What Every Christian Needs to Know About Prayer: The Core Principles of Prayer

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. What are the practices and procedures for prayer? Pastor Greg Laurie says some try to make it too hard. Oh, you need to kneel to pray. You need to close your eyes to pray.

No, you can pray wherever you are. You can pray publicly. You can pray privately. You can pray verbally. You can pray silently. You can pray kneeling. You can pray standing. You can pray lying down. And you can even pray driving.

Just keep your eyes open. But the main thing is to pray. 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 all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day where life begins. The Bible is a deep well of insight and instruction for the believer. We can spend our whole lives studying it and always find new things that speak to our hearts. But what are the essentials, the core principles that believers should know?

Pastor Greg Laurie is presenting those in his current series called Essentials. And today on A New Beginning, we dig into the subject of prayer. Why do we pray? How do we pray? Where do we pray?

A good course on prayer is coming your way today. Why is it that some succeed in the race of life and others fail? Here is a simple answer. Because of choices that we make. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of choices we make every day and every week.

We make our choices and then our choices make us. But if you want to know what it takes to be a strong Christian, it comes down to a word a lot of us don't like. It is a word called discipline. Who likes to discipline themselves? You know you use discipline when you say no to that dessert. You use discipline when you get up and go to that workout. You use discipline when you say no to temptation. You use discipline when you open up the Bible each and every day. If you want to grow strong spiritually you need to apply yourself.

Now I am not suggesting it all comes through human effort. God is the one that changes us. But God works through us. The Bible says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Then it goes on to say, for it is God that works in you both to do and to will of His own pleasure. So the idea is you work out your salvation. Not work for your salvation but work it out. You know the apostles John and Paul once said we can work it out.

The Beatles. Okay forget it. But you know so you work out what God has worked in. In fact the word work out there as Paul uses it speaks of going into a mine and pulling out the gold or the silver or whatever is in that mine. So you work it out. But God will work through you but you have to apply yourself.

There is God's part and there is our part. You show me a believer who is successful in their Christian life and I will tell you they have discipline. You show me anyone who has exceeded in any field in life and there is probably discipline applied on a regular basis. I heard about a concert violinist in New York's Carnegie Hall. She was asked how she became so skilled. Her answer was interesting. She said it is planned neglect. She planned to neglect everything that was not related to her goal.

And her goal happened to be to be a great violinist. And our goal is to be a strong Christian. And 2 Timothy 2 says run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do what is right.

Pursue faith and love and peace and enjoy the companionship of those that call on the Lord with a pure heart. Notice there are things I run from and there are things I run to. So I run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. And by the way you don't have to be youthful to have youthful lust. You ever heard of a dirty old man?

Or a cougar? There are people that are well on in years that are acting like adolescents still. Youthful lust.

It can be an issue throughout life. Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. So run from that but follow righteousness, faith, and peace along with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Okay so what do I need to do to grow spiritually?

Well we have already talked about one of these things. If I want to grow spiritually I need to read, study, and love the Word of God. Let me say that again. If I want to grow spiritually I need to read, study, and love the Word of God. Joshua 1 8 says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you'll meditate in a day and night and observe to do according to all that is written in it. God says then I'll make your way prosperous and you'll have good success. Now this is not true of some Christians. This is true of all Christians.

A smart believer will take time to study the Word of God and memorize the Word of God. And by the way you don't outgrow this. It's not like you reach a plateau in your life spiritually where you say yeah I used to read the Bible but I'm kind of beyond that now.

No you're not. That would be like somebody saying yeah I used to be into the whole eating thing. You know every day I would sit down and put food in my mouth and chew it and swallow it but I've moved beyond that now. No you you can't move beyond that or you will not live very long. Yeah I'm over the whole breathing thing. I breathe with the best of them but I don't do it anymore.

Then you're going to be dead in about four minutes okay. And you don't outgrow these things either. All right so number two and this is really our focus. To be a growing Christian you must have a prayer life. Now what is prayer? Prayer is communicating with and listening to God. Prayer is communicating with and listening to God. Ephesians 6 18 tells us that there are different kinds of prayer.

It says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. There's different kinds of prayer. You can pray publicly. You can pray privately. You can pray verbally. You can pray silently. You can pray kneeling. You can pray standing. You can pray lying down and you can even pray driving.

