How to Pray

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Have you ever known that you should be praying but you oftentimes don't know how to pray or you kind of get just kind of balled up? Well listen we're gonna be talking about how to pray in such a way that it shouldn't be a problem for you again. I mean it. So grab your Bible and see what happens. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Hey everybody we're gonna be talking about today on this podcast the issue of prayer. Normally when you hear the word prayer most people most people in the church kind of pause a little bit because the first thought in their mind is oh oh I don't pray enough. Second thing is I don't know what to pray for. Third thing is I love prayer I pray all the time it's it's it's like breathing air. A lot of people have a lot of different responses to the issue of prayer and yet the issue of prayer the doctrine of prayer the practice of prayer for the believer like Charles Spurgeon said prayer is the lungs of the church and so if the church can't breathe it's because the church doesn't pray if the church can't run if the church isemic if the church is is faint it's because it's not breathing and you've got to be able to do that and you know this by the way in your physical life that when you're under a lot of stress your physiology goes into shock mode when you're stressed out when we look I'm saying you all of us go through this we all have to manage levels of stress in this world when you are very stressed out or starting to begin to be stressed out you start to take shallow breaths breath and you don't even realize that you're not you don't tell yourself I'm going to breathe shallow and get dizzy and see stars your body starts to panic and you're you're not breathing right and what happens is you're kind of like in a days and you find yourself doing this you wake up to the realization my gosh I have to I have to fill my lungs I haven't filled filled up my lungs in a couple of hours because you've been going so much like this and you can't do much because you are under a great deal of pressure shallow breath is stealing the needed oxygen to your brain and you're really starting to strangle yourself we do the same thing in prayer as believers we can get so stressed out and instead of going to our knees I say that symbolically although I'm a big fan about praying on your knees I'll tell you why in a minute you don't have to pray on your knees a lot of you love praying while you're walking that's awesome me too that's cool but in California in Southern California if you want to hold a prayer meeting getting a you know get on the freeway I mean it's insane here driving it's crowded on the freeway but we're all driving like 90 miles an hour in the crowd it's like a race it's pretty spectacular actually but you better be praying or it comes down to the quick or the dead it's pretty pretty amazing the point is this when you're under a lot of pressure you have a tendency to get shallow breath so as the church when the church is under a lot of pressure when your faith is under a lot of pressure instead of praying and filling up your lungs with what God is saying in his word you get shallow breathing habits or shallow word habits and you're going to faint rather than relying upon the Lord and renewing your strength in him so what is this thing about prayer think of prayer as a two-way conversation prayer is two-way the Bible demands it but even though rarely does the Bible even mentioned it that way the structure of prayer is we cry out to God yes we intercede for our nation we are making supplications to God for our children or our husband our wife we're pursuing God in prayer to find out what his will is for our family it's a conversation it's two ways and it must be this way God will prompt you in many cases if not all many cases if not all to pray and to lead you in prayer now hear me out I'm not against having a prayer list or journal that's really great okay I need to do that more often myself a prayer list or a prayer journal is awesome because when you have those things you have a tendency to pray specifically like for example I'm praying well you know what I'm praying for one of our pastors today this is a realzy I'm praying for one of our pastors today he's going in for a procedure we're concerned about the outcome and so I can pray specifically because I know a little bit of the specifics so I can breathe more specific about my prayer and so I write that down or I make note of it so that when God answers whatever his answer will be I can go back and I can say wow I prayed this way but God decided to answer it this way or I prayed this way and look what God did he answered just like I prayed wow that's cool that's amazing it actually needs to be that much of a dialogue not a monologue there is no monologue in prayer okay that would be tragic man listen if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as King of Kings and Lord of Lords as the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as God the Son okay then you if you are if you're a Mormon or if you're a Joe of a witness or if you're a Jew or if you're a Muslim or if you are a Hindu or if you are a Buddhist or a Shinto or whatever you might be listen according to the Bible no one's listening so there's no dialogue you're just praying let's be honest come on don't be mad at me just be honest I have Muslims tell me I pray but we never get answers in fact listen a lot of Muslims I've had Muslims tell me that they know among themselves man if you need prayer go find a Christian and have them pray for you I've had people tell me that in Turkey I've had people tell me that in Jerusalem I've had people tell me that in the West Bank I've had Muslims tell me in America hey we know I mean there's something with we don't believe you're Jesus and what you but we know that your prayers get answered listen only the Christian understands we pray to the Father in the Spirit by the Son in his name Jesus so check this out watch this this is a good way to have I think a healthy prayer life I mean I'm just gonna do it and then I'll hopefully remember why I put it in this order so John 15 for example and I'm