Christ With Coffee On Ice - why should we pray

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

Hey, y'all ! Welcome to another Friday with CWCOI ! In this week's episode our host, Ally Yost, felt it on her heart to talk about prayer. What prayer with the Lord looks like, our posture of prayer, and why it's such a gift to be able to pray to our Creator. We hope this episode leaves you encouraged and excited to abide with Him in prayer ! ☆ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON ☆ : https://patreon.com/CWCOI ____________________________________________  Connect further with us ! If you would like to give to CWCOI and support the podcast, you can do so here ! ➤ https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cwcoi/support TikTok ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@christwithcoffeeonice Instagram ➤ https://instagram.com/christwithcoffeeonice _____________________________________________  Connect further with Ally ! TikTok (1.9M) ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@ally_yost Instagram ➤ https://www.instagram.com/ally_yost/ LTK.IT ➤ https://www.shopltk.com/explore/ally_yost Amazon Storefront ➤ https://www.amazon.com/shop/allyyost Pinterest ➤ https://www.pinterest.com/ally_yost1/_created/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cwcoi/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with coffee on ice. I am your host, Ali Yost, and I am so thrilled to be back with you guys on another Friday, guys. I really hope that you had the most blessed week. Thank you for tuning in again. Guys, I'm really excited for this episode. Can I just say that? Like, I am so spirit-filled right now. I am so filled with joy from the Lord, and I'm so grateful for this episode because I actually sat down today, and I actually sat down today, and I knew I wanted to film today. And I was like, God, I really don't know what we're going to talk about on the episode today. I was like, Lord, please speak to me, breathe on this. What are we going to talk about? And within a second, I heard it. I didn't even hear, it was just like, boop idea. It didn't hear,

like, directly from the Lord. It was, it was like he just plopped the idea in my brain. If that makes any sense, it may not. That's okay. But I heard him speak to me. It was just with one word. It was just one word. And it was pray prayer and praying and talking about prayer what does it look like to pray how do i pray why do we need to pray what is the importance of praying right and i feel like so many times whether we are already believers or we are newly saved or we're curious like we either neglect prayer we don't prioritize it we don't really see the real sense or value in it maybe or we just don't understand how to like we're like i don't even I'm like, I don't even know how to pray. Like, I don't know how to.

I don't know when the appropriate time it is to pray to God. What do I pray to him about? Like, what's worth praying about? What's not? You know, like, what do I bring to the Lord? And what do I not bring to the Lord? Right. So there are so many questions that feel kind of silly.

And maybe a lot of us haven't even vocalized it or said it out loud when we have these questions. But I really want this episode to be that. I believe this episode is going to be such a blessing, y'all. Whoa. Like I literally, okay, I'm getting emo because I'm low-key supposed to get my period in like five days. But I was legitimately tearing up while I was writing this out. I was at a coffee shop, right?

And so I brainstorm. We broke it down. We have scripture too. And so I'm really excited to share that with you guys. But I literally was tearing up because I was like, bro, this is about to break some chains off of people, some doubt, even a spirit of just religion where you feel like you've got to talk to God in a certain way or come to him in a certain way. And so I'm really excited. I feel big things for this episode. And I'm so grateful that you guys are here.

And praise God, honestly, if this is the first episode you've decided to listen to, that's a blessing in itself. This was so meant for you. Every single person who's tuning in. This is not an accident. This is sent straight from God. And I'm just grateful to be the vessel. I'm grateful to be the vehicle. I'm honored to be here with you guys and to help God just speak to you.

And so I really pray for that. And actually, I didn't do this on my own. Normally I do. normally I'll pray over these episodes before we really get into it. I know we've also done it on episodes, but I haven't done that. So let's just pray real quick, Lord Jesus. Thank you so much for being present, God. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, Jesus. Thank you for blessing us with the ultimate just gift, which is the Holy Spirit, God. It is your presence, God. And so we thank you for that, Jesus. Thank you for being here. Thank you for just speaking to your children, God. Thank you for these

brothers and sisters and just this community that we get to just be together in you and celebrating you and honoring you and glorifying you, Jesus. So I'm just so grateful for today, God. Thank you for just guiding anybody that may be newly listening to this podcast. I want to thank you for continuing to use this platform as just a vehicle to bless people in your mighty name, Jesus. So I just pray that in your name, God. Thank you so much. Amen. Okay, I feel good about this, y'all. Let's jump into it. So why do we need to pray? Let's talk about it. So I'm going to list off some examples of why we need to. I want to bring some, just some pinpoint moments of why we need to be praying and why it's important in our walk of faith, okay?

Like I said, whether you're new to this or not, why is it important to pray, you know? So first and foremost, prayer attracts God. So obviously God is everywhere all at once all the time. There isn't an environment or a place that he is not present, you know? Like, he's there. He's with us all the time. but prayer really attracts the presence of Lord, like really amplifies and does invite him in. You know what I mean?

Because I've like seen this before. Maybe you guys have heard this. People have said, you know, like Jesus is a gentleman, right? He's never just going to barge into a room or a church or an atmosphere that he is not genuinely and first and foremost welcomed into and invited and said, Lord Jesus, please be here, you know? And with that comes prayer. So yeah, it's so important to pray because it literally attracts God. It invites in the Holy Spirit and you will feel it, right?

