You are invited to shift your focus from just pouring out your heart to actively listening for His voice in the midst of your daily life. Start practicing this constant communication today by asking God specifically who He wants you to pray for and testing those thoughts against His Word. As you walk in this right standing and right doing, you will find your prayers becoming more powerful and effective.
What is up, Real Church? Thanks for tuning in to the podcast today. Excited because we're diving in and continuing a series titled foundations. Now whenever any sports team goes into their next season, as they're preparing, they go back to the basics, bound back to the foundational skills before they begin to build off of them. In the same way, we want to periodically go back to the foundations of our faith.
They're simple. They're straightforward, but they're not shallow at all. And we can forever grow deeper in our understanding because Christ is eternal. Amen? So with that being said, today, we're talking about prayer.
I know that today will encourage you, and you'll walk away, craving a deeper relationship with Jesus. Be encouraged. Enjoy. Do you know that 91% of women and 85% of men in America pray? Only 15% receive specific answers to specific prayers.
So, there's a lot of practice, but a lot also a lot of ignorance when it comes to prayer, a not knowing of how to pray effectively, of what effective prayer is and what effective prayer looks like. I mean, was talking to a guy, interviewing some people for my school, for some research that I'm doing for my school. Was talking to a guy who was living in The UK at the time, but he was from Nigeria. And he said, growing up, you know, his parents weren't really Christian. They attended church, you know, on Easter or Sunday because it was kind of the thing to do, just to have their name on the roll.
But then, there was also a lot of cultish things that they believed in, a lot of other things. And he said, oh, but they were people of prayer. Meaning, they prayed a lot. Some God or something, but maybe they didn't know who or what they were praying to or didn't really know I mean, so there's a lot of people that pray, but there's really only 1 way to have effective prayer. And, we want to talk about that tonight, or today.
Is that okay? Yeah. Alright. So, prayer is **communication with God**. Communication with God.
And, let me let me reiterate something else too. If you've been going to real church any amount of time, I have taught you most of these things, especially if you're on the dream team. I want you to listen. And, whether you're new or not, I want you to listen in order to teach it. I want you to take it in in order to teach it.
Because, as you give out what you receive, you grow more. Amen. So, don't just listen to say, oh, it was a cool message. I want you to listen in order to take it in and think, wait a second, there's probably somebody that I'm going to interact with this week that needs to hear this analogy, that needs to hear this verse, that needs to hear this thing. So, God is showing me this because he want doesn't just want to get it in me, he wants to get it through me to expand his kingdom.
Yeah? Okay. So, prayer is communication with God. Communication is not just talking. A lot of people think prayer is I'm just pouring out my heart to God, and then I get up and go about my business.
Communication consists of 2 things. Consists of listening and speaking. Right? And you have 2 ears and 1 mouth. So, you're probably supposed to listen a whole lot more than you speak to God.
So, the big thing in prayer is then how do you hear God's voice? We'll get there. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians-5. We're gonna start in verse 16 just because it's powerful. *1 Thessalonians-5:16*, it says, rejoice when you feel like it.
It says, rejoice when things went your way. No. Rejoice when there wasn't a tragedy. But pastor, you don't know what happened. No, I don't.
But the Bible says rejoice always because God is good and he's with you. And he's gonna work all things together for good, for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. So you can rejoice in all things, knowing that no matter how bad it was, how bad it is, he's gonna turn it around and is going to expand his kingdom in you and through you because of it. Amen. Yeah?
Alright. But then it says, verse 17, pray continually. Now, the version I grew up learning says, pray without ceasing. And I really, for a long time, didn't really get I always wondered, what is it? How can you pray without ceasing?
Anybody else think that growing up a kid or a teenager? How do you pray without ceasing? Does that mean you're on your knees in the closet, like 24 7? Like, you know, the the monks that you read about, you think they did? And, do I have to go to a monastery to be able to do this and be effective at prayer where, man, you know, I I I shut it off and I I pray for 24 7, and that makes me more holy.
And if I prayed that much, then maybe, maybe, just maybe, God will actually hear my prayer and and do something about it. Anybody ever been there before? Or is it just me? How do you pray without ceasing? What does that look like?
