Have you ever wondered whether God hears your prayers or why you don’t see His will come to pass? Prayer should be one of the most rewarding parts of a believer’s life, but for many people it is frustrating and ineffective. There was a time when Andrew had many of the same questions you do, but over the years, he found a better way to pray.

welcome to gospel truth with Andrew

Wommack a teaching ministry that focuses

on God’s unconditional love and grace

Jesus forgave us of all sin past present

and even future sin the first time I

realized that Jesus took the absolute

penalty punishment all of it for my sins

that was freedom for me and now here’s

Andrew welcome to our Monday’s broadcast

of the gospel truth today I’m going to

start a series entitled a better way to

pray I have a book on this this is the

English version this is the Spanish

version una mejor manera de Ora

something like that and I also have CDs

and DVDs on this and this teaching on

prayer is probably one of the most loved

and hated teachings that I have people

either love it or hate it but you will

not be neutral to this teaching on

prayer let me just say that this is

going to be a lot different than

anything you’ve ever heard taught about

prayer I’ll get into this in more detail

but let me just say that I think that

prayer is probably one of the most

abused men misused things in the

Christian life majority of people

believe that just as long as you pray

that everything is fine that is not true

there is right and wrong print and wrong

praying can actually release the power

of the devil in your life and I’m not

going to spend a lot of time on this I

mentioned these things in the past

especially when I was teaching on Romans

12:1 and 2 but there is actually some

teaching that I got on prayer that I

brought back from a conference gave it

to a girl that I was unofficially

engaged and she prayed and asked God to

give her cancer so that she could

glorify God in the way she handled death

and this girl died and that wasn’t God’s

will that was because somebody was too

that everything that happens to use God

and that God uses sickness to break you

and glorify himself and that wrong

teaching and therefore the wrong prayers

that came out of it actually caused her

to die and there’s a lot of people that

their prayers are destroy in their life

you know I have a lot of people come to

him it seems like it’s more women than

men and they will ask me for prayer and

say would you please pray for my husband

I’ve been praying for him for 20 years

what do I do and I one of the first

things I tell them he’s quit praying for

your husband and a lot of people are

just taking back walton there’s nothing

wrong with prayer yeah you can’t get

enough prayer you can’t get too much

prayer well it depends on how you’re

praying and the way that a lot of people

pray it’s actually releasing negative

things if the way you pray and intercede

for your husband is you spend 45 minutes

save God he beats me beats the dog he

spends our money he’s a drunk he’s mean

he doesn’t appreciate me doesn’t love

you and you spend 45 minutes rehearsing

how bad he is and then you say save him

in the name of Jesus that kind of prayer

is not helping you are him it’s focusing

your attention on everything that’s

wrong you’re just speaking forth the

problem prayer is not an opportunity to

inform poor misinformed God of how bad

your situation is I feel sometimes like

people think God you know must have a

million people asking him for something

and so he’s got so many requests you got

to get yours to the top of the pile and

so you just go through it so God the

doctor said this and you give all of

these details thinking God doesn’t know

what’s going on and you got to inform

him and let him know that this is crisis

this needs immediate action all of the

things that I’m gonna be teaching here

come against that prayer is not an

opportunity to just unload and gripe and

complain and and talk about how bad

things are

I heard Charles Capps one time and he

was talking about prayer and he said he

was praying and the Lord stopped him

right in the middle of his prayer and

said Charles what are you doing and he

says well I’m praying and God said you

aren’t praying you’re complaining and

I’m telling you

of what people do is nothing but griping

and complaining and if you started with

in the name of Jesus or our Heavenly

Father and then you end it with in the

name of Jesus and whatever said in

between you think well that’s prayer no

there’s a lot of unbelief there’s a lot

of griping there’s complaining there is

a right and a wrong way to pray and this

series on prayer has caused some people

to be set free I’ve had so many people

tell me about this just revolutionize

their relationship with the Lord it’s

one of the most important things they’ve

learned I’ve had other people who were

friends of mine who’ve been friends of

mine for decades

got up and left during my teaching on it

because they couldn’t handle it they

thought I was coming against everything

they held dear

I believe that prayer is one of the most

misused abused parts and there is a

right and a wrong way to pray notice

that I say a better way to pray I didn’t

entitle this book you’re of the devil if

you don’t pray this way because

everything that I teach against in this

teaching I have done and yet God loved

me and I loved God and I’m not saying

that it was you know off the devil and

that God hated me and because of it

rejected everything about me but over

forty seven years of seeking the Lord I

learned some things and I’ve learned a

better way to pray I get better results

today than I have ever gotten

I believe that my prayer life my

relationship with the Lord is better

than it’s ever been and yet when I was