Just keep your eyes open. You can pray with your eyes open and you can pray with your eyes closed. Somehow we may think that the proper way to pray is to fold our hands and to close our eyes and bow our heads and that's a wonderful way to pray. And the reason that's a great way is it shows reverence toward God and it also by closing our eyes sort of seals off the distractions for a few moments. But you can pray with your eyes open. Have you ever been praying and everyone has their eyes closed you open your eyes up you're looking around then somebody else opens their eyes and you see them and you feel like you you're cheating.

Oh so awkward you know. We were praying for a meal the other day with the grandkids and and so we said to the kids okay everybody close their eyes and bow their heads and and all the kids are praying and so I'm looking around watching and Stella one of my granddaughters is eating a french fry but she has her eyes closed the whole time so it's really cute. But the main thing is to pray.

Because we can get hung up on it. Oh you need to kneel to pray. You need to close your eyes to pray.

No you can pray. You can pray on your run or your walk. You can pray wherever you are. In fact the Bible tells us that I can pray in any position at any time anywhere. You know sometimes I may feel as though God would hear my prayer more if I was in a church sanctuary than if I were on a street corner or in some other place.

But that's simply not true. Think of the places people prayed from in the Bible. Daniel. Where did he pray from?

A lion's den. And David he prayed out in a field. Peter prayed on top of the water and under the water. First it was Lord if it's you tell me to come. And then it was Lord you know underwater prayer. Speaking of underwater prayers Jonah prayed from the belly of a whale or a great fish.

And God will hear you wherever you are. The main thing is you are as Ephesians 6 says praying always. And by the way the word all speaks of the frequency of prayer.

The frequency of it. It's not like you just do your token prayer in the morning and you're good to go. No you're praying throughout the day. You're praying in the morning. You're praying in the afternoon. You're praying in the evening.

And that's what it means when the Bible says that you are to pray without ceasing for this is the will of God and Jesus Christ concerning you. I think we all remember the story of the prophet Daniel. He was raised up to a position of great influence in the kingdom there. And he had some enemies. And they wanted to bring him down. But the problem was Daniel lived a scandal free life. He was a man of integrity.

There were no skeletons in his closet. So his enemies surmised if they could bring him down it was going to have to be concerning him and his God. And they knew that Daniel had a habit not to be showy but this was his habit. Daniel prayed three times a day in his house and he would open up the windows and do this or everyone could see. So these guys got the king to unwittingly sign into law a decree that no one could pray to any God but him. And if they prayed to another God that was a violation of the law. So what did Daniel do?

When he found out this law had been passed. Daniel 6 10 says when Daniel learned the law had been signed he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with his windows open toward Jerusalem and he prayed three times a day as he always had done giving thanks to God. Do your enemies know that you pray? You can pray anywhere. I think it is a beautiful thing when a Christian family or even an individual bow their head in a restaurant and give thanks for a meal.

Right? I love that. When I see people praying in a public way. 1 Timothy 2 8 Paul writes, I desire that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

Everywhere. Now it would have made sense to me if Daniel's prayer would have been God help. You know what this threat is get me out of this.

Don't let me be thrown into a prison or a den of lions. But it is interesting it says he prayed as he always had and he gave thanks in his prayer. Gave thanks?

For what? Did he know about the law that was passed? Sure he did. But he knew about a God that was more powerful than any law passed by any man. And he knew God was in control. So that is an important thing for us to remember when we pray. We are to give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy endures forever. Just give thanks. Not because you feel good.

Not even because things are going well. But because God is good and God is in control. Pastor Greg Laurie will add the second half of his message in just a moment.

Whenever you send us a letter an email or post a comment on social media we read every word. It's so great to hear how these lessons in God's word have impacted this man and his family. And if you have a story to tell why not drop Pastor Greg an email at gregharvest.org.

Again that's gregharvest.org. Well we're considering the importance of prayer today. Pastor Greg just pointed out how Daniel prayed even when it put him at odds with the king.