It looks like constantly listening. Praying without ceasing is constantly listening and sometimes speaking. You realize that you are processing with your brain information 4 times faster than what I'm saying, what I'm speaking, than the words going into your ears. That means you can hear me and hear God at the same time? That means you can constantly your your brain is a supercomputer that's super fast.
You can process the world and listen to God at the same time. You realize you can listen to God playing soccer? You can listen to God while you're having fun, while you're hanging out. You can listen to God in the middle of an argument. And really, He's probably gonna tell you to love.
Love does not seek its own, so He's probably gonna tell you to lay yourself down, and the argument will vanish. You know? Okay. So, listening. Alright.
Question. Whose prayers does God answer? Does He does He answer everybody's prayers? Alright. Let's go to James.
There's a verse for that. Let's go to James-5. James-5. I'm a start in verse 13. No.
No. I'm a start in verse 16. It says, therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is **powerful and effective**. Effective.
Or, other versions say, the prayer of a righteous person availeth much. The prayer of a righteous person is is very powerful. A righteous person's prayers are very powerful. Who's a righteous person? Who's righteous?
Who? Saints. Right. In 2 Corinthians-5:21, it says, he who knew no sin. Who was it that knew no sin?
*Jesus. He who knew no sin* became sin, so he died as your sin, so that in him you might become the righteousness of God. Bible says, Abraham believed God and it was credited as righteousness. In Hebrews-11, it's like the the hall of faith and it says, because of their belief, it was their their they believed God and they "walked by faith" through all of those things. Why?
Because their belief, God credited their belief to them as righteousness. So, their life was powerful and effective because they were walking in communication with God. Now, if you have given your life to Jesus, then because of your belief in Christ, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. God has credited Jesus' righteousness to your account based on your belief. So then, your prayers are powerful and effective.
*God answers your prayers*. A lot of people, because of ignorance, think they have to prove themselves when they go to God, and so they're walking when they're praying in unbelief, and their prayers are not answered. But, I stand before the throne, based boldly as a son with the authority of a son because of Jesus. And, when I pray, I pray with that authority, not pride, confidence in Christ. And so, I know my prayers are powerful and effective.
But, that's not because I'm a preacher. It's not because I've studied more than you. It's because I'm a son of God. And, if you're a son or daughter of God, then your prayers are powerful and effective. You know what?
The next verse. It says, Elijah was a human being or a man just like us, even as we are. He prayed that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for 3 and a half years. Again, he prayed and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced crops. Elijah, this is the guy the dude that called down fire from heaven.
Like, he he did some crazy miracles, and it doesn't say he was a superhuman prophet that nobody can be like. He says he was a person just like we are. All he did was live by faith. Yeah? And just an extra little tidbit there, extra little heavy revvy, if you will.
Elijah, what he's talking about, Elijah prophesied to king Ahab that it wasn't gonna rain until he prayed for it to stop. He prophesied that. And then, so he apparently, he prayed and it didn't rain for 3 and a half years. Then he prophesied. He said, it's gonna rain.
But he didn't just say it and wait on it. He went to the mountaintop, and he prayed, and he sent a servant to look. Nothing happened. Prayed again. Sent a servant to look.
Nothing happened. Prayed again. Sent a servant to look. 7 times. After the seventh time, he sent a servant, there was a little cloud, and he knew God had answered his prayer.
So just, you know, you hear God's voice and you prophesy, but then you pray until it happens. Don't stop. Amen? Amen. Alright.
So, this guy that did all of these amazing things was a person just like we are. So, if you what that what that does is it puts all these Bible characters, it takes them off the pedestal and makes them people, which means if it happened in their life, it can happen in yours. The question is belief. Amen? Okay.
I want to share a couple of testimonies real quick just to encourage you in that. 1, as simple as I was 15, probably towards the end of my fifth fifteenth year, and I saw a friend of mine, Ryan and Emily. They were dating, and they just seemed to be really close friends. And, they had been dating for a year and a half, you know. Now, growing up, I was probably a little bit girl crazy, you would call it girl crazy.
Not that that's a good thing. But, you know, my uncles and aunts and everybody, hey, you got a girlfriend? They'd always ask you that stuff, you know. And so, it was it was on my mind a lot. And so, I had had the check yes or no girlfriends in my life for a week or 2, and then, you know, you'd break up with them and whatever.
