Hey There!

As our journey continues, we travel to Wyoming USA. We visit Devil’s Tower, know to native American Indians as Bear Lodge Butte. As we approach the national park we can see the rock formation jutting into the sky surrounded by the plains. What a beautiful, amazing sight. This is sacred ground to many of the Indians that perform rituals and prayers at this sight to this very day. This is evidenced by the many prayer bundles and ribbons, They are scattered throughout the woods tied to the branches of the Ponderosa Pines and to other trees. They are in all different colors, sizes and styles, all hand crafted as a prayer to their god. If you ever do visit here, out of respect to the Indian people, please do not take or disturb the prayer bundles.
 

From here we are relocating to the region of Tibet. We fly into Kathmandu and see the Himalayan mountains. Not much flat land here. We then fly to Lhasa and from there trek to Mount Kailash. This area is sacred to Buddhists, Hindu and Jain. As we ascend the mount, we pass several prostration point monuments, There are places where the Buddhists stop and mediate on their sin level. They also drink sacred water, make offerings, and hang prayer flags. This is a similar idea to what we just saw in Wyoming, but these actually have prayers and mantras written on them. They believe that as the flags fly in the wind that the writings on them ascend up to their god.
 

Both American Indians and Buddhists have set religious ceremonies and specific prayers they use and do such with extreme dedication.
 

All this sight-seeing makes me think of how we as Christians pray to our God and how so few actually follow God’s specifications for prayer.
 

As Christians we have a lot of freedom in how we pray and are not constrained to ritualism and repetitive prayers. We do, however, have rules set before us and requirements put upon us if we want our prayers heard and answered. So, let’s take a break here at Drolma Pass and discuss just how we are to pray.
 

Regarding prayer, religions have taught people to believe that God not only hears nut will answer every prayer as long as you have enough faith, but that is not true. I am going to go through what the Bible shows us about prayer and how to pray.
 

Let’s start with Christ’s teaching lesson. (My comments will be in parenthesis.)
 

THE LORD’S PRAYER: 

Matthew 6-13 & Luke 11:2-4

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in Heaven, (this tells us to pray to our Father and tells us where He resides) Hallowed be ty name, (this is where we praise Him, start the prayer telling God how great He is and thanking Him for His care for us) Thy kingdom come, (we are to want to see God’s kingdom here on Earth) Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. (We are to be praying for God’s will to be done, not ours. All too often we pray for selfish needs) Give us this day our daily bread. (We can ask for our needs to be met, not our wants) And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. (Don’t think of this as finances only, but anyone that has offended us, or we have offended. We must ask for forgiveness if we have sinned against another person and we must let go of any grudges we have against others) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: (ask God to keep us out of trouble) For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen (We must acknowledge that God is in control and all praise and glory are for Him.)
 

HOW TO PRAY:
Genesis 24:63 In the field
Matthew 6:5-8 “And when thou prayest, thou shall 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. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefor like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
 

These verses show us that we are to pray privately amongst ourselves and with our family. Nowhere in the Bible does it give any reference to church leaders praying pre-written prayers and everybody following along or making a public event of it like on the “National Day of Prayer”. It teaches us that prayer is private and between us and God. We are also told to not use vain repetition. Catholics will say the same memorized prayers over and over thinking the more times they say them the happier God is and more likely to hear them. Catholics, Muslims, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhists, Orthodox Christianity, and Bahai faith all are avid users of the prayer/rosary beads. Christ stated that those doing such are heathens. We must not be that way.

HOW NOT TO PRAY:
Matthew 23:14 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows houses and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Mark 12:40
Luke 20:47
Ecclesiastes 5:2
 

This is quite clear that people standing in front of others saying this super long prayer using big words to show off is not something God wants. Many preachers and politicians write out their prayers ahead of time so that it sounds just right and makes an impact. Sadly, I see the ‘pew warmers’ even applaud when leaders finish praying. APPLAUD?? Are you kidding me? Prayer has become like a high school speech competition - where the better orator wins. They may get applauds now, but they shall receive the greater damnation.
 

