All right, we are in Luke chapter 11 and look down in verse number one.
It says here, and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he
ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught
his disciples.
And I want to preach on the subject of the discipline of prayer, the discipline of prayer.
And there's a lot of disciplines in the Christian life, and you think of church attendance,
you think of Bible reading, of course, you think of soul winning, many different aspects
and responsibilities that a Christian has, but more often than not, this matter of prayer
often is the one that actually gets neglected the most.
And one of the reasons why is because potentially it could be because a lot of the other responsibilities,
people see us when we come to church, people see us when we go out soul winning, people
see us when we do these things, and often a lot of these activities are outside where
our brethren and our sisters are, you know, and we can exhort one another to continue
into those disciplines, whereas the discipline of prayer is something that's supposed to
be done privately, individually, and a lot of people struggle with that.
And that's one reason, but another reason is because people just don't know how to pray.
You know, they were never taught how to actually commune with God on their own, therefore it
gets neglected.
Now I want to talk about this subject because I believe it's important that we as a church
learn to pray.
We need to learn how to get a hold of God.
We need to learn how to pray on a consistent basis for the power of God in our lives, that
we're constantly confessing our sins before the Lord, that we're asking God to help us
and to prosper us so that we can become successful in the Christian life and live a life that's
pleasing unto Him.
Go with me, if you would, to John chapter 16.
John chapter 16, Brother Paul, can you turn off the heater there, please?
John chapter 16.
And what does it mean to pray?
We're just going to go over some basic things here, and at the end of this sermon, I'm going
to simply give you a template that you can use, if you don't know how to pray, a template
that you can use to remember simply how to pray.
It's an easy way to remember, to know, and it's structured so they can help you to pray
on a daily basis.
But what does it mean to pray?
Well, to pray simply means to ask, to beseech, to request something from God.
Now, this word in the Bible is not always in reference to us asking God for something.
You see throughout the Bible, men and women using this in just regular conversation when
they're requesting something of another person.
They'll often say, I pray you, you know, have this done, or I pray that you would depart
out of the coast, or whatever it may be.
So it's simply a word that means to ask or to request.
But this morning, I'm going to focus mainly on the aspect of us asking God for specific
things.
In chapter 16, verse 23, it says, And in that day, ye shall ask me nothing.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will
give it you.
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.
Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
So we see here the reason why, when we pray, and at the end of that prayer, we say, In
Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
That's not a cliche.
Those aren't just vain words.
When we say that we're praying in Jesus' name, we're praying with His authority.
We're coming to God.
We're stepping into the throne of grace to obtain mercy, to help in a time of need.
But we're coming in the name of Jesus.
And that's exactly why we pray that way.
That's why you hear that when we pray in church.
That's why you should be doing that when you're praying on your own.
We're asking in Jesus' name.
And look, the Bible says here that when we ask in His name, we're going to receive it.
You're like, I don't know.
You know, what if I don't receive it?
Well, number one, are you praying according to the will of God?
You know, I pray that I just, Lord, please let me win the lottery in Jesus' name.
It's not going to happen.
Oh, but I'll tithe off of those million dollars if I do.
I don't care.
God's not going to answer those prayers.
You know, oh God, you know, I pray that, you know, X, Y, and Z for a divorce.
You know, that's not going to happen.
Why?
Because that's not according to God's will.
We cannot pray for something that's not according to His will.
But on the other thing, the reason why we don't receive the answers to our prayers is
because we're not praying in faith.
See, the Bible tells us we have to pray believing.
But if you're doubting God that He's going to provide for those things, you know, if
you're not asking in faith, you're not going to receive it.
Go with me if you went to James chapter number one, James chapter one.
So we see there that we pray in His name, okay?
We pray in Jesus' name when we ask, when we petition, when we request something from
God.
We're coming with the authority of Christ behind our name.
And look, that's a good authority to come on the behalf of, amen?
Because God's going to hear His prayer.
God's hearing will always answer the prayers of His Son.
Therefore, if we come in His authority, we can rest assured that He's going to answer
our prayers as well.
Look at James chapter one, verse number five.
If any of you lack wisdom, let them ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abradeth
not and it shall be given Him.
Hey, has there ever been a time in your life when you lack wisdom?
You know, maybe it's a certain situation that you're going through, it's a difficult time
and you really don't know what type of decision you need to make.
Guess what you need?
You need wisdom.
You know, and wisdom beyond your own understanding.
You need the wisdom of God.
And the Bible tells us here, if you're lacking wisdom, this is what you need to do.
You need to ask God for wisdom.
And the Bible tells us here that He gives to all men liberally.
What does that mean?
It doesn't mean like, you know, He gives to you like a, when we think of liberal, we often
think of like a liberal church that has like the CCM and all that garbage.
Okay, I got to tell this story now, okay.
Yeah.
Okay, so we're about sowning yesterday, right?
And we're in this, we're in, where's Kimberly at?
Kimberly, your area.
And we're all sowning in that area.
And there's another group of sowners.
And this church, I know this church, it's a Baptist church.
They're called Hillside Bible Baptist Church, okay?
And they like to sown.
They're really big on sowning.
But I didn't know it was them.
And so we, Paul and I were walking and we see this group of people.
And I'm like, oh man, Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, that's the first thing you think
of.
And they're like, hey, how's it going?
I'm like, are you Jehovah's Witnesses?
And they're like, no, we're Baptist.
I'm like, okay, we're Baptist too.
And I asked them where they're from.
They said Hillside Bible Baptist Church.
Well, this is a church that basically, they're like the old IFB of the old IFB.
It's like, they're jack house all the way, you know, fundamental Baptist.
You better not wear any other color shirt other than white kind of thing.
And I'm not joking about that.
Anybody who knows this church knows that that's fact, okay?
And so we're out there sowing.
And Mark was actually by himself.
Like he was out there sowing because we're uneven.
But he knows how to preach the gospel.
So he was out there giving the gospel by himself.
And I told the group, you know, we talked for a little bit, we fellowship.
And I said, what areas did you do?
And he said, well, we went in that area right there.
I said, great.
He goes, but one of your guys is over there.
You know, he's preaching the word over there.
Okay.
And one of the ladies is like, yeah, but he's not a fundamentalist.
And the reason why is because, you know, Mark was wearing this like bright red shirt, you
know.
