If You Are Struggling in Prayer WATCH THIS

the first key to establishing a consistent and effective prayer life number one faith so when we go to pray we must have the faith to believe that god indeed does hear us because believing that it's a fight to get god's attention that in itself is a barrier to prayer because then when we think about prayer we're not thinking of all the splendor of his glory oh the wonder of communion with the lord oh i can't wait to fellowship with the holy spirit no we're thinking okay i'm going to have to work up my prayer life i'm going to have to start singing this and that and maybe jump up and down and wave my hands i have to work myself emotionally i have to exhaust myself mentally and then maybe god will respond to me and if you view that prayer if you be a prayer that way who's going to want to pray if that's your view on prayer who's going to want to pray as if god doesn't actually want to hear you as if god doesn't actually want to look at you so some believers approach the lord like that whether consciously or subconsciously so you may say no no i know god hears me but then we think thoughts that actually demonstrate that in the back of our minds somewhere we actually do believe that god doesn't hear us things like well is god really forgiving me for my past or did i pray enough today or is god upset with me because i forgot to pray yesterday and those are the barriers we create for ourselves i haven't prayed in two days now i have to really work for my place back with god wait a minute you you never worked for your place in his throne room in the first place you never worked you never earned your way in why do you think you have to earn your way back jesus paid the price for that entry you don't have to go back well i missed two days of prayer oh my goodness i missed a week of prayer and then you think that you're gonna go to the lord he's gonna be standing over you arms folded looking down from his throne room going well well well look who decided to pray today no that's not what god is doing that's not how our heavenly father is no he's not even gonna hold he's not even gonna hold that over your head he's not and we hold it over our own heads because of some religious superstitious traditional thought that we somehow developed because of things that we've heard but that's not what the heavenly father is like at all so when you go to pray recognize you have his ear you have his attention his eyes are on you you have his focus luke chapter 10 powerful portion of scripture here luke 10 i'm going to read 38-42 as jesus and the disciples continued on their way to jerusalem they came to a certain village where a woman named martha welcomed him into her home her sister mary sat at the lord's feet listening to what he taught but martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing she came to jesus and said lord doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while i do all the work tell her to come and help me but the lord said to her my dear martha you are worried and upset over all these details there is only one thing worth being concerned about mary has discovered it and it will not be taken away from her so we see mary and martha both wanting the same thing both of them wanted to please the lord they just went about it in two very different ways mary knew that she was already connected she pursued fellowship she pursued communion she pursued that friendship with god martha on the other hand tried to earn what was already hers you know if martha just sat down with jesus jesus would have sat down with her but no what did she do i have to please the lord i have to work for him and some of us are so busy working for him that we forget to fellowship with him which is more important by the way and so martha goes i have to prepare this big dinner i have to get all things ready i have to make sure everything is in order and she was trying to perfect her presentation before she came before the lord when the key to that perfect presentation is fellowship with him and so both of them wanted the same thing both of them saw the same thing he's the lord i must please him but they went about it in two very different ways martha chose work mary chose friendship please hear me now people of god you don't enter the glory through noisy desperation you enter through faith-filled confidence now i'm about to address a mindset and my addressing of this mindset may offend some of you but please hear me i say this in all humility my goal is not to offend you it may offend you but that's not my goal i truly want to help you enter the depths of prayer i truly want to help you get rid of all barriers to prayers so that you don't face another barrier again but in order to do this we must rethink the way we approach god because there's this culture of desperation that somehow has become accepted in the church and you know you're in a culture of desperation if everything's really tense all the time the preaching is tense the application of the preaching is tense the worship is tense the prayer is tense you're in this posture of anguish at all times now i understand there's a time and a place for anguish there's a time and a place for some conflict warring in the spirit against the enemy but if you're always worked up if you're always tense if if the things of god just come with this culture of exhaustion and overworking and tension then you're not in a spiritual dynamic you're in a religious one [Music] because what are the fruits of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness and sometimes we lose these things when we have a