just really getting started I still

loved God and God touched me and there

was good things that happened out of it

I would see a few miracles happen every

once in a while you know it’s kind of

like on an old chicken an old blind

chicken I’ll get you know a grain of

something every once in a while if it

doesn’t quit you just keep after it

eventually you’ll stumble onto something

a blind squirrel will get a nut every

once in a while every once in a while I

would see the presence of God and the

power of God show up and I’d see my

prayers answered but

were few and far between when I was

praying the way that is traditionally

taught and I’ve just learned some things

and I’ve come up with a better way to

pray and so I can guarantee you I’m

gonna rub some of your religious

feathers the wrong way I am going to

counter a lot of religious teaching

about prayer but that doesn’t mean that

it’s wrong I had some people who are

leaders in the body of Christ get so

upset over this book they came back to

the people who published it and said how

could you have even published this book

it’s against everything we believe for

and I remember the lady just saying you

know get past the first chapter the

first chapter is so offensive it

counters so much stuff that a lot of

people won’t read the rest of the book

but I tell you it’s powerful and some

people think well why do you do that

well did you know that this is the way

Jesus approached prayer look at what

Jesus said when he started talking about

prayer in Matthew chapter 6 verse 5 it

says and when thou prayest thou shalt

not be as the hypocrites are for they

love to pray standing in the synagogues

and in the corner of the streets that

they may be seen of men verily I say

unto you they have their reward you know

the very first thing that Jesus did was

say that hypocrites love to pray this is

my very first teaching in this series

the first CD in this is entitled

hypocrites love to pray and I make a big

point out of this and you know I

actually had a guy come to me just

recently last week and say that their

kid was up in the room listening to some

of my teachings and he came down and he

said dad you’re a hypocrite and his dad

says what what are you saying and he

didn’t explain it he just left went back

up listen for a while he came down he

says mom you’re a hypocrite too and they

couldn’t understand so finally they went

up to the room says what are you saying

and says well Andrew right here says

hypocrites love to pray you love to pray

so you must be a hypocrite this little

kid didn’t quite get the full impact of

it but Jesus when he started

talking about prayer he said don’t be

like the hypocrites because they love to

pray did you know that every religion on

the face of the earth prays I mean you

can look at the Muslims and they have

three five times a day whatever it is

that they put down their little mat and

they bow towards Mecca and they pray you

can go into the Hari Krishna or alarm

the Buddhist you can go into anything

and every religion loves to pray they

emphasize prayer and yet there is only

one way to God the Father Jesus said

that I am the way the truth and the life

no man comes unto the father but by me

if you aren’t praying in the name of

Jesus and going through Jesus you are

not connecting with Almighty God there’s

people watching this program that I’m

sure take issue with that and say how

narrow that is but that is absolutely

true you have to pray and approach God

the Father through Jesus he isn’t a way

he is the way the only way and so that

means that the millions and millions and

millions of people in other religion who

are putting so much effort into prayer

are not connecting with God the Father

they may be connecting with some demonic

power they may just be listening to

themselves soothing their own conscience

but they are not in true relationship

with God and even inside of the

Christian church there are a huge amount

of people who go through the ritual of

prayer and they may say that they’re

praying but they aren’t connecting with

God if that’s true of people outside of

Christianity who are praying to Allah

and praying in the name of whatever and

all of this stuff and I think that most

Christians would acknowledge that that’s

true well then it’s also true of people

even inside of the body of Christ who

aren’t praying in a proper way Jesus is

going to go on and expound and counter a

lot of things but when Jesus started

teaching on prayer the very first thing

he did was teach what prayer is not

jesus said this in Matthew chapter 7

verse 13 he says the traditions and

turns of men make the Word of God of

none effect before you can actually so

the proper seed and get a harvest

sometimes you have to dig up the ground

pull out the rocks you have to get rid

of these traditions and doctrines of men

that negate the Word of God it’s not a

matter of just teaching what prayer is

Jesus started by countering all of the

religious hypocrisy and concepts against

prayer and so I’m following his example

in the very first teaching in this

series is hypocrites love to pray and it

comes against just the concept of some

hour now they’re going through these

rituals you know I’m not against any

individual but I’m also not afraid to

speak the truth and I’m telling you I’m

not trying to single anybody out but I’m

saying that there’s people that have

these beads and you go through and say

so many Hail Marys and so many our

fathers and they call that prayer that

is not prayer that violates everything

that Jesus is teaching right here he

talks about vain repetitions and people

thinking that they’ll be heard for their

much speaking there are people that call

at prayer there are people that recite

written prayers and they call at prayer

