REVIEW
 
Last Sunday, we started a new series about prayer entitled— “The Power and Protocol of Prayer.” The reason I titled this series this is because these are two very important things that I believe we need to understand about prayer: We need to first know that there is indeed power in prayer. When you and I pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, heaven and earth can be moved to see results when, in the natural, there seems like there is no way things could ever change. So, prayer—the kind God has intended—is indeed super powerful. But I also included the word “protocol” because in order for us to tap into the power that is contained prayer, we need to understand how it works.
 
We looked at James 5:16 last week and saw how Pastor James said that “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” And we saw that the words “avails much” means that it “possesses a great amount of power and ability.” So, prayer holds awesome power! But not just our own idea of prayer, but a specific kind of prayer—the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman. In other words, in order to be more effective in our prayer lives and to see its potential power, we must learn God’s protocol for this powerful kind of prayer.
 
The word “protocol” describes an official procedure, a system of rules, or we might say a proper way of approaching someone or something. How many of you know that God has given us a way of how to approach Him and a procedure of how to approach prayer itself? He most certainly has! There are rules He’s put into place that get the best results in this area.
 
So, this prayer protocol is a big part of what we are going to learn in this series: What prayer is; what it’s not; how to do it; etc. In short, we are going to learn how prayer works and how to see the answers we desire when we pray.  
 
Last week, we began with the question—What is prayer?
 
I made the point that to some, prayer is no more than a position or posture. To them, it is us getting on our knees, folding our hands, bowing our heads, and closing our eyes. To others, it is rehearsed or memorized statements that can be said with the person praying’s heart and mind being completely detached. But is this true?
 
I am the type of person that likes to ask questions like—Why do we do this? Why do we get on our knees when we pray? Why do we close our eyes? Why do we bow our head? Why do we say the things we say? Now I believe that some of these things are good to do when we pray, but I also believe that we need to know why they are good and not just do them out of tradition or habit.
 
So, we also learned from this that just because somebody prays, it doesn’t mean that they know God or are a truly spiritual person. In fact, prayer is one of those things that even those who do not know God can do.
 
The truth is—religion (the bad kind) loves to pray. We see that the other religions of the world, like Muslims, Hindus, etc., pray much more religiously than most of us Christians do. Now based on what we know to be true, these other religions that pray do not know the one true and living God, right? So, the fact that someone prays does not make them godly or spiritual. In fact, Jesus taught us that hypocrites love to pray (We will cover this more this week).
 
So, we defined prayer from the New Testament and found that it is “intimately approaching God (coming face to face with Him) for the purpose of communicating with Him.” In short, we could define prayer as our communion with God.
 
You see, the word “communion” describes the union of two people. So, prayer is simply our coming together with God and enjoying fellowship with Him. This means that prayer is a part of the relationship that we have with God. And, of course, a big part of this relationship is that verbal communication that we have with each other. This means that prayer is so much more than our requests and petitions; prayer is the vehicle which drives our relationship with God. In other words, our prayer life is how we arrive at a healthy, vibrant relationship with the Lord because it requires us communicating with Him.
 
When asking people to pray before, I’ve gotten responses like— “I don’t know how to pray.” I’m like— “You obviously know how to talk. So why can’t you pray?” You see, praying is simply communicating with God like you and I communicate with any of us. It is not using words you don’t normally use or talking in a way you don’t normally talk. No, there is not some special thing about prayer other than you are communicating with someone whom you cannot see. Therefore, it requires faith to do so. But the communication with God itself does not require some fancy, unique talk. 
 
But we learned that this is what Christianity is all about—relationship with God. Yes, it is not a religion, but a relationship. It is what the Lord intended from the very beginning when He created man. He wanted someone created in His likeness and image that He could come, walk, and talk with. He just wanted a family—He wanted a marriage and He wanted children. This is why the New Covenant that we have with God is described as the relationship between a Father and His children and a Husband and His bride.
 
Church, I said these things today because we need to know what prayer truly is. Once we know this and act on these truths, I believe we can begin to experience the power of prayer in our lives—because we know the One whom we are praying to. Amen? This is the first step in the protocol of prayer—basing it on relationship and not religion. Amen.
 
WHEN YOU PRAY
 
So, since we learned what prayer is last week; this week we will learn what prayer is not. In short, we will be looking at things we need to be aware of “when we pray.”
 
So, I want us to go over to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and look at a section of Scriptures where, as Jesus was teaching on the motives of the heart and us not just outwardly observing religious deeds, He begins teaching on our prayer lives. Therefore, when Jesus begins to tell us how to pray, He is primarily dealing with our motives for praying. And, church, this is an important part of prayer.
 