But, towards the end of my fifth, you know, tenth grade year, I remember praying. I was like, God and I had a relationship with God. I I I had a relationship with Jesus. And so, went to him and I was just open. I said, God, you know, I see Ryan and Emily, and it's it looks like they're friends, and it's more than just like a week or 2.
And *God, I I would love a relationship* that's long term, that's like a friendship. Would you give me that? I don't know, 6 months, a year later, Courtney and I started dating. We dated for 3 and a half years, and then we got married, and we've been married 14 and a half years. It's been 18 years together, and God gave her to me.
It's pretty amazing. Right? God answered my prayer. It's more than just a coincidence because that wasn't my MO. And, man, she was pure.
She loved Jesus. We're "equally yoked" in him. Believe it or not, we were virgins when we got married. It's still possible. Parents, don't just excuse your you know, that, well, this is the way the world is.
No. We live according to the kingdom. And if maybe you've messed up there, guess what? He's a redeemer. Right?
So you can still get married as a virgin in his eyes. Just stop what you're doing. Just like Jesus said, you're forgiven. Now go and sin no more. Amen?
Amen. That was a I didn't plan on going there. Praise God. Whale. Happy accident.
Happy accident. Okay. Next question. What kind of prayers does God answer? What kind of prayers does God answer?
There's a verse for that. Let's go to 1 John-5. If you notice, I'm a little more calm today. It's because we have a new baby at home. Okay.
*1 John-5*, not as much sleep as normal. Verse 14 and 15. It says, this is the confidence we have in approaching God. So, it's about to say is the confidence we have in approaching God. It says, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
That kind of indirectly answers the question, does God hear every prayer? Well, this would imply not necessarily. He chooses not to listen to song. We what we know we can we can just say what we know is that if we ask anything according to His will, we know He hears us. Yeah?
But then it says, verse 15, and this is a promise. You can "take this to the bank". You'll see this in your life. You believe this, and you start to put it into practice. If ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we've asked of him. Amen. Did you catch that? You wanna you wanna your prayers answered every single time? Because you can't have that.
You want your prayers answered every single time? Pray his will. When you pray his will, it has to happen. Am I making that up? I mean, that's pretty awesome.
You ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And, if we know that He hears us, we know that we have what we've asked. Let's let's jump in there. Are there prayers that God doesn't answer? Let's go to James-4.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire, but you do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. Basically, it's saying all fights come from selfishness.
It takes 2 to tango. It takes 1 to lay down themselves to love the other. You do not have because you do not ask God. And, when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motive, that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures. So, when you ask according to your will, and it's not in line with His will, you're probably not going to get it.
So, this is this isn't just a "name it and claim it" gospel. If God spoke it, and then you pray it, it has to happen. But, if you ask according to selfishness, it's probably not gonna happen. I'll give you a really good example. My wife prayed for 5 years that I would change.
I was a I was I was a good husband in some ways, but in in other ways, I wasn't. The first 5 years, I was I was really selfish of our the first 5 years of our marriage. And, she prayed for 5 years that I would change. And, she was praying that I would change, so that she would have a better day. And, God God wouldn't answer the prayer.
It was self it was selfish. Her prayers were selfish. It was she was praying so that she would feel better about her marriage, so that she would feel better in the day, and and be okay. Well, 5 years in, *God* changed her heart, and changed the way she prayed. 5 years in, she began to pray, *Lord* God, help me to be the best wife that I can be.
To love him no matter what he says, no matter what he does, no matter how he treats me behind the scenes. Help me. Lord, teach me what it means to be a wife and to love him like you love me. Guess what happened? I changed.
You know why? Her prayers went from being selfish to selfless. Her prayers went to the motive was shifted. And when that motive shifted, all of a sudden, God began to work on her, and she began to love me in a way I didn't deserve. And and that was God's love through her to me that changed my heart and taught me how to be a better husband.
Ain't that awesome? Yes. Okay. Some people might might be like, well, wait a second. That means I can never pray my will?
Like, if I if I never I'll never get what I want? Man, being a Christian must stink. It must be boring. I don't understand. Let's go there.
In John-16:24, I don't think I put this on the on the notes. *John-16:24*, it says, Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name. This is Jesus speaking. It says, Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Everybody say, Your joy will be complete.