which although you could listen to what

somebody else said and repeat those

exact words and there may be an

opportunity for you to get a connection

there between you and God in the vast

majority of cases I mean the vast

majority of cases people are just saying

words they aren’t connecting it’s not

coming from their heart prayer is just

communication from your heart to God and

it’s not a one-way communication it’s

not a monologue where you’re just saying

all of these things to God you need to

also listen and let God minister unto

you and anyway many people today have

turned prayer into a religious

calisthenic that they do it’s something

that they do primarily to sue their own

conscience they feel that if they will

spend a certain amount of time in prayer

then it makes them feel better that they

are somehow a better person and they

feel that God now owes them something

they’ve put in their time

they collected so many stars for all of

their prayers and after you get so many

stars you can cash them in for one

answer to prayer and it’s something that

people do and many times God isn’t in it

you know I used this example but there

was a time that I used to pray a couple

of hours and I would set the timer and

and I would force myself to pray and yet

one time right before this prayer time I

was just having a wonderful time with

God and God was speaking to me through

his word and I was speaking to him and I

was having a wonderful time in prayer

and yet it came time that this two hour

of prayer time was coming up and I just

told the Lord I said you know how I feel

anyway so I’m just gonna be honest and

confess it but I said I’d read there’s

two hours it seems like it takes four

hours and I’d read I said I’m having a

wonderful time right now just studying

the word and praying and fellowshipping

with you and I’d read these two hours

where I go in and have to just force

myself to talk for two hours and I

confessed and said I’m sorry but that’s

the way it is and the Lord spoke to me

and he says don’t worry Andrew he says I

go to dreading it thirty minutes before

it’s time for the prayer God doesn’t

like that kind of Prayer either you know

people are always saying things like put

me on your prayer list you can’t find a

prayer list in the Bible now am I saying

that prayer lists are of the devil you

can’t find anything against prayer list

either but I’m saying that there’s some

people that think that you just have to

go through every single day and mention

these people over and over and you got

to keep bombard in heaven I’m gonna be

coming against a lot of that and showing

you that God loves the people you’re

interceding for more than you do and you

do not have to twist God’s arm and beg

God and somehow or another get God and

is as in love with these people as you

are you know I actually when I first got

started again I my heart was right but

my head was wrong I was just modeling I

was following the model that I had been

taught and we started begging God and

pleading with God for a revival because

I was taught that this is the way you

have to do it

I’m not against revival America the

world needs a revival I am forced seeing

a supernatural move of God but the way

we’ve been taught to pray for it and

that we’ve got to get hundreds or

thousands or millions of people to pray

and just put pressure on God and not let

go until he releases his power is

absolutely wrong

that actually is detrimental to you and

your relationship with God I’m gonna be

coming against that stuff and talking

against the way that intercession is

spoken off today but back when I first

got started I’ve been taught all of

these things that we forced God we

grabbed hold of God and don’t let go

until God releases what you want that is

a sorry-sorry

attitude but that’s the attitude that I

had I’d been taught this and so I

started praying and I literally caught

myself saying this one time I was

praying for the city of Arlington Texas

that’s where I lived and I mean I

interceded in beg God to touch people

and save people every day of my life and

prayed for a move of God and all of this

and I actually found myself one time

just crying out to God pleading with God

and I said this out loud I said God if

you love the people of Arlington Texas

half as much as I did do you we would

have a revival and as soon as I said

that I realize something is wrong with

this picture

I’m imputing to myself that I love

people more than God but see I wanted to

see people touched and I thought well

I’m praying and I’m not seeing people

touched I’m not seeing people turn

around and come to God so it must be God

who’s not answering my prayer and I just

had to pray longer and harder I started

all-night prayer meetings and we started

bombarding the gates of heaven and

begging God for a move of God and

praying through this and I tell you what

that’ll wear you out it’s hard on you it

actually is a criticism against God I

had a woman come to me one time and she

said I’ve been praying for my husband

for 20 years I

I prayed I’ve done everything I know how

to do it God hasn’t answered my prayers

so would you please pray for my husband

maybe God would answer your prayers now

some of you may not think that there’s

much wrong with that but boy when that

woman said that to me I said I will not

pray for your husband and she

immediately took well why wouldn’t you

pray for my husband I said because I’m

not gonna enter into agreement with you

because your whole attitude towards God

stinks you are implying that God could

just save your husband and you know the

snap of his finger if he wanted to he

could just force your husband to be

saying I said that’s not what the Word

of God teaches faith comes by hearing

hearing by the Word of God Jesus told us

