How to and How Not to Pray: Being Consistent in Your Prayer Life

Hey everybody, you're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners.

If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at greg.harvest.org. Again, it's greg.harvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. The Lord wants us to pray to Him. Pastor Greg Laurie says we see in the Lord's Prayer how God wants to hear from us daily. Father in heaven, give me this day my daily bread. He didn't teach us to pray. Give me this year my yearly bread.

You know why? If God provided everything you need, all in one fell swoop, once a year, guess how often you would pray? Yearly. So give me this day my daily bread. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again you hear how the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day when life begins. For some, prayer is like a fire extinguisher or a spare tire. One of those things we put away out of sight until an emergency comes up. But prayer should be something we put to use much more often. Prayer is more like a spiritual smartphone. And how many of us won't even walk into the next room without that. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie continues our look at the Lord's Prayer, and we'll see how the Lord invites us to talk to Him.

In fact, He wants to talk regularly. This is the day, the day when life begins. You know life is a lot easier when you pray about things. And that is why we are looking at the Lord's Prayer. It shows us how to pray.

How to bring your needs before God. And you have needs. I have needs. We have problems.

We have questions. This is why we need to pray. Because prayer, among other things, is God's appointed way for us to obtain things.

There are things you need in life and God will provide them for you through prayer. James 4-2 says, you have not because you ask not. Maybe you wonder, why do I wonder through life never knowing the will of God? Question, have you prayed about it? You have not because you ask not.

Hey, why is it that I have this illness and I have gone to doctors and no one has been able to help me? Hey, have you prayed about it? Maybe you have not because you ask not. Why do I have this financial problem and I can't seem to get on top of it?

I have tried everything. Have you actually prayed about it? You have not because you ask not. I think you know me well enough to realize that I am not saying God will always heal you or God will always give you all the money you think you need. But I am saying that there is a place for asking the Lord to provide for our needs. And so pray about it. So let's talk about how to pray. Look at Matthew 6 starting in verse 9. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Now we know that this prayer can be divided into two sections.

I pointed out the first three statements. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Deal with the glory of God. The final statements deal with the need of man. And that is what we are focusing on now. Our needs.

We have already discovered that we should pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. What does that even mean? It means honored be your name. Set apart.

Set apart is your name. It is acknowledging the greatness of God. To pray hallowed be your name is to say Lord I want to send you a part of my life in character. I want to love a life that honors you. So periodically I need to ask myself as I look at my interests. My ambitions.

My pursuits. Is this for the glory of God? Can I write hallowed be your name over this?

Over your career. Whatever it is you do. Can you write hallowed be His name over it? Or maybe the friends you hang out with. Can you write hallowed be His name over your close circle of friends? How about the TV programs you watch? Or the movies you see?

Or the music you listen to? Can you write hallowed be His name over it? Listen. If you can't ask the Lord to bless it then don't do it. You should be able to ask the blessing of God on what you are about to do. So He says we should pray your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This reminds us that the primary objective of prayer is to first line up my will with the will of God. True praying is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is taking hold of His willingness.

Listen. Prayer is not about getting my will in heaven. It is about getting God's will on earth. And if you want to see your prayers answered in the affirmative that is a secret.

That is the key. Find out where the will of God is and start praying that way. You say, how do you know the will of God? It is right here in this book. It is right here in the Scripture. The more you read it the more you understand it the more you will discover what God's will is for you. Listen to this amazing promise of Jesus in John 15. He says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. A better translation would put it this way. Jesus speaking, if you maintain a living communion with me and my words are at home with you you can ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires and it is yours. Oh I want this and I want that. Hold on now.

Go back to the conditions. Jesus says, if you maintain a living communion with me and my word is at home in you, see that is going to change the way that you pray. So God wants us to discover His will. It is sort of like if I am in a boat and I want to get to the dock and I throw my little boat hook toward the dock. Am I pulling the dock toward me or am I pulling myself toward the dock?

Well I am pulling myself toward the dock. In the same way in prayer am I pulling God my way? Here God do what I want You to do.

No I am pulling myself God's way. So we should pray, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Here is a personal petition. Verse 3, give us this day our daily bread. It is an amazing thing but God Almighty the Creator of heaven and earth cares about you and He cares about me. Job writes in Job 7 17, why do you make so much of man and give him so much attention? Why would God care about me? I don't know but He does. He loves me. He loves you.

And so when you come to Him with the need He is interested. Even earthly parents do that. Jesus said, you parents if your child would ask for a loaf of bread you don't give them a stone instead.