Pastor Greg continues. We also have the story of Nehemiah. He was a Jew living in Babylon in captivity. He was in a position of close proximity to the king. He was the cup bearer which meant that he would try the food before the king ate it. So if he dropped dead the king would pass in that dish. But it was more than a cup bearer. He would become a counselor and a confidant of the king.

So it was a very significant position. But as I said here's a Jewish man and he hears about the plight of the Jews in Jerusalem and how the city is lying in rubble and he was burdened about that. And he knew he had access to the king and he was thinking about what he could do to help his fellow Jews. And one day the king noticed Nehemiah was sad and he asked why.

And here's what the Bible says. Nehemiah 2 5 with a prayer to the God of heaven. Nehemiah says I replied if it pleases your majesty and if you're pleased with me your servant send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.

I love that. The king asked him a question with a prayer to the God of heaven. See you know sometimes you might get that call to go to the principal's office or the boss's office or the oval office.

Who knows. And you don't have time to go into your prayer closet. You don't have time to have a long prayer. So you just pray as you're on your way. God give me wisdom.

Lord give me the right words to say. It's a consciousness or an awareness that wherever you go you are with God and God is with you. That is what gave Elijah the prophet the boldness to go into the court of Ahab and say as the Lord God lives before whom I stand there will not be rain but according to my word.

But the point is even though he stood in the presence of the king he knew he stood in the presence of the king of kings. And when you kneel before God you can stand before any man. So why should I pray?

If you're taking notes here's something to write down. Why should I pray? Simple answer. Because Jesus told me to.

I could stop right there. Jesus said in Luke 18 one men are always to pray and not to give up. And by the way Jesus himself was a man of prayer.

He left us a model to follow. He was constantly praying. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus is praying. Calling on the father and saying if it is possible let this cup pass from me. On the cross Jesus is praying.

First father forgive them for they know not what they do. And then later my God my God why have you forsaken me. John 11. When Jesus was raising Lazarus from the dead it says Jesus looked up to heaven and said father thank you for hearing me.

You always hear me. And then he shouted Lazarus come out. When Jesus fed the five thousand before he did it he looked up toward heaven and asked God's blessing on the food. Then there was a time the mothers brought their children to Jesus so he would lay his hands on them and pray for them. So if Jesus felt the need to pray certainly you and I need to pray. Number two the reason I should pray. This might seem self-serving but understand what I'm saying. The reason I should pray is because prayer is God's way. Appointed way for obtaining things. Because I'm told over in James 4 you have not because you ask not.

That's a very interesting passage. You have not because you ask not. So you might be saying man I want to know God's will for my life but I don't know what his will is. Will I be prayed about it. Well no.

Oh. Maybe you have not because you ask not. Man you know I can't make you know financial ends meet here and I'm always struggling and I don't know what to do. Have you prayed about it. Uh no. Hey you have not because you ask not.

Hey I'm really sick and I'm just getting worse and I don't know what to do. Well have you prayed about it. You have not because you ask not. Now I'm not suggesting that whenever you pray you'll always know the will of God or whenever you pray you'll always have more money than you need or whenever you pray you'll always be in perfect health because there are times when God will allow difficulties in our life to cause us to trust in him all the more. But my point is there are times when the reason we don't have what we need in life is simply because we have not asked the Lord about it. So we should pray.

Okay here's another one. Prayer is the way that we make ourselves ready for the return of Jesus Christ. Prayer is the way that we make ourselves ready for the return of Christ. Luke 21 34 Jesus says take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and the cares of this life and that day come upon you unexpectedly.

He's referring to the day of the Lord. Watch therefore and pray always. Prayer is the way also by which God helps us to overcome our anxiety and worry. You know listen man life's full of problems and challenges and we're all concerned about our health and our safety and especially with all that's going on in the world right now and and and we turn on the news and there's so many scary things.

So what am I supposed to do? Well one thing I can do is I can pray. Prayer is the way that God helps me to overcome anxiety and worry.

It's been said if your knees are shaking kneel on them. Here's a good verse that every believer should memorize. Philippians 4 6. Don't worry about anything but pray about everything. Let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and your mind. By the way the word therefore keep is an interesting word. It means mount to guard.