When we ask in Jesus' name, it's not just it doesn't mean we're just tagging on in the name of Jesus at the end of our prayer, and that makes it in Jesus' name. Okay? To ask in Jesus' name means you're asking in line with his *authority* and in line with his will. Makes sense? You're asking in line with his authority and in line with his will.
It's like a power of attorney. Alright? If somebody somebody works for a company, and the owner of the company is going off, and he comes to you and he says, hey, I want you to go buy me to to buy a couple things for the company, and and I'm gonna be gone for a long time, so I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a power of attorney to be able to do this, to buy some property for the company and other things. And, you say, okay. In order to legally operate with that power of attorney, it has to be in line with his authority, which he gave you his signature on the power of attorney, but it also has to be in line with his will, what he gave you to do.
If you go and you buy a Lamborghini because you just wanted it, that's not in line with His will. The power of attorney wasn't for that. In the same way, when we act in Jesus' name, we're in His authority as sons and daughters of the most high God, so we got that covered. Now, in line with his will. When I ask in Jesus' name, it's in line with his will, and it will be done.
If you ask anything according to his will, he hears you. And, if you know he hears you, you know you have what you've asked. Right? Okay. So, when we receive the answers to our prayer, when we ask in his name and it's done, our joy is complete.
Now, let's put that together. You are created with a purpose. Your creator gave you purposes, and he wants you to fulfill all of those. Not only that, he wants you to participate in his purposes being fulfilled throughout the world. And, when you're walking in your purposes and helping to fulfill his purposes, you're doing what you were created to do.
That means you're fulfilled and you're walking in joy. Yes. So, gives you the opportunity to walk in that joy by showing you his will, and then you pray his will, and then you see his will happens, happen, and your joy is complete. But, if you're walking outside of his will saying, I want this, God, I want this, Or, I'm just gonna do this anyway. You're walking the opposite of what you're created to do, and you're going to be miserable.
You're created to live under his will. That's how you're created to live. And so, when you pray according to that and you see it happen, your joy is complete. It's just better to lay down self and to live for Christ. Okay.
So then the next question is, how do we pray according to God's will? How do we know His will? How do we know what to pray? How do we hear Him clearly in order to be able to do that? Just missing a little step.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians-2. The Bible's really clear about this. We're going start in verse 9. It says, however, as it is written, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him. Now, a lot of people just stop at this little part.
They're like, oh, we can never know. You know, it's it's what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard. You know, what no mind has conceived. That's like God, and we we should just stop there. You know?
But the next verse is pretty awesome. It says, these are the things God has revealed to us by his By his what? Spirit. So, by his Spirit, he reveals to us what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard. By his Spirit, he revealed to us reveals to us what no mind has conceived.
By his Spirit, he reveals to us the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. He wants to reveal to you your purposes, but also, wants to reveal to you the purposes of others, so that you can help them to live it out. By the Holy Spirit. You know, in John-16 it says, the Holy Spirit leads you into all truth, and he shows you things yet to come. If we're willing to listen.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Now, that capital s is Holy Spirit. Right? For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? Your spirit knows your thoughts.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit* knows the thoughts of the Father, knows the thoughts of God, the thoughts of Christ, the spirit of Christ*. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. So, the Holy Spirit who knows the thoughts of God, when you were born again, you were sealed with his spirit, *eternal life*, *John-17:3, Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God, a relationship*, so you have the capacity when you're born again to walk in relationship with the heavenly father and to hear his voice and know his thoughts for you if you'll learn to hear him. Amen. It's right there.
Right? Let's keep going. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. Verse 13. This is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit, explaining spiritual realities with spirit taught words.
I'm just sharing stuff with you that I learned in school, and read in a book, and it's just dead, and that would there would be no life to that. I'm sharing stuff with you that, as I read, God illuminated His word, or as I listened to that message, or as I listened to that that or I read that book, or whatever, God illuminated it to me. It became alive to me because his spirit was speaking through those people, or through his word, or through whatever, in order to it to be revelation knowledge to me. So now, when I speak it, it's life and it's coming out and impacting you and some of you are on the "edge of your seat" wanting to learn more. Why?
