This is the Truth Network. Encouraging prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray.
And now, here's James. How fun today on encouraging prayer. How to pray so that you're not religious. I'm definitely excited to hear this one. James?
Yeah, this is going to be fun because, you know, I mean, the whole concept of prayer, people immediately think about, well, you know, you must be religious. And the truth is that um You know, in some ways. Yeah. If you approach prayer with a religious attitude, you're not really praying. Because what prayer is intended to be is just communicating with God.
It's not you know, saying a bunch of verses from memory. It's Heart to heart. And The reason why this is so important Is we have to think about who Jesus was and is. You know, think think about the people that Jesus hung out with. and oh uh Matthew the tax collector.
You know, friend of sinners, Jesus is called. Luke 5, Matthew throws a party and invites all of his tax collector friends. John 2, Jesus makes wine at a wedding. And they say you save the best for last. Yeah.
Jesus was not thought of. as a super religious person. and he was the Savior of the world. That's so beautiful because it's so real, right? And authentic.
And you, you know, somebody you want to hang out with. You know, because I don't know about you. No, and that's at the heart of it, right, Robbie? I mean, you think about it, weird to be. Yeah.
You know, Jesus calls us to love a world that is in darkness without him. And yet you will look at surveys and you will find that the longer people are in church, the more their circle of acquaintances is primarily church people. And yet Jesus was not like that. You know So the question is, What does all of this have to do with prayer? And I think the simple answer is that our prayers have to be real.
They have to be kind of sometimes down and dirty real with what's going on with us.
So that We recognize that People who are going through stuff in their lives. We can identify with them. And you know, what's better than than uh what better way to share Jesus? then think about the woman who said the woman at the well who said, come Come meet a man who told me everything I ever did. You know, what what better way to show Jesus?
than from your weakness in the area where you struggle. And yet, that's the very foot that a lot of religious people don't want to put forward. Yeah, I couldn't agree more that, you know, we're going to boast in our weaknesses, right, that Christ is made strong. That's the idea. But obviously, in prayer, if there's a real place to talk about our weaknesses, it's where we need help the most.
Yeah. Yeah. And of course, all of this has to do with just Loving Jesus for who he is and what he's done for us. But also thinking about Who Jesus hung out with. And saying, Lord.
Send me to people that I can be real with. You know? Help help me. To be the kind of person that others can identify with. who isn't going to be easily offended by an expletive.
Who's Who's going to be someone who just Loves Because your spirit is at work within me. And You're helping me to reach them right where you are because, isn't that what God did, right? Then he came to a lost world, a world in need. And loved us right where we were.
So that he could draw us closer to him. Yeah, and even more so when you're praying around other people that. They don't know. Get that holier than thou feeling that makes em feel judged. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, there's a great line from a Billy Joel song, and we've we've mentioned this, I think it's been a few years, but You know, Billy Joel in this song says, Your mother never cared for me, but did she ever say a prayer for me? And um I love that line because Honestly, Yeah. You know, are we? Are we?
Just judging people, holding them at arm's length, or are we saying, Lord, Help me to love them the way you love them. And when we pray like that? You know? Um That's not religious. Yeah, re religion is is form and And you know, the very kind of thing that Jesus got upset with, it's it's Uh going through the motions for the motions' sake.
And Jesus loved people For the father's sake. And that's what he calls us to do. Yeah, and as a matter of fact, he said that was his commandment, right? That we love one another and and That's such a beautiful way to put that prayer. Even if you want to pray for Billy Joel right now, you feel great.
Yeah, it's just like, wow, yeah. Help me to see that person through your eyes, God. Help me to find a way to pray for them the way that you want me to. Yeah, I mean so many secular people out there you know, going through so many different things and You know, yet we have the light of the world. We have the the water of life.
And the question is Can we reach them with it? because this isn't just this little thing that we do on our own. You know? This is at the heart of who we are. It's what has transformed us.
And so we've got to be able to love like that. Yeah. That's where prayer that is real honest with God, of course, about where we struggle. but also just saying, Lord, Send me. You know, help me to to be that person that people are drawn to.
through your spirit. Oh, it's a beautiful thing, and that's right after his heart.
Now, this would be a good time to do that.
So, wrap us up.
So, Lord, thank you for this insight. And Lord, we need your help with this. We want to be real in our prayers, we want to be. honest. We want to be Lights for you.
We want to be connected to others. And so, Lord, short us a way to do that. Invite us into those conversations. Lord help us. We need it.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.