So when we pray, it truly attracts the presence of God. Now, God is everywhere all at once, like I said, but when we pray to him, it really invites him into the environment or situation and you will just feel it. Anywhere there is prayer, the Lord is present. And he's listening, y'all. Not to mention, okay, we know that the Lord hears all of our thoughts. He knows of all. He hears all. He sees all. But he really listens to prayer. Like he really listens to prayer and he hears every word that we pray to him. And sometimes it doesn't always feel like that, y'all. That's real. And I know how that feels where it's like you, you pray these things and you don't see movement yet. And so you think that it's because God isn't listening to you. But that is so far from the truth. He hears every single word. Now the other point that I want to make as to why prayer is so important is that, well, Jesus did it. So, As Christians, we also, I would assume, and I would hope that in everything we do,

we should reflect and say, is this what Jesus did? Is this what Jesus would do? You know, what would Jesus do? But is this something that he's done, you know? Because ultimately our goal is to walk more and more like Christ every single day. You know, we want to love like him. We want to have patience like him. But we also just want to be more purified like him, you know?

like to try to strive to be perfect like him, you know, not in an unhealthy way, but with the power of Christ, we are capable of becoming more and more like him through his power, right? And so, if Jesus did it, I think we also need to do it, you know? So Jesus prioritized prayer every day, you know? So it's important to remember as Christians to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do, and this means we need to ask ourselves, is this something that Jesus did? When we think of importance of the importance of prayer we should remember that jesus himself prioritized prayer and connecting with god all the time he prayed in the morning at night over meals and anywhere in between you should truly treat god like a friend or a parent that we'd want to call to simply vent to talk to and advise in you know

like and this shouldn't be looked at through a lens of religion like oh i better pray now it's literally how you have an intimate relationship with god rather than an empty part of your routine like brushing your We all know that it's good for us when we do do it, like brushing our teeth, right? I'm using it as an example. Like we know it's good for us and we know it's what we need to do. But are we really fully present in those moments of routine like that? Like brushing your teeth. God should never be treated as another step in our routine to check off a box.

That's when it becomes more like religion and less like a personal relationship. So we say these things as Christians like we need to make prayer a part of our routine, not in a religious spirit, but in a way where it's like, It is just a part of what makes us better that day, right? What makes us stronger, what makes us healthier. This is to, you know, take care of the health of our spirits. I don't know. I mean, you think of anything else where we're taking care of our bodies,

like brushing our teeth or flossing or working out. And it's like prayer is just another ingredient to the health of our souls and our spirits, which is keeping that strong relationship with God and bringing him into every single moment of your day. which is through prayer, right? And the other thing that I want to mention is like, I don't know, maybe I'm getting too head of myself because this point is coming later. Okay, I won't touch on that just yet.

But what I'm saying is that it should be a part of our routine, but it shouldn't be treated as an empty thing in our routine where we're just checking off the box because we know it's what we're supposed to do. You know, God deserves better than that, but also there is no growth in that connection with the Lord when you treat it like that. Like, I really believe that if you're feeling disconnected from God, but you're praying and you're,

you're checking off all your boxes and you're like, but I'm doing everything right, you know, and you're like, but I just can't hear him, but I still feel numb spiritually. I still feel asleep spiritually. I don't feel connected to him. It's like how vulnerable are we being with the Lord though? Are we treating this like it's a box that we're checking off in our day like anything else? Or are we truly being like so dumb vulnerable, like truly setting aside time to pray with the Lord and bring every single feeling to him?

The other thing that we have to remember about how important prayer is. other benefit that comes to prayer, right? Honestly, this list could be so much longer than just the things I simply list off in this episode. Because I do know that the Lord, with everything that he creates and everything that he makes for us, every gift he gives us, like the gift of prayer, it's a gift to be able to speak directly to our creator. Bro, bro, it's a gift.

Okay? And so with each gift that the Lord gives us, though, it's incredible to just see the way that he just blesses so much. in one gift. So I'm going to say, too, that these are probably, like, the examples I give in this episode are probably just reaching the surface of why the gift of prayer is just such a gift, right? And it's so crucial. And it's, it's such a thing that we want, we should want to utilize and use. It's a tool. It's a weapon. Like, there's so many things to why prayer is so incredible and why it's such a gift from the Lord that, like, it's just endless, right? But another example I want to give is that

prayer attacks and defends against demons, right? So we have. So we have a gift. So we have a gift from the Lord. So we talked about demons on this podcast, which can I go off on a little side note? I've had a couple. Not too many. When I say a couple, I mean like literally maybe just a handful, which are really good odds considering all the people that tune in and listen to this podcast. That's good odds. But about a handful of people have reached out to me saying that the episodes where we are kind of confronting the darkness, you know, Ashley Jones was on and she's an ex-white witch. If you didn't hear her testimony, it's incredible. You should listen to that episode because it's mind-blowing. of a few people feeling freaked out and scared about those episodes to the point where they were like,

I didn't feel good and I had to like shut that episode off. And I just want y'all to know that I respect that, like truly. If you're like, this doesn't benefit me in my walk and my faith, then don't do it. But also, I just want, I don't know, I wanted to clear the air with that because we really prayed over that episode like so heavily. Sorry, this is such a side tangent. This isn't even anything to do with the episode. But we're talking about demons. Y'all, I want you to know we prayed so heavily over that episode. and the thing is, it's like, I'm not even surprised that demons and Satan are trying to use it to make people fearful so that they turn it off and they no longer have to hear the episode or learn about how to defend themselves against the darkness, you know? And I believe that those episodes were so educational and so crucial in the Christian world because so many of us just turn our other cheek, you know, and we don't want to acknowledge it because it scares us and it freaks us out and we can't sleep at night. But the thing that I want to remind you guys is that you do have the ultimate authority.

