Jimmy Evans - The Power of Prayer - How To Have A Daily Dynamic Prayer Life

so I want to talk about how to have a daily dynamic prayer life now how many of you remember the first prayer you ever prayed anybody remember first prayer pray the most of you don't remember okay you know I remember it was when I got thrown in jail in Mexico when I was 16 years old and wasn't for drugs it was for stealing and but I didn't steal anything now Billy Ferguson right down here in the front row Billy's father was my choir director at First Baptist Church and Amaral of when I was growing up and Billy's parents are the salt of the earth people and his pet dad's the one who got me out of jail but we were on a church choir trip of First Baptist Church tamarillo you know it's hard getting thrown in jail on a church prior trip but I did it somehow I did it so my friends and I got thrown in jail we didn't take a promise we didn't steal anything but we didn't get thrown in jail and I remember when I got thrown in jail they put us in a room with barbers chairs and the razors were going that's when I prayed my first prayer that's when I gave my life to Jesus I think that's when I surrendered to the ministry no seriously so but I didn't I wasn't saved I didn't really know what the prayer meant you know there were just one of those times that you're crying out to God for God to help you and but when I was 19 years old I did get saved and in a minute I was a you know very very devout believer as a young believer but I really really struggled with prayer I just someone I heard someone say one time that you're supposed to pray for an hour a day I don't know how I got that in my head but they said you're supposed to pray for an hour a day I could pray for two or three minutes a day and I got sleepy my mind wandered and then I wondered how in the world do you pray for an hour you know I just didn't didn't have any thought of how to do that well today 43 years later I love to pray and I have a great prayer life and a great relationship the Lord and I'm saying Christianity is the most exciting way to live your life and prayer is not some dull religious thing that we have to do it is exciting it is personal it is the essence of our relationship with God and it's something that we get to do and when you learn to do it right it's something that you want to do it's just a natural part of living your life and so in this in this message I want to answer two questions and the first is why we pray and the second is how do we pray so I want to talk about the first for just a minute you know why we pray I was praying someone said you ought to pray and so I was maybe 20 years old or 21 years old and I was thinking to myself you know I probably need to pray so I would wake up in the morning and I would you know try to pray and the thought came to my mind if God knows everything that he knows what I need so why am i having to tell him what I need I thought if he really loves me why didn't he just do it for me that's really what I thought and I think other peoples have met other people have had that thought too but let me tell you the three reasons that we pray and I'm sure that there are more than this but here are the three reasons we pray number one acknowledging God and allow allowing him into our lives both generally and specifically listen God only values a relationship based on choice and if we don't want God in our lives he won't come inviting Jesus into my heart is a personal choice that I make Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I'll come in and dine with him and he with me Jesus stands at the door and knocks he doesn't stamp door and kick he's not going to break that door down if I want to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of my life he will come in and save me and set me free and I'll go to heaven what a wonderful thing but it's my choice he never ever intrudes into our lives so when I wake up in the morning I have a choice to make today do I want God to be in my life today I mean it's with me I'm on my way to heaven that's not that's not the question the question is do I want his assistance and I heard this this quote one time a day without prayer is a boast against God when I don't pray what I'm saying in effect is I don't need you I'm not praying about my finances because I don't need you my finances I'm not praying about my marriage because I don't need you in my marriage I'm not praying about direction because I can find my own direction and so prayer is says this beautiful beautiful thing that God absolutely loves I need you I need you Lord in my life prayer is the language of weakness and that's why God loves it we're sheep go to one of the one of the most common analogies in the Old Testament and New Testament regarding us and our relationship with God as God's a shepherd and we're sheep let me tell you something about she she can't navigate you never heard of a homing sheep sheep can't bear burdens you never heard of a packed sheep and she can't defend themselves you've never heard of an attack sheep and so when God looks at us he says you can't navigate you can't bear burdens and you can't protect yourself you know something you need a shepherd and prayer says I choose you as my shepherd I choose to allow you into my life I need you in my life today and God says wonderful that's meaningful to me because I don't want to intrude I'm a shepherd I'm not a sheep herder Shepherds get in the front and lead sheep sheep herders get in the back and drive sheep God is not a sheep herder he's a shepherd and he leads those who will follow and so we have to understand that prayer means I'm inviting you I'm inviting you into my marriage I'm inviting you into my finances I'm inviting you into my decision-making I'm inviting you into my home and God says 100 percent of time I'll come I'm just