to the Bible. We don't want to take away from the Bible. So there are scriptures that talk about tongues. This is not one of them. We can't bring in another verse and tap it onto this one if that's not what this one says. We want to stay in context. So angel, Pastor Angel is going to go on to B on why do we need to pray? And here's B. So now we're on part B. And so on part B, it is your need to seek God's leading. Part A we were covering is God's command as far as to pray. And, you know, it's in that command again, as Pastor David was mentioning, you know, it's not just the feel good morning thing that we do. Jesus actually commanded us to communicate with him. If we're in a relationship with him, then that is our responsibility in that relationship. You know, it's not just God giving us his word, but what about us submitting to his word and communicating back and then walking through that actual relationship of him speaking back to us back and forth?

And that's the beauty of this, of what Christianity actually is. And it's having that relationship with God and having that ability and opportunity to speak. Can you think about just think about that? The creator of the entire cosmos and universe wants to hear from you. That's amazing. You know, how many movie stars and singers and presidents and kings are wanting to hear from you? How many famous people? Some of us have loved ones that don't want to hear from us. But the creator of heaven and hell wants to hear from you. Heaven is inviting you and me and saying, I'm going to give you command. I'm the king of the universe, the cosmos, the creator of all things, and I'm going to give you an invitation. To what? To have a cup of coffee and let's talk. What an amazing God and what an amazing opportunity. So when be it is your need to seek God's leading. So apart from the command of prayer, I want to read in 1 Peter 5, verse 7, and it goes like this. It says, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. I'm going to read it again. Casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. I would tell you as a Christian, two things. That is the best advice I could ever give you. Stop casting your cares on Facebook. Stop casting your cares on social media. Stop casting your cares when they first come to friends and family. Try casting your cares to God first. Try going and casting it on him, but here's the very, very important part.

That's the beautiful part. Cast it on him. Here's the hard part. Leave it there. Stop picking it up when you stop praying. After you get out and you have your tear fest and you give to God all your complaints, stop taking it back. Stop grabbing it out of his hands and then go handling yourself. If you give it to him, leave it with him. Is that going to be an act of discipline? Yes. But just mentally, emotionally, spiritually, leave it there. Let him transform the situation. Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 3. This is what the prophet said, that God says to the prophet. Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. A lot of the times in Christianity, we have this concept sometimes that if I went up to any church and any Christian and I said, is God big? Yes. Is God amazing? Yes. Can God do the impossible? Yes. God can do the impossible and everything else and then we walk out of that meeting, we walk out of that Bible study, we walk out of whatever that conversation was and we get in our car and then what do we usually do? A lot of the times we try to handle it ourselves. Why is that? Because one, we never cast it on him and as God was speaking through the prophet, he said,

call on me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Call on him. Cast it on him and then let him handle the situation. It is your need to seek God's leading. It's my need to seek God's leading. I need God, so I pray and I trust when I pray that my God hears me and my friend, he hears you too. So now that we have gone through the question, why do we need to pray A and why do we need to pray B as Pastor Angel said, this is now C. Why do we need to pray? In Hebrews 4.16, it reads, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So how should we approach God's throne of grace? With confidence. That's what you would write on that line. With confidence. And second, what will we receive and find? Mercy and grace. So these are the reasons why we need to pray. All of the above reasons that we said, but ultimately it's so we approach him with confidence and receive mercy. You know, when you receive grace, many people don't know what grace means. It is you receiving something you didn't work for, nor can you ever earn. But he gives that to us. And you would think that that sounds backwards because how do we enter his presence with confidence knowing that we don't deserve him? That's the point. The point is that we approach a merciful God to receive mercy we don't deserve, but he gives it to us anyway when we call out for his name. This is why we pray.