So like, it does not surprise me that Satan's like trying to get to some of y'all and scare you and be like, oh, that episode didn't settle right with me. Like, I didn't like it. It was too, like, it didn't make me feel good. Obviously it didn't make you feel good because we're literally talking about demons. Like there's nothing going to be, like there's nothing about that that's going to make us go, wow, that was so lighthearted. I loved that. Good feels. Like, it's bad feels because it's bad, right?

but it's good because we're shedding light on that darkness. So I don't know. I just hope that you guys know that you have all the authority in this. Like you could even pray, if you haven't listened to that episode yet, you could even pray before you get into that episode and be like, I rebuke any darkness that tries to take advantage of me and tries to, you know, curate fear in my heart while listening to this because it is good to know about how are we supposed to defend ourselves against something that we don't understand or know?

You know, it's like the Lord teaches us to have the armor of him, have the armor of God. And, you know, things like prayer is a weapon against darkness, right? And so what am I encouraging y'all to do? Pray over the episode before you get into it or after or during, right? And so prayer is a weapon, y'all. And it can attack and defend yourself against demons, darkness, Satan, his tactics. Because the thing about prayer is like, it literally is like throwing darts at the enemy. like flaming darts at the enemy.

There is so much power in prayer, y'all, especially when you start putting the name Jesus in there. Like when you're praying and you're like, in the name of Jesus, I pray for this. You all, y'all don't even realize how much power that holds. You know, like the same Jesus who has defeated all, who has defeated death, who has defeated sin, who has defeated every single thing.

There is not a single thing that can defeat Jesus. And you're bringing that name into this prayer. You better believe that there is so, much power in that prayer alone by just bringing Jesus into it and speaking the name of Christ, knowing him in your heart and speaking these prayers, bro, you are undefeatable. You are undefeatable through Christ if you are praying and bringing him into it, inviting his presence into it, inviting his power into it. Unstoppable, right? So it's because prayer can also be a weapon. You can truly make some damage to the darkness with prayer, right? The other thing is that prayer can

also help you make better decisions, right? So I have definitely become a better decision maker since praying. The thing that the Lord has taught me is how to slow down and consider him in everything that I do, you know? Does that mean that I'm perfect? No. Does that mean that sometimes I get eager and I get anxious and I get impatient and I make decisions without talking with God first? Yeah, I'm still human being. Just because I'm Christian doesn't mean I'm not going to sin and I'm not going to make mistakes, you know? And so, of course, I still do that, but I do it a lot less. Let me tell you, my life has gotten so much better with having genuine discernment and just obedience to God and being patient and slowing down and bringing every decision to him first and allowing him to guide me from there. You know, like if there's ever a decision that you guys have to make in your life, please bring it to the Lord.

He will reveal to you what decision is right, you know? Like, I'm in a process right now within my business where I have to make a decision, you know, and I could have made the decision last week. I could have cut corners and I could have just settled for something and I could have said, you know what, this works. This is fine, you know, but I'm trying to be just patient with it and I'm bringing every step of it to the Lord. And I believe that my business is going to flourish even more so because I was obedient to making every step prioritized and centered in God, you know? And so we will make better decisions if we're praying to God and we're prioritized him in every step. And your life will just be more fruitful that way. Like the decisions that you make will lead to more things and more things and more things.

And then the fruit that you get after that is like fruit you've never tasted. And it's not rotting after a few days of being in your fridge. It's like it lasts forever. You know, like the fruit that you get after being obedient to the Lord and making every decision with him, like he's your partner in everything. is so fruitful. Like you will start to see, that's the thing, y'all, is when you start leaning in heavy in your prayer life, you will just naturally see the fruit in it. And you'll be like, whoa, this like actually works. You know what? This like actually works. And that's the thing is like maybe

in the beginning, if you haven't been really good about bringing the Lord into everything or again, you're new here and you don't know how, if you start to do this, it might feel a little weird at first, but I'm telling you just stay consistent. And you will, believe it or not, and honestly, probably sooner than you think, you will see results and you will see fruit and you will see the way that your heart is genuinely changing. Things in your life are changing, you know? So I just, I encourage you guys to also be mindful of just the fruit, like the goodness that comes from it, you know? And decision making is just an example of that. The other thing that prayer can do is prayer can work miracles. Can I get a name of men? Prayers can work miracles.

y'all did I tell the story about the cockroaches here on my podcast? I don't think I did I don't think I brought that here I brought it to my Instagram and my TikTok so if you follow me on socials you probably saw this but I I don't think I brought this to y'all did I? I was having a problem with cockroaches okay so I have this home and didn't expect it but there are a few cockroaches that apparently didn't move out when I moved in so during the time of this happening this was like about a month ago I had called an exterminator, obviously, because I was like, I got to do something about this, you know? Like, they might be coming up from the basement. Like, I don't know where they're coming from, but they couldn't, they were flowing out of my spare bathroom downstairs, right? Into my kitchen, scurrying around. They're huge, by the way. Like, legit, y'all see my hand. Like, that big. That's the body. That doesn't even count the legs. Huge cockroaches in my home. Okay, we're in the south now. And so I couldn't get an extermination. to come here, though, because at the time, it was snowing in Nashville, and we got a really bad snowstorm

where it was, like, we just don't have the equipment here. They don't have a ton of plows. They don't have a ton of salt. So the roads were just iced over. And I mean, it was giving COVID where it was like no one could leave their houses for a few days, you know? So the exterminator couldn't physically come because of the weather. And then also, after the snow had melted after a few days, then there was just a ton of rain. And it's like, he can't spray the outside of the house or really do much with all the rain, whatever. So anyway, I got sick and tired of being sick and tired of these cockroaches. And they just kept happening, okay? I was catching like two a day, which whatever.

