Andrew teaches on how prayer is something that every Christian knows they need to do, but very few Christians feel like they do it successfully. In this series, Andrew counters many modern religious traditions about prayer and establishes a foundation upon which a rewarding and effective prayer life can be built upon.
welcome to our Tuesday’s broadcast of
the gospel truth today I’m continuing to
teach about a better way to pray I just
started this series yesterday this is
going to be a multiple week series I’ve
got a book on this entitled a better way
to pray and I’ve also got it in Spanish
and then I have CDs and DVDs and as I
said yesterday Jesus when he started
teaching on prayer in Matthew chapter 6
the very first thing he did was say
don’t be like the hypocrites because
they love to pray and he began to start
just coming against the religious system
of his day that really emphasized prayer
but it wasn’t true communion with God
you know if you are having a
conversation and nobody else is
listening well then it’s not really a
conversation it’s just a monologue and
sad to say this is what a lot of people
are doing in prayer they’re saying that
they’re praying but prayer is communion
with God it’s a relationship with God
and yet it has degenerated down to where
with many people it’s just a religious
exercise and it soothes their conscience
but it is not truly connecting with the
Lord and so Jesus and when he started
teaching on prayer
the very first thing he said in Matthew
chapter 6 and verse 5 it says and when
thou preyus thou shalt not be as the
hypocrites are for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets that they may be
seen of men verily I say unto you they
have their reward and I think that a
large large portion of prayer is so that
people can get acclaim from other people
you know when I go into churches and I
remember the church that I was raised in
you would take these people and they
would ask them to stand up and pray and
typically they would just be normal
people they just talked you know like
anybody else but when it came time to
pray in church it would be like our God
gaawd God
then they would pray in this Elizabeth
II invoice and they would pray in a
booming voice and they would we beseech
you so humbly today and all of this
stuff and it was just a religious form
and I tell you I hate that stuff I think
God hates it I really do and I play this
same thing to preachers you know I have
people all the time that confessed to me
that they saw my programs for years and
just flipped right on by and the
channels and didn’t watch it because I
wasn’t you know standing and running and
jumping and shouting and screaming and I
wasn’t excited I was just talking in a
normal voice and they thought well you
can’t be anointed because they had this
concept of a certain style that you had
to be to be an effective minister but I
am just the opposite if a person all of
a sudden changes when they get behind
the pulpit or when they open up the
Bible and start sharing the word in
their whole voice changes and they start
using Elizabethan English whether it’s
in prayer or ministry or whatever then I
just look at it and say that you’re
religious and I know that there’s some
people to get upset all right but I tell
you you shouldn’t be any different you
could talk to me in a grocery store you
could talk to me pumping gas you can do
anything and I’ll still talk in this
same voice this is me this is who I am
I’m not a different person when I’m on
television or something
I believe that all a minister is you’re
just talking to people one-on-one and
when you have to change your old
personality and become a different
person then you’re just a hypocrite and
this is what Jesus is talking about
right here don’t be like the hypocrites
they love to pray they do it so that
they can be seen of men you know I held
a meeting one time with RW schambach in
Palm Springs California and some of you
know who RW schambach is and he’s real
demonstrative and he talks you know in a
real dramatic voice and everything but I
went out to eat with him my mother and
my wife and I we all got in his little
convertible and we went out and got some
ice cream and did you know that RW
schambach was exact
the same in the restaurant exactly the
same driving down the road he witnessed
he talked to people and he was real
dramatic but that was just him he didn’t
change to become that way that was who
he was when a person is usually meek and
mild mannered and yet they be goodbye in
the pulpit and they have to change their
old personality or if a person is just
an everyday you know Joe and then they
get up and they want to pray in front of
people too may all of a sudden start
speaking in Elizabeth II and English and
stuff it’s just hypocritical it’s
religious at best and it is total
Apocrypha it worse I know some people
don’t like that but this I’m following
the leadership of Jesus before he taught
what prayer was he taught what prayer
wasn’t he came against the religious
traditions of his day and he mentioned
here in this fifth verse people love to
pray standing in the synagogues and in
the corner of the streets there’s other
examples where Jesus talked about the
scribes and the Pharisees and how they
would literally blow trumpets before
them and then they would stand and pray
at the top of their lungs and they would
actually they would pay a person to go
around and blow a trumpet that attract
everybody’s attention and then he would
stand up and go to prayer now that is
not communing with God that is not true
worship of God that is just religious
and there are people that watch this
program that I guarantee you you are
religious in the way you pray and I know
that some people don’t like this we like
to say well I’m afraid it doesn’t matter
how I do it oh it does matter how you do
Jesus is right here seen that there is
right and wrong ways to pray do not pray
so that you can just be recognized by
