LIVE THE WORD & WALK WITH POWER! UNLOCK YOUR PRAYERS

Transcription

1 Have you ever prayed and wondered if God actually heard you? Does it ever seem like you are just going through the motions of prayer? Do you ever find yourself praying for the same thing day after day after day? Is there some skill, some technique, some method that could help us get more than an occasional prayer answered? I want to tell you there is! One unnamed disciple coaxes this amazing lesson out of Jesus on exactly how to unlock the power of prayer. This was the opportunity Jesus had been waiting for. PRAY LIKE JOHN The disciples had been following Jesus for many weeks by this time and they were blown away at how far they had advanced and had grown. Jesus had recently sent out seventy disciples. He put them in situations that would force them to see what they were made of, that they were powerful beings with far more authority than the average disciple allowed themselves to manifest. They came back elated; telling story after story of signs, miracles, and wonders. They were living a lifestyle that most people only read about. Could it get any better? Yes. They learned quickly how to walk by the Spirit and they also needed to learn how to open up that portal into an effective prayer life. Unlocking your prayer potential takes a different mind set and attitude than walking by the Spirit. In reality walking by the Spirit is easy; most Christians think it s hard but it should be the easiest thing you ever do as a Christian. But learning how to get your prayers answered is something the whole world has struggled with, whatever the religion. Luke 11:1 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. One of his disciples, maybe one of the seventy who had just returned from learning he was able to do signs, on top of miracles, on top of wonders, came up to Jesus asked him a strange question. Page 1 of 17

2 Master, I would like you teach us to pray like your cousin John the Baptist teaches his followers to pray? Now why would this disciple dude drop John the Baptist s name? What had he seen different about the way John s disciples prayed? Was it style? Was it the amazing results they were getting? Why did he throw down this prayer challenge to Jesus? Sorry for interrupting your prayer time Mr. Jesus Sir, but I was watching you pray over there, and overheard you a little bit. I noticed you don t pray like we were taught to pray in our homes and Synagogues. You talk to God differently. Your prayer attitude sounds like you are talking to a friend or a close family member who loves you and totally gets you. I have noticed that John the Baptist s disciples pray just like you do blunt, direct, and extremely persistent; just like they are talking to a friend. And the wild thing, you all seem to get actual results from your prayers. What s up with that? Whatayousay Jesus? Would you pretty please teach us to pray like you and John pray? (Then he flashes Jesus a smile and puts his hand on Jesus shoulder.) Jesus couldn t resist. He had been waiting for someone to ask that. This was going to be a fun and fruitful lesson. Remember, John had been teaching his band of faithful followers for about six months longer than Jesus had yet had time to do. Isn t it crazy that both Jesus and his cousin John were both training disciples at the same time? Jesus disciples noticed something about the impressive way John s guys got results to their prayers and how they prayed. They were pushy, bold, and tireless in how they approached God. They talked to God like they knew Him well, like God has their favorite cousin, or uncle, or better yet, He was like that cool dad who loved everything about his kids and would do anything to bless them if asked the right way. Page 2 of 17

3 Watch how Jesus will teach his disciples, the way John the Baptist taught his disciples, that it is available to get what you pray for. A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON JOHN THE BAPTIST John was the older cousin of Jesus John was trained his entire childhood and worked his entire life to prepare people s minds and hearts to receive and understand the promised Messiah. This was no small task. John knew that God s timetable would peak at this time in history and he knew that he was the key to unlock the hardness of people s heart so they would be ready for the Christ. COMPARISON BETWEEN JOHN AND JESUS These were two cousins heading toward the same goal of enlightening the world by introducing Truth, Light, Love, a fresh perspective on God, and to ready them to receive the Christ, the Promised one, the Promised Seed. Jesus even once said that, Of all the people ever born on this earth there has never been someone who woke his mind up and took a stand greater than John. That includes Moses, Job, Abraham, Adam and Eve. There was nobody who woke himself up like John the Baptist did. Jesus then added that only he was more awake than John. (Mt 11:11) He saw things that John would never see about life and about the spiritual world. Like us, John and Jesus were so much alike yet they were so very different. John the Baptist John was born with the spirit of God (he had it when he was in the womb) Page 3 of 17 Jesus the Christ Jesus never felt the sheer power of holy spirit until he was about 30 years old John never did a miracle Jesus did many miracles John never touched strong drink Jesus loved a little wine with his meals John lived off the grid down by the river Jesus may have been born in a manger but he usually stayed in people s houses unless he was traveling John wore rough crude clothing made Jesus was a sharp-dressed man. A