And I think that is very important for us to understand, as Pastor Angel sums it up in D, of why do we need to pray. Now we're on Part D. Part D says, what things do you need to pray for? So I want us to read together, if you can turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 and 7. Philippians 4, 6 and 7. And this is how it goes. And on your sheet, you have there, we're going to fill in the blanks. It says this, be anxious for nothing, before we even get any further. I'm just going to let that sink in your spirit. Be anxious for nothing. You know what the word, the definition in the Greek word for nothing means? Nothing. It means nothing. It means, you know, it means literally, if you have a God and he is God, you and I do not have a right to be anxious for anything. Because then what that means then, that we don't trust that he will come through in these needs. On an individual basis. Now it is interesting. The word anxious is mentioned at other times in the Bible that it is okay for. In other words, that we have a preoccupation for something. What are those things? To be anxious for what? To be anxious for our family. To care for their needs. To be anxious for our spouse, husbands towards wives, wives towards husbands. That is okay. And the third one is to be anxious for the brotherhood and the people in the church.

That we are to make sure that we are to help them in their needs. But not to be anxious for ourselves. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So now let's go and let's fill in the blanks. It says, do not be anxious for anything. But what? But in everything, underline everything, that's the blank. By prayer and petition or supplication with thanksgiving, present your needs to God. And the peace of God which transcends, I mean, it's not just, here's the lid. Transcend means it blows past the lid. Here's where your problems are. And what does it say? And the peace of God, which, boom, breaks through that lid of your problems, transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What is God promising you? Let's recap in A, if you obey the command to pray, B, if you see God's leading in all of those things, number three, finding grace and mercy in time of need. If you do those things, you'll find grace and help in the time of need. For what? For God's peace to transcend your issues. So that you can see what? The goodness of God. That is the promise that God is giving us through the scriptures by saying, if you'll be obedient to prayer and you'll follow this process, this is what's promised you. It says peace. It didn't say that the situation may or may not change.

If you're praying for a spouse, I can't guarantee that because God's not a manipulator where he's going to force someone's heart. They still have to change out of their own will, but the Holy Spirit will be working and it won't be you working against them or getting in the way. And what I can promise you is this, if you're praying and it's a marriage or you're praying and it's finances or you're praying and it's your children, praying gets us out of the way and allows God to operate in that situation. And what will you and I have in that situation that we are promised as we get ourselves out of the way? Peace. Peace that what? Peace that we did the right thing, lived out our faith, walked it out in front of all of our family and friends. And in private, we gave them over to the Lord. And what does the Lord do? He gives you and I peace that what we're doing is the right path. And the best chance that our loved ones have or the best chance of our circumstance of changing is for putting it in his hands. And now, brother and sister, live in peace. This is the steps of prayer that we want to walk you through as we get on to the next step in the second portion of this teaching. So now that we've answered the question of why do we need to pray, I want us to understand in part two, there's always three answers to prayer. A yes is a green light, you can proceed, God says. The next one is a red light, you cannot proceed. And the third one is wait. The yellow light, God does not respond, so you've got to be patient. So God is always going to answer prayer, and a lot of times, many will say, I prayed and God didn't answer. So in actuality, what they're saying is God didn't answer the way they wanted him to answer,

but God will answer prayer. So if you have the sheet or PDF printout, and we're going on to the next page, we're going to talk about part three, the content of prayer. So what should prayer be about? And many times, somebody that's taking this class, some of you have been saved for a long time. Some of you, this is your first time. You have no idea how to even pray, and you're just learning right now what prayer is. And I want to help you with the content of your prayer. When you open a book, there's the table of contents, things that make up that book. And within the contents is the book. You have the introduction, you have all of the preface, all of those things, and sometimes in the back, there's a glossary, sometimes a dictionary or something, depending on what type of book it is. So what should be the content of your prayer? If here's the prayer, what are the contents of it? And the first one is praise. You want to praise God, and that is very important. In 1 John 1, 9, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we need to praise him. You come into the place and praise. Nobody ever goes to see a king and doesn't give them praise. Even in a worldly sense. You don't go to a king. Let's say you need an issue solved or a problem, and I know here in the United States we don't have a king, but I'm sure you've seen enough movies and read enough books to understand that if you needed to stand in the presence of a king from an issue, you're not going to go right into the issue. You're going to praise that king first.