I made the point last week that we need to ask questions as to why we do the things that we do. Why do we get on our knees? Why do we fold our hands? Why do we close our eyes and bow our heads? If we do things like this when we pray, we need to know why we do them instead of just doing them out of tradition or habit.
 
Well, I believe we need to know why we are praying too, looking at our motives behind the things we are doing in prayer. This is what I believe Jesus was doing in Matthew 6:5-8—He was exposing the hypocrisy of prayer. He was revealing the hidden motives behind these religious prayers and exposing the error in it. And I believe these are things we need to address as well so that we can make sure that none of this hypocrisy is in our prayer lives. Amen?
 
Jesus begins in Matthew 6:5 by saying, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”
 
Notice, first of all, that He said, “And when you pray…” So, Jesus opened up with this statement that assumes that we have a prayer life. In fact, He begins verses 6 & 7 with this same statement as well. So, in the mouth of three witnesses, this word ought to be established in us—that it is not a matter of if you pray; it is when you pray. 
 
You see, most believers look at prayer as a suggested and beneficial thing to do but they do not see it as something God actually expects from us. But the truth is—prayer is not an option; prayer is a commandment! In fact, prayerlessness is actually sin! In First Samuel 12:23, the Prophet Samuel told the people of Israel, “Far it be from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you…” We can see this same mentality throughout the letters of the apostle Paul where he continuously talked about how he never ceased to pray for the churches. Paul also taught those he was writing to that they were to follow his example. In First Thessalonians 5:17 he told us that we are to “pray without ceasing.” In Ephesians 6:18, he said, “praying always…” Therefore, this unceasing and continuous prayer life that Paul possessed was also something he expected other believers to have as well.   
 
So, when Jesus said, “when you pray,” He was assuming that we possess this unceasing and continuous prayer life. This shows us that prayer is to be an expected part of our life. Amen?
 
HYPOCRITICAL PRAYER
 
Then Jesus begins to tell His hearers that when we pray, we are not to be like the “hypocrites.” Now the hypocrites He was referring to were obviously the religious leaders of that day. So, what that shows us is that if those who were supposed to be the leading the Israelites in their religious functions were praying hypocritically, how easy do you suppose it would be for us to do the same?
 
Then notice that Jesus went on to say, “for they love to pray…” So, apparently hypocrites “love to pray.” This goes back to the point I made last week, when I said that just because someone spends time in prayer does not mean they are spiritual or know God. Jesus said here that even the most hypocritical believers love to pray. And Jesus goes on to say why they love to do it: it is because they love the praise of men. This goes back to what I said earlier when we always need to make sure we have no ulterior motives for praying.
 
You see, the flesh just loves to pray these beautifully orated prayers when people are listening. It just loves to tell people things like how we spent hours in prayer and that if they have seen a breakthrough that we were praying for them. Pride is subtle thing. It desires the praise and glory of man.
 
Notice that Jesus said— “For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets …”  So, these hypocrites loved to stand while they prayed.
 
Now first of all, I would like to preface this by saying that Jesus was not condemning people who stand while they pray. He was condemning those that did it “to be seen of men.” It is not wrong to stand while praying, but what is wrong is when one does it to attract attention to themselves.  But there are other things to look out for when it comes to our posture in prayer.
 
As we’ve seen, prayer is simply communicating with God and is not a specific position or posture. Sometimes it is appropriate to bow our knees in reverence or close our eyes to focus, but we are not to get religious about it and say that we have to do these things every time. When we bow our knees, we are demonstrating our inward reverence and respect for our Father God. But just because we bow our knees does not mean that we are reverencing God in our hearts. It could just be a religious practice or something we do out of tradition. But I believe it is safe to say that if we never get on our knees and/or face before the Lord that we don’t truly see Him for who He really is (assuming we physically are able to do so). A proud person will not want to lie prostrate before the Lord, therefore, it takes humility to bow our knees and to lie on our face before the Lord.
 
But Jesus said that they also loved to stand “on the corners of the streets.” This describes the places where the most people would be. Therefore, it can apply to where the most people can hear them. Then the problem can be that when we are in front of others and in the spotlight, we can have a tendency to “perform.” And a lot of people look for this spotlight thinking— “Where can I pray so that the most people can hear me? or “What can I pray so that the more people would be impressed by me?”
 
And the entire problem with this (as Jesus goes on to say) is that they do it so “that they may be seen by men.” Again, this performance-based mentality is what is in view here. Jesus is not condemning any particular posture or any particular place of prayer. He is, however, condemning the motive behind many of these things.
 
