Learning How To Pray - Episode 36

Let us pray.

Hosts Justin Olbrantz and Dr. Don Schaefer discuss the critical aspects of prayer in a believer's life. They delve into how prayer forms the essential connection between believers and God, emphasizing that prayer is a necessity rather than an option. The duo covers different facets of prayer, including thanksgiving, praise, and direct conversation with God, highlighting how these elements foster a deeper relationship with Jesus. They also touch upon the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues (one of nine gifts of the Spirit) as powerful tools for spiritual growth. Through practical advice and personal anecdotes, they aim to guide listeners on how to cultivate a consistent and meaningful prayer life in their secret place. 

Let’s bring Heaven down to Earth! 

Transcript

Episode 36 - Learning How To Pray

[00:00:00] Justin: Hi, everyone. This is Justin Olbrantz. And this is Don Schaefer. And you are listening to the wise and the wandering podcast for those who know “The Way” and for those who are led astray. And if you feel like you fall into either of those categories, then you're in the right place. So, let's dive in.

[00:00:31] Justin: So Don, what are we going to talk about today? 

[00:00:34] Don: Well, Justin, I think we're going to talk about one of the most important topics we've ever talked about. (What's that?) Learning how to pray. Learning how to pray. Yes. (Justin: Okay, so we're going to teach people how to pray?) Well, you know, prayer, I think, is an individual type thing where you learn your own type of prayer.

[00:00:52] Don: But I guess we're going to be talking about the importance of prayer. 

[00:00:56] Justin: And how to learn how to pray. 

[00:00:57] Don: Yeah. 

[00:00:58] Justin: Yeah, the importance of [00:01:00] prayer. Yeah, exactly. And just breaking down that, uh, It's a necessity. Yes in our belief. It's a necessity in our life as believers, right?

[00:01:09] Justin: It's a necessity in our life as being a creation of our creator to have communion to have Relationship, right? It is a necessity and for a lot of people they're missing this necessity for a lot of people I guess I just want to start this off this way is that when we identify as believers and we cross over You Rubicon, right?

[00:01:34] Justin: And we make that spiritual shift. 

[00:01:37] Don: Right. 

[00:01:37] Justin: We are now identifying as a Christian.

[00:01:40] Don: Yes. 

[00:01:40] Justin: Right? So, Everything needs to come back to Jesus. It does. Because we are identified as a Christian. I think a lot of people that the term Christian can be loosely used sometimes. Right. Um, especially in religious settings because there's a lot of theology and doctrine that gets [00:02:00] involved relating to the Bible.

[00:02:01] Justin: And then you have to start to wonder sometimes about people. Are they just a believer in God or are they a believer in Jesus? Who is God, right? Yeah, so I think it all just has to come back to Jesus. The most important thing is keeping the focus on Jesus. The most important, uh, , I would say the most important thing in prayer is keeping the relationship based on Jesus.

[00:02:24] Justin: Right? And, and that's where I think not only your faith grows, but your relationship grows with it. 

[00:02:30] both: Mm hmm. And 

[00:02:30] Justin: I think as your relationship grows in Him, so does your faith and so does your belief. Yeah. And I think that's the beauty of being a believer. Yeah. So we're going to break that down today on what it looks like.

[00:02:42] Justin: To have that relationship and to have that continuous faith and belief. That's 

[00:02:47] Don: right And I know uh as far as being a christian, I think the first thing a person needs to learn is How to pray 

[00:02:55] both: yeah, 

[00:02:55] Don: because that's the connecting tool a lot of times, you know people become a christian They want to [00:03:00] learn the bible.

[00:03:01] Don: They want to learn all about you know, god in different ways and stuff but to be able to connect with the source and it's interesting justin because The way God has, by design, set things up. Everything has to be prayed for. It's not, you know, God could give us everything in the world if He wanted to, and He probably does want to.

[00:03:22] Don: But when one thing is lacking, we have to pray. You know, we have to learn how to pray. Pray because that's the connection that allows God to do things. So many times God has his own hands tied because he set up this process and he doesn't change it. You know, and prayer has been the process since the beginning of time.