Now, to be a fundamentalist doesn't mean you have to wear a white shirt.
I prefer white shirts, of course.
But to be honest with you, who cares what kind of shirt color you wear?
What do you believe?
You know, what are you grounded in?
So often we think of someone who's not a fundamentalist, someone who's a liberal, is someone who's
into the CCM, you know, they got the watered down preaching, so on and so forth.
But really what liberal means or to give liberally is to give generously.
That's what that's referring to.
To be liberal is to be generous.
So when he says there that we can ask of God the wisdom that we need, he'll give to us
generously.
You see, you can either lean upon your own understanding and lean upon your own knowledge
and your own wisdom, or you can get the wisdom of God who gives to all men liberally.
And look what it goes on to say, and abraighteth not, what does that mean?
He won't rebuke you if you keep asking him for it.
To abraighteth is to rebuke, to abraighteth is to reprove.
It's like someone who keeps asking you is like, I told you no.
I said no.
You know, he's not going to do that to you if you ask him for wisdom.
You're like, oh man, I don't have wisdom and I just don't know how to make good decisions.
Have you been praying for wisdom?
Oh yeah, but what is he going to do?
Just endow me with special wisdom?
Yeah, yeah, he is.
That's how it works.
But because you don't believe, therefore you will not get that wisdom that he's offering.
Look what it goes on to say, verse six, but let him ask in what?
Faith.
Nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
You know what that tells me?
That when we go to God in prayer, we need to be fully persuaded that that which he has
promised he is able also to perform.
Stagger not at the promises of God.
Understand, if God says it right here, that he'll give us wisdom, let's just expect wisdom
when we ask for it, okay?
Go to James chapter four.
Prayer is so necessary and people make so many bad decisions in their life.
Why?
Because they just adhere to their own wisdom.
When the Bible tells us that our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, who can know it?
We can't trust our hearts.
We need to go with the wisdom of God found within his word, but on day-to-day decisions
that we need to make that maybe the Bible's not necessarily black and white in, we need
to ask God for wisdom and he gives it to us liberally.
Look at James four, verse number one.
For whence come wars and fightings among you?
Come they not hence even of your own lusts that warn your members?
Ye lusts and have not.
Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain.
Ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not.
So what's another element that we see here when it comes to prayer?
Well, some people don't get anything because they just don't ask.
Why didn't you give me that?
Well, you didn't ask.
Am I supposed to like read minds or something?
How come I didn't get anything?
Did you ask?
You know?
Well, I didn't ask because I'm afraid that you say no.
Well, you know what?
Saying no and knowing that that person says no is better than to wonder if he would've
potentially said yes.
You know, it's better to just ask God for whatever it may be according to his will and
in faith, you know, and not ask at all and wonder if you could've gotten that what you
asked for, okay?
And he tells us here that we don't have because we don't ask.
Verse three, ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon
your lusts, the Bible says.
So what is another reason why we don't get our prayers answered?
Well, because you just want to consume it upon your own lusts.
You know, for your own selfish desires and ambitions, God sees the heart, you know, hell
and destruction before the eyes of the Lord, how much more the hearts of the children of
men.
He sees our motives, he sees the reasons why we want things and maybe he doesn't give it
to us because we want to consume it upon our own lusts.
That should encourage and admonish you that when you ask for something, you have the right
motives.
What is it that you, why are you asking for that large sum of money, you know what I mean?
Why are you asking for that material possession?
Is it so you can serve the Lord more?
Is it so you can be a blessing to other people or is it so you can consume it upon your own
lusts?
And the Bible tells us that we ask amiss when we ask for those things.
And this will help us to really prioritize what we're asking for, okay?
Go to Matthew chapter 21.
This is all introduction here.
We're talking about prayer and the importance of prayer.
I'm gonna go back to Luke chapter 11 in just a bit, but look at Matthew 21.
Verse 21 of Matthew 21 says, Jesus answered and said unto them, verily I say unto you,
if ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree,
but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the
sea, it shall be done.
And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive.
Do we believe that or not?
We need to make sure that we come fully persuaded when we're in prayer.
You know, maybe it's a need of, maybe it's a financial need.
Maybe it's a health need, okay?
And I'm gonna go into just a little bit when God answers prayers.
And by the way, let me just say this.
God answers all prayers.
He does, he answers all prayers.
Every single prayer, he'll answer it.
But guess what?
It's not always yes.
Sometimes it's just no, but hey, that's an answer, amen?
And that's good though because if he says no, we can move on, right?
But he always will answer your prayer.
He may not always give you what you want, but he will answer your prayer.
And I'm gonna show you in just a bit how you can determine when God is answering your prayers.
How do you know that he's giving you what you want, giving you what you're asking for,
or not, okay?
I'm gonna show that to you in just a little bit.
But it says there, in all things, what sort of ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall
receive.
Now, go to Philippians chapter number four if you would.
So we mentioned already that prayer means asking, it means to petition, it means to
request something, but prayer is one of those words that is all encompassing and can involve
also praise and thanksgiving.
Because when we pray, yes, we're asking God for certain things, but also when we talk
about prayer, we're also including praise, praise unto God, okay?
And I'm gonna explain what that is in just a bit.
Look at Philippians four verse five, it says, let your moderation be known unto all men.
The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing.
What does that mean?
Don't worry.
Careful means you're full of care.
Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known unto God.
So when we pray, we need a couple of those three elements.
It says prayer, supplication with thanksgiving.
What does that mean?
When we ask God for something, thank Him for the things that you already have.
Thank Him for the things that He's already done.
Thank Him for the things that He's already provided for.
Show some gratitude.
That's the word of the day, amen.
Gratitude.
Be thankful.
And we'll see in Psalm 100 that when the Bible tells us that when we enter into the presence
of God, it should be with thanksgiving.
You know, often we just kind of 911 God when something's going bad and you want Him to
answer your prayer right then and then and you get all mad when He doesn't.
Well, when's the last time you actually spent some time in adoration and thanksgiving?
Praising Him for who He is.
Being thankful for that which you already have.
And look, sometimes God doesn't give us what we want because He just wants to teach us
a word called contentment.
What is contentment?
Just being satisfied with what you have.
Being content, being happy with what you already have, okay?
It says in the peace of God which passeth all knowledge shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
You know, there is a peace that God provides that passeth all understanding, the Bible
says.