HOW OFTEN TO PRAY:
Psalm 5:3, 88:13, 143:8 Daily in the morning

Psalm 88:1 Twice daily
Psalm 55:17, Daniel 6:10 Thrice daily
Luke 6:12 All night
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray Without Ceasing
 

The last verse sums it up well – never stop praying. We can never talk to God too often. Pray. Pray. Pray some more and when you think you have prayed enough – keep praying.
 

When it comes to food; we are to give thanks before eating. This is shown throughout the scriptures in many places. It ties in to where it reads in the Lord’s Prayer “Give us this day our daily bread”, we need to give thanks to God for His providing that daily supply to us.
 

BLESSINGS FOR FOOD:
1 Samuel 9:13 The people waited for blessing before touching food showing its importance.
 

LOAVES AND FISH:
Matthew 14:19
Mark 6:41
Luke 9:16
John 6:11-23
Matthew 15:34
Mark 8:6-7
 

COMMUNION (breaking of bread)
Matthew 26:26-27
Mark 14:22-23
Luke 22:19
1 Corinthians 11:24
Romans 14:6
Acts 27:35
Here they give thanks for the bread in presence of them all openly, so we see here that saying grace does not have to be private, but can be said by one person for the entire group about to eat.
 

PRAY FOR OTHERS:
Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (This is a tough one to obey, praying for people that want to harm us. We must realize that it is not the person themselves, but the evil powers that control the person that cause them to do the things they do. We need to pray for them that God may open their eyes and also seek out to make sure God hasn’t sent this person or organization to persecute us because we are not in a right place with God.)
 

Ephesians 1:15-16 “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, ease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;” (here the writer states that he makes mention of them in his prayers, showing we are to pray for one another as believers.)
 

Colossians 1:9 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;” (This tells us we should pray for other believers to gain knowledge of God’s will.)
 

Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (This shows us that something we should want to see in other believers and pray that they might have is God making us perfect in good works to complete His will. This is something that, sadly, most believers don’t really want. As people we seem to want to serve God but hang on to our sins and weaknesses. God answering this prayer will cause change in someone’s life, this is a good and needed change, but no person will like the process. May times we must suffer – so we think – to accomplish God’s will.)
 

Colossians 1:3-4
2 Timothy 1:3
Philippians 1:3, 4, 5, 9
1 Thessalonians 5:23
 

FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS:
2 Timothy 4:16 “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.”
 

Matthew 5:44 (As seen above) Pray for them that persecute you.
Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
(We are to ask God to forgive those that wrong us no matter how badly they offend or hurt us. If we consider what Christ prayed on the cross, we can realize that people being under the influence of evil and human nature, can commit sins without even knowing it. Many times, the evil that is done against us is God’s will for our lives, as He transforms us and has His will accomplished in our lives. Today’s church goers all seem to think that God is up there to bless us and so no wrong, yet all through the Bible we see God raise up evil leaders and nations to destroy God’s people, so that His people will repent and turn back to God.
 

As we look toward the last days of Apocalypse, we need to realize that this is God’s will and that due to our unrepentant nature and rejection of God and His truths and laws, that He will again let His people be slaughtered so that in the process we all will repent and turn to Him. Hopefully, before being beheaded for not taking and RFID chip in the hand we will truly know Him and bring glory to His name. This persecution is very needed to make us examine our lives. We must, however, ask God to forgive those that will apprehend us and execute us for our faith, because they will think they are doing a good justice for God They will not thing they are sinning and we must accept this is God’s will for our lives and theirs.)
 

Ok, here comes the really good stuff. Churches teach that God answers all prayer; sometimes the answer is NO and sometimes it is NOT YET/WAIT. That is not true at all based on the Bible. First, God does not hear all prayers as you have been taught, he outright plugs his ears to many people and makes the ‘nananananana, I can’t hear you’ noise. Secondly, He will answer every prayer that he hears with a YES! There is a catch though that churches ignore. The catch is that you (yes YOU) must be living in the proper spiritual state that is pleasing to God and your prayer must be in accordance to God’s will. Now, we have already seen many rules and restrictions for prayer and here are the real necessities to get prayer answered.
 