reading from the Bible I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman that's verse one that's deep Lord I'm not sure what that means but I'm asking you in Jesus' name that you teach me what this means every branch in me that bears fruit right he takes and he every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes it away and every branch in me that does bear fruit he prunes it right so that it might bear more fruit so Lord you're telling me something here make my eyes open and my ears open and my heart open to what you're saying he goes on to say that if you are a branch and if if that branch being your life in the Word of God being in you there is a connection there's that dialogue where God's Word is speaking into your life he goes down he tells you in verse five that I am the vine you are the branches he that abides in me so now I'm praying Lord Jesus I want to make sure that I have my understanding right always that you are the source of everything and down at verse seven which goes to the point of what we're talking about he says if you abided me and my words abiding you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you verse eight hearing is my Father glorified that we bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples so wow Lord wait a minute your word just said here as I'm praying to you now as I'm talking to you now that if your word abides in me I can ask what I will what I desire and it will be done because the Father's going to be glorified through that okay God teach me that what is this now pause right there you might be saying well then pray to run the lotto pray for Ferrari pray for a mansion pray for yeah you know what that's why I said earlier when you go to pray you want to pray the word you need to know the word to pray the word so when Jesus says if my word abides in you that's the qualifier do you request see this is what's fun about prayer if I know the word then I'm going to know how to pray I won't be praying for a Ferrari I will be praying according to the will of God which is what in Psalm 34 verse seven I think or maybe it's 37 verse four the scriptures delight yourself on the Lord and he'll grant unto you he'll give unto you the desires of your heart you hear the prerequisite what's the the requirement do you light yourself in the Lord he'll give you the desires of your heart if my word abides in you ask whatever you want and my Father's glorified see the connection if the word is in me I'm not going to ask for selfish things to gain things for myself for self self self if I pray Lord only you know my heart and only you know what's right cause me to delight in you Lord whatever that means in my life for me Father cause my life I surrender to you now that you would cause me to delight in you and I'm going to leave the outcome to you or if your word abides in my heart God I will know how to pray and what not to pray for and what to double down on because I know that this is your will when you pray the word that is how you can pray confidently I'm going to give you a real life thing all the time as you can imagine people will come to church services and either before or after they're going to ask for prayer they have needs and someone might come and say Pastor Jack will you pray for my son he was just diagnosed with leukemia or diabetes and will you pray yes of course oh by the way let me insert this I always interrupt people who are telling me the dynamics of the issue let me explain especially pastors or Christian workers you're going to appreciate this when somebody comes and says will you pray for my son he's got leukemia yes of course let's pray well let me tell you and then they start they're like a nurse right or they themselves are a doctor and they start going through the details of how bad the leukemia is and this is what it's doing to the cells and the white count is two levels they've never seen before and they start painting this picture that is so huge I don't let them do that friends listen to me learn this from an old guy I tell them stop stop stop stop friends listen stop do not tell me anymore of the details because the more I hear of how big and bad an ugly this is the harder it's going to be for me to pray in faith I don't need to know the details frankly you don't know the details doctor ding dong doesn't know the details only god knows the details so don't tell me anymore let's pray for him annoying them with oil according to the book of James we pray for them by laying hands on them and I pray something like something like this aligning with scripture number one Lord we thank you that you're good we thank you that you are a god who has revealed to us that you're a god who answers prayer we thank you god that throughout your scripture you are a god who heals and you've made it very clear in your words so father we come now believing in your word that you are god of all power and all healing strength that there's nothing too hard for you and so father we pray thankfully knowing that you're hearing us right now because frankly god we are obeying your word by praying for this young man right now so father we now pray in faith believing that lord if it be thy will you heal this young man completely by whatever means you so choose you can choose to heal him now we know from your Bible that you can choose to heal him in one hour we know from your Bible that you can choose to heal him by tomorrow morning or three days from now lord we know that you heal as you will lord we also know that you heal through medicine that is something that you've invented so give the doctors skill or or the treatment the ability because you'd have provided that genius uh to have medication treat the issue and then father finally we leave the results into your hands but we praise you and thank you as we leave it all into your hands to you be the glory thy will be done in Jesus name amen I've covered all the biblical basis I believe in every single one of those 10 steps I just gave you and we leave it in God's hands I don't have to worry about it anymore they don't have to worry about it anymore they lay it down first Peter 5-7 they cast all their cares upon the lord because he cares for them and they