When you're going through a difficult time, you're struggling with anxiety, you're struggling
with depression, you're struggling with, you know, emotional problems that you may be having,
the Bible says that the antidote to that is that you pray with supplication and thanksgiving
and God provides the peace that passes all understanding.
Now He's not saying that He's going to change your circumstances, He doesn't say that right
there.
He doesn't say I'll fix everything, He just says I'll give you peace.
Now often if you want to experience something like this, you have to go through something
very traumatic in order to understand what that actually means right there.
Because when you go through a traumatic experience, an emotionally traumatic experience, you know,
you really don't care about anything else.
You know, traumatic experiences are often necessary in our personal lives because it
really helps us to realize what's most important.
You know, we often think that money's important, possessions are important, you know, position
is important, but when a traumatic experience takes place in our lives, it helps us to refocus
and understand what's really most important.
You know, and it's at that time that God provides that peace that passeth all understanding.
Why does it say that it passes understanding?
Because, you know, you really don't know why you are cool, calm, and collected, but it's
because it's the peace of God in your heart.
You know, I remember when, I don't think my wife will mind me mentioning this, but
I remember when my father-in-law went into the hospital, and the night that he went into
the hospital, he had what's called an AVM.
In other words, he had, I think it was three veins in his brain that he was born with that
were completely intertwined and intertangled, and they burst, okay?
And you know, there's bleeding in his brain, which can cause a lot of brain damage, and
in fact, 1% of people who have AVM survive.
And so they basically told us he's gonna die tonight.
He's dying tonight.
And, you know, we prayed, and he lived, and he's still around to this day, still improving,
still getting better, and we never would have dreamed that he would have gotten to the place
where he is today the first night that we saw him.
But I remember, like, you know, my wife, she was not my wife at the time, but I prayed
for her a lot.
People were praying for the family, and I remember her saying, like, I know nothing
has changed, but I feel like the peace of God is on my life right now.
You know?
Like, I can make it to tomorrow.
You know?
I can make it through this week.
I feel like God's given me the peace of God.
And that's due to the prayers of the saints.
Okay?
And by the way, that goes to show you that when someone goes through something traumatic,
you know, the best thing to do is not give them Romans 8.28.
Look, brother, all things work together for good, amen?
Let's go soul winning.
That's not necessarily what they need.
Maybe what they need is prayer.
Lord, help that person, give them grace throughout this time, favor, give them the peace to pass
with understanding.
They're going through a traumatic experience, help them to get through that through prayer.
Okay?
Now, go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 14.
Matthew chapter 14.
I'm going to read to you from Luke 11, where we started.
This is a unique request that we see the disciples asking of the Lord.
I'm going to read it to you again, it says, And it came to pass that as he was praying
in a certain place, Jesus Christ, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him,
Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Now, why would they ask that?
You know, teach us to pray.
He's done praying, he comes and they say, Lord, teach us to pray.
Notice that they didn't say teach us to preach.
They didn't say teach us to soul win.
They didn't say teach us to evangelize.
They didn't say teach us to cast out devils and demons.
They didn't request for any of that throughout the gospels, but they did request teach us
to pray.
Now, why is that?
Well, part, I believe one of the reasons is because many of those other activities were
done in public.
And they observed him preaching, they observed him soul winning, they observed him evangelizing,
they observed him doing these great works openly, and they simply emulated what they
saw.
So they looked at what he did and simply emulated that which he did, okay, because it was done
openly.
And prayer, if you studied the gospels, was something that Jesus Christ typically did
in private.
You know, now, here's the thing is, the principle that we can learn there is that things are
rather caught than taught, okay?
You know, soul winning, we're gonna have a soul winning seminar where we teach some principles,
but you know what?
You're not gonna be a bona fide soul winner after that soul winning seminar if you've
never done any soul winning in your life.
We're just gonna give you some principles, some tips that can help you, to establish
you, to help you, give you some direction on how to preach the gospel.
But you're not gonna be a bona fide soul winner the day after, it's like, I'm ready to go.
You know, why?
Because ultimately, you need to go soul winning with a seasoned soul winner and catch what
they're doing, because things are rather caught than taught.
You often will become that which you're around.
You often will emulate the examples, the verses, the way that soul winner, you know, gives
his presentation.
That's how you'll become a great soul winner.
And therefore, that's why it's important that you go with different people to learn, but
things are rather caught than taught.
How can I become a great preacher?
Listen to great preachers.
Emulate what they do.
How can I become a great Christian?
Emulate other great Christians, okay?
And so we see that, and they ask him to teach them to pray.
Now you're in Matthew chapter 14, look what it says here.
Verse 22, and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go
before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.
And when the evening was come, he was there alone.
So what do we see here, and one of the examples that we see here is that Jesus Christ, when
he would go and pray, he'd always be alone for a very long time.
So this shows us that extensive prayer, deep emotional prayer should not be done in public.
You have these guys and these pastors who when they pray, they just want to pray down
like the power of God in front of everyone, oh God, you know, they're just like weeping
and wailing.
Why?
Because they want to show that they're so godly in front of everyone, how spiritual
they are, you know.
You know, show me thy faith by thy works, okay.
Show me how much you pray by God's hand on you when you go out sowing.
Show me how much you pray by the works that you do.
Because that's what the disciples saw.
They saw the result of Jesus' preaching.
They saw the results of his work.
They saw the results of his prayer life.
He would spend a lot of time alone with God with his heavenly father and they saw the
results publicly, okay.
Now go to Matthew 26, Matthew chapter 26.
You know, we don't, there's two types of prayers.
There's corporate prayer and then there's private prayer.
We do corporate prayer here.
You know, when we pray for the service, you know, when we pray after the service, after
I'm done with the sermon, we'll do, maybe every once in a while we can do something
like a prayer meeting where we break up into groups.
There's something wrong with that.
But at the end of the day, these prayers should not be emotionally driven.
They should not be with many words.
You know, why?
Because at that point, you're getting your reward, amen.
Your prayer partner, they're going to think, wow, this guy's like spot on, godly, 100%.
Just listen to his wonderful words.
You know, keep it short and sweet.
Because those extensive prayers ought to be done in private.
You know, look, if you're an emotional person, you know, I'm not going to have you pray up
here.
I don't want people crying up here and praying and stuff.
That's like, that's kind of awkward actually.