4 of camel hair and leather. John ate what he caught and many times dined alone by the River Jordan. He ate grasshoppers for protein and wild honey for energy. snappy dresser. He sported a super expensive seamless red robe. Jesus looked good and he knew he looked good. Jesus enjoyed traditional prepared meals with his friends and followers at every possible occasion. That s where most of the fellowship took place. People came to see John. Jesus went to the people. John was bold enough to confront the king and it cost him his life. Jesus was bold enough to confront a kingdom and it cost him his life but gave us ours. Both John and Jesus were as effective as they were different. Both their ministries, and ways of communication, and styles of life were different. It s no wonder they attracted a different style of disciples. The two groups, John s and Jesus, though working for a common goal did it in two totally different ways. Different people need different things at different times. Don t be too hard on the way other people believe or the ministries they associate with. Maybe it just fits with their soul life at that time. Then don t be surprised if they change groups a time or two or start their own because as they transform themselves into the people they dream of becoming, they will go through different iterations of life. It s just the way it is. John and Jesus couldn t have been more different but on one thing they totally agreed They both knew exactly how to unlock their prayers. They both knew exactly how to unlock their prayer potential. They both knew exactly the mindset it took and the actions it took to get their prayers answered. They know there was no excuse especially once you hear this. Page 4 of 17

5 HOW JOHN TAUGHT PEOPLE TO UNLOCK THEIR PRAYER POTENTIAL Jesus was well aware of what John taught about prayer. John was his cousin. They had been raised together. Now Jesus is going to lay it out. If you can develop this Jedi Master prayer persona, this personality of prayer you will absolutely start getting more prayers answered. Gone will be the days of so many unanswered prayers. Maybe Yoda had it right, Do. Or do not. There is no try. Remember, prayer is for you, not God. It is designed to get our heads, and our emotions, and our expectations straight; God already know what we need before we ask. (Jn 6:8) Effective prayer is a mindset, a goal that must and will be reached. The unlocked prayer takes a clear and specific desire, the dogged I don t care who hears me persistence of a friend, the expectation of an always loved and always heard child. This attitude must also be charged and packed with emotion. Why? If you take any of these classes, go to any seminars, you ll see that goals that are set and charged with emotion will more than likely come to pass. We ll see how this is to be done in a few minutes. Let s break down the mindset of prayer in light of how to get consistent answers to those prayers. Luke 11:2 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 in earth. Now don t bow your head, fall down on your knees, and go religious rogue on me here. What is Jesus really saying here? Remember this guy asked him, Can you teach us to pray like John did? Now every football game I went to when I played in when I was a kid, we d go to the end zone, fall down on our knees, and lean on our helmet, and say the Lord s Prayer. I just went to a funeral and when it was over, the pastor had everybody do the Lord s Prayer and everybody knew it! Page 5 of 17