[00:03:42] Don: It's man's connection with the source in life, which is God himself, which is Jesus Christ. And it's all about prayer. And a lot of times in life, Great christian people have, you know, been walking start walking with the lord and seeing things All of a sudden they start to fall away and you say [00:04:00] what happened there Well, you you can usually go back to their prayer life because that's the tool same thing in marriage We have a lot of times with married couples where all of a sudden they start to fall back First thing I always ask him, how is your communication?

[00:04:13] Don: Because communication is key in a relationship with your loved one. But it's also key with God, you know, and that's where, you know, in this podcast, I'm, I'm hoping that we can show the importance of it and maybe explain a little bit how we process this and do this. 

[00:04:31] Justin: Yeah, I think so. And I think we will do that.

[00:04:33] Justin: I wanted to, , kind of, Tag on to that by saying, so there, there is a, um, kind of a popular preacher that I follow. His name is Vlad Savchuk, I think his name is. And he describes, , in one of his teachings, he described prayer as being three things, right? So he said prayer is a cry. Yeah. It's a conversation.

[00:04:56] Justin: And it's also a confrontation, 

[00:04:59] Don: you know, 

[00:04:59] Justin: [00:05:00] and not confrontation in a negative sense. It's a confrontation with the forces of darkness. That's the three way. That's the three ways to essentially explain prayer, right? So when you look at it as being a cry, when you think of it as a cry, you're thinking of as something that you're, you're asking for something you're requesting and there's petition, right? So you're asking for things in your life. 

[00:05:24] both: Yeah. 

[00:05:24] Justin: , you're asking for, um, What job, you know, should I go to? What boy should I date?

[00:05:30] Justin: What, what, what woman should I marry? You know, what, what paint should we use on the floor? You know, what, what paint should we use in this room? You know, so then there's the conversation. And I think that comes down to the seeking, the seeking part of prayer, the devotion. Right? 

[00:05:51] Don: Seeking after God.

[00:05:52] Justin: Exactly. You're pursuing the presence of God. It's kind of how it's described. So you're pursuing the presence. [00:06:00] And then there's the confrontation. I think there's a little bit of warfare that's involved in that. And that's, and there's, that's intercession. There has to do with intercession. Where basically you're standing in the gap for somebody.

[00:06:14] Justin: Right. That's how that's referred to. You're praying for someone or you're , praying on behalf of someone. So there's different ways that prayer. Can be utilized. Right. Okay. I just want to start from the beginning to say that it should always be in recognition of Jesus He has to be the focus. 

[00:06:31] Don: Oh, yeah 

[00:06:32] Justin: You know you think about over time and you think about the Old Testament period and you think about before Jesus Christ before the Messiah before the Christ right came what did they call themselves just believers of God?

[00:06:45] Justin: They couldn't call themselves Christians because there was no Christ yet. He didn't he didn't come in to Calvary. He didn't do the work. You know, , so , what were they calling themselves? Just believers of God? Well, we are no longer in an old covenant. We're in a new [00:07:00] covenant. So if we identify as the term of Christian, we have to be fully focused on Jesus.

[00:07:06] Justin: And in our own ministry, if we are ambassadors to God and we call Yep. Define ourselves as Christians, then we have to be fully focused on Jesus's ministry. Yep. Right? So we, we want to follow that. Example we want to follow the pattern right, right. So that's the goal as a christian So when we're praying we have that mission in mind So I think the first thing to do though when you pray Learning to pray Is to start by giving thanks.

[00:07:36] Justin: I cannot stress how much gratitude is important, you know in the last three podcasts I think i've mentioned it because it is because you have to shift your your mindset the first way Um, the first way of having a relationship with your creator is to first be thankful for what you have, what he's given you, 

[00:07:54] Don: you know, 

[00:07:54] Justin: not live from a state of lack because that's where the enemy wants you to live.

[00:07:59] Justin: He [00:08:00] doesn't want you to know about abundance. He wants you to think that you always need more. He wants you to covet is the term that you always desire to have more, a bigger house, a nicer car, a, a more, pronounced or a better marriage or a better relationship, a better defined relationship, or one like your neighbor has, or one like your friend has, right?