So we praise God first. Then we give thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is, Lord, I thank you. I thank you for saving me. I thank you for allowing me to wake up today. I thank you for the breath that I have. I thank you for the job that I have. I thank you for the family that I have. So you come in with praise. Praise is directed at him, not about you. And thanksgiving is toward him, not about you. And you thank him. And then you ask, Lord, I have an issue. I have a problem. I have a need. See this is what fills up your prayer. Praise, thanksgiving, the ask. And sometimes you don't even have anything to ask. It's not about every day thinking, okay, what do I need to ask God about? But sometimes there's that moment where you have to ask. And you ask God to meet your needs. But prayer should never just be about you. Because then we should intercede. Some of you pray for your spouse, pray for your children, pray for your grandchildren, pray for your coworker, pray for your neighbor. There's people that God instills into our hearts to intercede for. Because a lot of times people say, well, I can't think of a prayer longer than five minutes. But if you start with praise, go into thanksgiving, go into the need that you have, and start to intercede for others. And finally, after you intercede for others, there's a confession.

Say, Lord God, if I have done anything against your will, forgive me, Lord. I want to pray this prayer out, but I want it in a clean conscience. Those are the contents of prayer. That's a good starting place to begin. Praise, thanksgiving, ask, intercede, and confession. And I think that makes it a lot easier for some people that really truly don't know how to pray. And I will say this in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1. It says, first of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people. So that should be. The content of prayer. So we're going to go ahead and go into part four with Pastor Angel. Now we get to part four. Part four is the threefold will of God. So now we learned through as far as the commands of prayer and all that breakdown and now the content of prayer and the different ways that we can pray, we want to talk about the threefold will of God within prayer. And this is really important. So first of all, what God has commanded us to do, this is what God has already determined. It can never be changed by what or how a person prays. In other words, there's some things that if you pray, God's not going to work on your behalf. It's just, you know, I'll give you some silly examples. I hate my neighbor. So I'm, you know, I'm going to pray, you know, against my neighbor and you know, whatever. And it's like, why? Because oh, I'm angry at them. I hate them. So God be on my side.

God's not on your side. You know, you're not going to, God's not going to go, oh my gosh, the Christian prayed that prayer. He's not a genie in a bottle, you know, or Lord, you know, I know I'm, I know I'm married, but I really feel like this relationship could come in, could be something. I know, I know I'm married, but maybe, maybe this is the person that I should have married. God's not going to answer that prayer. That's not, that's not a spiritual prayer. That is a sinful prayer. There's some things that we need to be careful of. What God has determined and God has commanded, these are the things in which ought to be. And so, and at the same time, the, in, in these things, it's, you know, the way I've always, the way I was, I hope this is the way that I was taught was this. Don't ask God to do the things he told you to do. You know, don't command him to do the things he told you to do. So in other words, go love your neighbor. So love your neighbor. And we don't have to pray for that. These are things that we know are there. God should I love my neighbor? God, may God, are you going to change your mind? Should I, you know, do I have to be kind God? Those are things that are established. Those are not that these, these are commands in which we live, in which we do. Love your neighbor, be kind, be a good person. Like literally be a good person. I've met, I've met Christians that are good people. I've met Christians that are not, and they really need a, they really need a, a, a refreshing of the spirit of God deeply in their hearts. And, but these are commands in which we live, be.