6 Let s break it down a little bit and it will make sense. Our Father He s calling God a Father was a huge paradigm shift. You re used to it. But these people it was blowing their freeking heads. Until that time God called Himself the father of the Old Testament believers but they never ever ever addressed him as their Father. They never prayed to their Father God. This is HUGE. This is a change. It s easy for us. Hallowed be thy name Sounds very religious. What name? What name are we talking about here? What name did I just say? A Father. A good father knows his children and will give them all they can handle. Later verses 11, 12, and 13 will hammer home and sandwich in the call him Father point. Thy kingdom come What does that mean? Let your kingdom come into existence. Bring it on! I am ready and willing to see that power. But sadly, most people are afraid to really see it. People are really afraid to step out on dominion, on power; but you re not. Thy will be done I know you will absolutely bring my request to pass. As in heaven so on earth The power and supply that we know is behind the scenes we should and expect to see it here on earth. Think about heaven for a minute. What is heaven anyway? It s any place above earth. Oh, come on now. We ve explored so much stuff above this earth. We have telescopes that lead us millions of light years into the future or into the past I guess. What is heaven? Think of heaven as everything that you want but you don t see or understand. It s a different realm; a different dimension; a different place. You would like to bring that power and bring it into reality into your life. What you re doing in heaven God, we want on earth. What you re doing Father, we want you to bring it home to us. Notice the attitude Jesus is teaching them to have when they talk to God? They don t cower. They don t feel unworthy. They speak with the expectation and confidence of a very loved child. He starts off by placing God at an elevated level but then brings God solidly down to earth as a Father. He asks God to act like the loving Father He says he is, and to bring His great power and universal supply to little ol us on this little ol planet. Page 6 of 17

7 Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread. The word give means to make it happen, and to give with no strings attached. In other words, I want it but I want no strings attached. Isn t that what a friend does typically? You re going to see what a friend really is in a few minutes. All God asks of us it to believe. This is the only string. Get your mind set so you can receive. Are you ready? Are you really ready to receive that thing you ve been praying for all these weeks, these months, these years? Are you finally ready to prosper? Are you finally ready to have the healing you so desire? Are you finally ready to have those deep relationships you need and want? Why not? Don t be afraid. This verse also tells us to focus on abundance not on lack. Fear of poverty is still one of the greatest global fears. I think it exceeds the fear of death or it s right up there with it. Think how many times a day you think about money and think about poor people. They can t think about anything else but having their need met. The more you look at poverty, the more of what are you going to get? Poverty. The more you dwell on how poor you are the poorer you re going to be. It s just a law folks. Expectation of supply brings on supply. We get what we focus upon. We fully expect our promised supply today, and tomorrow, and day by day by day after that, for our entire life. This is our mindset here. Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. This verse that mentions forgiveness has been so poorly taught. Some versions say that we get forgiven as we forgive others. Kings James doesn t. Don t put this in another Administration. This fits right now. It is not meant for another day and time; it didn t end when Jesus died; this you want forgiveness and we should also forgive others. Page 7 of 17

8 Think about it. The context is the mindset and action and emotion involved in unlocking our prayers. That s the point here. So, could lack of forgiveness have something to do with unanswered prayers? Yes! Forgiveness is HUGE in getting prayers answered; and is all about our attitude. We want God to forgive us so we should also actively forgive the people who wronged us too. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves, not somebody else. Sin is an interesting topic. Preachers love this verse on sin. More preachers teach about sin because they keep their people in bondage and the more you teach people about sin and death and destruction and hell, the easier you re going to keep them in your church. When you re always teaching about sin and the consequences of sin, then it s very easy to control people. Have you ever done a simple word study on the word sin? It doesn t mean anything that you think it does. You think of sin as being an offense to God. Sin simply means to miss the mark to not share in the prize to not cross the finish line, to fall short of our goal, to not reach our potential. You just didn t make it all the way. You didn t follow through when you threw or when you shot. Here he tells the Father to forgive us when we don t live up to our potential. God just wants us to live up to our potential. He doesn t hate us when we blow it. He doesn t dislike us when we blow it. He can t dislike us. He s your best friend. It doesn t matter what you did or do, He just loves the heck out of you. We humans need to be able to forgive others too. He also tells us to forgive those who are indebted to us; which means forgive those who morally failed us. Have you ever been morally failed? Have you ever been part of a group that burned you and hurt you? That s what this is talking about. So, who are we supposed to forgive? I don t want to forgive them; they hurt my feelings. I don t like them God. Forgive them anyway. Really, they may not give a damn if you forgive them. But it s for us. It s sort of moving on. You re washing your hands sort of. You re forgiven. I don t want your forgiveness. I don t care. I gave it to you! Another way to think of it is we forgive those who they fell short of giving us what we needed from them. A lot of people who have hurt you in your life knew what they should have done. They just chose not to do it, or they were too weak to do it, or they didn t make the time to do it. Whatever the excuse, but they should have done it. Page 8 of 17