waiting for the invitation the second reason that we pray is to build a prioritized personal relationship with God in this this is the essence of prayer prayer is not some religious act that we do and here's what I thought is a young Christian I had a kind of a warped concept of God but you know I thought is it's about him watching me suffer so that he knows I'm committed and so I'm supposed to pray for an hour supposed to learn to pray for an hour a day so I can sit down here for an hour of unbelievable boredom and torture and God will look down so he's committed that that it absolutely nothing to do that it is impossible to know a person you don't talk to and prayers not a monologue it's a dialogue God wants to speak to us let me tell you after 43 years of knowing God he's a talker he's a talker when I when I begin to pray today this morning when I begin to pray I don't pray for two or three minutes and the Lord says now let me talk it's a dialogue I know him let me say the most precious thing in my life is the voice of God I will give everything else up but the most precious thing in my life is the voice of God in the presence of God the presence of God in our lives and so how do you how are you going to know God if you don't talk to him and obviously we know God through his word he is his word that's obvious but the voice of God everyday is circumstantial he wants to talk to us about where we are right now and so I pray to know God let me say this to it God wants Jimmie time whatever your name is put your name in there he wants time with you now but I love being with my family I mean I love there's nothing more that I love them being with my wife and children grandchildren our little twin granddaughters from San Antonio we're here at cheer camp all week so we got to see them and I just absolutely love it why does they're mine they're my blood and I love them and I don't have to work it up I just love them that's the way God feels about you see for for a lot of my Christian life early Christian life I just didn't feel like God really loved me I don't like he was mad at me all the time because I was always doing dumb stuff you know and aren't you glad that God's throne is a throne of grace that we can go boldly to the throne of grace in the midst of our problem in difficulties and jump in daddy's lap and talk to Daddy and that we don't have to deserve to talk to daddy because daddy just loves us because we're his just like your children just like your going to show you don't have to deserve the presence of God Jesus died so that you could get into the presence of God and not be perfect our perfection is in the blood of Jesus not our good deeds and so every day I need him when I need him the most i deserve him the least I don't have to get my act together so I can get into the presence of God I can't get my act together til I get into the presence of God and the blood of Jesus bought my way into the presence of God in the midst of all my difficulties I have little bitty grandchildren in a little bit of grant to for one just turned nine a little bit grandchildren and I just love them but I'll tell you they they don't deserve you know to jump in Pappy's lap and do the things they do but they get to cuz I love them it's not about deserving it's just about I love them we don't deserve anything but we get everything because God loves us so much he wants to talk to you and you can talk to him because of the blood of Jesus number three reason that we pray is to exercise our spiritual authority listen to me God will not do for you what he's given you the ability to do for yourself and we have incredible authority that has been given to us Genesis 1 God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth they lost it because of their sin Jesus got it back for us and this is Luke chapter 10 this is Jesus the seventy returned with joy saying Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name and he said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven behold I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven is I give you authority over serpents and scorpions and over all that's a very important word all you how much authority you have over the devil all so that nothing shall by any means harm you if you use the authority but if you don't use the authority you're going to get clobbered and you can cry out to God all you want to he's not going to do anything cuz he gave you the ability to do it yourself God will not remember one time whining in the spirit is one of my spiritual gifts and I was I was going through a hard time one time and I was whining in the spirit and I was telling the Lord Lord you know oh this and this and all everybody hates me nobody loves me young fella and and I really was under spiritual attack you know and I remember the Lord he's so precious Lord so precious but the Lord was just trying to get me to grow up and the Lord said you'll fight or you'll perish and I remember feeling at that time that that just wasn't right you know you know you've wanted the Lord just to come down so I'm going to beat everybody up just for you that's what I want I want God to be I've got a hit list I've offered the Lord several times and thank God auntie you I began to pray and I remember when the Lord said you'll fight or you'll perish I began to pray and I began to use spiritual authority and bind and loose the way Jesus said that we could do in Matthew 18 bind means disallow loose means allow and Jesus said wherever you bind on earth we bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth be loosed in heaven whatever you don't allow in your home God will honor that what you don't allow in your life what you don't allow in your family when you're praying you say we bind a spirit of rebellion in the name of Jesus and I remember when the devil was after our children when