You know, I weep, but you know what, let's weep in private so that God can see, so that
God can see that we're not doing it for the acclamation of men.
We're doing it because we want to get close to God, okay.
And that was like prevalent in the old IFP, unfortunately.
So I saw a lot of that.
You know, I saw a preacher come.
He was a guest preacher one time at my old church, and he was a powerful preacher, but
like, you know, of course, they did the altar call and all that, all those things, but he
like ran and when everyone's doing the altar call, he ran behind the wall and like began
to weep and cry and wail and just like pray.
And I remember thinking to myself, this is awkward.
You know, I'm like, should someone check up on him, you know?
But here's the funny thing about that, okay, because back in those days, obviously, they
had CDs, preaching CDs and stuff.
And I listened to the CD where he preached that same exact sermon, and he did the same
exact thing with running and praying and weeping and wailing, so it's all fake.
Bunch of phonies, you know?
I'll give you something to cry about.
You can't cry.
You know, he wants to do this show of weeping and wailing so people can say, what a tender
heart, you know?
That's garbage.
Do that in private, okay?
Now look at Matthew 26, verse 36, it says, then cometh Jesus unto, excuse me, then cometh
Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here
while I go and pray yonder.
Yonder simply means a distance away.
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be very sorrowful
and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, tarry ye here and
watch with me.
And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Go to Luke chapter six, if you would, Luke chapter six.
Look, if the Son of God prayed, that is a great example of us who should also emulate
that character quality, that discipline to say, man, if the Son of God prayed, how much
more do we need prayer?
How much more should we discipline ourselves on a daily basis to pray?
And look, the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.
But the way that begins, because when it says pray without ceasing, in other words, it's
not about having a prayer life, praying throughout the day, not just dropping you on your knees
like at your job, you know, and just praying there, it's just saying, you know, pray thus
within yourself, almost like the example that we see with Nehemiah, okay?
But the fact of the matter is that when we pray, you know, the Bible speaks strongly
against vain repetition.
But what do we see with Jesus Christ?
He's repeating the same thing over and over again.
So what's the difference between the vain repetition of the Pharisees and the repetitious
prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Well, the difference is this, is that Jesus Christ, it was heartfelt prayer, okay?
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
I mean, he's weeping, he's in agony, he's just praying the same thing because he's requesting
of God that the cup pass from him.
He's going through a difficult time.
He's about to take the sins of the whole world upon himself, okay?
So this is heartfelt, deep prayer, whereas to the other ones, it's just much speaking.
You know, kind of like the Catholics.
Hail Mary, full of grace, you know, running around and what's the, beads all over the
place or something like that?
You know?
It's just vain repetition where they think that they're meriting God's favor based upon
how many times they repeat a specific prayer.
You know?
They claim that the Our Father who art in heaven is a specific prayer, like you gotta
pray that, you gotta make sure you repeat that, well then, riddle me this then, Catholic.
If that is a prayer that we need to repeat constantly, why is it that we have multitudes
of examples in the New Testament of people praying and no one repeating that prayer?
The only person we see using that prayer is Jesus Christ.
You know why?
Because it's a template.
It's an example.
You will never find anyone in the Bible repeating that exact prayer.
Why?
Because those people have brains in their heads and they understood that was an example.
And it's vain repetition if you just pray that over and over again, thinking that you'll
merit God's favor based upon how many times you do it.
You know?
Now, look at Luke 6 verse 12, and it came to pass in those days that he went out into
a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.
Now, the previous verse explains that the Pharisees were filled with madness and they
saw how they might take him.
And it says there, and it came to pass in those days that he went out in the mountains
to pray and continue all night in prayer.
This is a difficult time in his life, and because it was so difficult that he spent
the entire night in prayer.
Now, honestly, you don't know what that's like until you go through something traumatic
like that where sleep is not even important to you.
How many of you say sleep is important to me?
You know, if you have a little infant baby, you know what I'm talking about?
Okay?
It's important.
You know?
He giveth his beloved sleep.
Okay?
That's what the Bible says.
There could be times in your life where you experience something so traumatic, so difficult,
so heartbreaking, that not even sleep is important to you.
You're willing to just spend the night in prayer unto God.
Okay?
Now, so private prayer was a common activity that Jesus Christ participated in, and we
see that throughout the Gospels.
And look, go to, let's see here, go to Matthew chapter 21, Matthew chapter 21.
So as I mentioned, there's two types of prayers.
We have private prayer, but we also have corporate prayer.
This is what we do in the house of God.
Okay?
Look at Matthew 21, verse 13, it says, and said unto them, it is written, my house shall
be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.
So the Bible tells us that the house of God, right, is a house of prayer.
Now here it says that referring to the temple, well, that could be applied to us personally
because this temple should be a house of prayer.
But specifically, it could also refer to the house or the church of God, right?
Why?
Because it should be considered a house of prayer.
Now I've heard pastors take this verse and say, see, why are we putting so much big emphasis
on preaching for?
We shouldn't put that much emphasis, God said that my house shall be called the house of
prayer, not of preaching, but of prayer.
But here's the thing, it's both.
So just because it says my house shall be called the house of prayer doesn't mean it's
not a house of preaching either.
Because the Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 3.15, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know
how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of truth.
And in the very next chapter, it says to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to
doctrine.
And it mentions nothing of prayer, but that doesn't mean we don't pray.
We do both.
Amen?
Go to Matthew 18, Matthew chapter 18.
Matthew chapter 18 is a key chapter that explains to us the procedures we do when we excommunicate
someone out of the church.
You know, like Eric Ballesteros, that's basically what we use right there.
And it was good, amen?
So Matthew 18 talks about that, but at the latter end of Matthew chapter 18, God's telling
us that he's backing us up.
So even though these fools and these reprobates want to back Eric Ballesteros up and his stupid
doctrine, you know, they want to thumbs down my video and thumbs up his video.
I don't care.
I got God on my side, buddy.
You know, if God be for us, who can be against us?
Look at Matthew 18, verse 18 says, verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loose in
heaven.
Thank you, Lord.
So when we bind the fact that he's thrown out of our church, God says, I bind that in
heaven.
Eric does not have that authority.
We do.
But look, let's keep reading, verse 19, and again I say unto you, that if two of you shall
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
This could be likened unto corporate prayer.