If they ask for a piece of fish you don't give them a snake. If you sinful parents know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him. This is showing that God wants to give you this day your daily bread. Now when we talk about bread in the first century it was a staple of the diet of an average person. They had bread with all of their meals. They would have bread morning, noon, and night. You remember many occasions where Jesus broke bread with people. Jesus would multiply the bread, the loaves, and the fishes. And then Jesus broke bread in the upper room with His disciples and used the bread as a symbol of His body.

After He was resurrected again from the dead Jesus sat down and had bread with everyone. So clearly no one was on the Atkins diet in the first century. You know how many of you have gone on the Atkins diet. Don't be embarrassed.

I have. The best day of the Atkins diet is day one. The worst day is day two. Day one it is like what can I eat. You don't eat any carbs. No bread.

Ok. No bread. But you can eat steak and chicken and fish and you can have cheese and you can have eggs and you can have bacon. And if you get a latte in the morning you don't get it with low fat milk. You get it with half and half.

It is called breve latte. And I go in that first day and say this is the greatest diet on earth. This is a man's diet.

Day number two. I am dying for carbs right now. I want pizza so bad I would be happy for a wadded up piece of Wonder Bread right now. I will take anything. I don't know about you but if we are in a restaurant and they offer dessert I can say no to dessert but I cannot say no to freshly baked bread.

I love it. I have talked a lot about food in this message haven't I. It is almost pathetic really. But really when we say give us this day our daily bread we are not just talking about bread. We are talking about everything. Back in the 60s we used to call money bread.

How many of you remember that? Amen. Got any bread? Yeah.

Amen. Can I have money from you? So we are saying God provide everything.

Here is a loose paraphrase. Lord give me three square meals a day. Lord put a roof over my head. Provide the needs that I have in life. Give me this day my daily bread.

And by the way it is interesting that phrasing give us this day. When you ask someone to give you something you are acknowledging they own it. You are also acknowledging you need it. They don't owe it to you and you don't deserve it. This verse does not say pay us.

It says give us. Pay me my daily bread. God doesn't owe you any money.

He doesn't owe you anything. So Lord give me. It is a different position. I demand. Pay me.

No. It is more like you have it. I don't have it. Could you give it to me? I am dependent.

You are independent. But I need this from you. So Father in heaven who loves me would you give me this day my daily bread. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here. You know my uncle Fred Jordan had one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called Church in the Home.

I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents. Well we have Church in the Home for you every weekend. It is called Harvest at Home and you can find it at Harvest.org. We have worship and a message from God's word.

So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well we are learning today just how much insight there is in the Lord's Prayer. And Pastor Greg continues now with his message How To and How Not To Pray. So this prayer not only tells us to ask God for our daily needs but it is an affirmation that everything I have ultimately comes from Him. James chapter 1 verse 17 says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes from the Father of lights. Everything you have has been given to you by God.

Oh hold on now Greg. I work very hard to buy this shirt. I work very hard to amass the fortune I have and the great things I have accomplished. I have done it all. Well you know maybe you worked hard.

Maybe you were very clever in the way you invested your money and that is fantastic. But just remember it still came from God. Deuteronomy 8 18 says, Remember the Lord your God for it is He that gives you the ability to produce wealth. So I am thanking Him for His provision in the past and I am asking for His provision in the future.

But listen to this. God promises to provide your needs. Not necessarily your greed. It is not give us this day our daily pie or cake or whatever it is you know. Just Lord give me what I need. Now God often gives us above and beyond that which we could ask or think. He is very generous your Father in heaven.

But my point is we need to ask Him. Now that doesn't mean you sit around like a lazy bum and say, Lord provide. Lord I am just going to sit down on my big fat lazy boy. On my big fat cushion. Well what did you think I was going to say?

I sure am. Church please. And I just pray you will provide for me. Lord I just read the story of Elijah and the ravens and how they brought food to him. Lord just have the ravens cruise through in an upburger. Give me that burger Greg was talking about.

Animal style with chopped jalapenos. If they have time if they could go through Krispy Kreme that would be nice too. Make sure the sign is on.

I like them hot. Make the birds hurry please. And I will just be waiting here. Well you can wait all you want. No birds are coming buddy. Because you need to get up and go get a job.

Well that is very sensitive. It is actually biblical. The Bible says if a man doesn't work he shouldn't eat.

Second Thessalonians 3.10. Look if you are able to work go work. Well it is not the job I want.

Well do something else until you find the job that you want. But be responsible. Be resourceful. And don't be lazy. That doesn't honor the Lord.

And then be a good steward. That means take the resources God has given you and invest them back into His kingdom for His use for His glory so more people can hear the gospel. Notice it says give me this day my daily bread.