What God allows, sometimes, if we plead with God, he will allow us to receive something, but we should be responsible for what we receive, not God's ideal for us. In other words, what God allows, what does God allow? God allows, there's a lot of things that God allow that God isn't necessarily for. It just happens. Sometimes we can plead with God. Sometimes we can intercede. If we allow us to receive something, but we should be responsible. It is our responsibility to walk that out. What God allows in, in through these prayers and what it is that we do, there is some permissible things. And in, in, in how that is, God may allow something that might not be God's ideal for you. You know, I've heard people go off and even say things like, you know, God, what color of car do you want me to have? And I've heard people say God told them white, okay. Did God tell them white? I don't know. I don't know. But can God lead somebody to that detail? Sure. I think he can. Does he? I think it's, it's really more your choice. What do you like? White? Do you like blue? But some of these things God permits and God allows, it's not that it's just working it out. Uh, but some of them are not at God's ideal.

It's just the way that things are and be, and number C, what is pleasing to God? Romans 12, two. It says, and do not, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In the process of prayer and all of those things, the way to get and see the transformation in your life and in your surroundings. is by praying the will of God. And where does that start? That starts right here. To transform your thinking, to line up with the word, to line up with the word of God, to line up with God's heart, to line up with God's will, to line up with God's purpose, to line up where God is going, that's where you and I go. And so lining ourselves up in alignment. See, if the spirit of God is going this way, and we're trying to operate our life through our carnality going this way, we're gonna butt up against the spirit of God and never get past it, because we're gonna beat ourselves up and get stuck there. So you and I need to be at a place that we can walk in the power of the spirit to have our life and our mind renewed, so that we can understand these differences of what it is that the spirit of God is doing. What God has commanded us to do, go do that. What God allows.

Okay, there's gonna be some give and take, there's gonna be some things that happen, all of those different circumstances. But when it is all said and done, have this one thing, have a new mind in you so you can line yourself up in God's prayers, or God's will, for when you pray, it lines up with God's will. That's Romans 12 too. And so this is really important, to line ourselves up with him, and understand that that's the key to getting your prayers, to seeing answers and action in your prayers. Line yourself up with him and not fight against him, even as a believer, because sometimes we can do that. So let's make sure that our heart and posture is aimed towards his will and not towards ours. That's the main point. Part five, new attitudes resulting from prayer, attitude, verse. And what I like about this portion is that it should cause a new attitude to arise in you. It should cause you to change, because when you start having a dialogue with God, constantly, it starts to change the way you talk, the way you think, the way you interact with others. So right here in James 1.6, it reads,

but let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. I wanna stay here for a few minutes, because I have taught this over many, many years, and many times people get very discouraged with this verse. You know why? Because we're human and we're always doubting. And I just want to put it in context on this, because if we apply doubt, then that throws everybody out. So I just want you to make sure we understand what this is saying. I wanna read it again. Let him who ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea. So here's my point. A lot of people have faith in the prayer, not the one that answers the prayer. So when you don't get what you pray for, you doubt it. You start doubting your own prayer. And this is not talking about that. What this is saying is that don't doubt in your faith for the one that answers the prayer. See, here's the thing. I probably doubt many times a day on my own abilities to even pastor a church, to even run this school, to even do this, to even do that. But what I don't do is doubt the power of God of what he can do.

Because if God is in it, the ship will not sink. It is impossible to sink if he's on the boat. So when I read this, I'm encouraged because I don't doubt in the one who answers prayer. And so I just want you to not beat yourself up and start to say, well, I'm doubting right now. You know, here's the thing, right? When you tell a child, hey, jump off the bed and land in my arms, at first they doubt you. You know, and then you gotta get real close. And when you're real close, maybe they'll have faith in jumping your arms. But you know what happens after a few times? You could stand feet away and that child will leap knowing that you will catch him because they're not doubting anymore. And that's the thing with faith is God understands that we're human, he understands where we're coming from and he gets it. If we get it with our children, what makes you think he won't get it with his children? So that is an attitude is that we don't doubt. We don't doubt who he is and what he can answer, not answer. The next one is having the right moment. motivation. In James chapter 4 verses 2 and 3 it reads, you desire and do not have so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. We have to have the right motivation. Do you want a new car because you need to get to your job? Do you want a new car because your neighbor has a nicer car than you? We got to be careful of the

