Almost everyday of my life I have the blessing of working with people that are in the midst of facing some of the toughest challenges of life.  Many of the people that I work with, find themselves at a difficult place because of a series of wrong choices, bad decisions and the curveballs of life.  The help that we are blessed with providing is not about a hand-out, but a hand up.  We really want to help ourselves and others take a step up into the better life of blessing that we were all created for.

One of the things that I encounter over and over again is how our choices lead to habits and habits turn into the life that we are living.  If we want to change the life we are living, then we must work on our choices and change our habits.

Do you have a habit you want to change or get rid of?  Is there something in your life that you have lived with that is keeping you from being and doing?  You can make excuses about that thing or those things, or you can do something about them, the choice really is yours.

Someone has said:  “Never underestimate your power to change yourself, never over estimate your power to change someone else.”  The key to getting rid of bad, destructive, self defeating habits is to change our thinking.  To change our wrong or bad habits, we must get rid of excuses and commit to change.

We were created in the image of our Creator, which means that we have the attributes of a creator, which promises that we have built within us, the ability to change the way we look at things and by changing the way we look at things, actually see the things we look at change.

Perception has the ability to alter and change the things within and without.  If we can fix, discipline and grow our perception, then faith will take us to places that we could never take ourselves.  I want to challenge you to think about the life that you were created for and if this is not the life that you are living, the face it and do what you have to do.  Go now, do it and live blessed!

I am currently in the middle of a teaching series about prayer on Sunday mornings at Grace Place.  The Spirit has been rocking my spiritual world with some insights that have opened up whole new areas of supernatural territory.  Most people think they know what prayer is, but our limited knowledge does not even come close to scratching the surface on what prayer is really all about.  

At a very basic, but profound level:  Prayer is communion with God and is as much for our benefit as His.  One of the big problems in most of our praying is that we tend to focus on what we’ve done for God, instead of what He has done for us.  We just don’t get that God has already done it!  That’s right God knows your needs and has already taken care of it.  God is not surprised or caught off guard by anything.  And since God has always known about our need, it just makes sense that He would meet it, before we ever had it, because He is God and that is how God works.

We read in Luke 11:1-13  “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 3 ‘Give us each day our daily bread. 4 ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”  5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

For years, I heard these verses taught and even taught them myself in a very wrong way.  I taught from the perspective that Jesus was telling us to keep going to God and to not stop praying until we got our response, but there was something about that philosophy that never quiet measured up to Who I believe God to be.  

These verses have been taught all wrong.  Jesus is making a contrast, not a comparison in this story.  When we teach these scriptures, we often teach from the comparison side of the equation, which is totally messed up, because it is does not take into account the character of God in all of His awesomeness.  When we view it as a contrast, then we realize that this is not instruction about how to do it, but how not to do it.  Our very wrong view has actually limited the effectiveness and power of our praying.

In this story, Jesus is saying:  If people will treat you better than this, then what about God?  If man will give in and give you what you need, then how about a loving God, Who has already given you the greatest gift of all?  Our problem, is that we often have more faith in people than we do in God and the proof is in our actions and reactions to the challenges of life.  It really is an insult for us to think of God in such a limited way!

Faith is not about moving God, it’s about moving you and me!  God has done his part!  God wants to bless and do miracles in and through our lives, because He loves us.  Some people think that God is mad at us because of our sin, but I want to share some good news with you:  God’s not ticked off and the reason that He is not ticked off, is because His Son paid the price when he came and died on the cross in our place.  When God looks at us, He does not see sin, He sees the righteousness of His son – Jesus.

We often mistakenly think that our praying is about moving God to where we need Him.  We don’t need God to move, we need to move!  You don’t move the blessing to where you are, you move yourself to where the blessing is, because God has placed the blessing exactly where it needs to be and it is in the perfect place because it has been placed there by our perfect Creator.

There Is A New And Better Way!  In our Bibles we find the Old Covenant in the Old testament and The New Covenant, which came through Jesus in the New Testament.  The Old Covenant principles can be found in Genesis 18:22-33 where it says:  “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. 23 Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” 26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” 27 And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” 30 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” 33 As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.”

In this passage, we find that God was angry and he judged sin!  Abraham was acting as a mediator and was very much needed in that role, because this was before Jesus and the New Covenant!  You will see that God wanted to show mercy, but was unable to, because of the sinfulness of man and man’s inability to do anything about his sinfulness.

But in 1 Timothy 2:1-8, we find information about a New Covenant, when it tells us: “1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”

The reality has and always will be that sin has to be judged!  But the good news for you and me is that Jesus bore our sins and they have been judged! (All of them – past, present and future!)  God has made the provision, but we have to believe!  The good news is that God has forgiven you, but you have to accept it!  Sin does not send you to Hell, it’s our unwillingness to accept His gift of forgiveness that sends us to Hell!