He didn't teach us to pray. Give me this year my yearly bread. Or give me this month my monthly bread. Or even give me this week my weekly bread. Give me this day my daily bread.

You know why? If God provided everything you need all in one fell swoop once a year guess how often you would pray? Yearly.

It was all just sitting in a room. All the food you would need. All the money you would need.

All the everything you would need. Just walk in and get it. Would you thank the Lord every time? I doubt it. So He keeps us dependent upon Him. He gives us what we need when we need it. Not usually before.

Never after. But He provides grace to help in time of need. So give me this day my daily bread. It is an amazing relationship that I could call on God. And that God would listen. And that God wants to be my Father.

Now let me come back to one final thought before we close. You know some of you may say well I don't know God this way. I do say my prayers. But I don't really feel as though God is listening.

Well listen He's listening. But if you want God to answer your prayer you need to get rid of a problem that's hanging things up. And that problem is called sin. And we're all born with it.

We all do it. Some more than others granted. But one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. This big giant wall that I cannot scale is called sin. S-I-N. Well I am a good person Greg.

I am sure you are. But you know what. You are actually not good enough to get to heaven. Because all of sin the Bible says had fallen short of the glory of God. That is where Jesus comes in. Because there was no way to get rid of this barrier that separates me from God. Jesus came and died on the cross for our sin. The Bible says it is not that God's ear is heavy where He can't hear you.

Where His arm is too short where He can't save you. But your sins have separated you from Him. But because Jesus died and paid the price for my sin if I will turn from that sin and believe in Jesus communication is open to your Father in heaven. Only the Christian can call Him Father. A non-believer can call Him that but He is not their Father. You say well how does God become your Father when you become His son or daughter.

Well how does that happen. You have to be born again. Jesus said you must be born again.

Born spiritually. The Bible says for as many as received Him. He gave them the power to become children of God. So you must say Lord I admit I am a sinner and I receive you. I ask you to forgive me and Christ will come and live inside of you and you can start this wonderful relationship with God. I talked about those two guys that went to pray.

One guy had all of his eloquence and all of his boasting and talked about how wonderful he was. Jesus said God didn't hear his prayer. But then the other guy wouldn't even lift his eyes to heaven. He was so embarrassed by the wrongs he had done and he just prayed this. God be merciful to me a sinner.

Jesus said God heard that prayer. See if you will just come and say God I am sorry. I have no excuses but have mercy on me.

Forgive me a sinner. God will hear that prayer and you can go from being a sinner to being a saint. By the way I am a total saint.

You probably didn't know that about me. Well Greg how many miracles have you performed. You don't have to perform miracles to be a saint. Saint is just another word for a believer. And when you become a believer in Jesus you are a saint. That doesn't mean you are perfect. We still sin. That is why we always need Jesus. But you are forgiven and right before God.

And before we close I want to just extend this invitation. If you have never believed in Jesus why don't you do it right now so you can walk out of here a saint instead of a sinner. A believer instead of a nonbeliever. Headed to heaven instead of to hell. Oh why'd you say that. Because it is real. And God doesn't want you to go there and we don't want you to go there. But ultimately it is up to you. We pray that you will believe in Jesus but you have to say I want this for myself.

Do you? We are going to close in prayer right now. And I am going to extend an invitation to any of you here that have never believed in Jesus. You are not sure that He is your Father in heaven but you want Him to be. You are not sure you will go to heaven when you die but you want to be sure.

You don't know if you are ready for the Lord's return but you want to be ready. If so respond to this invitation as we pray together. Let's all pray.

Father. Our Father in heaven. Thank You that You hear us right now. And now we pray for friends and loved ones and others that are listening and watching who don't know You yet. Lord we pray right now for them that You will open their spiritual eyes and help them to see their need for Jesus. There are no words that we can say to make them believe.

But You can touch them. Help them see. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer. And if you would like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord today, Pastor Greg will come back in just a moment to help you do that before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. But to hear this message again or recommend it to someone else, it's waiting for you online right now at harvest.org.

Just look for the study how to and how not to pray. Again that's at harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg one of our station managers has really been enjoying hearing about your friendship with Billy Graham. His name is Rick McCleary. In fact he's probably listening right now. Hi Rick. Hey Rick. He's general manager of 91.5 and 102.7 The Word in St.

Cloud in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. Well he texted me yesterday and let me let me read you his text. He wrote, I've been enjoying hearing Greg talk about Billy Graham. I surrendered my life to the Lord while watching Billy on a TV broadcast while living in Ventura, California. I was 18. It was during the Jesus people revival that swept through the country. I thought you could pass this on to Greg and thank him for sharing his stories.