[00:08:22] Justin: So he wants you to be living in lack. So the first thing that you do to beat that is gratitude. It beats so many things. So giving thanks. I think it, , it then goes into Giving praise it goes from giving thanks to giving praise because you can't give praise until you're thankful first, right? So once you can once you can publicly say because people say how do I pray?

[00:08:44] Justin: How do I pray to god? How do I talk to jesus? Well first don't start by saying Uh, something that sounds like you heard in church, be genuine, speak from the heart, give, give thanks. And once you give thanks, I think then you can praise. And when you're praising, [00:09:00] then you're coming from a place from the heart where you're speaking from the heart.

[00:09:03] Justin: God inhabits it, yeah. Exactly. And then you just kind of let your heart take over and you can just talk as openly as you would talk, I think. Yeah. As a child would talk to their, their parents, right? Right. And I think you would be, You'd be a little surprised to realize when you do this that your loving father sees you as one of his own children.

[00:09:25] Justin: Yeah. And I think, that's just an important distinction to make when wanting to initiate that relationship through prayer. Right. 

[00:09:35] Don: And that's true. And just, just to add on to that a little bit, you know, it's like, um, You know, myself, who would I want to be with? Who do I want to communicate with? When you're, you're talking about being thankful and grateful, 

[00:09:47] both: you 

[00:09:47] Don: know, I mean, people like that, they can come around by me at any time, you know, any day.

[00:09:51] Don: And if they praise me, , I'm one with them, man. They're, they're on my list. See, you know, and that's where, [00:10:00] the Bible says that we were created in God's likeness. 

[00:10:02] both: Yeah. 

[00:10:02] Don: You know, so all the things that, you know, you're saying there, Justin, are ways that we want to communicate even with each other. God wants this type of communication, and that's where I know God is waiting to hear our prayers.

[00:10:14] Don: You know, God has created this in such a way where he's got so much to give us, so much to allow in our life. And he's waiting for us to get to a place where we're getting into association with him. And that's what you're talking about, painting the floors and doing different things like that. You know, God can be a part of every part of your life.

[00:10:31] Don: You know, he's interested in you just as much as you're interested in him. He wants to be a part of everything. And it can be a part of prayer. Because I know the Bible talks about we pray unceasingly. You know, how do you do that? Sit there and sit on your knees all day long? No, it's everything you do. You know, you acknowledge God to be a part of it.

[00:10:48] Don: Yeah. Yeah. And I know like In the Old Testament, they acknowledged a Jehovah God. You know, it was a God. It wasn't idols and all those things that other people had. It was a Jehovah God, and God honored and blessed [00:11:00] them greatly. And that's where, in our life, what's really great about God is, a lot of times we go to pharmacies, We go to doctors, we go to all these types of people.

[00:11:10] Don: Sometimes we lay on couches, we do all this sort of thing where God says, I will take care of all of that. But prayer is the thing that gets us connected with Him. So many times we give up a good life 

[00:11:22] both: and 

[00:11:22] Don: sacrifice it just because we haven't taken the time to learn how to pray, the time to talk to Him, time to invite Him in, saying, Hey Lord, I want you to be a part of my life.

[00:11:32] Don: Or, you know, like you get, Back in, in the day with Jesus, the disciples were with him for a good period of time and they were saying, Lord, teach us how to pray. Yes. Because they could see the effects of the prayer that Jesus was laying out there. People were being healed. All kinds of things were happening around Jesus.

[00:11:51] Don: We want to learn how to pray. Pray just like you, Jesus, you know, and that's where we have to learn how to do some of that. 

[00:11:57] Justin: Yeah. And he explained that pretty well in that prayer that [00:12:00] he taught the disciples, you know, where he says, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[00:12:10] Justin: Okay, so a lot of the times, we have this belief in our lives as believers, as people who attend church and go to religious settings, that we are to believe in Jesus so that we go to heaven when we die. 

[00:12:26] Don: Yeah. 

[00:12:26] Justin: Okay, but this is not the point of the gospel. The point of the gospel is Jesus said to his disciples, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is at hand.