can just proceed according to God's will according to God's leading see what does that mean well does he does the young boy have an appointment tomorrow go to the appointment have them do another scan whatever they decide to do but let God intervene because you know what how many times have we seen this where God winds up touching somebody's life six months into a process so that this doctor and that nurse and finally that radiologist here's the gospel oh yes did I mention that all along the way because you're a Christian you're you're sharing with the doctor doctor my son has what leukemia well I want you to know doctor in our home we're going to be praying for you doctor and we're going to be praying for my son we're believers in the Lord Jesus Christ he died in the cross for our sins and he rose again from the dead he's the God he's the God who can heal listen what do you think your son's going through what he's going through you're going through what you're going through or your mom's going through what they're going through so you can go to places and share the gospel because those people will never go through the doors of a church God knows that he loves souls so much that he will allow sickness to be used as a vehicle to get you into places that those people would never turn on a Christian radio program see Jack there's a little extreme isn't it no not at all I think going to the cross to get people to hear about the love of God is extreme everything outside of that is nominal are we not his are we not his servants does not our bodies belong to him then can't he use us any way he wants yes he can't so when we pray don't pray with repetition if you have a book that tells you how to pray put the book away put the book away unless it's the Bible put the book away and talk to him like you would talk to anybody else I want to wrap it up this way in the u.s. capital you can go on a tour and part of the tour takes you down into the original congressional chamber downstairs and it's the original where surely after the capital was built you have these seats and these desks it's kind of like old school desks remember the really old ones are made out of wood and they they lift up like this all these senators and congressman they had these desks and one guy I believe it was it was either Noah Webster who was the congressman Noah Webster or Daniel Webster but it might have been Noah Webster but he he took a knife and he was he was he would carve in his desk you can see his desk it's there today and he was he'd carve stuff in his desk and he was an amazing believer by the way but at break time he would go and read his Bible and there is a an account that I'm not gonna say eyewitnesses ear witnesses would hear Noah Webster reading his Bible out loud and they said that he read it so dramatically he had voices that he would use were God said to Noah and he would say it and then Noah responded back to God or Daniel said and then Nebuchadnezzar said and Noah Webster would read his Bible like that by himself and there would be other senators and congressman leaning against the door listening they were spellbound by the dramatic version of Webster reading his Bible by himself I thought that was pretty awesome and why do I say because again forgive me it was either Noah or Daniel Webster they prayed like that too they took that interaction and the word of God coming into them they turned it around and they prayed like that I love that it's kind of childlike and so we'll wrap it up this way I want to really recommend to you a little booklet it's called um it's called I forget effective prayer life by Chuck Smith effective prayer life by Chuck Smith it's about that thick I recommended for everyone for everyone especially young people it's a great tool parents to teach your kid how to pray and it's a great reminder for you to get back to praying like a kid because that's so important Jesus said to enter the kingdom of heaven you must be like a little child little children are believing little children are filled with faith little children don't doubt little children you better watch out when you put them on a wall to jump in your arms don't turn your back on them those little stinkers they're so trusting they'll jump like a swan dive right into your arms they trust you so much God says that's how I want you to be so pray always the Bible says in first Thessalonians without ceasing so how do you do that it's a good question open up the dialogue the conversation and I want to believe this that your prayer life and my prayer life is never ending it's not gonna end until the day that we see Jesus face to face how's that your prayer life is like breathing just keep breathing and you'll live as you're living keep praying and as you pray you live and you'll be filled with vitality you'll be filled with freshness and you will not grow weary in well doing because those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength right they will walk and not be weary they will run and they will not fade they will take they will be born aloft on the wings of eagles so listen hope that helps you grab a book of the bible maybe start in john and start praying through chapter by chapter verse by verse in your prayer life watch what happens everybody would love for you to stay up to date and to do that with us you would hit the subscribe button and you would share please share these podcasts with other people that really helps us on this end it deals with the algorithm on the other end it keeps the woke crowd from canceling us out it bumps us up further on that food chain so share it if you like it's and as always it's time for us to live out what we believe in it's time for real life this jack kibb's podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported will you consider partnering with us through a special gift go to jack hibbs.com to learn more and stay connected you're listening to this podcast so I know you've got a curious mind here's a helpful fact you might not know yet drivers who switch and save with progressive save over nine hundred dollars on average they make it super simple pop over to progressive.com answer some 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