9 I had a kid in my networking group. He comes to me when he has big problems. He came to my house one day actually. He said he needed to tell me something. He said it was about his church. He goes to some big church here in Colorado Springs. He said they were kicking him out of it. I asked why were they kicking him out of it? He said because he spoke up to one of the head pastors by correcting him on the Word. I asked what he told him. He was talking in a way to try to keep people in that group and he was lying. So, this kid called him on it. So, they asked him to leave. It turned out other people had done the same thing so they all started making petitions and they were going to change this church and get it to think their way. I told him nobody changes somebody else s ministry. It didn t work for Martin Luther. It hasn t worked for a lot of people. So, I told him he needed to find another group that he clicked with. He thanked me. He told me last week that he found another group that he felt comfortable in. I told him, Good for you, man; good for you. This takes us into an amazing section on the aggressive bold persistent loving attitude to unlock our prayers. Jesus now is going to show us how aggressively our Father God wants us to address him. This is going to be different. This may shock you. I guarantee you probably have never heard anybody pray this way. This is how John taught his disciples to pray. This is how Jesus was about to tell his disciples how to pray. This is how we get prayer results. This is how you will unlock your prayer life. EXTREME PERSISTENCE Remember, this is still in the context of HOW to pray. Luke 11:5-6 5 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; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? Now Jesus and John shift from calling God a Father to treating Him like a Friend, with a capital F. Page 9 of 17

10 We typically treat friends different than we treat family. Don t you tell your friends things you would never tell your mom or dad? Most people never tell their parents certain things they did but they ll talk openly with their friends. It s a different relationship having a friend, especially a best friend. God knows this about us. Did you know God knows how humans think? Can you believe that? Oh my gosh! He knows that you need to think of Him like a friend in addition to being like a Father; imagine if somebody was both? God knows this about us, so He has to introduce the concept of talking to Him like you talk to your closest friend. I know most of you. You play on sports teams. Are you always real gentle and lovey touchy with them? Or you guys who were Marines; was it always like that with your battle buddies? Probably not. Let s just see what this is like. Proverbs 18:24 says, A real friend, a friend who loves you no matter what, he will stick closer to you than your own brother. We re taking this to a whole different level. Nobody on earth besides John and his disciples and Jesus had ever addressed God with this same attitude and this comfortable attitude. Friend from next door: (knocking louder than he should; bam bam bam) Dude, I know it s late but I need you to do me a solid, I need a huge favor. Remember that old friend I was telling you about that was coming to see me, he had a little car trouble and just now showed up. I know it s late but I don t have any bread to go with the hummus and guacamole dip, man. I know you have bread because the smell of your misses baking that fresh bread woke me up this morning. Come on, get up and borrow me three loaves. Lend means more than borrowing something and having to return it later like a car or lawn mower. It is more like asking to borrow four eggs, some of milk, and a cup sugar for a cake you are making for a mutual friend s birthday. Everyone knows you are never paying him back nor does he expect you to. That s what lend means here. Three loaves were traditionally what would be offered to someone you took into your home to share a meal. These flat round loaves are the size of a small dinner plate, about the size of a man s hand, and as thick as your finger. A little bigger in diameter than pita bread. A child or a woman could typically eat only one with the meal because it was used to scoop up dips, meats, and sauces. Page 10 of 17