[00:12:37] Justin: Right. It's here right now. Yes. We don't get saved. Right. We don't get saved so that we can get to heaven. We get saved so heaven can get into us. Right. And also, 

[00:12:48] Don: we bring it down. 

[00:12:49] Justin: Yeah, exactly. Bring it down and also get the hell out of us, which is righteousness, right? That's what that would be translated to.

[00:12:56] Justin: And yes, we bring it down. So when we get [00:13:00] into, there's a verse in the Bible and it says, Jesus is saying, I think you mentioned it just before, but the actual verse says, Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

[00:13:14] Don: Yeah, yeah, 

[00:13:15] Justin: that's true. And that's a good one because he's saying, he's starting it by saying, don't fear, but he's saying it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[00:13:24] Justin: So a lot of the times I feel like the reason that we don't receive from God, Is because we don't feel like he wants to do it, right? We feel like we have to do things to make him like us Right? So it's all about works. It's all about, well, if I go to church, my relationship is going to be good with God just because I'm going to church.

[00:13:46] Justin: If I go and I volunteer at church, I'm going to get rewarded because my relationship is growing with God. No, your relationship is not growing with God. It's not growing with Jesus. It grows in [00:14:00] that prayer time. It grows in what's called your secret place. That's right. When you are alone with your creator, when your thoughts and your heart is going and those things that you want to say that you don't say, it's built in that moment.

[00:14:13] Justin: It's built in those moments of realizing that my ego has just been tearing me down and holding me back from actually having. A real and developed relationship with Jesus and I think the faith itself when you talk about faith itself Your faith is who you are because of your relationship with God And God is working with you in that relationship confirming his word.

[00:14:39] Justin: Yeah, he's confirming his miracle Um, through the requests that you have, through the prayers that you have, he's confirming his power, right? And if it doesn't happen in your life, then the connection was not made, right? So it's, it's the way I look at prayer sometimes is it can be [00:15:00] transactional because if Jesus said to his disciples, which these are people that were very well taught by the rabbi, by Jesus, by the master himself.

[00:15:11] Justin: And this is the way that he explained to them, then this is, uh, Where we need to get to because if we want to call ourselves little Christ like ones, then we need to be disciples We need to develop the same patterns that he taught. , the critical thinkers that he surrounded himself with, these well taught individuals We need to think about think on the same level as them.

[00:15:34] Justin: So if he's telling them to pray as in, bring it down on earth, as it is in heaven, when we pray, we need to see it as if it's in heaven down here right now. Oh yeah. Yeah. 

[00:15:44] Don: That's good. So good there, Justin. You know, I look at it as a fact that we can't afford not to pray. You know, uh, people who don't pray, uh, are probably poor.

[00:15:55] Don: And I know there's a nice, a neat story if I can share that. 

[00:15:57] both: Yeah. 

[00:15:58] Don: Um, this, Charlie went and he [00:16:00] passed away and he went. Went up to heaven and Peter met him at the gate, you know, and he says I'm gonna take you on a tour 

[00:16:06] both: Yeah, 

[00:16:06] Don: so he takes him on a tour and he goes through warehouses after warehouses after warehouses of good stuff It's all the good products and stuff like that.

[00:16:15] Don: And Charlie says well, what's this? Why why is it? God hanging on to all this stuff and Peter says well, God's got all this stuff here But it's only when people ask for it that they're gonna get it 

[00:16:26] both: You know, 

[00:16:26] Don: it's just the way it's set up and nobody's asking nobody's asking. So the warehouses are full So everything so I like that, you know, I tell the Sunday school kids this stuff, but you know, it's simple I mean, it is a simple process.

[00:16:38] Don: God really does want to bless us He's got every blessing in the world, you know, the most important thing when you're But I know prayer is an awkward thing. I know this podcast right now, if it speaks to one person, if one person starts to pray, this could be huge. Because there's big things that happen through 

[00:16:54] both: prayer.

[00:16:55] Don: Things nationwide happen because of prayer. You know, [00:17:00] God honors prayer. There are times, I know you get back in the Old Testament, where there was enemies and stuff like that. And God is looking for one person to pray for. pray. You know, I mean, this, the tribes are going to be attacked and all this stuff.