motivations of why we ask. So we want to have an attitude of the right motivation and that is important. So our attitude is we're going to approach the God that we don't doubt. We're going to approach him with the right motivation and also in Psalm 66 18, if we cherish sin in my heart the Lord will not have listened. That's why it's important to confess our sin. Matter of fact there's even other scripture that is not here but basically it says to treat for husbands treat your wife right if you want God to hear your prayers. I mean see these are these are heart attitudes that Lord I need to confess something before I approach you and here's the thing he knows all things but it's there's something special when we approach our Father in heaven and say God I messed up he wants to hear you say it he wants here's why he wants you to have a clear conscience so then when you do pray you can have the right attitude. Also in 1st John 5 14 it says ask according to his will. It says this is a confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. Now that's important one that we have to grow into the more we grow in the Lord. For instance I like to give this example is that a lot of times in the beginning of my relationship my marriage with Sharon there are things that I was still learning about her there was things she was still learning about me but you know what now she doesn't call me to ask me hey do you want a Hershey a Hershey bar with almonds? You know what when she goes to this local store and grabs something guess what she brings? Why? Why did she grab that one out of all the candy bars? Because she knows that's what I like because she's my wife and she knows me and understands me and knows what I like and what I want and the same vice versa so in the same way with God when you start to spend time with the Lord you begin to start you're going to start to pray for things for yourself that go along with his will not your will because your will and his will should be in one. You know I have children and they're grown and when they were young I said man I want them to go to school then I want them to graduate I wanted to get an education I want them to have a great career I wanted to find a spouse I want them to have children and you have

your whole children's life lined up but if any of you have grown children you learn very very fast that they have their own mind their own thoughts and their own things of what they want to do and here's the thing let's say they have a passion for this but you wanted them to do that because you know that's better for them but you see the passion so you know you you you understand and you get it so you give them permission they want to play guitar you buy them a guitar but you know most likely they're not going to be the next biggest rock star you want them to have something more solid but here's the thing you will do it because they're your children but as they mature and start to get older they will start to see the big picture and their will will start leaning toward the same will that you had for them all along in the same way with their father in heaven when we grow with him we start to learn his will and start to live out of his will and finally in Luke 18 1 it says pray with the faithful heart they should always pray and not give up so what do we learn about this section 5 is our attitude is we have faith we have the right motivation we confess our sins we pray according to his will for us not our will and we pray with a faithful heart this should be the attitude of our prayer ok this is part 6 this is closing out our teaching on prayer And so, I want to wrap this all up in a bow and give you the examples in the last part of this. And always go back. You know, the sheets that you have. Here's the beauty of these classes, these videos, is we want to be like the commentary to these videos. I'm sorry, the handouts. Because you can actually use these to start a Bible study. You can use these to teach other new people. This video and these handouts were not made so that we could teach you and we could be the sophisticated teachers teaching students. No, that's not the kingdom.

The kingdom is multiplication and duplication. The keys to the kingdom is that what God gave us, we give to you. And guess what? If it's in your hands, you are now responsible for putting it in the hands of somebody else. So let's close this up because now you can take these and you can have a couple's Bible study about prayer. You can take this and have a family Bible study about prayer. You can take this and have a work break room Bible study on prayer. And you can also bring in a new Christian in the kingdom, walk them in through the Lord, and then walk them through and take them through these studies and show a brand new Christian. This is what it is to pray. Or somebody that's backslidden and walked away from God and maybe doesn't know and maybe has emotions or thoughts against the church because of something that happened in the past. And you say, listen, I don't know about all that, but can I show you the truth and the power of prayer? Don't stop praying. Let's walk you back into the kingdom. Let's walk you back into the presence of the Father. And that's why we did this. So we can give you the tools to duplicate somebody else that we would never meet or that would never check in, you know, on this online program. So let's go ahead and wrap this up. Hints for effective prayer. A. Pray in Jesus name. In John 14, 13, because we can only come before God through Jesus. It says, whatever you ask in my name that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse six, same chapter, verse six. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. So let's re-read again, 14, 13. Whatever you ask in my name, whose name? Jesus' name. That I will do. The Father will be glorified in the Son. I'm going to read 14 as well. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Okay, a couple things here. One, in Jesus' name. I grew up in the Pentecostal church my whole life. I grew up on the pew. My mother was baptized when she was six months pregnant with me. There was never a time in my entire life that I wasn't, as far as a part of the church or the Christianity was never a part of my life. Even when I walked away from God, I lived with my mom and dad. It was always Christianity and God and prayer and the scriptures were always a part of my life. There's never been a time in Angel Roach's experience, ever, in 48 years, that this has not been a part of my life. So I'm very blessed by that. And I will say this too on my side and my wife's side. We are third, my children are fourth generation believers. My grandparents, my parents, us, and them. On my wife's side of the family, her grandparents, her parents, her, and then our kids. Now that's a beautiful legacy, but you know what that doesn't do? That doesn't answer prayer. It's a beautiful story. It doesn't answer prayer. You know what does answer prayer?