I would also like to add that people not only pray “to be seen by men” but they also pray “to be heard by men.” One form of this is called “over the shoulder” prayers. This is prayer that is talking to other people over God’s shoulder. In other words, they act like they are talking to God, but are really saying what they are saying for the benefit of others in the room. For example, a pastor might pray— “God, thank you for all of those who showed up on time today”—while his underlying motive is to heap conviction on people who were late. In other words, He wasn’t really saying that for God’s benefit; he was saying it for the tardy one’s benefit. How about this example? Someone who comes to a prayer meeting and has a bill that needs to be paid, prays, “Father, you know about my need—my light bill of $159.99. I ask you to meet this need—my power bill in the amount of $159.99. Thank You, Lord, for being my provider—of my Georgia Power Company bill of $159.99.” Now we laugh when we hear that—but you understand that people do things like this. Let it not be so with us. Amen?
 
And here is the problem: As Jesus went on to say, “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” 
 
You see, when our motives are wrong, then all those things we are looking for from others to receive will be the only rewards for our prayers, not the answers we desire. On the other hand, if our motives are pure and sincere, then we can expect our reward to be the answers to our prayers. But one has to make the decision: Do they want the answers to their prayers or the praises of people?
 
THE PRAYER CLOSET
 
Then in Matthew 6:6, Jesus went on to say, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
 
Now, after telling us how not to pray, He begins with the two words “But you, when you pray…” By using the words “But you…”, this is Jesus telling us how we need to pray in order to avoid these bad motives of the hypocrites. Then we see that He says, “when you pray.” Again, showing us that prayer in a Christian’s life is assumed and expected.
 
Jesus then goes on to tell us to go into our “room.” The original King James version uses the word “closet.” Now many have taken this verse literally to say that we need to clean out our shoes and clothes so that we can pray in our literal closet. Although this is an admirable attempt to fulfill Jesus’ instructions here, it is not what He meant. This word that used for “room,” the Greek word tameion, does not describe a closet, but rather a “bedchamber.” (And, of course, this does not mean that we have to go to our bedroom every time we are going to pray either.)
 
So, what is a “bedchamber?” A “bedchamber” is a place of privacy and intimacy in a relationship between a man and a woman. So, since prayer is literally the overflow of our fellowship & relationship with God, we must see the importance of having our own place of privacy and intimacy with Him. And just as things done in a bedroom are to remain private and personal between a husband and wife, likewise, our prayer life is to be a private and personal thing between us and God and not to be shared with others. Every relationship needs this special place. In fact, it is a good idea to have a “holy” room in your house that has been consecrated to your alone time with God—not that you only need to pray there, but it is a special place where you meet with God.
 
But, of course, Jesus was not advocating that every time we pray, we must go to our private place because that would nullify the rest of the Scriptures that tell us to pray all the time. We cannot get away every time we need to pray because we have places to go and people to see. First Timothy 2:8 says, “I desire therefore that men pray everywhere…” So, we can see that it is needful to have that private place, but the vast majority of prayer must be done while we are out in the world.
 
We can learn this from the greatest example of prayer that there ever was—Jesus! Throughout the four Gospels we can see how Jesus spent great amounts of time in prayer away from the people. In Mark 1:35 we are told— “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” In Luke 5:16, we see— “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” Matthew 14:23 says, “…He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray … He was alone there.” So, we can see from these examples that Jesus separated from other people in order to commune with God. He knew how to find that place of privacy and intimacy.
 
And then Jesus said something that is super important— “And when you have shut your door …”  There are at least two possible meanings to this phrase: One is “and when you have made sure that you have cut off any signs of hidden ulterior motives.” You see, sometimes Christians will leave their “door” (i.e. connection to people) open so that others can hear or see them praying. This is what the hypocrites of Jesus’ day did. They left their “door” open so that they could be seen of men. But the other possible meaning is “and when you cut off any possible distractions or interruptions.” This is very important to understand in regard to your alone time with God. When you commit to separate yourself with God the enemy will throw everything he can at you to distract you. The phone will ring, the baby will cry, the dog will start barking, etc. He will fight that alone time with God more than anything else. And he will not only do these external things, but he will also begin to war on your mind. Yes, during those times your mind will drift, and you will think of everything in the world that you could be doing outside of fellowshipping with God. You will think about decluttering your garage, calling your aunt that you have not talked to in forever, or how your bedroom needs to be repainted. Things that you normally would not think of will just miraculously come to mind in these private times with God. So, what we must do is “shut the door”—close off any outside distractions and interruptions! If you must turn your phone off, then do it! If you must turn the lights off and pray in the dark, then do it! Do whatever it takes to spend time with God and to stay focused on Him during that time. 
 