people don’t pray in a Elizabethan tone
of voice so that you’re like the King
James Bible and think that somehow and
other you’re holier when you do that you
just need to be real you need to talk to
God like he’s a real person you need to
talk to him the way that you’d talk to
me maybe with more respect and honor but
you don’t need to change your whole
personality and go to being something
that you aren’t you know the word
hypocrite comes from a greek word and it
was literally it
behind the mask and it went back to the
Greek theater how that they would come
out on stage and they would hold up a
mask in front of them and pretend to be
a different person and so you were an
actor
you weren’t really yourself you were
projecting something you were being
somebody that you weren’t and that’s
what the word hypocrite is describing
and when a person all of a sudden just
starts you know acting totally different
and you’re talking to God in words that
you never use unless you’re praying and
stuff you’re just a hypocrite I’m not
saying that out of bitterness or anger
I’m just trying to say that until we get
rid of the religious junk that it’s been
taught us about prayer and we get real
with God you aren’t really communicating
with God you know I have people that
come and they meet me and for whatever
reason they want to impress me and so
they just start talking about all of
this stuff and promoting themselves and
they’re doing it so that I can be
impressed with who they are and you know
what that does it makes a negative
impression on me I know that this person
is putting on you know a show for me and
it doesn’t bless me the type of people
that I really like are the people that
are just themselves there are some
people I know that you know what they
aren’t necessarily the most diplomatic
they just say what they think and that
turns a lot of people off but I like it
because I can I can know where I stand
with this person if they don’t like
something they’ll tell me and I can
handle that it’s not a problem with me I
just like people being genuine you know
when I get introduced the number one
thing that people say about me when they
introduce me is they say he’s the same
whether he’s on television or eat
someplace else and I think to myself
what kind of introduction is that what
does that mean does that mean that other
people aren’t the same does that mean
that other ministers act one way in the
pulpit and they talk one way but then
when you get them by their self they’re
different and I’ve asked that question
to people and they say yes that’s what a
lot of people are there’s a lot of
people that is just a show and this is
this is the very first thing that Jesus
said don’t be like the hypocrites don’t
be hypocritical in your prayer be
genuine be honest talk to the Lord don’t
do it for the praise of men if you do it
says they have their reward that little
pat on the back that they give you and
say oh you’re so awesome that’s your
reward you aren’t going to get a reward
from God you’ve got with your reward
it’s just that little bit of recognition
that you get in verse 6 this is Matthew
chapter 6 verse 6 it says but thou when
thou prayest enter into thy closet and
when thou is shut that door pray to thy
father which is in secret and their
father which seeth in secret shall
reward thee openly now I’ve had this
verse misused on me you know when I was
in the Baptist Church and I got really
turned on men a lot of the young people
in that church got excited at the same
time and we used to have morning prayer
before we would go to school and we
would get together and pray as a group
in the youth director of this Baptist
Church saw us as a threat to him because
he was not spiritual at all and he was
intimidated by us and so he came out
against us and told us that we should
quit praying and I said how in the world
can you say that what right do you have
to tell us not to pray and he came up
with this verse and he says you’re
supposed to go in your prayer closet you
should not ever pray in front of another
person that’s not what this is saying
because Jesus himself who said this
prayed openly in the 12th chapter of the
book of John he just outloud said father
glorify your name and there came a voice
from heaven said I have glorified it and
will glorify it again
jesus prayed when he was on the cross
and said father lay not this sin to
their charge forgive them for they know
not what they do and there’s multiple
instances where jesus prayed publicly in
front of people so this is not saying
that you can’t do it but the emphasis is
that you should not be praying to get
recognition from people you shouldn’t be
praying to have bragging rights and I
tell you there’s a lot of this I don’t
know how many of you remember when the
could you
Terry won our teaching came out that’s
been I forget now but twenty or thirty
years ago in the body of Christ and
anyway that came very popular and they
took the Lord’s Prayer listed right here
in Matthew chapter six and they said it
was like a runner on a track that there
were signpost and when it says our
Father which art in heaven Hallowed be
that name that means that you enter his
gates with Thanksgiving in his courts
with praise and so you spend twenty
minutes
you know just worshiping the Lord and
then you go in to give us this day our
daily where that’s where you and they
had a an hour’s worth of Prayer broken
down into you spend so much time
praising the Lord so much time asking
for your needs to be meant so much time
confessing your sin and then you end it
and they had this little tract and
people started doing this and pray in an
hour a day and Larry Lee was the guy
that came up with this but it wasn’t him
it was one of his associates there was a
guy who was out traveling and teaching
this series on could you not tarry one
hour and he came and ministered here in
the Colorado Springs area and he came to
my office and I mean after you know