[00:17:12] Don: And the scripture says, I am looking for someone to intercede here. I'm looking for a voice because everything is spoken. If you get into the book of Genesis, everything God created was spoken. It was a word, you know, and that's where our words are so powerful You know We can bring down like you were mentioning with the our father bring down heaven on earth All the blessings that would be up there We can bring them down into our lives and into our families and all this stuff, but it takes a A prayer life to do this stuff.

[00:17:46] Justin: Yeah. And I think a lot of the times in this world, we don't realize how much we actually need God. Like, yeah, we need God because we came from God. Right, right. So just like our children need us as [00:18:00] parents, we need him. Yes. See what I'm saying? So. Just as the fish need the water and the trees need the soil, right?

[00:18:07] Justin: Right. We need God. So how do we have that relationship with them? Well, it happens in prayer. It happens in that secret place and it's built up that relationship just like any other relationship in your life is built up It's not God, please give me this. I got a whole, I got a whole list here. I got a Christmas wish list.

[00:18:27] Justin: Please give me this. End prayer. Boom. Go back to doing what you're doing. No, it's taking the time, having a relationship, allowing him to speak to you. You'd be so surprised to know how much he can speak to you when you put your things away. When you are not distracted by things, and when you are willing to just sacrifice some of your time to be able to listen to them.

[00:18:52] Justin: A lot of the times we don't ever start this because we think there's no point in doing this. I prayed for such and such, I prayed for this person, [00:19:00] and nothing ever happened. And that connection wasn't made because there's no relationship there. I think the faith, the Bible talks about you will go from faith to faith.

[00:19:09] Justin: Faith to faith from glory to glory, right? So from faith to faith, it's not about just getting what you want and just getting what you need from God and only going to him when you need him. It's about living out that faith. And then when you get to that point, you have enough faith to get to the next point and the next point and the next point.

[00:19:29] Justin: And what does that do? It builds belief in you. And that's what we are at the core of being called a Christian at the core of this. Being a religious person whatever we are believers above all else. We're believers in what jesus did here Because we are christians and we are believers in the ministry moving forward that jesus christ is the same yesterday Today and forever tomorrow, so it is so important that maybe we start our day and end our day needing And looking to and [00:20:00]talking to 

[00:20:00] Don: God.

[00:20:00] Don: That's right. You know, and that's something too. I wanted to bring into this, Justin, you know, God has given us a tremendous tool also in the New Testament. And, uh, you know, you can read about this in the book of Acts, but people will receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you know, when they start, you know, , and Jesus even said, you know, , that God would give the Holy Spirit to those who asked.

[00:20:22] Don: And, uh, you know, and that's in the New Testament. They prayed unto God and they asked him for the spirit of God and it comes upon them. Mm-Hmm. . You know, and they, it always, the examples are they spoke in a heavenly language. Mm-Hmm. , they didn't know what they were saying. Yeah. 

[00:20:37] Justin: This is the early believers after Jesus died.

[00:20:40] Justin: Yes. After Jesus and Rose, 

[00:20:41] Don: they spoke in heavenly language. And I know, I remember myself, and this goes back a ways 'cause I go back a ways, but, Mm-Hmm. , somebody told me this and it kind of scared the socks off me a little bit. I didn't, I didn't know what this was all about. But I got down to a point where I was, I didn't know a lot about prayer, but I was just saying, I love you, Jesus.

[00:20:58] Don: I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. [00:21:00] I said that. There's 

[00:21:00] Justin: the gratitude, right? There's the Thanksgiving. I know. And 

[00:21:03] Don: all of a sudden, you know, I got started tingling. And all of a sudden, my mouth, I started to mumble my words a little bit, you know, and you develop. Cause I know the Bible says we don't know how to pray as we ought, but the spirit makes intercession for us.

[00:21:15] Don: For us, you know, so sometimes we pray and this is a tool we pray in a heavenly language We don't even know what we're saying But the word is being spoken because god's hands are tied until the word is spoken, you know So we have to speak it Sometimes we don't even know what to speak because we don't know what our needs are But god knows our needs and he knows what needs are And that's where he's looking for individuals that are willing to seek after him, willing to develop a prayer life, willing to lift him up, praise him, because God inhabits the praises of man, and then what he does, he fills them with his spirit, and then all of a sudden, they're The person doesn't even know what they're saying, but God is getting his word out.