The suggestion is of sort of a a Roman guard standing there. And so God will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. We do that through prayer. So many reasons not to neglect prayer in our lives. And Pastor Greg Laurie will have more from his message called What Every Christian Needs to Know About Prayer, including a final thought from the study in just a moment. So stay tuned. Hopefully you have the opportunity to hear all of today's study on A New Beginning.

Maybe you were able to take some notes. If you'd like a chance to hear the message again or refer it to a friend, just go online to harvest.org. Look for that title, What Every Christian Needs to Know About Prayer. Pastor Greg, I think we both have a common admiration for children's author Sally Lloyd-Jones. Yes. She's so talented at being able to take the truths of scripture and relay them in a way that kids not only understand but embrace. And we have a couple of prime examples of that right now, don't we?

Yeah, we really do. We have two resources that we're offering this month for your gift of any size. One is a fantastic new book designed for children written by Sally Lloyd-Jones with the title Near. And it's based on Psalm 139. Now if you're familiar with that psalm, the psalmist writes, Where shall I flee from your presence? No matter where I go, you're there. If I go to the heights of heaven or the depths of hell, you're there. I'm paraphrasing a little bit. But in her book, she puts it in a way that a child would understand it.

Here's the way I might read it to my grandkids with maybe some sound effects. God is my father who made everything and I'm a little explorer of the wide world. He is near me and he protects me. He sees me and he knows me. He is strong and he looks after me. He is with me always.

However far I go, he's always near me. I could climb the highest mountain. I could fly to the highest star. I could dive into the deepest sea. I could sail far, far away to the North Pole and God would still be there. I could trek through jungles. I could ride through deserts.

I could zoom as fast as light. God would still be there. Even in the dark at night, he's still with me there.

He stays close to me and he won't ever leave me because I'm his little child and he loves me. And so not only are we offering this book near, but we have another companion book. It's hardcover with a little handle on it, a little magnetic flap that opens and closes and it has the great Bible stories highlighted in it like the account of creation with the title God Makes Everything.

Then here's another one brightly colored illustration. God rescues Noah from the storm. Then God helps baby Moses. Little David beats Goliath.

And then Jesus loves Zacchaeus and Jesus stops the storm. So this is a Bible you give to your child or your grandchild. And so they see mom and dad or grandpa and grandma carrying their Bibles around them. They've got their little Bible that they can carry as well. That they can carry as well.

This is designed for newborns to age four. These are great resources and I think you need to have them because it's going to be a blessing to the little ones that you can influence. And we'll send these to you for your gift of any size. Now some of you can send a little bit more and invest in our ministry because we give you this beautiful resource and you're able to invest in our ministry of teaching God's word and proclaiming the gospel.

And some can't do as much financially. But send what you can and we'll rush you your own copy of these two resources from Sally Louis Joan. This book called Near and the special edition of Baby's Carry Along Bible. Yeah we hope you'll contact us today so we can get these on their way to you. We'll send them to thank you for your support right now in whatever amount the Lord leads and enables. So write us today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or just go online to harvest.org. Well next time Pastor Greg points out when we see how big our God is we'll see how small our problems really are. More insight on the power of effective prayer next time on A New Beginning.

But before we go Pastor Greg has one more illustration from today's message. I heard about one guy that always was worrying. It just drove him crazy and he found a solution. A friend of his came up to him and said hey you know you don't seem to be as stressed out as you normally are. He goes yeah you know what I found a solution to worry. His buddy said tell me. He says well I hired someone to worry for me. What?

Yeah. I hired a guy to worry for me. What do you pay a guy like that? I pay him five hundred dollars a day. Hey you don't make that kind of money.

How are you going to pay him? He says that's for him to worry about. You might try that. That's all you're going to remember from this message.

Remember that joke? Don't worry about anything. Pray about everything. So turn your worries into prayers. So the next time you're gripped with a worry.

Oh what do you think? Prayer. Turn right up to the Lord. Hey but yeah I know Lord I bring this before you right now. Yeah but Lord here's another one for you. And here's even another Lord.

And he just turned him into prayers. Here's what the Bible says. Don't worry but pray. And if you do this the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So as you can see prayer is not an option for a believer. If you want God to speak to you. If you want God to provide for you. If you want God to help you to not worry.

If you want to be ready for the return of Jesus you need to pray. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner. Sign up for daily devotions and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.