they were teenagers and Karen and I would walk the streets of amarillo every morning and we prayed this prayer we bind a spirit of rebellion and immorality over our children the name of Jesus we took authority over our home we took authority over our children we took authority and let me say that whenever you take authority God honors it I give you the authority over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm ulis listen when you're praying you're saying to God I need you I want a relationship with you and I am going to act in authority by faith using the authority that you give me that's what prayer is it's just several the reasons that we pray so when you're not praying you're not doing those three things and so again it's not condemnation but prayer is so important let me talk about how did you pray well thank God that Jesus taught us so how do you pray well when I wake up in the mornings I journal and I don't know why a journal I just journal I have for many years I use a electronic journal right now on my computer and I just go in there and I write down things that are on my heart and things that God is saying and whatever and then I read through the Bible in a year I read the Old Testament New Testament Psalms and proverbs every day that's something I've done for many years and that way you read through the Bible in dierence has nothing to do with studying for preaching it's just nourishment in the word and then I pray and I listen and that's that's really the essence of what I do and Jesus in Matthew 6 where I ask you to turn there Matthew 6 verse 5 jesus said when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men assuredly I say to you they have their reward but you when you pray go into your room and when you have shut your door pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly and when you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they will be heard for their many words therefore do not be like them for your father knows the things you have nita before you ask in this manner therefore pray our Father 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 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses and so Jesus begins in this passage by telling us how not to pray and the first thing he says is don't pray in a public religious manner and the Pharisees were known for when they prayed they went out on the street corners they would put sackcloth which was ugly clothing on and ashes they would just they would look like they're really religious people in sackcloth and ashes and they would stand on street corners and all their prayers were said in front of people jesus said you don't do that now we pray corporately because of the power of corporate prayer but that's different they did it for show and Jesus you don't pray for show when you pray you go into your inner room you get alone and your father who sees in secret this is about you and God this is about you and your relationship with God the Father this isn't a religious thing this is a personal thing that we do between us and God the second thing Jesus said is don't use many words babbling prayers I remember I was in a prayer meeting when I was a young Christian and I heard this person praying Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus and they said Jesus a thousand times when they were praying and I thought I bet that bothers God you know I mean is bothering me and I mean and so you don't have to keep repeating things it's about relationship so when I say to Jesus Jesus I come to you and I'm asking you to help me right now with the situation with my family I don't have to say it 15 times for him to care and do something just one time is enough so jesus said you don't have to babble when you're praying so then Jesus taught us the pattern of the Lord's Prayer now listen some people get confused because I think this is a verbatim prayer Jesus taught us how to pray and so you can say this prayer in about 15 seconds this is not how Jesus taught us to pray Jesus said in this manner therefore pray a paraphrase that that would be according to this outline when you're praying use this outline to pray so I learned how to pray this way about 35 years ago I have prayed this way my entire adult life from last 35 years so I want to teach you what the Lord's Prayer means and we're going to talk about the seven elements of a daily dynamic prayer life is taught by Jesus in the pattern of the Lord's Prayer we're going to go through here real quick number one Thanksgiving prayer and worship the Lord's Prayer begins by saying father in heaven that's God's name and address so I'm not lobbying up prayers to whoever's listening I'm specifically talking to God the Father in heaven okay and I know he's with me but Jesus says pray father in heaven and when we say hallow would be your name the word hallow means to purify to sanctify and honor so when I'm saying hallo would be your name I'm saying three things I will not use your name in a bad way I will not use your name to curse I'm not going to call you the big guy upstairs your name is sacred to me it's the most sacred name that I know the second thing Lord is if I'm not seeing you properly I want you to sanctify who you are in my life if there are bugs on the windshield of my heart wash them off because I want to see the way you really are and I want to display you to others the way you really are if I'm not seeing you properly hallow your name to me and let me hallow your name God punish Moses in the wilderness because he said you did not hollow me in front of the children of Israel when he struck the rock and so I want to hallow God the third thing it means is I worship you so in this part of the Lord's Prayer I'm just saying lord I sanctify your name I want to see you as you really are and I just worship it the first thing that I do when I pray