Because you're hungry for the things of God. But then, I'll be delicate here. Verse 14, the person without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the spirit. There may be some people listening online or in here or someone you talk to that they just think all of this is just foolishness. Like, just here.
This first just called you out. What it's saying is you need to be born again. *God* loves you. He's calling you out because he loves you, and he wants you to walk in relationship with him. He wants you to receive his goodness.
Amen? Verse 15, the person with the spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments. Verse 16, for who has known the mind of the Lord** so as to instruct him? And we always stop there. Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Right? Nobody can know. Who has known the mind? You hear people preach that, but they never say the next part of the sentence. But we have the mind of Christ.
Because he put his spirit in us to teach us what no mind has conceived. To show us his purposes for our life, now and in the future, so that we can "walk by the spirit" and and do what he wants to do throughout the world. Amen. Amen. As we learn to hear him.
So how does he speak? It's an alarm. It reminds me of the submarine. Yeah. I was a submariner at 1 time in the Navy.
That was an alarm. Yeah. Alright. Anyway, so how does this happen? Right?
Do mind if I get a little deep here? Maybe it's not deep for you. Maybe it was deep for me learning it, but when God was teaching me this. Okay. Everybody has a spirit.
Whether you're born again or you're not, everybody has a spirit. Okay? If you're not born again, if you haven't received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then your "spirit is dead". Okay? You still have a spirit, and that spirit is still active, but is dead.
What I mean by dead is, God is spirit and He is alive. Anything that's separated from God is dead. Right? Okay. So, when you're born again, all of a sudden, *new life*, your spirit is made new.
It's made perfect, holy, and clean, and put in communion with the Holy Spirit**. And in you, that's how you hear the voice of God, by your spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit. K? Righteous and holy. But now, got your soul.
You're you're spirit, soul, and body. Understand. Right? Spirit, soul, and body? You have your soul, which is your mind, your will, and emotions.
Mind, *will*, emotions. And then, you have your body. K? Before you're born again, and even some people after they're born again, we're learning, we're being sanctified, our mind, will, and emotions is being lined up, learning to live by the spirit. So, before you're born again, a lot of people, they live by their body.
Those are people that, you know, become addicts, and they're they're addicted to this because they're letting their body, what they feel in their body, lead them. Right? And so their body is on top. Follow me here. Okay?
Leading them. Others maybe grow emotionally intelligent. They're they they grow their maybe they're they they're they're led by their logic, so they're led by their mind. So they submit their body to their mind. Make sense?
Others, they're led by their emotion, what they what they feel. You know, if they're sad, their whole every their whole aspect is sad. If they're happy, they're joyful, their whole they're led by by what they feel their emotions. They're still soulish. They're led by their soul.
Others are led by their will. They're really strong willed, and no matter what I feel, no matter what everybody else thinks, no matter what my body says, I'm making it submit to what I want to do. I'm gonna go after this goal and it's gonna happen, and they're led by their will. Still soulish. Follow me so far?
I told you we're gonna get deep for a second. Is that okay? Okay. So but we're not called to live by the soul, and we're not called to live by the body. We're called to live by the Spirit.
Yeah. Okay. So we're born again, and our spirit is now connected with God. And now we need to learn to submit the soul and the body to the spirit. So it's not about what we think.
It's not about what we feel. It's not about what we want. It's about what the spirit says. And then we submit that. Now, how do we know the difference?
Because there's a mixture when we're born again. We need to learn to separate what's from us and what's from God. What is from our thoughts, what's from our desires, our wants, what's from our feelings, and what are God's feelings towards something? What's what does the Holy Spirit* want? What does the Holy Spirit think towards something because we have the mind of Christ*?
Now, we need to learn to separate that. And as we do, we're learning to walk by the spirit. Actually, guys, we're learning to pray because we're learning to hear his voice. Remember, prayer is communication. And so we're learning to hear what's us and what's him.
*Hebrews-4*. Verse 12. For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword, It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the attitudes of the heart. You ever wonder what that verse meant?
Hopefully, we're we're gonna unlock that. Okay? The word of God, his word is sharper than any 2 edged sword. And just like the sharpest of tools, which I'm not a medical doctor, but I mean, it's really hard to differentiate between bone and marrow. Right?
