S2 EP10. Why Do We Pray?
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Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Allie 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

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 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

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 brainstormed 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 cuz 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 got to talk to God in a certain way or come to him in a certain way and so I

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, but

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.

OK, 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. OK, whether I 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

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 gonna barge in to 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 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 everything

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.

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 teeth, right?

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 that

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 ahead 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

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 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, another 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, but

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 us.

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 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.

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've 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, 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 in 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 is 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.

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 ourself 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. 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.

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 a 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 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

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 prioritize 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

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, 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, 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

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 in? 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 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 uh, so I Couldn't get an exterminator 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

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 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 I acknowledge that but two cockroaches a day was too much for me anything more than zero cockroaches that 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, cause 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 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, 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. 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. Like, that's the thing is 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,

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 God.

Of him. Right? But we are not God. So if 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 shown 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.

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. 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 daggum dumb Sony camera Yes, 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 gonna do it I was like, yes, he can y'all this battery is fully charged. I

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 11, 24 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

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 in 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 gonna get there, okay? But you gotta 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

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, where you're like, you know what? I'm not even just gonna ask for the Lord. I'm gonna thank him for already being there and sorting it out and already planning everything out for 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 too 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 him 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

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

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

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 a word at all you know like y'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 like just be with him sometimes tears sometimes crying is

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 and he hears us. I want to mention some scripture that backs that up so beautifully. It's Romans 8, 26. And

And it says, 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. The Holy Spirit is Jesus' 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

That's when he gives us the groans that are too deep for words like those are the moments where we're like Oh, 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,

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.

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 could 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 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.

Pray to him everywhere, all the time. It does not matter. I rebuke that in the name of 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 are supposed to be going to the Lord like, hey, bro, what's up? Like it shouldn't be so casual where it's like low-key disrespectful. Of course, we need to go to the Lord with respect because he deserves respect.

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 to 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 four 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,

Like you're not fooling anyone. If anything, he's going to look at you and he's going to 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, 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 unseriousness.

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, right?

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 change. I felt closer to God than 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, right?

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,

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 and on the streets and pray. Okay. So I've gotten this comment on my social media a couple times where 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 relationship with the Lord, right? Because what God is saying is like these people loved to pray in public, but they

But how much do 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? 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 a 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 also,

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, oh,

wow, look at this godly person that 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 pureness

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 that intimacy, okay? Then it goes on to say, and your father who sees in secret will reward you, right? He will reward you in those moments because honestly, you should never,

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, right?

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 like 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. Slay, 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 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 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 we should 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 gotta 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, okay?

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 gotta 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, you know, like there have been times where I've even prayed to the Lord where now 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 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 gonna 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 I

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've 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 prayer is a

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. 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

to wanna 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. But 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, right?

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 taking 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 onto 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

Another piece of scripture that I want to bring into this is from Matthew 26, 41, which reads, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed 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

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, you know, 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

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 y'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, it's like we can't really impress God. Yeah.

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 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. Subscribe to our Patreon where you will have early access to future episodes and occasional surprise bonus episodes. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok for more content. And if this episode spoke to you, please write us a five-star review since it helps the podcast so much. We'll see you guys next time.