Jesus is our mediator, who has made the way, where there was no way.  The question that we need to ask and answer is this:  “What have you done with Jesus?”

Prayer is one of those gifts that the Creator has given to his children that is quiet often misunderstood and misused.  Most of the people, who call themselves Christians do not really get prayer, and the evidence that we don’t get it, is our lack of influence on others and life change in our own lives.

I think one of the big problems is that we assume way too much when it comes to the things of God, and we take way too much for granted.  The Bible is full of instruction.  It teaches that we should pray, shows us how to do it and how not to do it and even helps us to understand the challenges we will face, if we don’t get it right.

A classic scripture passage on prayer is found in Matthew 6:1-15 where it says:  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.  2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.  5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.  7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.  9 “Pray, then, in this way:  ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  10 ‘Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.  12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

 This passage is packed full of very important details that will guide us to prayer powerful prayers that will impact life and eternity.  The first thing that we will notice and learn from is that “There Is A Wrong Way To Pray!”

Verse 5 says:  “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

When You Pray!  This is an assumption that we will in fact, take the time to pray.  Just because we begin what we call a prayer with “Our Father” and end with “In Jesus Name” does not make our prayer a real, powerful and meaningful prayer.

Prayer is as much for us as it is for God, and when we begin to see prayer through spiritual eyes, then we will become different in our praying.  There is a right and a wrong way to pray and the sad reality for most people today is that they choose not the right or wrong way, but “no way” to pray.

When Jesus said: “When”, he was making an indication that prayer is an ongoing activity.  An activity where God is more interested in our attitude than our action!  He says:  “Do Not Be Like The Hypocrites!” giving us some classic instruction on how not to pray!

Jesus said:  The hypocrites love to pray!  The issue for them was not taking the time to do it, the issue was doing it in the wrong way.  “Standing in the church and on the streets to be seen” is a very wrong motive for praying powerful prayers.

We need to understand, believe and be influenced by this idea of “Motive Matters!”  The hypocrites have their reward and it’s not answered prayer!  You and I have to decide in our praying:  What reward do we want?

The issue today is not that God does not answer prayer, it is that we pray wrong.  Prayer is not so much about getting God to do something, because God has already done it!  Prayer is more about getting ourselves to where we need to be so that we can claim and receive what God has already done!  Prayer is about belief, our belief in a great big God, who wants to do great big things in our and through our little lives.

A lot of times when we pray, we think that something must be wrong with God, that His “giver” must be broke, but the issue is not His “giver”, but our “receiver”!  Romans 10:9 says:  “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  The same faith it takes to get saved, is the faith it takes to manifest miracles and get prayers answered in our everyday living.

Jesus teaches us to go into our closet, when he says in verse 6:  “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Get Alone With God!  This does not mean that you can’t pray in public!  It means that you don’t pray for recognition!  The issue is motive – why are you praying what you are praying and how you are praying?

God See’s and God Rewards!  We some times think that it takes shifting into King James language and religious tone to make prayer powerful.  God and His Angels must shake their heads at our silly games.  We have got to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks.

Pray To Your Father!  Prayer is about God and prayer is about you, so stop making it about everyone and everything else.  God is waiting and longing to hear from His children.

Our prayers are like a kiss to the one we love, start thinking of your prayers in this way and KISS – Keep It Short And Simple!  In verse 7 Jesus teaches:  “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

Do Not Use Meaningless Repetition!  God does not have a memory problem and it does not help our case to plead the same argument over and over and over again!  God must sometime think:  “What is wrong with him, why does he keep repeating himself?”  The sad truth is this:  If God does not enjoy your prayers, then you’ve got a serious problem!

God Does Not Base His Response On The Length Of Your Prayers.  I can only find two times where Jesus prayed long prayers and on both occasions, he prayed all night long, but every other prayer he prayed, you find Jesus praying short and to the point.  Someone said:  “The shorter the prayer, the greater the faith!”  

Prayer Is Communion With God!  Relationship is supposed to be enjoyable.  Prayer should not be something that we dread, it should be something that we enjoy and look forward to.  I think one of the reasons that so many of us, have such a hard time with prayer is because there is a big difference between praying and complaining, and a lot of times our prayers become more of our telling God everything that is wrong.  I am not saying that there is not a time and place to unload our truck, but  Jesus teaches us how to do it, because He expects us to do it and he wants us to do it right, because when we do it right, the blessings flow and we cannot help but to live blessed!