11 A man who had a labor type job could eat two loaves. But a guest, a traveler, somebody you took into your house, was so special they would always be given three loaves. You always gave them abundance, more than they would ever eat. No man would eat three helpings typically. But if they wanted to, he had the bread to do it. This is the point. Ask for abundance, you might just get it. This guy is asking his friend for more than he needs and we will see that he will not take no for an answer. Think of these guys as next-door neighbors. They share the same fence. They ve got the 6-foot fence between the houses. They ve got dogs that run and play along the fence next to each other on opposite sides. They have squirrels that run along the top of that fence. They ve known each other maybe their whole lives. The context here is how to unlock our prayers. First, we are to think of God as a loving and caring Father. Now we are asked to totally shift our thinking and to think of God as our best friend, our bestie, our BFF. Luke 11:7 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. This is one friend talking to another. You may think no friend would talk like that. Well, yes, they would. How many of you like neighbors ringing your doorbell at midnight, waking you up, asking you for something stupid? Ever had it happen? In my experience, they have usually been drunk or suicidal when I got that late-night knock on the door. Except the one time my son surprised me with a latenight birthday visit to my home in Colorado Springs by taking a two-day bus trip from Seattle. That was a good nighttime surprise! Friend Inside: Go away man. Don t you realize how late it is? Geeze! You re gonna wake everyone up. I was sound asleep until you started beating down my door. Pipe down. I can t help you bra. And stop blowing up my phone with texts too! Page 11 of 17

12 Remember, this is how we humans are supposed to approach God. Not with heads down, eyes closed, and hands folded. Not with arms waving in the air, or knees aching. If you want to unlock your prayer potential, then beat down the door, and don t take no for an answer! This is any goal setting. You don t take no for an answer. All a prayer is, is a goal. It s God s sneaky way of getting humans to set goals. It s all it is! It s an objective if you don t like the word goal. I don t care what you call it. How many times do we excuse ourselves from the responsibility of cracking the prayer code? We say, The timing must be wrong. They just weren t believing. Maybe it s not God s will right now? What if they don t get healed? If I don t try, I won t fail. This is what most people think. They ll never admit it but it s true. Luke 11:8 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. Here s a good lesson. How much do you need first? So, is Jesus also telling people to be specific? He didn t say to ask for five loaves. He didn t say to ask for two. He said to ask for three. Figure out what you need and ask for more. God is unlimited. Get your vision up! It is interesting to note that the inside friend would not get out of the sack to help his friend for friend s sake, he did it because of something called importunity. In order to unlock our prayers, we may need to grow ourselves a pound or two of this thing called importunity. We need to grow a set of importunity. Page 12 of 17

13 Importunity I love this word. Importunity is super persistent asking. Impudent means bold, brassy, impolite, and sassy. This is how we are supposed to pray. Bold, brassy, impolite, and sassy. This is what Jesus is telling them. Now does that sound religious to you? Is that pious? You d never ask somebody to pray at church who was going to really pray like this! This is how Jesus prayed. This is what John taught his followers to do when they prayed. And trust me, John s followers stood out from the crowd. They stood out! Friend outside: (Bam bam bam.) Hey dude, get up, give me three loaves, man. Friend inside: No can-do man! Go the freak away. Friend outside: Can do dude! I m not leaving till I get what I came all the way from next door to get. Inside friend: Shut up! Outside friend: Not gonna shut up until you get off your lazy rear and give me what I came over here for. Inside friend: Geez-o-Pete, alright-already. Here s your bread. Now stop knocking and start walkin. Love you bro, but you are a pain in the you-know-what. Outside friend: Thanks bra, love you too. Next time don t take so long to answer. That is how to pray. We go to God because He is not just our best buddy, he is our next-door neighbor who is our best buddy, the one who has all the stuff and toys we like to borrow and He always seems to be home. He always has what we need when we need it. Have you ever had a neighbor like that? We may need to get a little pushy at times, but this is really just to animate our own believing and to bring to life our goals. He needs no motivation. Page 13 of 17

