It says in Psalms 55, 17, evening and morning and at noon, I will pray.
So that's a good tip, aim for three times a day.
I know that's a tip the pastor gives people, it's like look, if you haven't started your
prayer life, aim for three times a day.
You know when I get on the phone with individuals, I'm like look, aim for 8am, aim for 12, aim
for 8pm, 10pm.
If you skip one, you skip two, chances are you'll get number three.
And if you don't get them, then you know what, keep going at it.
Practice makes perfect, amen.
That's all you can do, just keep on practicing, keep on perfecting your discipline, keep disciplining
yourself, but pray, pray.
I mean here's somebody who's saying hey, morning, night and noon, I am going to pray.
And that's a great way to start out.
And a great example of this was Daniel, if you have your Bibles, go to Daniel chapter
number six.
Go to Daniel chapter number six, while you go to Daniel chapter number six, I'm going
to read from First Thessalonians 5 16.
It says, rejoice evermore, doesn't get any more simpler than this.
Verse 17, three words, pray without ceasing and everything give thanks, why?
For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
But that's for us as well.
It's not just for that individual or those individuals.
God wants us to be thankful people.
Romans 1, what was the first thing they did?
They became unthankful.
God forbid that God's people should become unthankful.
This morning we have so many things to be thankful for.
We have a lot of benefits that we receive from the Lord daily.
On my way over here, my wife, I didn't see her text, you know, I stopped answering texts
while I drive, it's not becoming a good habit to continue.
But she texted me, I didn't see it until I got here, she's like, hey, FYI, there's an
accident in the southern, be careful.
And sure enough, I already came across it, you know, but hey, that could have been me,
you know, on my way to church.
You know, that could have been me.
I believe God protected me, you know, so it can happen.
You know, it can happen when you make it into an accident, and once again, God will protect
you, He'll take care of you.
You know, but pray without, you know, pray without ceasing, keep doing it as best you
can.
You're right there in Daniel chapter number six, one of my favorite stories.
Remember, we just read in Psalms, I just read to you in Psalms 55, 17, evening and morning
and at noon, I will pray.
And you know what, I've noticed that a lot of statements in the Bible, you know, a lot
of statements in the Bible, you'll end up finding stories of people that actually did
those things.
So here's somebody who's praying, hey, morning, night and noon, and then we see an example
of somebody that's actually doing it, and that's Daniel, let's take a look.
Now when Daniel knew that the writings were signed, he went into his house and his windows
being opened in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a fourth time.
This was a habit that he built.
I bet you he got there by practicing.
Practice makes perfect, he disciplined himself to become this individual that three times
a day, three times a day, and you know what, we're probably going to go through a similar
thing.
It's going to seem like, hey, the world's going to get wicked, they're not going to
love Christians down the road, so of course, you know, why is he praying three times a
day so that he can be successful in those trying times?
You know, during his time, it wasn't the best time to be alive, but I'm pretty sure
praying helped because praying produces peace.
You know, just like Stephen in Acts chapter number six, his face was like the face of
an angel, you know, that guy was full of faith, that guy was full of wisdom, so it's not
a coincidence.
You know, God will give you what you need, and he knows that we all need power, we all
need peace, we all need patience, you know, we all need joy, we all need pleasure.
He's going to give it to you, but sometimes, hey, we have not because we asked not, right?
It just happens.
You know, so if you ever buy or go to Luke 11, go to Luke 11, I'll just read a few
more verses about prayer.
Here's Hebrew 13, 18, it says, pray for us, pray for us, the apostle Paul is saying, hey,
pray for us, it's important, hey, we don't take this for granted, this isn't a joke
to us, this is something serious to us, this is important, this is part of our success,
that people are praying for us, not just ourselves praying for ourselves, but hey, we want you
guys to help us and pray for us for success.
Hebrews 13, pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience in all things, willing to
live honestly.
Let me read some verses about Jesus' prayer life.
He was hardcore about prayer.
If you know what I'm talking about, let me give you some examples, Matthew 14.
And when he had set the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain, a mountain apart
to pray.
He knew, look, most people are not going to go up a mountain and chase me down.
Whatever they want from me, you know what, if it's obviously easy, they'll come to me
and kind of hinder me, but he knew I have to make time, I can't be so busy in my day,
you know, casting out devils, healing blind people, raising up dead people, I can't get
so busy, because people are going to suck my time, I got to break off.
I got to break off, I got to go pray, I need it too.
And if Jesus Christ needs it, who are we to say, we're all right?
You know, yeah, yeah, you know, if I get to it, great, if not, whatever.
If I pray today, I pray today.
That wasn't Jesus Christ's attitude, he's like, I got to get away, up the mountain,
that's what it's going to take, I'm going up that mountain.
So nobody follows me, because they'll be too tired to get up there.
Mark 1 35, and in the morning, in the morning, rising up, a great while before day, who knows
what time that was, 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., all I know is before the sun came out.
So you kind of guessed how early that was, but all we know is that it was early, amen?
It says rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place
and there prayed.
Luke 5 16, and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.
He's escaping, he's like, I need to break away right now, looking left, looking right,
I need to get with God, I need to talk to the Father, I need to get with him.
Luke 6 12, and it came to pass in those days that he went up into a mountain to pray and
continue, look at this, all night in prayer to God.
No sleep, all night, man, that is hardcore, that is hardcore, I don't know if you guys
ever done it, I've never done it, to be praying all night, man, I think he's kind of giving
us a heads up, hey, prayer is important, amen?
Luke 9 28, and it came to pass after 8 days after these sayings, he took Peter and John
and James and went up, he's like, hey guys, let's go pray, where are we going, Jesus?
Into a mountain, he's like, we're going up the mountain, up the mountain to pray, and
look, I went to the Barnhart Trail, who's ever done the Barnhart Trail?
That's where we shot one of the episodes in our Landmarks episodes, if you haven't subscribed,
please subscribe, you know, but it wasn't that easy, it was like an hour and a half
of straight walking up, you know, so then I ended up going back because we thought we
left some microphones, you know, with our SD cards, we thought we lost the audio, we
left it up in the mountain, so I'm like, hey, I got to go back, but you know what, I couldn't
really remember quite well where it was, so I took my older son with me because he was
there the first time, then my other kids, they didn't know what they were getting themselves
into, they begged me to come, I'm like, okay, you want to come, I'll take you, they regretted
it, they're like, we're not going up there anymore, and it took us two hours to get back
to the car, we're up in the mountain, it took us two hours to get back, an hour and a half
to get up there, that's how much of a beating their feet took, and they're like, no mas,
I'm good, and I'll tell them, look, I got one more episode, episode 10 with Pastor Mejia,
I need some b-roll, who wants to come? Not I, that's all right, I'm just ripping off
my kids, you know, hey, it's the volunteer army right now, I may force you guys later,
but we got to go this week to get some b-roll, so they want none of that, they had enough
the first time around.