Between joints and it's really hard to differentiate that side. At least it is for me. But the word of God, just like you can differentiate it and you gotta really know what you're doing, the word of God differentiates between soul and spirit. Because a lot of times, it's hard to differentiate what we think and what God thinks. You ever you ever wondered that?
Was that me or is that God? What we feel and what God says. What God feels about it. What we want and what God wants. You ever wonder, well, is is that me?
Like, prayed this. I I think that was God, but I'm not sure. The word of God separates what's soulish, what's from our mind, will and emotions, and what is his spirit. And so, gotta know his word, guys. You can't get around it.
You gotta daily spend time in his word, and not just reading it as if it's a book, you know, after words on a page and I check my box. No. You're spending time in relationship with the Holy Spirit**. As you read it, you're like, oh, rejoice always. Holy Spirit, would you let make that alive of my life, where you remind me when I wanna be depressed in this situation and just be all down and out?
*Holy Spirit, would you would you bring that back to mind and teach me what it means to rejoice always when everybody else says I shouldn't? Lord God*, teach me what it means to walk like that. Make this alive and active in me. Read this thing in relationship with him and let him illuminate it to you. As he does, his sword, the sword of the word is gonna separate what's from you and what's from him.
And, is going to begin to pull away so you can recognize what is God's will and what is your will. What is God's mind towards something and what is your mind towards something. What is God's feelings, the Holy Spirit*'s feelings, and what's yours feelings towards something. And, when you recognize the difference, well, you've already confessed him as Lord*. So you're gonna submit what you want to do to what he wants to do.
And as you do, you will be walking by the spirit, which means you're learning to pray because you're learning to hear him more clearly. I know it's a lot. And when you do, guess what? Your life's gonna begin to go, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, because that's the result of walking by the spirit. Yeah?
And then everybody else is gonna see it, you're like, what's so different about you? And you're like, it's relationship with Jesus. And then it's just real. It's not force. It's not an act.
It's a relationship. And you're putting in the due diligence to to realize what's from you and what's from the enemy and what's from God. Now on that, guess what? You know you can test. The Bible actually commands you to test.
*Romans-12:2*. It says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, the way the world thinks, but be transformed by the renewing of your Good. Then, you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his "good, pleasing, and perfect will". You wanna know what God's will is for your life? Don't just take everything that comes to your mind as from the Holy Spirit.
Test it. If it's from God, it'll stand. And, you know what the test is? His word. That means you gotta know this thing, man.
Day in and day out, spend time in His word. But, I don't know where to start. Start in John. Start in first John. Start in 1 of the gospels.
Daily, little by little, line on line, precept on precept, and you're gonna learn to hear him more clearly. To test and approve what his will is, his good, pleasing. His will is good, his will is pleasing, and his will is perfect. And when you're walking in it, your joy will be complete as you're hearing his voice and praying what he says and seeing it come to pass in your life. That's called the Christian walk.
And the only way to do that is what I'm telling you. Right? Yes. We're learning by his word to separate what's from him and what's from us and submitting ourselves to what he says. And, the only way to do that is to realize, wait a second, I'm *forgiven* so I can walk in relationship with him like this.
I'm in "right standing" with him, so I don't have to fall back in guilt and shame when I mess up. But, I can "fall forward", get back up and say, okay, okay, God, would you help me to walk forward more in this? Why did I mess up there? You can have a conversation with your heavenly father just like I have a conversation with my 6 year old when they fall, when they mess up, or when they don't do something. Well, I I might discipline them so they'll remember, but then I help them up and I I help Eden to take the next step forward because I love her, and your heavenly father loves you.
He wants you to run to him. So this is the path. This is prayer, guys. This is prayer. Prayer is the most important part of your walk with Jesus.
Did you hear that? That was a big 1. Because it's communication. You can't have a relationship without communication. Reading the word is communication.
It's prayer. Walking in your daily life is prayer. Preparing, doing your job, it's prayer. It should be. You're listening to him all the time and speaking and doing what he says.
You can't follow his will without prayer. You have to listen. You have to hear his word. And he put his spirit in you, not so that you can be just rote memorization and follow this thing like a robot. No.
So you can walk in relationship. So you can know His voice. You want to grow to maturity? *Will* you come play the guitar? That'd be great.