Yeah. Well you know Billy that's an amazing thing because so in the 70s when the Jesus movement was happening some people thought that it was some kind of weird religious cult. But you know who got it? It was Billy Graham. I was a brand new Christian and I remember picking up a book in a Christian bookstore. I think the title was The Jesus Generation and Billy fully embraced it and because he was at that moment the face of evangelicalism and probably the most respected Christian in the world that really was a great shot in the arm if you will for all of us because we really were coming to Christ and our lives are being changed and of course then Billy went on to speak at the Xplo event there in Texas working with Campus Crusade and and that was one of the biggest things to happen in the Jesus movement in the early phases. So yes there's so many stories of lives that have been impacted by Billy Graham going back so many years and his ministry still continues on to this day but the reason I wrote this book Billy Graham the man I knew was because I wanted to show what he was like personally and I'm happy to say that he was the same man privately that you saw publicly. You know Dave it's been my privilege to meet a lot of famous people a lot of famous preachers. I've I've shook the hands of four US presidents.

I've been in the oval office and prayed for the president two times. I've met movie stars and rock stars and and no one ever impressed me more than Billy Graham and I think it was because he was just so humble and so down to earth but yet his fame in many ways eclipsed all of them and but it never went to his head or to his heart and and he was always as he would describe himself a country preacher. It wasn't fake humility that's how he saw himself and when you think of Billy Graham's story it almost reminds you of a bible story.

You know you read of Gideon hiding from the Midianites threshing his wheat when an angel of the Lord calls him to lead a mighty army. You look at David keeping watch over his flock when the prophet comes to town and anoints him as the next king of Israel and you think of Billy a farm boy with aspirations to become a professional baseball player and just a normal red-blooded American southern boy who God hand-picked to become the greatest evangelist in human history and I think one of his secrets was he never lost sight of where he came from. He still was rooted as that simple boy Billy Frank who used to milk his dad's cows very early in the morning and had this humility about him that he carried to his last dying breath. Yeah well he was a man we all wish we knew personally and you'll get to know him in Pastor Greg's new book. It's an inspiring journey to walk through his story in Billy Graham the Man I Knew. In fact Ann Graham Lotz, Billy's daughter, commented about the book. She said this, In this page-turner of a book, I learn things about my father that I never knew.

Isn't that something? Greg Laurie has done a masterly job of setting my father's life in historical and cultural context. I pray that Billy Graham the Man I Knew will draw readers to the gospel where they'll find the love of God that he preached so fervently and faithfully. So can we send a copy your way? Pastor Greg is making it available to thank you for your donation of any size and please know there are no churches or large organizations covering all the broadcast expenses. It's only through the investments of listeners that these insights can come your way each day. So thanks for being a partner with us. With your donation today, be sure to ask for Billy Graham the Man I Knew. And we hope you'll contact us soon.

We'll only be able to mention this a short time longer. You can write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg, if somebody listening right now knows that they need to make a change in their relationship with God, they can do that right now, can't they? They really can. And I think some people might say, well, what, pray while listening to the radio?

Absolutely. Because guess what? Jesus Christ is with you right where you are right now. And if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to invite him into your life, why don't you pray this prayer after me right now? In fact, I would even encourage you to pray it out loud.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I want you to come into my life and forgive me of my sin. I thank you for dying for me on the cross and then rising again from the dead. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior, be my Lord, be my God, and be my friend. Thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen. Now listen, as you just prayed that prayer, maybe you felt something emotional. I've had people write me and tell me of how they prayed with me at the end of our radio broadcast and tears came down their cheeks or they felt a great joy. Maybe one of those things happened to you, or then again maybe you felt nothing. Listen, irregardless of how you feel right now, I want you to know a fact. If you prayed that prayer and meant it, Jesus Christ has come into your life.

Why do I say that? Because the Bible says these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. That first doesn't say so you can think you have eternal life or hope if God's in a really good mood you may have eternal life.

No, it says you can know it. And if you just prayed that prayer and meant it, Christ has come into your life. So let me say to you, welcome to God's family. Yeah, we'd like to help you get started in living your new life with the Lord. We'd like to send you some free follow-up materials called our New Believers Growth Packet. Just get in touch and we'll send that packet right out to you.

As I said, it's free of charge. And a special thanks to our Harvest partners and others who support this ministry for helping us to make these available. And here's our mailing address, A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. And again, you'll be asking for the New Believers Growth Packet. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. Or go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well, next time, Pastor Greg offers some secrets to answered prayer. Ever wondered how to make your prayers more effective? Good Council coming next time on A New Beginning. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.