Some people were making comments and they were like, only two. Listen, anything more than zero is too much for me. I don't know about y'all. I understand it could be worse. I understand it could be worse. I could be catching 15 cockroaches. They could be infesting my whole home. Oh, y'all, it could have been worse.

worse. I acknowledge that. But two cockroaches a day was too much for me. Anything more than zero cockroaches that's too much for me. Okay. So I said, no, I'm done. I'm literally done. I was just like living in fear too, low key y'all. Like I literally like anytime I was walking into that area of my house, I was anticipating on just like turning the light on and seeing cockroaches. I was like using my flashlight to make, because all my floors are black too. It's like black wood. So I was like, I'm going to accidentally step on one. Like I was. literally living in fear of these daggum cockroaches. And I was sick of that feeling too.

Like, guys, I was sick of feeling scared of turning the corner and seeing cockroaches in my home. Okay. So I was tired. I was at the end of my rope. And I said, you know what? In the name of Jesus. And I just prayed. I prayed.

I said, in the name of Jesus, there will be no more cockroaches in my home. Right? I'm demanding it, but I'm also, like, asking the Lord. I was like, right now there will be no more cockroaches. cockroaches in my home in the name of Jesus, there will be no more things that are just not welcome in my home. That goes for cockroaches, mice, people, anything that's not welcome. Only the people I invite in, of course, but I don't need anyone breaking into my home. Like literally, I said in the name of Jesus, none of it. And I said, Lord Jesus, Jesus, please God. I was pleading to him. I said, God, please help me

with this infestation of cockroaches God. I can't do this anymore. It's gross. It's getting worse. No one can help me except for you, Jesus. I believe in you, God. I'm a mustard seed right now, but I got it, right? I got the faith, but I just need your help, right? Amen. I haven't seen a single cockroach in my home in weeks after that. Why did it blow my mind? Like, the thing is, is like, I've seen the Lord bless me in my life. Like, I know that he's answered prayers, but sometimes the other thing about prayers, y'all, is we don't know what to pray for. And sometimes we think we're only supposed to be praying for like the really big heavy stuff like the obvious stuff but the thing about the lord is that he is so unbelievably kind and loving that he cares about all the prayers all of them

not just the big ones he cares about the small ones too he literally wants you to have that parking spot if you pray about it he wants you to have that meal if you're craving it he wants you to have that peace of mind if you need it um like that's the thing is like he needs like he wants to bless you. That's what he's there for. There is no such thing as a prayer that's irrelevant to God or too small for him, right?

So that felt silly to me in the moment. And honestly, maybe that's why I didn't even think to pray it in the first place because I was like, I don't need to pray to God about cockroaches in my home. You know, like there are people with bigger problems, but that's the thing is like, we're putting God in a box when we do that, y'all. Like, you are literally putting him in a box

if we're thinking that we can't pray things that are too small or too big. Like, don't limit him, you know? And also don't limit his love for you. Like, let's not even talk about his power because his power is unfathomable, but don't limit his love for you. Like, you don't think he loves you enough to care about the small things. His love is something that we also cannot even comprehend the amount of love that the Lord has for us.

So the way that people have let you down in the past, right the way that maybe the little things haven't meant a lot to other people in this world maybe you've learned these things from just humans but that's not who god is like god literally does not even sit in the same category as human beings like we are simply just the mere image of him right but we are not god so people have let you down in the big things or the small things or you're like i don't know no one's ever showed up for me for stuff like this or you feel like a again like a burden or you just don't feel like it's worth praying about, don't do that. His love is bigger than that, you know? So pray about all of it, okay? Because prayer can work miracles. It was a miracle for me, okay?

Maybe a small one, but I don't even want to say it's a small miracle. That's a pretty, freaking incredible miracle that I was having all these problems with freaking cockroaches, and then all of a sudden it stops. Another miracle, these are small ones, but they're worth praying about because everything is worth praying about. Y'all, this is a silly one, but it's real, okay? Because this is what I'm saying. Like, this is who he is. This is how much he cares.

I set up to film for today, okay? And I realized that I didn't charge all three of my batteries for all my cameras. And I said, bless your heart, Ellie. That was irresponsible of you, right? I didn't check to make sure that these cameras were all charged. Two out of the three were fully charged. The third one, dead. So I was like, great.

I don't have time to charge this battery, okay? And so then I remembered that I had an extra one in my purse. purse. And so I said, Lord God, I'm holding this battery. And I know for a fact this battery in my purse has got to be dead. Because there's no other reason for it to be in my purse other than like I was maybe vlogging and I had used that battery. It died. Right. And then I just put it in my purse and was like, whatever it's dead, I'll charge it another time. I know for a fact that that battery had to have been dead. But I prayed over it. And I said, Lord, I have faith in you. And like, I heard this little voice in my head of doubt being like, yeah, but will he? And I was like, no, I literally

out loud was like, no, he can't. He's the same God who can literally help Moses part the Red Sea. Okay, this is the same God who can move mountains. This is the same God who created the earth. This is the same God who created me. He can charge a stupid little dagum, dumb Sony camera. Yes, he can. He can charge this battery. Like, I literally was like, stop it right now. Like that stupid little voice in my head that was like trying to get me to doubt if he was even going to do it. I was like, yes, he can. y'all this battery is fully charged this battery is fully charged and i said god you're so good he's so good he's so good so i'm just telling you that's who he is that's who he is and that's what he wants to do for you you know

so anyway prayer can work miracles i also want to drop this verse with you guys that supports this okay this is mark 1124 that says therefore i tell you whatever you ask in prayer believe that you have received it and it will be yours. The other thing that we need to do about prayer is we need to come into it in a posture of like, the Lord's already done it. I've already received this.

