Today’s modern Christian world doesn’t know how to pray effectively.
I am going to share something with you that will probably blow your brain. 92% of Evangelical Christians claim dissatisfaction with their prayer life. If you wonder what the definition of an Evangelical Christian is, it is people who claim that you need to ask Christ into your life to be saved. The number one reason they claim dissatisfaction is, “I don’t ever get results.” Church gives us religious predication because even churches do not understand prayer.
Some of you will read things here that you have never been taught and will probably disagree with me at the top of your mind. That is OK; I am not God. I am going to take you to the Word on everything I write about. When you are done reading, you will not be able to say, “I don’t agree with that.” You will be able to look it up for yourself; If you still disagree, then talk to God and tell Him you do not appreciate it being in the Bible.
Statistics show that non-Christians are 91% dissatisfied with their prayer life. That means Christians are less satisfied than non-Christians. Put that in your crockpot and let that marinate overnight!
The word prayer in Greek comes to us as Pros-U-Co-Me. Here is the Biblical definition of prayer, ‘It is a conversation, an expression of thanks addressed to God or an act of worship.’ Does it say anywhere in that definition about asking? Most people’s prayer life is, ‘My name is Jimmy, what you gonna give me?’ Our prayer life is nagging.
If you have one child, you are not in the same boat as other parents. If you have one child, and they screw up, you can go to them and say, “Why did you do that?” But, when you have more than one child, it changes. Now it is, “Who did that?” If you have more than one child, you probably also have one that only calls when they need something. You may also have one that never asks for anything; they simply want to know how you are.
If we are going to learn how to pray, my opinion does not matter. God’s opinion matters. It never ceases to amaze me that people search the Scriptures looking how to pray when the disciples directly say to Jesus, “Teach us how to pray.” Every sermon on prayer should start in Luke 11.
“Father, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” Luke 11:1-4
This is probably not the ‘Our Father’ you were taught. The Bible tells us in Revelation 22:18-19 not to add or take away. If prayer is a conversation, Jesus just told us how to pray. Did anywhere in these verses did it tell you to ask? Now, there is nothing wrong with asking God; there is a time to ask. We will get to that in a minute. When you start praying, Jesus tells us to begin by telling Dad how much you love Him!
Most people do not have a relationship with God, so they do not know how to start by just talking about Him! You are too busy talking about yourself! I had a guy one time that was 38 and going on his first date; he came to me excited and said, “What is the key?” I told him, “Don’t talk about you!” He said, “Oh, then what do we talk about?” I said, “HER!”
When Jesus says to pray, start by talking to Dad about Dad. I want you to google the speed of light. Think about God sitting on His throne; the earth is flooded, and He is looking over everything. He stands up and says, “Let there be light.”
Back in 2006, I was a sports anchor on TV. If you have ever watched a newscast, they have thumb suckers; it is where you transition from news to weather, weather to sports, and so on. There was my colleague, and they said, “Thank you Hondo for that sports update, when we come back, scientists have said that because of man’s intellect we are now able to build telescopes that go farther into space.” I thought my mic was off, and we had gone to a commercial, and I started laughing. They said to me, “Hondo, what was so funny about that?” I did not realize we were still on the air, and I said, “Well God never said light stopped, what kind of a person doesn’t realize it’s not going to quit?” They said, “We’ll be right back.” That was not man’s intellect! Light has not stopped, and if the Lord should tarry His coming in 100 years when one of my grandchildren pick up grandpa’s book, they will say, “Wait a minute, all these new planets we’ve found since papa died, is because the light hasn’t stopped.” Light has not stopped, it is still creating. Get that in your head, and you are worried about your light bill? Let that marinate a little bit. You are talking about a God that does not just cover the streets with gold; He paves them with gold. In heaven, the gates are made of gigantic pearls. Can you imagine how big that oyster is?