introducing himself and telling me who
he was he said so how much time do you
spend every day praying and it just kind
of took me back when he asked me that
question and immediately I thought so
why do you want to know and the only
reasons that I could think I was either
he wanted to know so that he was going
to criticize me and say you aren’t doing
enough and try and get me to spend more
time praying or he wanted to compare
himself with me and see if he was holier
than I was because he spent more time
praying everyday than I did I couldn’t
think of any good reason for a person
asking how much time you spent in prayer
and so I was kind of just thinking about
this and the Lord spoke to me and he
said how much time did you spend with
Jamie yesterday and it’s just so
happened that I had been home that day I
stayed at home and I spent all day with
Jamie and he says so how much time did
you spend I said well all day he says
could you say that you talked to her
five minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes 30
minutes now I said no I talked to her
all day long we weren’t talking the
whole time but we were there together
and we were visiting and and basically
the Lord just spoke to me if a person
can reduce their prayer time to an hour
a day or 30 minutes or whatever it is
then you have a pretty sorry
relationship with God because he’s with
you 24/7 he’ll never leave you nor
forsake you he’s always there and if God
is always there how could you just spend
you know a few moments talking to him
and then ignore him the rest of the day
that would be like me being with Jamie
all day we may not have talked the whole
time but we were there I was aware of
what she was doing she was aware of what
I was doing we did talk a lot we
communed everything that happened to me
it happened to her and vice versa
and you know this is the way that I’ve
come to pray I just pray and talk to the
Lord constantly when I’m asleep I dream
about the Lord I’m praying I wake up in
the middle of the night when I roll over
I’m talking to the Lord and I’m praying
when I get up I’m praying when I go to
bed I’m praying I’m talking to the Lord
all of the time you know over in 1st
Thessalonians chapter 5 it says pray
without ceasing and I think that there’s
multiple ways that you can apply that
but one of the ways to apply that is
that you ought to be in communion with
the Lord at all times I think it’s
dangerous when a person can just say I
pray an hour every day well man you
should be in communion with God all the
time the sad fact is some people devote
1 hour and they’re focused on the Lord
and they’re talking about the Lord and
talking to the Lord but then the rest of
the day they’ll sit there and watch
things on television that I guarantee it
grieves the Lord it’s not good for you
if you were in communion and praying
with the Lord right then you would not
be watching those things you wouldn’t be
saying some of the things that you say
you wouldn’t be going some of the places
that you go you wouldn’t talk about
people the way that you talk but some
people they just spend a certain segment
of their day with God and the rest of
the day they’re on their own but because
they spend an hour
or something with the Lord well then
they think that somehow or another
there’s relationship with God is
superior that’s this is preaching
against that your prayer should not be
so that you could go ask somebody how
much time do you spend in prayer every
day I spend more time than you do I’m
better than you are if you’ve got that
kind of an attitude your prayer stinks
it is not ministering to God it’s not
truly touching God it’s not communing
with God there’s a lot of religious junk
going on with prayer in verse 7 this is
Matthew chapter 6 verse 7 but when you
pray use not vain repetitions as the
heathen do for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking
so this is really clear when you pray
don’t use vain repetition don’t just say
the same thing over and over this would
be comparable to people pray in the
Rosary our Father
Hail Mary all of these kind of things
people reciting the Lord’s Prayer which
the Lord’s Prayer is given just the next
few verses right here but there are
people that you know they just recite
this as a mantra and think that somehow
or another this is connecting with the
Lord it’s not you know I’ve been in
services before where demons manifest
themselves and I’m casting demons out of
people and I mean there’s some strange
things happening and it causes fear in
some of the people that are around and I
remember an instance where a woman
standing next to me when this demon
manifested she got fearful and she
started saying my father which art in
heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom
come thy way and she was just spitting
out the Lord’s Prayer like a machine gun
and she was just repeating his thing as
fast as she could and I actually turned
over and said stop it and she thought
wrong I’m repeating scripture I’m
repeating the Lord’s Prayer she was
doing it in fear it wasn’t from her
heart
it’s you know it says over in 1st
Corinthians chapter 13 if you give all
of your goods to feed the poor and if
you even make the ultimate sacrifice and
give your body to be burned and don’t do
it motivated by love it profits you
nothing the motive behind your
action is more important than your
action right there in first Corinthians
13 verse 1 and says if I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels and have
not charity I’m a sounding brass and a
tinkling cymbal if I can prophesy if I
have faith if I can do all of these
things and don’t do it motivated by love
it profits me nothing if you are
reciting the Lord’s Prayer and you’re
just spitting it out but your heart is
full of fear well then the motive behind
your words are more important in your
words and there are some people that
just recite these prayers they have
these mantras they go through a rosary