misunderstanding of who god is and what he's like and so we've produced this this culture of desperation desperation and we say things like well if you want god to touch you you got to get desperate for him if you want a move of god you got to get desperate or people say as if it's something to celebrate i'm always desperate for god i'm thinking how can you be desperate for something that's already yours well now i will say this just to be clear because i do want to bring balance to this thought i don't want you to hear as i often say i don't want you to hear what i'm not saying but you know desperation does have a place desperation is a wonderful initiator a terrible sustainer please hear me people of god desperation is a wonderful initiator a terrible sustainer desperation will help to pull you out of spiritual ruts but the question is should you have been in that rut in the first place desperation will help get you going out of laziness but the question is should you have been in that posture of laziness to begin with here's what i'm saying desperation implies lack so if i'm lacking if i'm in a bad place if i'm doing things i'm not supposed to if my life is not up to god's standards in that case desperation is good kind of like when you got saved we were all very desperate when the lord saved us right all of us and that desperation for i can't take this anymore i'm tired of my life of sin i'm tired of carrying this burden i'm tired of the darkness that desperation caused us to what turned to him and god used the desperation but desperation is a great initiator but it's a it's a it's a very unhealthy lifestyle let me give you an example if i have breakfast lunch and dinner that's typically a an accepted way to live you know but if you have one meal a day people tell you you need to eat more or if you have too many meals a day people hopefully will tell you you shouldn't eat as much but you see in between each meal breakfast lunch dinner breakfast lunch dinner from breakfast to lunch i become hungry again from lunch to dinner i become hungry again hunger is good starvation bad right desire is good desperation not so much i think we have this mindset that desperation somehow is this wonderful spiritual trait to have when in fact desperation just shows that you are lacking to begin with desperation shows that you're not living as you're supposed to be living be hungry for the things of god absolutely be hungry for more from god absolutely but be desperate no no no never be desperate maybe you were in a desperate place to begin or perhaps some tragedy in life brings you to this place where now you're desperate and that happens to many of us many of us will experience tragedies that cause us to become desperate but a tragedy means something bad happened right and desperation pulls you out of that so a lifestyle of tragedies not necessarily the best thing a lifestyle of poor decision making not necessarily the best thing a lifestyle of desperation means i'm living a lifestyle where i'm constantly living under god's standard why should i be desperate for his presence i live in it hungry yes starving no come on desire yes desperation no and so what happens is we we out of desperation tried to work try to work for the things of god you ever been in a worship service come on if you just shout a little louder if you jump a little higher if you spin your flags a little faster get desperate in this house and watch god move i don't see you guys jumping i don't see you guys dancing i don't see you shouting think about it sometimes people are being sincere when they ask you to do such things and sometimes shouting is good but it depends why you're shouting if you're shouting a shout of victory great if you're shouting a shout of spiritual warfare great but if you're shouting because you think you have to get louder in order for god to hear you you're coming at it from the flesh and not from faith you're coming at it from the posture of work and religion and burden rather than the posture of faith when jesus said pray like this he said our father in heaven hallowed be thy name he didn't say father in heaven please hear me no jesus began with knowing who his father was and that he was heard he didn't begin prayer by begging god god please please please please hear me god please please please i need you guys please i'm telling you right now the way you identify a religious move not a move of the spirit anything religious is always going to create this tension in you this almost this anger this frustration this that tension you have to be careful of that you have to be i'm not saying it'll lead you to hell what i am saying is it'll weaken you spiritually and we have to be careful that we're not relying on the flesh to produce what a little spirit can produce come on so be careful of this posture of desperation it it's it's really uh if i can be real with you it's moving from immaturity to maturity and some might say well you don't want to lose that fire that's not fire that's flesh thinking i have to create some type of emotional hyped heightened response just to get god to respond to me is not fire that's flesh [Music] tension exhaustion religion it places burdens on you instead of lifting the the anointing breaks burdens if if you leave a meeting or you hear a sermon or you listen to a podcast or you're a part of a conference if you're a part of something that leaves you feeling burdened and like you are fearful and you have all this list of things now i've got to be careful this that and this and you leave tense and fearful and desperate did you really have an encounter with the