14 NOW TO SUMMARIZE THE ABOVE LESSON ON UNLOCKING OUR PRAYER LIFE This is pretty self-explanatory. Luke 11: 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. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Ask, seek, knock. Ask means to ask persistently, to plead, to require Seek means to seek, to plot, plan, endeavor, desire. This could be called planning or goal setting. Here it is prayer-setting. Knock means to beat down the door until it gets answered. You never stop until you get what you want. Most people s New Year s Resolution are forgotten about by February 1. Studies show that <10% of the people ever reach any goals that they set. Young people reach them a little more than older people because older people accept failure enough times where they ll accept it one more time. The kids don t think failure because they haven t seen it enough. That is how we get many of our prayers answered, folks. We ask with persistence, we continue to seek by planning and devising a way to get the door open. And we keep knocking on that door until it opens and we get our prayers answered. That is the attitude it takes to unlock our prayer life. That s the same attitude it takes to reach any goal if you ve taken any class on goal setting. Now I didn t mention it but notice the emotion that was set in that. He kept knocking. He kept asking. He kept pushing. He probably got louder and louder until his friend gave him what he wanted. He knew he would. He knew he was just lazy. Now God s not lazy. But that is how our minds think. How come I m not seeing it now, God? You ve asked that. What s up? How come I m not getting this prayer? Just keep going; keep knocking; keep seeking; keep asking. Page 14 of 17

15 Now Jesus closes out the lesson by going full circle. He ends it where he started. John would be proud. Luke 11: 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? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye 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? Remember that the One you pray to will not only give you what you specifically ask for, but He will give you exactly what you need, too. Like going to a kid s birthday party; your friends in this world will send you home with some pretty good gifts, but God will give you even more. God has given you the ability to not just trigger your prayer life into action, He has given you a gift that allows you to dominate your way through life. Jesus took it right back to the step. The seventy had just recently come back and they learned how to walk by the Spirit of God like nobody s business, but they didn t really understand the whole prayer thing and how to get prayers answered, so now he lays it on them and he ends it right back with that Holy Spirit thing. CLOSING Have you ever prayed and wondered if God actually heard you? Does it ever seem like you are just going through the motions of praying? Do you ever find yourself praying for the same thing day after day? Is there some skill, some technique, some method that could help us get more than an occasional prayer answered? There is! Page 15 of 17

16 One unnamed disciple pulled this amazing lesson out of Jesus on exactly how to unlock the power of prayer. Jesus taught us what John s disciples had perfected. This is the new way to pray, the only way to unlock your prayers. How do we unlock our prayer potential? First and last, we treat the Creator like the most loving and caring Father in the universe knowing full well that He will do far more than answer our little prayers. Our Father is awesome! Along with that we fully expect to see the power most think is reserved only for the heavens, right here and right now. We need it now! We know that we too are designed to dominate. A must in prayer is to shift from our lofty thinking about this all-powerful God and begin to talk to Him like he is our best buddy next door, the one who has everything, and lives just next door, and he doesn t really mind us coming over because we are His best friends too. We know that he will give-in to our requests, and eventually give us everything we ask for, if we can just understand what it means to be importune, to be overly and incredible persistent. This importunity that John and Jesus taught means that when we pray we are to be bold, brassy, sassy, with a heaping side-dish of being overly persistent in trying to get our prayers answered. Yes, we have a huge part in our own prayers getting answered. It s not just God. You have something you have to do too. That is being bold and brassy and just straight, direct, forward in your communication with God energized with emotion. Prayer is action. Finally, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we will, without doubt, get all that we ask for in prayer. We refuse to take no for an answer. Our Father, our Friend, our God will give us far more than what we ask for. Page 16 of 17

17 John may have lived a little rough and Jesus may have been his polar opposite in fashion and cuisine but one thing is for sure, they both knew exactly how to teach people to unlock their prayer potential. Kinship, friendship, and importunity are the simple lessons of prayer that John the Baptist taught his disciples and Jesus later taught his. This is how we too will unlock our prayer potential! God bless you all. Page 17 of 17