Because if two of us are praying, Lord, please, you know, give us prosperity and success as
we go out soul winning, that you would soften the hearts of the people we're going to speak
to, that we would see someone saved.
You know, the Bible says if we agree on that, we're going to get what we ask for.
If we all agree on specific things that we're asking of God in our church, God says there
that we're going to receive it.
That's why it's important that we have unity in our church.
That's why I say if you don't agree with us, go somewhere else.
There's the door.
Don't let the door hit you where the Lord split you.
You know?
Why?
Because we need unity.
We need to make sure that we're in agreement.
Why?
So that we can get our prayers answered.
Amen.
Okay.
The Bible tells you you don't have to turn to Acts 4, 31, says that when they had prayed,
the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Now go with me if you would to Matthew chapter 6, if you would.
Matthew chapter number 6.
The main thing I want to talk about is private prayer.
I hope you're reading your Bibles, but I hope you're praying too.
Amen.
Okay.
I hope you're giving attendance to reading your Bible, but coupled with that, I hope
you're also spending time in prayer.
Amen.
Okay.
Because the word of God is what God uses to speak to us, but we need to speak to him through
prayer.
Yes.
And it takes two to tango.
Amen.
If you're going to have good communion with God, you can't just read the Bible and that's
it.
You need to make sure that you're praying.
I just think Bible reading is more important.
You can't say the either or is more important.
They're both important.
Right.
Amen.
Okay.
And here's the thing.
The Bible commands us to pray.
Yes.
So if you're neglecting prayer in your life, you're disobeying that commandment.
Right.
Okay.
Look at Matthew 6 verse 5.
And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues and in the corner of the streets that they may be seen of men.
Barely I say unto you, they have their reward.
But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray
to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
That is good motivation and incentive to have a personal prayer life.
Amen.
Because God says there, look, these stupid Pharisees, these hypocrites, these vipers,
when they pray openly, they got their reward because everyone's looking how godly and spiritual
they are.
They have their reward, whereas when you pray, you should do it in private so I can reward
you openly.
Okay.
What does that mean?
In other words, you will see the results on the outside, outside of your prayer closet.
Okay.
That's what it's referring to there.
But it tells us specifically that thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Now what are some practical tips that I can give in regards to the scripture right here?
You know, there should be a place in your house, in your home, where you're praying
outside of everything else in the noise, you know what I mean?
Outside of the children.
You know, moms, hey, if you have little children, if you have infants and toddlers, you know,
pray during their nap time.
Like, oh, hold on, but I need to nap during their nap time.
You know, give thyself to prayer during that time.
Okay.
And take time to pray.
You don't have a lot of time to pray, but in your household, it should be away from
social media.
Amen?
Amen.
Away from Facebook.
Away from Instagram.
Away from YouTube.
Away from that which would distract you from spending time talking to God.
Because in the day and age that we live in, everything can distract us.
Everything.
Notifications.
You know, Brother Mejia just is exposing someone on YouTube.
Let me check this out real quick.
Put those things aside and spend, give yourself to prayer, okay?
You need to have a special place.
And look, sometimes it's not even in your home.
There's times when I pray that I just go take a walk around the block.
Now when I'm walking around the block, I'm not like, you know, I take a walk and I pray
under my breath, you know.
I'm not like, you know, I'm, don't do that.
You look like a crackhead, okay?
You know, you need to make sure that when you pray, you know, when I go out, I, when
I walk, I just move my lips a little bit and talk to him and try to make it look like I'm
just trying to get some exercise in or something, you know.
But I do that because sometimes, you know, I got little kids and they're loud.
You know, my son is loud, my daughter is loud.
And you know, sometimes the house is just too much for that to be able to focus on something
like that.
So I step outside of that.
Maybe that's something that you have to do.
But maybe you don't have that problem.
Maybe it's just you have social media problems, other noises, other distractions.
The point is you need to get away from all those things, get alone and pray.
And look, husbands, get alone and pray, wives, get alone and pray.
I'm not saying don't pray together.
There should be a time when you pray with your wife.
There should be a time when you pray with your husband.
There should be a time when you pray with your children.
I pray with my wife every night.
I pray with my children every night.
But aside from that, I have my own prayer life.
Why?
Because at the end of the day, we're talking about private prayer, things that you do on
your own when you're communion with God, okay.
Go if you, go if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
So as I mentioned earlier, seek to have a prayer life, not just a prayer time.
Now a prayer time is important.
What is the difference between the two?
A prayer life is done throughout the day when needs come up, when you want wisdom, or you
just want to praise God, amen.
A prayer time is a set scheduled time when you pray.
Oh, that's not spiritual.
What do you mean?
You go to like at 8 o'clock, you know, my alarm goes off, time to pray.
Yeah, that's actually pretty spiritual actually, because you're prioritizing something that's
important to you.
For example, the Bible does not say, you know, thou shall go sowing at this time.
What does it tell us?
Preach the gospel to every creature.
But in order to make sure that that stays a priority in our life, what do we do as a
church?
We have a set time that you can go out and go preach the gospel.
Now if you want to go do that in another time, that's perfectly fine.
We just want to make sure that we have a slot of time for you so that you can schedule it
to make sure that you get it done.
And likewise, we need to make sure that when we pray, we have a specific time that we do
it every single day.
If you need to set a reminder in your phone, do it.
Time to pray and don't hit the snooze button, amen.
You know, this is my time to pray.
This is the time that I do.
Yeah, but I just think it's more spiritual if I just do it, you know, flippantly when
the Spirit of God comes upon me.
Okay, then go do that and see how that works out for you.
Because we're creatures of habit.
We need structure.
Do you read the Bible at any time that you want, or do you have a structured time when
you actually read it?
Do you have a plan what you're reading, right?
You know, if you just open up the Bible and just start reading wherever you want, you're
probably not going to read through the whole Bible, okay?
Whereas if you have a plan and structure, you're going to read the Bible even if you
don't feel like it.
But you know what?
At the end of the day, you're going to get it done.
And the same goes for prayer, okay?
And by the way, along with that, have a prayer list.
Don't just try to remember everything that you need to pray for.
Write it down.
Hey, you write down your gospel presentation in your New Testament, don't you?
You got your verses highlighted, you got your tabs there, you already know where you're
going.
Well, same thing with prayer.