So, after you and I go to our place of intimacy with the Lord and close the door, Jesus said, “pray to your Father who is in the secret place …” This phrase shows us that God dwells in that secret place of privacy. But this phrase “the secret place” carries with it a lot of awesome truth!
 
We learn from the 91st Psalm that the promise of divine protection and blessing is found by those who dwell in this secret place. Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” You see, many claim the promises found in Psalm 91 as their own, but this first verse is the key qualifier for the rest of the promises contained in the Psalm.
 
Do you remember that passage of Scripture where Jesus said to His disciples- “the place that I go you cannot go…”? Well, while the common consensus was that He was talking about God’s presence in heaven, I believe Jesus was mainly talking about God’s presence here on the earth. In other words, He was talking about the secret place—that place of intimacy where no one could go with Him. Now they could certainly have that private place with the Lord—just them and Him. But they could not follow Him into His prayer closet because that was only reserved for Him and His Father alone.
 
So, we can see that the secret place is that spiritual place where the Father is. It is that place where just you and He go to spend time with one another. In other words, it is His manifest presence that you and I deliberately choose to enter into as we commune with Him. Amen! 
 
We see this throughout the Psalms as well, where the Hebrew word translated “secret” in Psalm 91:1 is used. Let’s look at some of them:

1. Psalm 31:20 says, “You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence.” This verse specifically teaches us that the secret place, the shadow of Shaddai as referred to in Psalm 91:1, is found in the presence of God.
2. If you compare what we just saw in Matthew 6:6 (that the secret place of prayer Jesus was referring to was where the Father is) to Psalm 32:7 & 119:114 where this same Hebrew word for “secret” is used, we are told— “You are my hiding place …” Therefore, God (our Father) Himself is our secret place.
3. We see in both Psalm 27:5 & 61:4 that this secret, hiding place is “in the Lord’s tabernacle”—which, to me, is an obvious reference to the presence of the Lord as the house of God was used by the Hebrews synonymously with the presence of God.

 
So, we can clearly see here that the secret place is the secret place of His presence! On top of that, this verse says that this is the place where we are hidden in this secret place.
 
You see, this shows us that one of the primary keys to living the blessed, victorious and abundant life God has promised us, is to live in this “secret place” of fellowship with the Lord. We must learn how valuable that time in the “secret place” is! This is the time where we can take a dip into the manifest presence of God and, as Psalm 91 goes on to say, we will live an extremely blessed and prosperous life! The closer we get to God the more blessed we will be because God is a blessing!
 
But the point Jesus was making in Matthew 6:6 is similar to what He taught us in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke chapter 18. In this Parable, Jesus told of these two individuals who went to pray before God, and He said that the Pharisee stood and prayed “thus with himself.” (See Luke 18:11).
 
You see, when we pray to be seen of men or with these impure motives, we are praying with ourselves and not with God. God dwells in the place of privacy and sincerity. He wants it to just be us and Him. He seeks such as these to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
 
Then finally, Jesus provides the promise to those who pray to the Father in the secret place at the end of Matthew 6:6--“And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”  When we pray and fast in a secret manner so that it stays between us and God and avoid the temptation to broadcast it to everyone, God says He will reward us openly.  That means He will give us the answer to those prayers in a public way for others to see. God rewards humility and then He broadcasts it! Amen!
 
VAIN REPETITIONS
 
Let’s now look at Matthew 6:7 where Jesus went on to say, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
 
So, after the third and final time of saying, “And when you pray,” Jesus said for us not to “use vain repetitions as the heathen do.” The phrase “vain repetitions” literally means “to speak without thinking or to say meaningless and mechanically repeated phrases,” and this is certainly something that those who do not know God tend to do.
 
Now it is important to note that Jesus did not intend for us to think that any repetitive type of prayer was wrong, just the “vain” kind of “repetitions.” You see, it is not wrong to repeat your petitions because both Jesus and Paul did it (Matthew 26:36-36 & Second Corinthians 12:7-8). According to Jesus, a prayer becomes a “vain repetition” when the motivation is that someone thinks they will be heard for their many words.  And while not many people think this is what they are doing, they are.
 
You see, it is easy to pray just a little longer and say more things because we believe if we word it just right or fill up more time, that God will answer our prayers. We can’t work our way to get God’s blessing. God only responds to our faith, not our works. You have heard of the phrase “praying through.”  Some people have the mentality that if they pray long enough God will finally answer their prayer.  This is not true! Praying through affects us, not God. If you could get to a place of faith where you believe God heard you the first time and loves you enough to provide, you can get the same results praying once. This is what Jesus was warning against—that underlying belief system that we will be heard because of what we say or how much we say it. 
 