Believing in His name. The first thing that Jesus says is, do it in my name. And here's the point I want to bring out. A lot of the times we say, in Jesus' name, as if it's a magic potion. As if it's this witch's bucket and the partner would go, oh, I know what the key is. I'm going to throw the Jesus name lizard tail in the potion and mix it. Oh, it's got to work now. And we use it almost like it's a potion. No, that's not what Jesus means. That's not what he means by that. What he's saying is, do it in my name, do it in my stead, do it as if it was me doing it. When you pray, do it as if it was Jesus doing it. Pray in that same way. An effective prayer is you understanding the commandment God gave you in the beginning. Pray. Why? So an answer can be done by his will and through his word. And answer it in that mindset and heart posture. Number two. Ending your prayer by saying amen means praying with one's true heart and agreeing with what is said. In Matthew 6.13, this is what Jesus says. It says, And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Amen is like the period at the end of a sentence. It literally means, let it be so. So that means when you end your prayer, be in agreement with God. Be in agreement. You know, earlier, Pastor David was talking to you about the attitude results of prayer

and the attitude view. And it's talking about doubt. Doubt means hesitation. You ever got paralyzed for a second, somebody scares you, and you get paralyzed? You didn't fight and you didn't run. You doubted. You got stuck. Don't get stuck. In Jesus' name, and close it out with an amen. I agree that what I am praying is his will because his word says so. I gave an example before about somebody that's married and they're praying for their girlfriend or their boyfriend going, God, bring me this person because my marriage is not working out right now. That's not in alignment with God's will at all. And one time, I had the dumbest thing that somebody said to me. Yes, I'm going to say it. It was dumb. Somebody said that they had cheated on their wife. And then they said at the very end, they said, I believe God did it so that I could appreciate my wife. And I'll never forget looking at this person across the table as much as I wanted to jump over that table. And I looked at him and this is exactly what I said, brother, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You're telling me that God took you to another woman so you could cheat on your wife, so you can have gratitude towards your wife? No, your sin took you to another woman. Here is a prayer. God, restore my marriage. That's God's prayer.

That's God's will. God, touch the heart of my husband. Touch the heart of my wife. God touch the heart of my daughter. God touch the heart of my son. God touch the heart of my boss. God touch the heart of my neighbor. God, that family that's in our church, Lord, I know that they're hurting. I know they're struggling. And Lord, in the name of Jesus, Lord, I just pray over them. And I pray that you heal that situation, Lord God, as I'm walking with my brother or my sister through that season in their life. But God heal their heart. God heal their family. It's the name of Jesus in action, with the amen as the stamp of the agreement. Number C. Prayers has many parts. Praise, thanksgiving, requests, intercession, and confession. We should not favor any part or neglect the other. Here's the part that people get stuck on. People think prayer is making only petitions. God, I need a new car. God, I need a new job. God, I need more clothes. God, I need new shoes. God, I need another job. God, my kids. God, my wife. God, my boss. God, don't let it rain.