is I just thank him I worship him he's the he's the only one worthy no person is worthy only he is worthy he's so wonderful he's so loving he's so good he's so holy and he loves it when we just simply acknowledge how great he is and that's the first part of the Lord's Prayer the second part Lord's prayers surrendering to God's of Hardy and inviting his guidance into every area of our lives jesus said let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven the word kingdom is the word basilia and the greek it means authority direct rule the here's the way pray this prayer lord I invite your rule over my life I want your will to be done into my life the same way it would be done in heaven if there's anything going on in my life right now Lord that is not according to your will I lay it down listen and I want you to give me guiding thoughts and I want you to give me guiding circumstances so that I'm living in your perfect will for my life if there's anything I'm not doing that you want me to do I want to do it give me guiding thoughts if there's anything that I'm doing that you don't want me to do I won't do it anymore give me guiding thoughts lord help me to find the place of your perfect will because I come under your authority and I pray for your will to be done the number three thing about the Lord's Prayer part of it is seeking God's provision Jesus says give us this day our daily prayer and it's important to note that this comes after we surrender to God's will so what happens if we make decisions that are not God's will and then we ask him for provision let me say God always loves us and we're always his children but God blesses what he possesses and he energizes what he initiates and pastor Josh was talking about wisdom and he's exact they write wisdom isn't something that someone is God but did you know in the book of Proverbs that says wisdom shouts out at the head of every street not at the beginning out the middle of the street not the industry here's what it means before you make a decision pray for wisdom before before you're going to buy a car or a house or to take a job or make a move or make a decision related to your family sit down and pray and make sure that you have God's blessing on that decision and then he'll pay for it 100% of the time when you have God's will the second thing we say is Lord give us this day our daily bread if listen if it's God's will he'll energize it he'll pay for it but if it's something that we went and did without God's blessing again he loves us and God some he'll bail us out for sometimes but it's a lot more painful but if we're making decisions without God's blessing Hebrews 6 calls that dead works and the number one thing according to Hebrews six that we have to learn to do as believers is called repentance from dead works I bought some of the worst cars that were ever produced in the history of the world I think I bought the worst car ever made in the history before I learned to pray just I made we made terrible decisions I invested one time in an oil well they hit talcum powder it just it was the most awful thing in the world until I learned to pray I came into the ministry having made an investment the church Tamara land offered me to come on staff at a salary lower than I could possibly live on and Karen and I prayed about going on staff at Trinity in Amarillo and Lords ago and I saw the Lord it's not enough money to live on we couldn't even move in May I mean we there's no way we could have made it and the Lord told us an investment to me and we made this this is when we learned how to pray and we made an investment the investment paid off about three weeks before I went into the ministry and it paid for everything it literally financed me in the ministry for a period of time so listen I've never made a bad decision when I make it with Karen and Jesus not one in my entire adult life not saying everybody mistake but when I sit down and I pray with Karen and Jesus in agreement 100% so when when I pray for provision I'm not praying for money I'm praying for favor I'm praying for opportunity I'm praying for financial provision I'm praying for promotion I'm printing what do you need what do your children need daily bread is not just money it's what do you need God the Father wants to help you when you have honored him and come under his will listen if you've made bad decisions and you realize there are some things that are going on you made decisions without God you just say Lord I'm sorry I didn't realize I was doing that and Lord says forgiven and he said Lord I planted a lot of seed that weren't yours and I pray that you'll kill the crop and I want to begin to plant good seed that will make my future bright and that you'll bless me in and that's all this means because God's a God of love number four is seeking God's forgiveness as we extend forgiveness to others forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors where Jesus died for us and set us free but God will give us as much grace as we'll give away so you know if you can't remember all your sins you're you know you're forgiven this isn't about a memory issue this is about a heart issue so when I pray this every day here's what I do number one I bring every issue in my life before God he knows everything you can't hide it everything in my life stays right in front of God every temptation every sin every issue I will not lie to God is so offensive to him because he loves me so much he knows everything anyway and he's the most gracious precious person ever so I come before God say Lord you know everything so here are the issues that I'm dealing with I need your grace today and I pray for goodness the fruit of goodness according to Galatians five is our through the Holy Spirit I'm not going to try not to send today Lord I want you to give me goodness so that I don't want