holy spirit who doesn't leave us feeling fearful and desperate he leaves us bold and fulfilled desire yes desperation no hunger yes spiritual starvation no hebrews 4 16 says so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious god there we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most come boldly the scripture says not timidly not full of doubt not not saying oh lord if if it be your will please hear me no he hears you we have confidence that when we ask anything in his name he'll hear us what a wonderful reality and that right there is the key to consistent prayer how because when i recognize that i already have his attention prayer becomes exciting it's not this this going to my prayer room to discipline myself so that i can try to work for god's attention how how dull and lifeless and powerless that is religion religion religion it's deadly no i'd rather go and approach the father god knowing that he hears me and that produces an excitement for prayer that when i go on my knees i don't have to worry about trying to get that connection i have it i don't pray to connect with god i pray from connection with god every sincere disciple and follower of jesus wants to pray you're watching this because you want to pray you want to be a person of prayer you want to be a person of consistent prayer you're tired of the hit and miss you're tired of the back and forth you're tired of the three days good four days bad trying to establish a prayer life of thoughts and distractions fly through your mind you just want to have that consistent flow so that you can experience the benefits the awareness of that connection in the heavenly realm that's always yours this is one of the keys number two faithfulness now we know that there is a spiritual realm we know that demons attack believers of course now we know demons biblically speaking of course we all know demons can't possess believers oppressed believers cursed believers and so forth they can affect believers through deception but beyond that the other enemy that we're fighting is the flesh and in order to put the flesh into subjection you're gonna actually have to start making decisions now this is where people have difficulty because they're waiting for someone to lay hands on them and impart discipline they're waiting for the sky to split opening god to make their decisions for them but you must learn to exercise your free will to participate with the holy spirit that you might implement spiritual disciplines in your life if you want to pray more you simply have to choose to pray more if you want to pray faithfully you have to choose to pray faithfully it comes down to your decision now we all fail we all make mistakes and sometimes prolonged failure when it comes to discipline and prayer discourages us so we think that because we missed six days of prayer or three days of prayer or even one day of prayer that somehow that disqualifies us or somehow we've wiped off some record that we have to start all over again that it takes all our points away that's not the way this works god is not tracking how many days you spend in prayer right what's more important is whether or not you have a connection with him and whether or not that relationship is strong and the way you keep that strong is through daily prayer but we have to overcome the guilt and the shame of missed prayer if we're going to stay focused because we get caught in a cycle let's say you pray consistently four days i did it four days and on the fifth day maybe your alarm sounded too late or you forgot to set your alarm you slept in you were late for work you went to work you came back home you had dinner with the family your kids needed you to play with them and then you went to bed you fell asleep because you were so exhausted and you realized oh my goodness yesterday i didn't get to pray if that's you i say to you keep going or maybe you were lazy maybe you didn't neglect prayer just because you preferred to watch something on television that's not good but to live in the shame and condemnation of that is going to prevent you from actually pursuing your prayer life so you wear that guilt you wear those burdens you wear that shame and you you're hesitant to approach god like oh my goodness i miss several days of prayer is he going to be okay with me coming back yes absolutely so we must recognize that guilt shame and self-criticism are counterproductive they're unnecessary distractions guilt and shame make it so that you don't even want to approach god the discouragement that comes from missing days of prayer weakens my desire to even try please hear me that's so important that you get that please write this in the comments too guys the discouragement that comes from missing days of prayer weakens my desire to even try so when i become discouraged because oh i missed that day of prayer oh i only prayed 30 minutes when i wanted to pray an hour that that shame that guilt from missed days of prayer or not praying enough that weakens my desire to try again you see it's the forgiveness of god it's the grace of god that empowers me to know that i can keep moving but we must commit to prayer and we must forget those things that are behind us okay maybe you missed a day or two maybe you didn't pray as long as you wanted to pray today but put that behind you and tomorrow keep going tomorrow try again god's again as i said earlier god's not folding his arms looking down at you angry and saying well well look who decided to show up no no he's ready to try with you again he's faithful like that and so when i go to commit to prayer there will be times when i