[00:21:56] Don: He's getting, so things might be happening on the other side of town. [00:22:00] You don't even know what you're even praying about, but you know, but you've given God an avenue because this is the process that God works with man. So all of our struggles, all of our issues, all of this stuff, God wants to take them all.

[00:22:12] Don: He's got warehouses full of stuff, every need we'd have possibly have. But the, uh, Exercise is prayer. And that's where prayer has to be number one priority. You know, as a Christian, we have to be connected. Just like relationship wise, husband and wives. Communication is ever so important. It's the same thing with God.

[00:22:34] Don: He's set it up that way. And He wants to bless us. 

[00:22:36] Justin: Yeah, he definitely wants to bless us and like you're talking about the gifts those can be the gifts of the spirit Oh, yeah, so we're talking about the holy spirit when jesus was baptized by john. It says the heavens opened up and a spirit, uh Ascended upon him like a dove like a dove and that's when he was baptized with the spirit The key word being heavens opened up, right?

[00:22:59] Justin: And that's what [00:23:00] I'm saying. Heavens are opening up when we're receiving Jesus in our life. It's not that we get to heaven. That's like the kind of the great deception that's been played over us is let's just live my life the way I have been. I'm just a sinner. I'm not going to change. I'm just kind of always going to be a sinner, but I'm going to get to heaven when I die.

[00:23:18] Justin: Well, there's no good work. There's no good fruit in that for the Lord for you to just think that way. If we're Christians and we're following after Jesus's ministry and Jesus's life and the pattern that he laid before us, then sure, we want to model the example that he laid before us, right? And we want to be Partaking in the gifts.

[00:23:39] Justin: This is good. Of this divine nature, right? Because the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit getting into you. That's right. You're saying there's a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Right. So the baptism is a believer, not just a water baptism. Right. That has a different meaning, right? Yes, it does. You're taking on a name there, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit with [00:24:00] fire.

[00:24:00] Justin: Right as what it's referred to in power. Yeah in power doing this power right in the in the bible And this is when the spirit enters into that believer, right? Right and just as he did when jesus was baptized. That's the same spirit The new testament believers got this right away essentially after in pentecost when jesus left them, right?

[00:24:20] Justin: So it's a sign that When you speak in a heavenly language, this might sound like gibberish, right? But if you think about it all the languages that we know today are not the same languages that they were 100 200 300 years ago, so we know them as our language, but they were learned languages when the When it comes to the heavenly language, when it comes to, it can be referred to as speaking in tongues, right?

[00:24:46] Justin: Yeah, it says the spirit the holy spirit is interceding for you. That's right So when you're actually looking to pray for things and you're speaking in a heavenly language, right? Which might sound like gibberish to you. It is actually the [00:25:00] spirit himself who is interceding for you praying on your behalf Using your tongue.

[00:25:05] both: Yeah 

[00:25:06] Justin: as a rudder essentially, right? That's right And I think that for some people that might be really hard to understand because they're just thinking you know what? I just want to learn to pray. I don't want to get into all that But there's power in that and it's labeled as a gift of the spirit for a reason just like patience Just like tenderness just like meekness just like kindness all these things are gifts of the spirit It says you'll know them by their fruits and matthew, right?

[00:25:30] Justin: That's right. This is a This is one of the gifts. I think there's, is there nine gifts? Something like that. Yeah. So there's, this is one of the gifts of the spirit. So as a spirit filled believer, If there is a gift available to you, then you should ask of it, and you'll receive, right? Yeah, 

[00:25:49] Don: yeah. Yeah, that's good, Justin.

[00:25:51] Don: I love where he brought up where Jesus was baptized, and the heavens opened up, and then there was a voice from heaven that says, in him I am well pleased. 

[00:25:59] Justin: Yes, [00:26:00] my son. 