Thanks, man. I know I'm a little eclectic. Okay. You wanna grow to maturity? *Hebrews-5:13* and 14.
This is how you grow to maturity. And, it's all through prayer, which everything else is too. Right? Because it's all communication with God. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
There's a lot of people who think they have to earn their way to God. They come to they come to God by grace through faith, and then and then they try to continue by their works. And, man, they're stuck in immaturity because they don't understand they're in right standing with God because of Jesus. So now when they fall, they fall forward in his arms. And now they don't have to prove themselves because they've already been proven by him.
Right? And so so you can walk in confidence. You can't grow to maturity without understanding your standing with God based on Jesus. Okay? But righteousness is more than just right standing.
*Righteousness* is always right also right doing. It's right living. Right standing and right doing. If you're in right standing and you really believe that, then you will it will result the result of right standing is right doing. K?
Without the right doing, you probably don't really understand right standing. So 14 is very important. It says, but solid food is for the mature who by **constant use** Everybody say constant use. You don't mature without putting it into practice. By constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
That's talking about prayer. I'm learning to hear what's *God* because God is good. What's good, what's what's from God, and what's not. And how am I learning to hear his voice more clearly in prayer? By constant use.
By testing and knowing what's good, by moving forward and failing, and be like, oh God, nope, that wasn't me, son. Oh, okay. Well, how do I hear you more? Oh, okay. Okay.
Well, let's let's walk this way this time. And you continue by constant use to mature because you're putting it into practice, and you're able to continue to walk forward even when you mistake make a mistake because you know that you're forgiven, and you look back around a year later and you're like, wow, I've really progressed in my walk with Jesus, and you know why? Because you were your eyes weren't even on your walk. Your eyes were on him and listening to what he said and taking steps forward in relationship, and it's amazing. That's called real Christianity.
That's prayer. It's foundational, but it ain't shallow. Shallow. Just real practically, when the spirit speaks to you, people say, I heard that in my spirit. A lot of times, it's it's it's always processed through your thoughts.
You know? When I hear something in my spirit, it's processed through my thoughts. So when some people say I heard God very few people have heard God audibly. My wife has twice. I never have.
Does that make me less than a Christian? No. But I hear him all the time. And how is it? He speaks to my *spirit* and I have the mind of Christ.
It processes in my thoughts. Now I have to test and say, wait, is that the Holy Spirit** or is that my thoughts? Or is that the enemy trying to distract me? And if it's in line with his word and it's loving someone and it's the right, you know, I I will then I'll probably test it. And he'll probably push me out of what I'm comfortable doing because he doesn't want me to to stay stagnant.
So he'll always help me to grow. Does that make sense? Alright. Cool. I wanna invite you to stand.
I know today was a lot and we're gonna continue learning about prayer. It's foundational. Continue reinforcing that thing. So I wanna practice prayer together. That's what I wanna do.
When I'm praying, a lot of times I'll ask God, what do you want me to pray for? So I want you right now, out loud, to close your eyes. I want you to ask God. Say, God, heavenly Father, how do you want me to pray for myself? You might have had something God speak to you in your spirit, and you had a thought that really hit home.
Then you had another thought. Was that really God? That's what the enemy said in the Garden of Eden. He said, was that really God? Did God really say that?
I want you to pray. If it's in line with his word, I want you to pray what God told you to pray for yourself. You can pray out loud. You can pray under your breath. Just take it take take some time.
Spend some time with the father. A lot of times if I don't know, just start confessing his word over me. Thank you, Jesus. Now, the Bible says to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. A lot of times when we pray, we just pray for ourself.
We never pray for someone else. Man, you should be praying for others as at least as much as you're praying for yourself. Yeah? That's love. To pray for someone else and them not know about it, that's selfless love.
So I want you to ask God, say heavenly Father, you can say Holy Spirit**, you can say, I mean, because the Holy Spirit is the 1 communicating to you, or Jesus, it doesn't matter. Say, who do you want me to pray for? And how do you want me to pray for them? I want you to spend some time doing that. Go ahead.
We're practicing prayer. It's okay. Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you.
You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what "God is doing" in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving, or you can "text any amount" to 84321, and then just search in the link that comes up. Search for Real Church of the Lord. God bless you, and the "best is yet" to come.
Transcribed with Deepgram