Actually, he's capable of it and he already did it. Like, you have this confidence in the Lord, and that's something that will take time, right? I do believe that in the beginning of our journeys, it's like sometimes we're really, really doubtful, but that's the thing that he does with a mustard seed is he just needs you to plant it

and water it, watering it is prayer, watering it is talking to him, watering it is being in the word, watering it is being just in the presence of God, right? and he's going to grow it and your confidence in the Lord is going to grow. Like your faith in the Lord is going to grow. It's not just going to stay at the mustard seed. I mean, it's going to grow into that 30 to 50, whatever it is, 20 to 30 foot tree.

That's what a mustard seed grows to. It's going to get there, okay? But you got to come into it. And I'm telling you, your confidence will grow and you will start to pray to the Lord in a posture of like, nah, he's already got it. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have already received it, that you have received it and it will be yours. That's the other thing is like a really powerful prayer that you can do for the Lord too is if you're like in something where you're like really desperate, you know, is praying to him like you've already received it.

Praying for things that you haven't even seen yet and you're like, God, I thank you for working on this. God, I thank you for your blessings in this. God, I thank you that you've already figured this out, that you've already seen it. You already know the end of this. You already know the outcome, right? You already know the last chapter. You already know everything, Lord. And I thank you for that.

I thank you for already being there. I thank you for being in that moment. I know you're taking care of me there. Even though I'm still here, God, I thank you for also being there with me. Like, give it that type of like, um, where you're like, you know what? I'm not even just going to ask for the Lord. I'm going to thank him for already being there and sorting it out and already planning everything out from my favor.

Thank you, Jesus for that. Thank you for being in the future. Because that's what he does for us. He's already there. He's here and he's there. And he was back there. two with you, right? So that's the other point. This actually leads right into my other point really well, is that it allows us to worship and praise the Lord. Hello? Prayer isn't even just, like,

what can I gain? What can I ask for from the Lord? Right? We're not supposed to just treat them like a freaking genie in a bottle, you know? But it also, it's a mutual thing. Like, if you think about any relationship, it's like most relationships that are healthy, most relationships that are healthy, and the way that it should be is it's a two-way street, right? So we pray to the Lord because we need his favor, we need his blessings, right? We need his power. We need his strength. But also we glorify him.

We praise him. We give him gratitude. We tell him how good he is, right? It's a two-way street. Sorry, that made me emo. Because he's so good. And he deserves that, right? Like the least that he deserves for all the miracles that he works in our life is for us to just

say thank you God and to just praise him and sing to him you know i also i want to talk about this too of like what prayer can look like but prayer doesn't always have to look like sitting down and closing our eyes and clasping our hands together you know i think that that is a very important way to pray and i love praying like that because that feels the most intimate in my opinion just for me and my journey is when i get on my knees and i just genuinely pray to the lord and i close my eyes and i turn off all distractions right so that's prayer but also a way to pray to God is through worship, you know, like singing one of your favorite worship songs, that's prayer to the Lord. The other thing that I want to say, too, is that sometimes

praying to God is coming to him and not knowing what to say. Sometimes prayer is not saying word at all, you know? Like, you all know those times where you just come to the Lord and you're just filled with so much doubt or just like pain? And you're like, I actually don't know what to say. Like the thing about God, sometimes he doesn't even need you to say a word. He just needs you to be in his presence and just be with him. Sometimes tears, sometimes crying is prayer. Like he knows what those tears mean without you even saying a word, you know. So sometimes that's prayer.

That's like, that's a father. That's a father who knows his child. You know, sometimes we don't even need to say a single word. He hears us. I want to mention some scripture that backs that up so beautifully. It's Romans 826. And it says, Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Y'all get that? Sometimes with us just being in the presence of the Lord. The spirit intercedes, meaning Jesus is now with us. He's in the room.

Spirit is Jesus's spirit. It's the Holy Ghost. That's like Jesus died and went to heaven, but he left his spirit here. That's how we're able to talk to God is through the spirit of Jesus, right? He's that funnel for us. He's that corner piece that connects us and heaven. Okay. So when it says the spirit himself, that's Jesus. Okay. When that intercedes and you're just, it's just you and Jesus, that's when he gives us the groans that are too deep for words like those are the moments where we're like oh where we're just maybe even just crying out to the lord and we don't have any words it's like it's it's actually too deep for words but he hears all of it like the lord hears all of it he probably hears more than we even fully understand in ourselves right you're like ah i'm in this pain god i'm in

this pit i'm in this hopelessness i'm in this i'm at this dead end i don't know what to do god you could just be in a moment where you're like, I don't even understand it. And that alone is prayer. That alone is prayer with the Lord. So the other thing that I really want, I want these chains to be broken off specifically. Like, this is what I want the Lord to do in this episode. I really want him to break the chain and the pressure of like, just like that spirit of religion. And when I say that, I mean like the spirit of religion where it's like I better pray to him in this way and I better pray to him at this time of the day and I better pray to him for at least this many minutes. Do you get what I'm saying? It's giving that like religion. It's giving that routine. It's giving that like it's just not authentic. Right.

And I recognize that a lot of us come to that because we want to give God our best. But sometimes when we do that, we're limiting ourselves, you know? So I really want to break that chain of like, well, if I'm going to pray to God, it better only be in my secret place in my bedroom. And, you know, like, let's say you're overwhelmed with feelings and you're in the middle of traffic and your eyes are open. And they have to be open because you're driving. Okay. But you're like, your spirit wants to be with the Lord. And you're like, gosh, I really wish I could pray about this right now.

But I'm not in my room and I'm not playing my worship music. And I also don't have my eyes closed. And I know I'm supposed to have my eyes closed and my hands clasped together. But I'm driving right now and my eyes are open. But I really need him right now. Stop. Stop. You can absolutely pray to him with your eyes open.

You can absolutely pray to him with your hands on a steering wheel. You can pray to him out loud. You can pray to him in your head. You can pray to him anywhere at any time. You can be in the middle of a business meeting. You could be in the middle of an interview. And all of a sudden you have this anxiety that's washed over you and you go, Lord Jesus. You're looking at the interviewer in the eye, but you're praying to your God.