GOD DOESN’T ANSWER ALL PRAYERS:
Job 27:9 “Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?” (Here is the question – Will God hear our prayers?)
 

Deuteronomy 1:45 “And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.” Clearly here God is not listening but today’s brick and mortar churches would have you believe God answers all prayers.)
 

2 Samuel 22:42 “They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.” (Again, we see God not answering prayer.)
 

Job 35:13 “Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.” God won’t hear vain prayers.
 

Psalm 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
 

John 9:31 “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” (These two verses show us that God will not listen or hear a sinner when he prays. The first prayer God will hear from a person, is when they come to Him in a repentant state genuinely asking for mercy and salvation. Now once we have become a true believer we must do God’s will and not have iniquity in our hearts. Even as believers, our hearts are not always right and God will not answer our prayers until, once again, we have repented and come to God seeking His mercy and forgiveness; for at that point we have opened up the communication lines again.)
 

Proverbs 28:9 “He that turneth away his ear from the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.” (Wow! Did anyone tell you before that your prayers can be an abomination to God. I would bet not. If you are not listening to and obeying the LAW, then your prayers actually offend God. I am not going to get into the Law here, but feel free to write me if you need clarification on the Law. Most church leaders teach them to break these commands. I would think they don’t have a very good prayer life.)
 

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Once again, we see God not hearing prayers, and it is due to having sin in your life.)
 

James 1:6-7 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (We must have our faith so strong that there are no doubts that God is who He says He is, and that He can answer our prayers if we are following His rules.)
 

James 4:3 “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (God isn’t answering prayers due to having a wrong intention of prayer. Remember, for our prayers to be answered we must be in accordance with God’s will. Is your prayer greedy? More money, new job nice car, nice home, for a mate based on looks, etc.? Make sure your prayer is something God wants in your life, or the life of those you are praying about, and not that you are praying for things you want that won’t glorify God.
 

WILL GOD ANSWER PRAYER? 

YES! 

BUT WITH A CATCH!
So what should we ask for then, you might be asking, and what do we need to do for God to hear and answer our prayers? I am glad you asked, because it’s very simple, but we seem to have a hard time doing it.
 

James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.’ (Apparently, it is okay for us to pray for wisdom and God likes to give it out.)
 

James 5:16 “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (You want to be a prayer warrior, then make sure your life is holy and righteous and pleasing I God’s sight.)
 

1 John 5:14 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.” (Did you catch that? The confidence we have in him, is that, as long as our prayer is in accordance to his will, he will hear us. If your prayer is according to God’s will, then it means your heart is in the right place and you are thinking like God instead of thinking like a man. To dwell on God’s will and want it fulfilled then you are probably where you need to be and not full of sin.)
 

John 9:31 “…but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” (I have already mentioned this verse but again, to have our prayers heard we must worship God and do His will.)
 

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (There is that faith issue again. It is the first necessity for prayer. Then we must diligently seek Him. Are you diligently seeking Him? Are you studying to shew thyself approved? Have you challenged your beliefs to make sure they are right? Try proving them wrong and step outside of accepted church authors? Have you discovered many of the apostate church lies? If so, have you rejected their false teachings? You cannot find the true God in a religion, for religion has always been the enemy of God and always will be. They have just enough truth to keep everyone confused. If you know all sorts of sports statistics, but know little of God, then you are not diligently seeking him.)
 

1 John 3:22 “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” (We get our prayers answered by keeping His commandments and living a life that brings glory to Him.)
 

I hope what I have written here will help each and every one that reads it to have a more fruitful prayer life and that we may all know God for who he really is and not just what we are taught to believe about Him.

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31

Now, on to the light at the end of the tunnel, Finishing The Course