to pray Labor’s to go across his

people’s path I said there is a writing

the wrong way to pray but you are

praying as if there is nothing that you

have to do or anybody else has to do or

your husband has to do it’s just up to

God and so you’re begging God and since

your husband hadn’t been saved for 20

years therefore it must be God that

somehow or another just isn’t motivated

to save him so maybe I’ll carry more

weight with God maybe I can motivate God

more than you have I said that is a

sorry attitude

God loves your husband more than you

love your husband you do not need to

pray for people and beg God to save him

because God is disinterested and if it

was just up to God he’d let them all go

to hell no that’s not true God loves the

people you’re praying for more than you

love them prayer is not an opportunity

for you to beg and plead with God and

somehow or another trying to get God to

be as holy and is compassionate and as

good as you are

see when you approach God that way and

this is primarily the way that prayer

has been done that we somehow or another

are motivating God we are forcing God to

do something that he wouldn’t do if it

wasn’t for you when you approach prayer

that way it is a slam against God is an

insult against God you are starting from

a position of unbelief it hurts you you

aren’t gonna be effective I tell you

what prayer is an area that has been

really

really misrepresented and I’m still in

the introduction but let me just say

this before I get into some of the exact

details that there are people who

glorify prayer and they will talk about

prayer they teach on prayer you got to

pray you got to do all of this I’m

teaching on prayer there is a place for

it but I’m saying that there’s a lot of

people that glorify prayer and not what

prayer accomplishes to me prayer is like

a vehicle you know I’ve got a car that

got me from my home to my office so that

I could make these programs today

and it’s a nice car and it’s got things

on it and I like the car but the car is

just a tool it’s what I can do with that

it’s I don’t sit there and glorify my

car I don’t sit there and talk about old

men I just love my car no I love what I

can do when I get in my car and where

it’ll take me and how it gets me there

and stuff like that there are people

that just talk about prayer

I believe that prayer is really not the

issue its relationship with God that is

the issue and prayer is just communing

with God talking to God and

communication talking to God is an

important part of our relationship but I

don’t glorify a prayer I glorify my

relationship with God and prayer my time

of communion with God is an important

part of that but I don’t put the

emphasis on the vehicle that I use I

just talk about what it accomplishes and

I am big into relationship with God and

having personal time and intimate

relationship with God in prayer is just

the vehicle that helps me get there so

again I go back to Matthew chapter 6

verse 5 and and says and wind out

prayers this is Jesus speaking thou

shalt not be as the hypocrites are for

they love to pray standing in the

synagogues and in the corners of the

street that they may be seen of men

there’s a lot of people that pray today

because it gives them clout in their own

mind and then as they boast about it and

talk about it other people are in prayer

with how long they pray and all of these

kind of things and I’m telling you it

says right here it says that that they

may be seeing a man in the last part of

this fifth verse says verily I say unto

you they have their reward what does

that mean I believe that it’s primarily

talking about that you know what when

you brag about man I spent an hour in

prayer I did this I did this I pray

every day I discipline myself I get up

at 5:00 in the morning that little pat

on the back that people give you and say

oh you’re so wonderful you know what

that’s your reward that little bit of

recognition the fact that people think

you’re awesome that’s your reward you

aren’t going to get anything from God

you aren’t gonna see your prayers really

be effective if you are praying for the

acclaim of man so that you can boast and

brag about what you’ve done that little

bit of satisfaction you get that’s your

reward you know I’m out of time today

but I do have this book entitled a

better way to pray I would encourage you

to please contact us get this book we’ve

also got it in Spanish we’ve got CDs and

DVDs if you’ll listen our announcer will

give you that information and please

call or write today entries complete

teaching titled a better way to pray is

available as a book in either english or

spanish today andrew would like to offer

this book as his free gift to you go to

a WMI dotnet to get your copy today I’d

like to encourage you to get this free

book that we’re offering on prayer I’ve

got other product here study guide DVD

CDs but we’re offering this book to you

as our gift and I tell you this is a

powerful teaching especially during this

time you know we’re just going through

this virus that hit the world actually a

pandemic and man people are praying but

many times are praying wrong out of

desperation begging God they don’t know

the rights and privileges that God has

given us and I promise you this would

transform your prayer life we are

offering this as a free gift to you so

listen to our announcer as he gives you

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give them tools we’ve got James Robinson

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night that’s going to be powerful and

then we got a whole day Saturday a great

speakers lined up

some practical things we are

specifically focusing on pastors and I

believe it’s really going to be a

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