And you're praying to Jesus. And you go, Jesus, I need your strength right now. I'm anxious. I feel like I'm going to pass out. Pray to him then. Pray to him everywhere all the time. It does not matter. I rebuke that in the name of Jesus.

Jesus. I rebuke that pressure and that expectation of feeling like you have to have it be perfect when you come to the Lord because the thing is, is God doesn't want perfect. If he wanted it perfect, he would have created you to be perfect from the beginning. He just wants you. He wants you. He wants your heart. He wants exactly where you're at in that moment. So throw that out the window because that will limit your relationship with the Lord. I promise. It will limit your accessibility to the Lord. You know, when you put that pressure, I mean, just like you would call someone up in the car in traffic if you're anxious, you're feeling a certain way, and you're like, ah, I need advice, ah, I need guidance, ah, I need to vent. I need someone to talk to. Go to the Lord like you would

call anyone in that moment, right? It doesn't have to be this big formal thing. But I want you guys to know when I say that I don't mean we're supposed to be going to the Lord like hey bro what's like it shouldn't be so casual where it's like loki disrespectful of course we need to go to the Lord with respect because he deserves the ultimate respect like ever okay but not in a way where it's like you got to be afraid of him where you're like if I don't address him and I don't come to him with like big fancy language he's not going to hear me let me say this too y'all this is a good one I also want to debunk in the name of Jesus right now that pressure of coming to him in a certain way and a certain language because you're afraid that if you talk to him in any other way, he won't listen.

The thing about our Lord is that the only magic password there is is Jesus, I guess. But there is no magic password to have access to God. Like, you just do. You just have access to him through Christ. But like, you have access to the Lord whenever you want. That's what's so cool about him. He doesn't need to take a nap. He's awake all the time.

You can wake up at 4 in the morning in the sweats from a nightmare, and you can pray to him. He's there. He's available. All the time. He's present all the time. But there is no, like, access language. Like, he'll only listen to you if you talk to him in a certain way.

Like, or if you pray to him in a different way, he won't hear it. He hears all of it. He hears your thoughts in your mind right now. He hears all of it. The other thing about the Lord is that he knows all, which means he'll know if you're coming to him in like a polished version of yourself or like a version of yourself that you think he wants like he sees through that too because he's god he's almighty he's sovereign so like you're not fooling anyone if anything he's gonna look at you and he's gonna be like gosh

I just wish that she could feel like she could be herself right now with me I just want her I just want him you know like he's also not looking at you in those moments like he's angry I think if anything he's probably just like oh my heart hurts I wish that he just knew that he could come to me just as he is you know, or as they are. So this is something that I wrote down earlier, okay? So if you've never really taken prayer seriously and now you want to start talking to him,

I want you to stay in a place of uns seriousness. Of course, prayer can be serious and it should be. We obviously still want to have a posture of respect for the Lord, but also there's something so powerful about keeping it casual and how you genuinely communicate with anyone. I think too many times as Christians, we put this pressure on how we're, supposed to show up for God. But the thing about who he is is that he sees all. He'll know if you're

showing up as a version of yourself that's polished, talking in a way that you wouldn't genuinely talk, or just not fully being yourself or opening your heart completely. Prayer also demands vulnerability. If you're not showing up to God completely and utterly vulnerable, admitting things deep in your heart, bringing every single struggle to him, every feeling to him, it will be hard to connect with him. The biggest lesson that I've learned when it comes to the intimacy of my relationship with the Lord is that I need to bring every single feeling to him and almost just collapse at his feet. Like this is the vision that I see is just collapsing at his feet in full surrender. Like just vulnerability.

Surrender means vulnerable, bringing every single piece of you to him and just letting it all out and letting him in. The minute I did this was the minute that I saw my faith completely changed. I felt closer to God that I've ever felt in my life. So if you've also felt distant from the Lord, how vulnerable are we being with him? Right? I kind of touched on that. But vulnerability is so important with feeling connected to the Lord and prayer. So obviously we were just talking about where do I pray?

There's some scripture that I want to bring into this. That's from Matthew 6, 5 through 8. And it reads, and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners. and they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. For your father knows what you need before you ask him. Y'all, this is so good. This is exactly kind of what we were saying where I was like, don't come to him as a version or speak to him in a language that he knows you aren't right so oh my gosh there's so many things that are said in this okay i'm going to start at the beginning when you pray you must

be not like the hypocrites for they love to stand in the in the synagogues down the streets and pray okay so i've gotten this comment on my social media a couple times we're like i've obviously brought a lot of my faith online and i pray online and i've caught vulnerable moments of myself with the lord online and people have been like aren't you like not supposed to just run around and boast about your your relationship with the Lord, right? Because what God is saying is like, these people loved to pray in public, but how much did they pray in secret?

Right? So I'm not saying, I don't think there's actually anything wrong with praying in public, like at all. I pray in public all the time. I pray at restaurants. I pray over my food. I pray for others in public.

Obviously, I document a lot of my journey and prayer and my faith online, which is public. So there's nothing wrong with those things. But the difference is that these people, what they valued at the center of it, was impressing people and showing off. Because they wanted to be seen as these people who have huge faith. And just like, they just have an incredible relationship with the Lord, right? There is a fine line when it comes to that because it's like, well, where's your heart? Is your heart in a posture of actually wanting a genuine connection with the Lord?

Or are you just wanting people? We see this in the Christian community all the time, y'all. Even people who are like high up, you know? Unfortunately, there's corruption and there's people where their hearts are just not in the right place. And it's like, it's giving, we just want the world to believe this is how we are. But do you pray to the Lord in the secret place? Meaning, do you spend time with God one-on-one when no one's watching? Because that's when it really matters to the Lord.