[00:26:00] Don: Yeah, you know, so So he's talking about that which was in him, you know, and that's the same process as you're saying that he wants to do with us He wants to be well pleased in us And you know, that's where I know You can't go to the store and buy this stuff You know, it'd be nice, it'd be nice to throw in an extra hundred bucks or whatever, but you know, this stuff here is just you and him.

[00:26:25] Don: And I know myself, it was very clumsy at first, because I didn't know how to pray. Because all my prayers up until that time, I read them off a piece of paper. You know, they were prayers that we said over and over again, and they really don't hold a lot of meaning. But when I got all by myself and, and just started praying, You know and he starts to help you with that So it starts to be part of your life and then talking about being baptized in the Holy Spirit We're speaking out a heavenly language.

[00:26:51] Don: I know in the Bible Paul says I pray that I speak in tongues more than you all Yeah, because because he could see the blessings, you know he could see the [00:27:00] lives of people that opened up because there's an There's 

[00:27:03] Justin: only a benefit there because the spirits is interceding on behalf. Yeah. 

[00:27:07] Don: Yeah That's right.

[00:27:08] Don: You know, he could see it happening all around him. He knew that God was working in him. And that's where, uh, as I think you alluded to that when we pray in secret, you know, it isn't something that we get out on a street corner and do. We do it at home in a closet or in a bedroom or whatever. We do it in secret.

[00:27:24] Don: Then it says that God will reward the openly. So how is that reward? People will see the change in you. They'll see the change in your attitude, how you handle things, because that's what prayer does. You know, it changes. Us on the inside so that we can show things on the outside. So it's openly shown 

[00:27:41] Justin: Yeah, so we become more like him.

[00:27:43] Justin: That's right That is our goal if we're going to call ourselves christians our end goal should be to be more like him Right less like ourselves and more like him. Yeah, remember we did the podcast dead to self dead to your old self That's right. It is to be so that he can be born inside of you. 

[00:27:59] both: Amen [00:28:00]

[00:28:00] Justin: Right?

[00:28:00] Justin: So the power of Christ is now in you. Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. Right? That's the whole point. It's not so that I know Jesus did the work for me and I just believe in that so that I'm good when I die. Yeah. Well, then you're no good here in your life. You're here to have life and life more abundantly.

[00:28:19] Justin: You don't have that by living the same life. You have that by letting him live through you. Yeah. You present your body as a living sacrifice, right? So when it comes to your prayer life, I think it's so important to distinguish where you're going to make that secret place I've found this in my life is that I like to devote a room or a space Or a certain time of the day or something like that to make it kind of habitual because then It sets it apart.

[00:28:46] Justin: It is its own holy place. Maybe you want to call it an altar, whatever you want to call it. But having that specific place, it could be a room, it could be a chair. This is, this is my praying chair, right? And when I sit in this chair, I'm just [00:29:00] going to talk to God. When I sit in this chair, I'm going to first think of God.

[00:29:02] Justin: Thank him. I'm going to go into praise and worship, and then I'm just going to let what flows out of me just come out because then it's just transparent. It's honest. I'm not hiding behind. I'm not hiding behind because we think we can like hide behind lies or we think when we're lying to ourselves or we think we can just hide from God in general.

[00:29:21] Justin: See the thing is, is that that's the greatest lie we've ever told ourselves is thinking we can just hide from God and we can't hide from the devil. We can't hide from the enemy either. We, we have to realize that we no longer can hide from the God that loves us and created us. That's right. And when we realize that it's the first step into transitioning to having a healthy, Living a lasting and a growing relationship right with Jesus.

[00:29:50] Justin: Yes. 

[00:29:51] Don: Yeah, and that's where Right now it's as you're talking there Justin God is wanting a new birth in in all of us and he's [00:30:00] wanting to hear from us and he's wanting for us to Pray to him. We are giving him what he designed us to To do communicate with him. So that's where all of us are going to receive blessings.

[00:30:11] Don: Heaven's going to be open. You're going to give God an opportunity to bless all areas of your life. Amen.

[00:30:19] Justin: Well, I think that wraps it up for today. This was a good one, Justin. I think so too. Hey, we're glad you guys found your way here today. And we hope you can join us again next week for another good Until then stay blessed by the best. See you guys.