God, I don't need a vacation. God, I need it. You know, I will tell you this. I have a four-year-old and he asks for everything all day long when they're little. They ask for everything. Mom, dad, give me juice. Mom, dad, give me water. Mom, dad, why? Because they can't get it. And that's okay because when we had a lock on the fridge and he couldn't pour it. You know when it becomes annoying? When he's able to do it on his own and he's still asking. God, change my neighbor. God's going, you're an adult. You're a Christian. You're a believer. Go work that out and go talk to them. So there's a lot of these prayer parts that need to blend and not one needs to be more to the other. Let's get stuck in praise. Praise him though. Be thankful always. Don't ever be bashful in making a request. Always intercede. And you know what? Always have confession. Lord, here's a good confession when you're praying. And let's say you're angry with somebody, family member, friend, church member, whatever, co-worker. Lord, so-and-so, we had a disagreement.

And Lord, I got angry and I know I probably shouldn't have. But man, they made me angry, they hurt me or whatever. They feel like they betrayed me. And Lord, I don't know how to process this and I don't know how to work this out. But God, I know that the way I responded, the way I answered wasn't right and I need to make that correction. And I need to ask for their forgiveness. But Lord, can you help me in this? Because even if I ask for forgiveness, we still have this situation that we need to fix. That's the confession, the intercession part, and the request with an attitude of thanksgiving and praise at the end. Lord, I thank you for answering my prayer. I know, Lord God, I will get that right. I'm gonna fix it. But Lord, please, please work on their heart too so that we can work through this. That's a good prayer. Number D, pray in a natural and understandable manner, avoiding babblings. Two things to that. These are our last two points. Is don't get stuck in just repetitive mode. Like I was telling you about my son. When my son's always asking me, you know what, in my mind, stop being annoying.

Stop being annoying. And to some of you that are watching this and don't know how to pray and you're learning how to pray, I'm gonna tell us all, because we've all been through it as a Christian. At some point, we are annoying to God. Stop being annoying. Go handle the things you and I are supposed to handle. Go mend the relationships that you and I are supposed to handle. And at the same time, in the same process, be in prayer with a heart of humility and gratitude. And we work it out. And not just be repetitious in the same things. One time, bring it to God and allow him to work through it. Don't bring the same problem over and over again because if it's still a problem five, 10 years, some along the way, I guarantee you this, you're involved in that. So go change the part that you're involved in. Here's the other part. For the Pentecostals that are watching, I love speaking in tongues. I love praying in tongues. That doesn't mean that that's the only type of prayer. That doesn't mean that that's the only way I can pray. I pray in English, I pray in tongues, I pray back and forth.

And I love praying in tongues alone. I rarely pray in tongues in front of just middles of crowds of people that I don't know. I think it's not necessarily, Paul says it's not fruitful for them. They don't understand. But I've also had moments where God has given me a word in my spirit, in my flesh. It just came out in tongues together and then God gave me the word and that has happened. It's okay. But let's make sure that we have the balance of both. Very important. And the last one. Pray at any time of the day and at any place. There's no limit on the time and the place of prayer. Guys, God is incredible, infinite, everywhere, transcendent in all places. Here's a prayer, God help me. That's a good prayer. You know what another good prayer is? Lord, I'm scared. Give me strength. That's a prayer too. It can also be a 30 minute time, an hour time, a two hour time or a three second time. You're always in the right place and it's always the right time. To open your heart, seek God, have humility,

be thankful, be grateful, intercede, love and be willing to ask forgiveness and pray for that person. It's always the right time. So I hope you were able to grab value out of this and I hope that the value of prayer becomes something of a consistent staple in your life because this will absolutely change your life if you give heed to it. We bless you. Thank you for staying with us on this lesson as we continue on to lesson five and then lesson six as we go through our discipleship courses here at House of Rest. We thank you and be blessed in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.