Have a prayer list, and I'm going to show you where you can put on your prayer list
at the end just to kind of help you out.
Now, 1 Thessalonians, you're in 1 Timothy.
I'm going to read to you from 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, very short verse, pray without ceasing.
That means pray without stopping.
1 Timothy 2, verse 8 says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy
hands without wrath and doubting.
Now the Pentecostals will use this and say, yeah, that's why we're just praising the Lord.
That's not what it's saying to literally lift up holy hands.
What it's saying is this, is that when we pray, we should have clean hands and a clean
heart.
You know, the hands are what we use to do things, and God wants to make sure that what
we're doing is right, that we're confessing our sins, that we're lifting up holy hands,
that we're above reproach, okay, without wrath and doubting.
Now the person who inspired this sermon was Nehemiah in the Bible, okay?
Because when I read through Nehemiah this week, and I was just like amazed at the fact
that he took every single opportunity he could to pray.
And you would often, chapter 1, he's praying when he's in disarray.
Chapter 2, when he's before the king, the king asks him, what's wrong with him?
He says, I pray to the God of heaven, and the next verse, he's answering the king.
It just shows you a man who's given to prayer, not just, and by the way, I'm sure he had
a prayer time.
I don't know, where does it say that in the Bible?
Well, you know what, Daniel prayed three times a day.
And Daniel was a pretty godly man, okay?
And so I could rest assured that Nehemiah probably did the same exact thing.
And that's why, because they have a prayer time, that's probably why they're praying
throughout the day, okay?
Now I'm almost running out of time, go to Luke chapter 18.
So seek to have a prayer life and not just a prayer time.
How do you do that?
Well, when a need arises in your life, before you go to the physicians, not saying don't,
go to God.
You know, needs and difficulties in life should be a reminder to you that you need to pray.
That you need to pray, okay?
You know, don't compartmentalize God and think that God is only for church, God is only for
your Bible reading, God is for everything.
He has to have the preeminence in all things.
And the way we could rest assured that he does have the preeminence in all things is
when we pray for every single need, big or small, amen?
Pray for your rent, but pray for your parking spot too.
I'm not kidding about that.
I'm dead serious about that.
You know, multitudes of times I always share this because it's true.
This witness is true.
When we get home late at night, it's like, Lord, please give us a parking spot.
And I'm specific too, in front of our house, Lord.
And you know what?
He answers that prayer.
You come around the corner, my wife is like, praise the Lord.
Right in front.
Because look, when you got little ones and they're asleep, you know, and they've been
playing at church with their friends and all this stuff, and you're carrying everything,
you just want to be right in front of your house to just park there.
But you know, we pray for that.
Because it's a small need, but you know what?
I want, God is a God of the valleys, but he's also a God of the mountains.
He's a God of the small things, but also the big things as well.
Don't just ask God for the big things.
Ask him for the littlest things as well.
Why not?
Now, prayer should also be persistent until you receive the answer.
Okay.
What does that mean?
You need to persevere in prayer.
You need to have some endurance when it comes to prayer.
Often, prayers do not get answered simply for the fact that you just give up praying.
Oh, he's not giving it to me, so well, why don't you just wait some more and keep praying?
Like for how long?
However long it takes.
Could be years.
It could be years.
You know, when I got saved, one of the first things that I put on my prayer list is to
get a wife, amen?
But I went more specific than that.
I said, I want a wife, and I want my firstborn to be a boy.
And as a brand new Christian, I put that on my list, and I would pray for that every single
day.
Like, well, God, you know, did he give it to you the first year?
No.
But I courted my wife for like seven years.
Not because I wanted to, by the way, you know what I mean?
Not because I wanted to, and it was not a good idea to court for seven years, let me
just tell you that.
I mean, just talk to Laban about that, okay?
You know, it's not good to court for seven years.
But during that time, I still prayed, Lord, you know, firstborn to be a boy.
Pray that I would be able to marry this woman, you know?
And you know what?
I can stand here today, 2019, and say, God answered that prayer.
I mean, he's around here somewhere.
The little answer to prayer is around here.
You hear him crying and screaming and playing, that's the answer to prayer.
But it took years, years.
But you know what?
You've got to remain persistent in prayer, okay?
Look at Luke 18, verse 1 says, and he spake a parable unto them to this end, the man ought
always to pray.
That means pray without ceasing and not to faint.
What does that mean?
Don't give up.
Saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man, and there was
a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not
God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her
continual coming she weary me.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth.
That's powerful.
He's like, look, this unsaved judge capitulated to the prayer and the request of this woman
simply because she just kept coming to him.
How much more God who loves you, who wants what's best for you, whose command you need
to pray and be importuned in your prayers, how much more will he avenge you when you
keep coming to him?
This shows us that we need to be persistent and importuned in our prayers unto God.
Go to Luke chapter 11.
Keep asking.
Oh, you know, I just think because he's not giving it to me, it's a no.
That doesn't mean no.
It could just mean not yet.
Right?
It just means not yet.
Okay?
So what do you keep doing?
You keep asking.
Lord, please.
May I have this?
Lord, please.
And look, one thing that I've noticed in my personal life is that when I was persistent
in prayer, after a while, being in the Christian life, reading the Bible here and preaching,
I matured a little bit.
And when I matured, I realized, I don't want that anymore.
It's probably not good for me.
I'm gonna switch it up to something else.
So often, God does not answer our prayers right away because praying and being consistent
in prayer helps us to mature and then to realize, actually, I don't really even need this.
You see what I'm saying?
And I'm talking about minimal things.
Obviously, this could range, this can be a various amount of things.
But the reality is this, is that God still wants us to not faint when we pray.
Look at Luke 11, verse 1, and I don't know how to talk about marriage, okay?
You know, don't think about it, you know, I don't need a wife, never mind.
I'm good, you know.
If that's you, then, you know, God bless you.
Look at Luke 11, verse 1, and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place,
when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John
also taught his disciples, and he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven,
so on earth.
Forgive us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone
that is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,
and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves.
So he's talking about prayer, and then all of a sudden, he jumps into this parable of
a friend who comes to another friend at midnight asking for three loaves.
Verse 6, For a friend of mine is in his journey, has come to me, and I have nothing to set
before him.
And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children
are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give thee.
I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because
of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
So what's the teaching there?