they go through their rituals on Sunday
and they recite these written prayers
and this is exactly what Jesus is
teaching against he says do not use vain
repetitions as the heathen do they he
then have these mantras that they go
through they just say the same things
over and over and over and somehow or
another think that that makes them holy
it just makes them carnal it makes them
hypocrites
you know I know that there’s a lot of
people not being blessed by what I’m
saying but before we can actually lay a
good foundation we got a jackhammer and
get rid of all of this old stuff and I
am reading to you scriptures that Jesus
said Jesus was in a religious culture
when he was here on this earth and the
religious Jews were hypocrites to the
max they would blow trumpets pray on
street corners they would do all of
these things they had these phylacteries
that they little strips of leather that
they put around their forehead and it
had a pouch right here and they kept
scripture in there so that this
scripture would be constantly in front
of their eyes and it’s went back to
Deuteronomy chapter 6 where it says that
you shall meditate in these things and
you keep this scripture in front of you
day and night and never let it depart
from your eyes so they would put these
little phylacteries there and they would
do all this stuff they had all of the
motions down pat but it was just
religious exercise it was not genuine
and God hated that stuff and he still
hates it today there’s a lot of people
that your prayer is not
but just religious stuff you aren’t
talking to God from your heart this is
they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking the length of your
prayer isn’t what’s important it’s not
if you pray an hour that you’re somehow
or another better than a person that
prays for a minute
did you know that some of the very best
prayers that you could possibly pray are
help man that’s a great prayer oh god
help Matt’s you know that’s a great
prayer you look at Jesus and his prayers
were real short like be healed he would
speak to the seed be still I mean he
just one or two words he didn’t pray
long long long prayers now there are
sometimes there’s twice two separate
instances it’s recorded more than once
because of the four Gospels but there’s
two separate instances where Jesus spent
all night in prayer one of them was
before he chose his twelve disciples and
I believe he was specifically asking for
wisdom and direction so that he would
make the right choices and so there’s
twice that he prayed all night and of
course there’s other times that he would
go up into a mountain to pray in Jesus
prayed but most of his prayers were very
short prayers he said specifically that
the hypocrites think that they will be
heard for their much speaking that is
just absolutely wrong and we have that
same pharisaical attitude in the body of
Christ today that it’s all about how
long you pray and whether or not you use
the Elizabethan English and whether or
not you say God gaawd instead of God and
it’s all of this junk that doesn’t mean
a thing to God and that little pat on
the back that little you know smile that
people give and they nod your head when
you walk by because you’re so holy
that’s your reward that’s all you’re
going to get it doesn’t connect with God
I’m telling you God would rather you be
real with him you know when I first got
started in ministry I was in Pritchett
Colorado and I ministered to a lot of
farmers and ranchers and most of them
never went to church and one of the
reasons because they didn’t
to be with the hypocrites that we’re in
church but they were good people and
many of them were born-again and if they
weren’t born again I got them born again
but I love these people because they
were just totally non-pretentious it was
just all genuine and man I loved it I
fit right in with them and I think that
God many times is more pleased with that
than the people who put on all of their
fancy garment go to church and they can
say all the right things and do all of
this but their heart is far from God
it’s all about your heart God looks on
the heart first Samuel 16:7
and God is looking at your heart and God
knows whether you’re putting on a show
or not I’m telling you these scriptures
to me just say don’t be hypocritical be
real with God I said Lord now that I
know what you have done for us send us
whatever you want to do you want to do
things for you
I felt boom inside me go we had this
idea we were to go preaching in the
remote villages where the name of Christ
has never been heard we didn’t know how
it was gonna work out we just knew we
were going at the time it seemed like
big steps it’s just a lot of faith that
God would take care of it and provide
for it if you just know what God told
you to do then it’s not a challenge it’s
an adventure but it’s not hard and it
doesn’t have to be scary we knew that we
were called and so that was the main
that was the main drive it was it was a
miracle
when we’ve had moments in Russia where
it was tight man well that just was what
really propelled it to another level
you know some nice people look at what
is my $5 word what is my $50 worth it’s
not really going to change anything but
it does it really does give us give us
the foothold to be able to reach out
into the world we have so many
testimonies of people being healed
people being set free because of the
materials that are going out who world
outreach you know it has supported us it
supports the work the project that’s
there all the projects throughout the
world this has been a major influence in
changing the world and bringing the
gospel to the nation’s you know as much
as we’re doing and we get the blessing
people that finance it gets just the
same reward and that’s oh I think is
phenomenal so it’s definitely a team
effort for those that give thank you for
being part of our team
I am one outreach I wrote out run roads
open world I am I am world
you