to because when you're walking with goodness in you you don't want to do those things he changes your water and here's what I come and say I choose to walk in grace I'm going to walk in your grace today I'm not going to walk in condemnation I'm not going to walk in performance and I'm not going to make others do it either and I bless my enemies I pray for the people who've hurt me and I make sure that there's not one ounce of bitterness in my heart because God will give me as much grace as I'll give away this is the only part of the Lord's Prayer that Jesus repeated at the end or Spirit if you forgive other people you oughta forgive you and again we're forgiven we're on our way to heaven it's not about that it's about walking in love and walking in grace and not having a bunch of bad stuff part number five part of the Lord's Prayer asking for Supernatural direction and protection do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one well God doesn't want to lead us into temptation but we certainly can deliver us from evil and when I pray this part of the Lord's Prayer here's what I say I say Lord I want you to lead me into your perfect path today and I pray for your protection I pray for Karen and me I pray for our children grandchildren I pray for pastor Robert Debbie and you I pray for Jimmy Witcher and Kim Wichern Emeril and congregation there in marriage today and I just and I pray for people that the Lord lays on my heart this is a this is a time in my prayer life where I'm just asking for God's supernatural deliverance his supernatural protection god I want I want today to walk in the perfect path that you have for me and I want you to guide me supernaturally and he does number six this is a critical part of the Lord's Prayer is acknowledgement of Divine Right listen to me Jesus said here's what I want you to pray when you pray yours is the kingdom yours is the power yours is the glory listen to me you'll never have a kingdom you'll never have power and you'll never have Gauri these are three things that God will not allow us to have so when I'm many people in this world are building their own Kingdom by their own power for their own glory it's called the spirit of the Antichrist it's against God so when I'm praying part of this prayer but I say to God every day when I pray is I don't have a kingdom and I don't want when I serve your kingdom you have the only kingdom and I acknowledge your divine right to that Kingdom I don't have power I'm a weak person but you have power and I will serve your kingdom by your power fill me with your power and I will not seek glory I seek your glory God I want to glorify you and everyone who comes in contact with me I want them to think more of you not more of me I will not go to try to possess glory for myself yours is the kingdom the kingdom not a kingdom the kingdom of yours is the power and yours is the glory in the last part of the prayer number seven is a declaration of faith in God amen amen does not mean signing off bye-bye amen means yes let it be so I'm praying this prayer in faith but did you know that you can just be just as worried after you pray as you did before you prayed it if you didn't pray in faith I pray sometimes just to get God as upset as I am I'm saying I'm down here I'm upset I'm going to pray do you understand how bad things are down here amen I'm just amazed wake up amen means it's going to happen because he loves me it's going to happen because he told me he would answer my prayers it's going to happen because he's a faithful God and He loves me as a faithful father I am going to leave this time of prayer believing he heard every word and he's going to do it amen a declaration of faith I prayed that way for 35 years Jesus said in this manner according to this outline therefore pray and what I love about the Lord's Prayer is I can pray it in five minutes or five hours it's but when you're finished praying it you prayed for everything you pray for every area of your life you're ready your heart is pure you're walking in the will of God you've prayed for provision you've honored him you've worshiped him you've forgiven people so on and so forth I want you to bow your heads if you would and I want you I want you to really believe that God loves you that God wants to have a personal relationship with you every campus if you would just bow your head there close your eyes Father in the name of Jesus Jesus told us to come to you daily and pray to you and he told us how to pray and I pray God that you would liberate us in your love liberate us in your presence and that for every single person listening right now draw us into your presence God I bind a spirit of condemnation this thing that devil does to us to try to convince us that we're not worthy of course we're not worthy we're worthy by the blood of Jesus Lord we won't play that game your throne is a throne of grace and we're weak and we need you desperately we're sheep we need a father we need to protect her we need a guide lord I pray that you would just draw us into your presence to pray and in those times that we would seek your presence and hear your voice and that our lives would be changed as we learn to relate to you is our Father and our friend and the one who hears our prayers I pray your blessing upon all of these precious people in Jesus name Amen

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Views: 158,352

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Keywords: gatewaypeople, Gateway Church, Southlake, Texas, DFW, Lord, God, Jesus, Christ, Church, Bible, Truth, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert, Frequency, God speaks, Value His Voice, Voice, Speaking God, Loving God, There is a God, Quite Time, Whisper, Jimmy Evans

Id: 2NntQoNfO8U

Length: 31min 56sec (1916 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 03 2016