He's like, look, he doesn't want to get up, but because his friend is so persistent, not
only is he going to get up, he's going to give him as much as he needs, okay?
And then he rolls into verse 9, And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh
receive it, and he that seeketh find it, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
So what is he saying in verse number 9?
Just be persistent.
And look, it's interesting that ask, seek, and knock spells out ask.
You're asking, you're seeking, what is that?
Persistent, you're knocking, you're constantly coming to God, Lord, can I have this?
Can you answer this prayer?
Can you provide this?
Can you help me?
Can you give me wisdom?
The Bible tells us that because of your importunity, God will answer your prayers.
But couple that with your faith, though.
You gotta believe.
You have to believe.
Well, I know it'll work out for so-and-so, but not for me.
You know what?
Then you're not gonna receive anything of the Lord.
Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
Why?
Because God wants you to ask in faith.
For without faith, it's impossible to please him.
It's vain for you to go to God to ask him for things, but in the back of your mind,
you're believing that he's not gonna give it to you.
Just believe it.
Amen?
For with God, all things are possible.
Now verse 13 says, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Now I mentioned previously that there are three answers that God can give you.
Number one, yes.
That means you pray for something and you get it.
Let me give you an example of that.
I'm gonna give you an example for my father-in-law and my mother-in-law.
My mother-in-law, in the beginning days, they weren't poor, but they didn't have a whole
lot and they had a lot of children and one of the children said, Mom, we want coconuts.
Can we get coconuts?
And she said, we don't have money for coconuts.
She said, why don't you pray for coconuts?
They prayed for coconuts and I don't know if it was that day or the day after, someone
brought a box of coconuts to them.
That's what you call a yes.
And by the way, are coconuts a need?
No.
Just a want.
But you know what that did?
That increased the faith of the children.
They say, wow, you know, God provided that.
You know?
There's been times when my wife and I were financially strained and what we did, we gave
in faith and we said, God, please provide.
He did.
That's the very next day.
That's a yes.
Now, what's another way he can answer?
No.
And the way you know, go to 1 Corinthians 16, I'm gonna show you how you can know if
it's a yes or no.
And of course, the third answer is just not yet.
Not yet.
How do you know?
Well, if you don't get it or if you do get it, it just means wait.
Just wait.
Because often, you know, God's blessing on a person often requires for a person to be
spiritually mature.
You know?
Because God's blessing is rich.
God's blessing is his favor.
And often, someone, there's maybe a mature Christian who can't handle that yet.
So often, it's just like, I want to give that to you, but you're just not ready to
get it yet.
You know?
You're not ready for it.
Therefore, keep praying, keep asking.
It's gonna come, but you gotta mature a little bit.
Okay?
Now, how do you know if it's a yes?
Look at 1 Corinthians 16, verse 9.
For a great door and effectual is open unto me, and there are many adversaries.
You see, one of the ways you can know for a fact that God is answering your prayers,
if you find open doors.
Okay?
You know, when you begin to have an opportunity, okay, that will provide that specific request
you're asking for, you can take that as a yes.
Okay?
Look, let me give you an example.
Like, I need a job.
I need a job.
I'm praying for a job.
And then a door opens up.
He's like, well, I don't want that job.
That was your answer to your prayer, buddy.
You know?
Yeah, but I want one that pays this much.
But here's the thing.
You asked for a job.
You weren't specific on what kind of job you wanted.
And if there's a door opening up for you, take it.
Now, if it's a job that'll take you out of church, don't take it.
That is called a closed door, because you can determine based upon what it's gonna cause
you to do.
If it's gonna cause you to compromise your biblical convictions, that's probably not
something that God wants me to do.
Now, we'll say this.
Maybe God allows that to prove you and test you to see if you are mature enough to handle
it.
And often what takes place is when you deny it, something better comes up.
You see what I'm saying?
So you have to have discernment to know what are the open doors in your life.
Okay?
What are the doors that God is opening up?
Revelation 3, 7 says unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, These things
saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth
and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
You know, God can close doors too.
And you don't need to discern whether it's a closed door or not.
Often it's very clear, this door is closed, okay?
And that's how you know.
And look, when a door closes, just move on.
Move on to the next request.
Move on to the next prayer.
Move on to the next petition.
Just move on.
Oh, but I just wanted this.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
Five years down the road, you may not want it.
And five years down the road, you may look back and say, man, I'm glad God didn't give
me that.
I'm glad God didn't provide this.
I'm glad God didn't give this to me because at the end of the day, it's not what I needed.
It's not what I wanted.
In fact, it could have been detrimental to my spiritual life or to my family, whatever
it may have been.
At that moment, you probably thought it was a good idea, but later on, you realize it's
not a good idea.
And of course, God knows everything.
He knows the decisions we're going to make.
He can see the future, so on and so forth.
Now, go to 1 John, Chapter 5.
I'm almost out of time, but I need to go over these points real quick.
So let me just give you some things here.
Of course, you know, prayer is a request for possessions, it's for things and needs.
But we also need to pray for spiritual needs, right, which is the most important thing.
Here's one.
We need to overcome temptation.
A lot of people just backslide, they get involved in sin, simply because when the temptation
comes, they don't pray.
You need to pray.
You know, and I'm not talking about, you know, you have a temptation with alcohol, therefore
you're at a bar with a 40 or, you know, whatever, martini or whatever, in front of you, you're
like, God, please help me not to drink this.
It's like, you already put yourself in that position, stupid.
At that point, God's like, you're going to get what you want, you know.
And look, sometimes God gives you what you want, even in regards to sin.
You know why?
Because it's going to destroy you at the end, is what it's going to do.
He's going to allow you to get involved in that, okay?
So I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about when you're living for the Lord, you're trying your best to do right,
but your flesh is weak.
Your spirit is weak.
So what happens is, you're in a time of weakness.
You need to pray.
Tonight, I'm going to preach a sermon on when Satan attacks, how to overcome when Satan
attacks.
You guys remember that show when animals attack, you guys remember that show, you know, when
animals attack, the pit bull, they always show the pit bull with the lady.
You know, we're going to talk tonight about when Satan attacks and how to overcome when
Satan attacks.
Satan comes in seasons.
He came to Jesus when he was weak, and Jesus resisted him, and what did Satan do?
He departed for a season.
When did he return?
Through Judas, okay?
And we'll talk about that tonight.