Like, what he cares about the most is the time that you guys spend intimately behind closed doors, not just in front of people, that's fine too, but are we spending time with him in the secret place alone, one-on-one, where no one else can hear you? I hope I'm interpreting this right, but the following part when, you know, when this passage says, truly I say to you, they have received their reward, I believe what that scripture is saying is that their reward was people going, wow, look at this godly person has just such a great relationship with the Lord. wow, they pray so beautifully and they're so strong in their faith. Like, that's their reward.

Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. Like, that was their reward. That was the reward they wanted. Their reward wasn't in strengthening with the Lord, right? Their reward wasn't with strengthening their relationship with God. Their reward wasn't in a place of wanting to just be a better person and let the Lord continue to shape them. It was in a place of, I just want to impress people.

So truly I tell you, they got their reward, right? Then it moves on and it says, But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. Meaning he is in secret. He's accessible in all moments, anywhere, at all times. But it's the moments where you have zero distractions. Nobody's watching you. It's just you and him.

Shut the door. Meaning like also just shut the door on the world. Shut the door on the distractions, right? Like just shut the door and be with him. That is where you will have the biggest revelations. That is where you will have the biggest aha moments with the Lord. That is when you will have the most just peace and weight lifted off your shoulders in those moments, right? God isn't saying that that's the only way we can do it.

He's just saying that that is really important when it comes to prayer, though, is just being with him, like that intimacy, y'all. That's the key word of all of this, is the intimacy, okay? Then it goes on to say in your father, whose season's secret will reward you, right? He will reward you in those moments because honestly, you should in an environment like that only be seeking the Lord. You're like, I ain't got no one to impress. I don't have anybody watching me. It's just me and you, God. I don't have anyone around me.

Like, it's just me and you. Your only reward that you seek in that moment is Jesus, is the presence of God, are his miracles, right? is his strength, is his peace? Like, that's the reward, and he will give it to you. And I can tell you that that reward is way more fulfilling than the reward that the hypocrites got before where they just received a bunch of praise from people. You know, it's way more rewarding coming straight from the Lord.

Obviously, anything from the Lord is the biggest blessing ever. And the last part is so good, y'all. And when you pray, do not heap up on empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Okay, so meaning this isn't the Lord telling you like, I only got two minutes. Don't go on and on. Like, if you need to talk to the Lord for freaking hours, he's there. He's there.

Okay. There's a difference between needing to and feeling like we have to, right? So let's say you spent an entire 15 minutes just praying to the Lord, just talking to him. Because you genuinely needed to. You're like, you know what, God? this is me this is how I'm feeling this is where I'm at right and it took 15 minutes sleigh literally slay okay spend that 15 minutes with the Lord you better trauma dump on him because he can handle it right you better bring every feeling to him and and if it takes 15 minutes if it takes

hours you better do it okay but there's a difference between needing that and feeling like we have to right because again it's it's giving religion it's giving okay well I better make this prayer five minutes. Okay, well, it's only been three and I'm pretty much done. So add a bunch of more words. Maybe I'll repeat myself a couple times. Say it a little different this time. Do you guys get it? Do you feel it? God doesn't want that. He's like, all right, all right, all right, all right. I know that you're just doing this because you feel like you got to say all these words or, again, fancy words, you know, where he's like, okay, okay, okay, I love this, but also, let's just the fluff. It's the fluff, you know? where it's like he knows your heart he knows your heart and if that's not coming from a genuine place

he's going to be like stop stop stop stop if this prayer only needed to be two minutes but you're trying to make it five because you feel like you got to pray for five he don't want it he don't want it so it literally says do not heap up empty phrases do not heap up empty phrases if you feel like you've come to the, sometimes y'all, I've gotten there where I've been praying and praying. I'm like, all right, I was like, uh, you know, like, there have been times where I've even prayed to the Lord where not, I realize that I'm kind of just going on and on. And I'm just like, okay, you know what, God, you get it. Love you. Thanks. Like, I feel the peace. It's not, it's not guilt. It's not in a way where, again, it's like, I'm a burden. Or I'm like, okay, he's getting bored. It's not that. It's like,

a feeling of like, I feel him winking at me where he's like, babe, I get you. Like, I got it. You know? And I'm like, okay, yeah, you're right. Do you get it? Do you get it? There's a difference. Like, I can feel him being like, honey, I got you. I got you. I got you.

You don't need to say it again. I heard you. I heard every word. And by the way, I'm going to remember every word for the rest of your life. I won't ever forget these words. They're done, you know? Like, I feel him being like, I got you, babe. It's like, how can I explain it?

It's like, I don't know if somebody's trying to explain anything to you, and they're kind of just going on and on. And you come from a place of love. And you're like, hey, sister, I hear you. It's okay. You know, like, I got you. Like, that's like the Lord, you know? And so there have been times where I've kind of been like,

and I just keep going. And then I feel the Lord being like, babe, I got you. It's all good. And then I'm like, okay, you're right. I'm just rambling. You know what I mean? Empty words. That's the thing is he's not telling us,

don't come to me with too many words. But he's also like, don't come to me with more words than you need. Right? Does that make sense, y'all? Do not be like them for your father knows. what you need before you ask him. That's the other thing that's so beautiful about the Lord is that he knows what you need

before you even come to him and ask him. So then I feel like maybe somebody could be like, okay, so then what's the point of prayer? But like, hello? We went over that. You know, like, obviously the Lord already knows what we need before we pray it to him. So then maybe somebody could be like,

okay, so then why do I need to pray if the Lord already knows what I need? But we already went over that. Like, we know why prayers is important. It strengthens your relationship. It allows intimacy. You get to go and be in the secret place with the Lord. It fights demons.