fail but i must choose to implement that discipline you have to make that choice here here's a wild thought that doesn't get talked about a lot today did you know that you can choose every single one of your actions i think sometimes we act as though someone else is making choices for us it's not the case not for the believer anyway you can choose your own actions and your actions will have consequences and god will actually hold you accountable for those actions and consequences did you know that so then prayer like anything else that's a spiritual discipline is going to require my participation everything spiritual is partially discipline on my end and grace on god's end it's mostly god's grace but we must at least put in the action to cooperate with what the holy spirit wants to do matthew 26 40-41 says then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep he said to peter couldn't you watch with me even one hour keep watching pray so that you will not give in to temptation for the spirit is willing but the body is weak make the decision to pray something that i wrote here to become a man or woman of faithful daily prayer you must make up your mind concerning prayer people often ask me how do i pray more and honestly the answer is simple choose to pray more it's your choice but you have to start by making up your mind you have to stop by half-heartedly saying at some point i'd like to establish a prayer life at some point i'd like to establish a devotion to the word you have to make up your mind say within your mind say within your heart i am going to commit to daily prayer period shoot for an hour but if you only make it for 20 minutes that's a good start it's better than not praying at all again the only way to pray faithfully is to choose to pray faithfully and the flesh will fight you and then you walk in this 24 7 awareness that's how you walk in a 24 7 awareness of the spirit is you just make up your mind to do so now i know this seems over simplified to some but it really is this simple you want to walk in that 24 7 awareness to walk in that 24 7 awareness you must choose to put your thoughts on god as often as you possibly can it's a discipline it is discipline people of god it is discipline we must discipline the flesh subject the flesh and say to the flesh you're not sleeping in today you're not watching netflix today you're not going to go to the park and play basketball today you're not going fishing today whatever your hobbies are you tell the flesh today you're going to pray and if there's time left over for those other things wonderful you can accomplish more in a prayer filled day than you ever could in a prayerless year come on you can accomplish more in a prayer filled day than you can in a prayerless year now choose to pray come on commit in your mind say i will commit to pray carve out sections of your day arrange your schedule cancel hobbies stop doing so many you know the bible says a man of many friends will come to ruin some people are so socially active that they have just a ton of shallow friendships very few deep ones just invest in a few good friends and stop filling your schedule with baby showers and weddings and outings and picnics and everything else and no nothing's wrong with those things but i think sometimes we just like to stay busy we have all these shallow friendships people you haven't talked to for years and you're going to their cousin's uncle's you know wedding and we fill our schedule with all these social interactions when really what we need is a few solid friendships a few solid not saying you you know ignore everyone else but as far as investing time you can only give so much to so many people start saying no to certain things start changing the schedule of your hobbies change your jobs if you have to if you're too busy to pray you're too busy arrange your entire life around your prayer life arrange your entire schedule around your devotion to the word and your time in prayer with god guard it protect it and let nothing and no one touch that secret place stubbornly refuse to give up that time for anyone or anything else and when prayer becomes the priority only then can prayer become the foundation i want to say that again when prayer becomes the priority only then can prayer become the foundation how do you know if prayer is the foundation of your life well is it a priority or is it an afterthought come on is it scheduled first or do you squeeze it in between where you have time to spare no prayer must become the priority if it's going to become the foundation pray pray pray and then pray some more rearrange your whole life around prayer that's what it's going to take if that's what it takes do it and i promise you you will not regret it thank you for watching encounter tv don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell also help us spread the gospel of jesus christ in the power of the holy spirit make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now [Music]

Channel: David Diga Hernandez

Views: 74,288

Keywords: If You Are Struggling in Prayer, if ytou are struggling in prayer, If you re struggling in prayer, How to go deeper in Prayer, Why am I struggling in prayer, How to have faith in prayer, Have faith in prayer, I want to have a prayer life, Easy to understand message on prayer, Are you supposed to have a hard time praying, david diga hernandez prayer, Can I go deeper with God in prayer, Encounter TV prayer, How are you supposed to have faith in prayer, Can I have a prayer life

Id: ERi8EmgOy4s

Length: 25min 5sec (1505 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 26 2021