But we need to pray when we're weak in our flesh.
Now I know I had you turn to 1 John, but we're going to skip that for now.
Go to Matthew 14.
You're just getting to know your Bible a little better, amen?
I'm going to get to that point in just a bit.
We need to pray for laborers.
The Bible says in Matthew 9, verse 37, Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly
is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.
You see, there's enough work, amen?
We need laborers.
Well, how do we get them?
Well, number one, we're going to do our part to train them, but number two, we need to
pray for them as well.
We need to pray that the word of God has free course.
The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 1, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the
word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you.
It goes on to say, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all
men have not faith.
And you know what?
God answered that prayer last Sunday, amen?
He delivered us from unreasonable and wicked men.
That's a prayer that we need to pray on a continual basis.
God, please make manifest the folly of the reprobates who are infiltrating our church,
if they're here.
Make their folly manifest.
Help them to slip up.
Help them to just make manifest so we can boot them out.
Look at Matthew, chapter 14, verse 37.
This is when he's praying in Gethsemane, and he comes to his disciples, verse 37, and says,
And he cometh and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, Sleepest thou?
Shootest not thou watch one hour?
Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The Spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
During a time of temptation, whatever struggles that you personally may have, don't think
that just because you have victory today, that it's going to be like that tomorrow.
Don't be Calvinist in your practices, where you think you got those rechargeable batteries
included.
You overcame that sin that one week, and it's not going to come around again.
It is going to come around again.
It always comes around again.
In fact, it's going to come around again for the rest of your life.
Bet on it.
That temptation is going to keep coming, but what you're supposed to do is, when it comes,
pray.
God, strengthen me.
You know, strengthen me, give me the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to remember the
scripture that I need, lead me not into temptation, deliver me from evil.
You say, what good would that do?
Well, for Jesus, when he resisted the devil, what happened?
He came back in the power of the Spirit after that.
And you know what happens?
Here's your options.
You can either give in to your temptation, and what happens is, when it comes back around,
you're actually weaker than the first time you fought it, or you can fight your temptation,
and when it comes back around, you're actually stronger than the first time you fought it.
Those are your options.
So when temptation comes, see it as thus.
It's a fight, it's a battle, and you need to overcome it in order for you to fight it
off in the future, but you need to pray through that thing, okay?
Now, all right, I'm done.
I'm gonna give you the acronym that you can use to basically pray privately on your own.
You don't have to use this.
This is not like, I found this acronym in the Bible.
I found the principles in the Bible.
But it's not something you need to use, but if you're like, I struggle with my prayer
life because I just don't know how to pray, okay, then just use this.
I used this when I first got saved.
It helped me to have a disciplined prayer life, okay?
And the acronym is this, ACTS, if you wanna write it down, whatever, ACTS.
A, adoration, okay?
How many of you have heard of this, ACTS?
Okay, I see that hand, all right.
Adoration, okay?
So when you start your prayer life, you begin by adoring God.
The Bible tells us, enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name.
Spend time adoring God.
Now, what does that mean when you praise God?
You know, the liberals have taken that way to the left, but it's a biblical concept.
And it simply means that when you come to God in prayer, you spend time basically focusing
on his attributes, that he's powerful, that he's a God of justice, he's a God of righteousness.
You just go through his divine attributes and spend time appreciating who he is as God,
okay?
Now, it's likened into this.
You know, if you have a daughter, if you have a child, and they come to you and ask you
for something, they're more likely to get it if they buddy you up first.
You know what I mean, like, dad, you're so handsome, you know, you're so, you're such
a good, all right, what do you, you know, here's the wallet, here's the wallet.
Some daughters are like, that never works.
He just takes the compliment, doesn't give me anything or whatever, you know?
But it's simply an example to show that when we come before God, we spend time in adoration,
letter C, confession, okay?
You can look at these verses later, 1 John 6, 10.
What is confession?
All right, 1 John chapter 1, verse 6 through 10.
What is confession?
It's when you spend time confessing your sins, the sins of your flesh.
You spend time thinking about the areas in your life where you've failed them, where
you've sinned, and you've confessed them before God, pretty self-explanatory.
T is Thanksgiving.
Now, you say, well, isn't that adoration?
No, Thanksgiving is thanking God for the things that you have, okay?
Thanking God for the material things that you have, thanking God for salvation, thanking
God for your church, thanking God for your family, going down the list.
And let me say this, T will help you to be a very nice person.
You know, if you're a grump, it's probably because you're not very thankful.
The happiest people are those who are constantly thankful, okay?
Because they understand, thank you, God, for the things that I have, smallest to the
biggest.
And the last one is supplication.
What is supplication?
This is the area where you actually make your request before God, okay?
You bring your request before God.
Now, you say, well, how long should I pray for, Brother Mejia?
You know, what should be the length of my prayer?
Well, I'm going to give you a time frame how you can pray, okay?
Just as we put a time frame when we go out sowing.
If you don't want to adhere to it, you know, I don't care, you know, it's up to you.
I'm just trying to help you out so you can have the time.
I would say to spend five minutes on each because at the end of the day, that's 20 minutes.
And if you've never prayed before, that's a long time.
Now, throughout the years or throughout the weeks and months as you apply this, that will
actually begin to extend a little bit more.
Why?
Because more needs come up, you learn more about God, you know, you just spend more time
in prayer.
This is simply something to help you to catapult you into just getting a prayer time.
So if you get nothing from the sermon, get this, one, have a prayer time, schedule it.
Two, take this down, write out your prayer request.
And if you have to, put a timer, nothing wrong with that.
Tell me the Bible where it says you shouldn't do that, right?
You know, put a timer if you need to, to keep track of it and get it done so you can start
getting some prayers answered.
And what happens when God answers your prayers?
Your faith increases more and more.
And what happens when your faith increases?
You start taking more risks for God.
Because you know that with God, nothing is impossible.
Amen?
Spire our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for prayer, Lord.
Thank you for the blessing that we have to come before the throne of grace to obtain
mercy and to help us in a time of need.
I pray, God, that you'd help us to continually make prayer a discipline in our personal lives,
help us to be dependent upon you through prayer, that we would exercise that discipline corporately
but also privately within our personal lives, as with our spouses, with our children, and
help us to seek you out for the small and the big needs in our life.
And may you be honored and glorified in all that we do.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.