It literally punches them in the face. It allows miracles, miracles, especially in numbers, y'all. It's fun. To pray with multiple people. Oh my gosh. With two or more. It's so good to pray with people.

To pray with others. It's really empowering. The other thing that's really good about prayer, y'all, is that it helps us avoid temptations. That's real. Like, if there's anything that we're trying to not do, maybe there's certain habits. Maybe there's certain addictions. Maybe there's certain temptations that you know is no good for you. Pray.

Pray about it. Pray about it in that moment when you're feeling tempted, you know? Or maybe for the future, too. I'll be like, hey, Lord, if I ever feel tempted to do this thing, God, I pray that you just bring me back down to earth and you remind me, whisper to me. God, give me the strength, actually. I pray that you take away the urge to want to even do this at all, right? It's probably sin, right? That's the biggest thing that we struggle with as humans is just like sin.

something that I love to pray to the Lord is like, God, I pray that you just remove the temptation completely, you know? Maybe not the temptation, but removing the desire to want to entertain the temptation. Because the thing is, is temptation will always be a part of our life here on earth. God doesn't send in temptation. He allows it. Temptation is sent in from the enemy, right? He allows it. But something we know about God is that anything that is sent into our lives that was meant for evil, he can turn to good. So if there's a temptation that's sent into our life and he gives us the strength, the tools, he gives us the obedience, right?

He gives us the things that we need to not to veer away from temptation. That's growth. That's taken something that was meant for evil and turning it to good. That's strength. You know what I mean? So I like to pray not just like, hey, God, just take away the temptation completely. It's like, okay, temptation was never sent in from the Lord anyway. But what we can pray for is just the urge to want to entertain the temptation.

I say, Lord, remove any feeling of wanting this at all. You know what I mean? Like, for me, it was like one of the things that I prayed for was alcohol. You know, like I was so reliant on alcohol. Like making experiences better for me, having more fun. I didn't think I could socialize without having alcohol. I think I've been transparent about, you know, just where my relationship is at right now with alcohol. but I leaned on to alcohol way too much and I really felt convicted from the Lord to chill with the alcohol,

you know? And so the temptation of alcohol is still everywhere for me, obviously, especially in this day and age, alcohol is everywhere. It's promoted everywhere. We had the Super Bowl, you know, the other day in current time of me, you know, filming this. But we had the Super Bowl and like every commercial has alcohol in it. But what's so cool about what the Lord has done is he's completely removed just the urge to want to entertain that, you know?

Like, I have every opportunity to go out to the grocery store and get myself a bottle of wine, but I haven't. I genuinely haven't. And it's because the Lord has removed the desire to want to entertain that temptation. Does that make sense? And the only way that that thing changed in my life was through prayer and keeping close to God. You know, that was the only way. And the only thing that changed my heart and changed my palate of even craving.

alcohol was the Lord. It was the Lord. Another piece of scripture that I want to bring into this is from Matthew 2641, which reads, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit and deed is willing, but the flesh is weak, right? So when you pray to him and you want to stop doing this thing or you don't want to entertain this certain temptation anymore, that's your spirit. That's your soul speaking, you know? Your soul is like, I don't want to do this anymore. This is killing me. I'm a slave to this. I'm a slave to addiction.

It doesn't even make me feel that good. You know, like, that's how I felt about alcohol. I was like, bro, I'm living in a fog. Like, I hate it. It doesn't make me feel good. Even if I get drunk, like, one time out of the week, it messes up my whole week, you know? And I, it's just, it's not good for me. Like, that was my spirit talking.

That was like, I don't want this. That's who we are. That's speaking right now. It's our spirit. But then it's like your flesh just wants it. You know, like, but I just want that buzz. But I just want that feeling. That's all flesh, y'all.

So when the Lord talks about spirit versus flesh, that's what it is. The thing that causes us to sin is our flesh, because it's freaking weak. And honestly, if we go off of our flesh and our feelings and the things that we want, it will only hurt us. That's why sometimes I'm like, I don't even trust my own feelings. I don't trust my feelings, you know? I trust God. I trust His word because our flesh is weak.

So anyway, I hope that that helped you all a lot. and like your POV of what praying is why it's important, how it literally changes our lives. It can change other people's lives. It's just incredible. Praying is so good. Praying changed my life. It changed my life. And I just hope that it encourages a lot of people to either pray more, maybe start praying

if you've never tried to before and just come to the Lord as you are. That's the biggest takeaway that I would love for you guys to just bring home with you after this is to just come to the Lord as you are because he loves you and accepts you for where you are right now. And even if you don't have these big fancy prayers, even if you can pray for only 30 seconds, even if you go on and on and on, like whatever, like whatever you need, whatever you need, the Lord already knows you need, and he already loves you in that wherever you are. And he just wants your heart to come from a place of genuineness. Again, it's not coming from performance. It's not coming from wanting to impress God because the thing is, like, we can't really impress

God. That's so cute. We can't impress God. He already knows everything. Okay. So just go to him as you are as a friend, as a dad, as a father, you know? So I love you guys. Thanks for letting me talk to you so much about prayer. I hope there were so many aha moments too. Because I feel like I even had aha moments as I was writing this out. I was like, wow, that's solid. Like that's good, you know? So I pray for that for you guys. I love y'all so much. Hey, can we show somebody why Jesus is so cool today? Can we do that? Guys, let's walk a little bit more like God. Let's have more compassion like the Lord. Let's just show people his goodness and his love today. I love you guys. I'll see you next week. Bye. If you guys can't wait until next Friday for another episode, you are in luck.

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