But “vain repetitions” range beyond just this—they are also the prayers where we are just babbling words that have no heart behind them. We must make sure that when we are praying that we are sincerely thinking about what we are saying.  It is easy to let our mouth move, and at the same time, let our mind run down the street. When this happens, we can simply be using “vain repetitions” and our prayers will not avail much. 
 
You see, many believers become so accustomed to their own phrases and prayers that they just come out of their mouth mechanically. All of us have one routine prayer in our system; and once we get rid of it, then we can really start praying.
 
For example, some Christians have a routine prayer for the blessing at dinner. They will repeat the same prayer over every meal that they pray for. This is a vain repetition! Praying over our meals is a sacred thing. It is supposed to be a time where we thank God for the food that we are about to eat and where we ask Him to make it fit to enter His temples. All of our prayers need to be full of our hearts and our minds. We must learn to commune with God a lot like we would with other people.
 
If I were talking to you, you would think I was crazy if every other word out of my mouth was your name, like “Robert, I ask you for … Robert, would you give it to me … Robert, I thank you for hearing me …” Others automatically transform into Elizabethan English when they pray, saying their “thou’s, thee’s, etc.” Simply put, this is just praying religiously. It is not a sin, but we need to strive to go to new levels in our prayer lives. Prayer is simply communion with God and although we are to pay God more respect than we even do other people, we don’t need to be distant in our dialogue with Him. Simply put—if I talked to others like I talk to God, would they think I’m weird?
 
One of the Ten Commandments is that we are not to take the Lord’s name in vain. This does not only mean to say those bad phrases. It just simply means to speak the Lord’s name in an empty manner. A couple of examples would be saying, “Oh my God!” or “Good Lord Almighty.” Even saying these things is speaking the Lord’s name in an empty manner. A good rule of thumb to go by would be to evaluate whenever we are using the Lord’s name whether we are talking to God or about God. Some believers use the name of Jesus very loosely in their prayer times. We need to make sure we are never speaking His name emptily whether it be in a joking manner or in a religious manner.  
 
WHY ASK?
 
Finally, in Matthew 6:8, Jesus says, “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
 
Jesus is saying here that God already knows what we are going to ask Him for, so why do we have to continually ask for something and pray these long drawn out prayers. I am convinced the reason why some people pray these long drawn out prayers is because that is the only time they pray, and they feel like they have to go through certain things to get God’s favor. We will be more confident to make these short requests if we are praying continuously because we know God’s been on the line all day. It is like, if I never talked to my rich aunt, but I need something from her, would I be confident enough to call her up and get right to the request?  No, I would feel obligated to go through the formalities of small talk until, 30 minutes later, I could ask her for what I needed. On the other hand, if I talked to her every day, I would feel more confident in calling her up when I needed something and getting straight to the point. My point is—having a constant and continual prayer life breed’s confidence.
 
This is why I say that the vast majority of our prayer time should be fellowship, praise, and worship! A very minimal amount of prayer should be asking God for our needs to be met. We should be spending more time asking for others needs to be met—first spiritually, then naturally! But with so many, prayer time is enveloped with our own needs and our own desires. If we would just seek first the kingdom of God through seeking first the King (i.e. fellowship, praise, and worship) and His servants (i.e. interceding, etc.) then we would not have to worry about our own kingdom because it will be taken care of.
 
Now, in conclusion, a question I have always had is—If God already knows what we have need of before we ask Him, then why do we even have to ask? Why doesn’t He just do it? This is a good question, and one that we need to understand in our charismatic circles …
 
You see, in our modern day charismatic, word of faith and grace circles, I believe we have taken certain truths (that are indeed truths) and developed unscriptural doctrines out of them. Let me explain …
 
Within the past few decades, we have increased in our understanding that we are not waiting on God to do anything. We have come to find out that He has already done everything He is going to do through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And while these are truths that need to be understood, we have somehow minimized the importance of prayers and supplications at the same time. We have not learned to balance the asking part with the believing part.
 
In most of the radical teachings that have come out concerning faith and grace, it is implied that asking is unbelief because you are somehow not believing He has already done it. But if that were true, then that would nullify countless Scriptures in the New Testament that specifically tell us to ask. Let me give you just a few of them …

• “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11 & Luke 11:9-13)
• “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19)
• “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22)
• “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24)
• “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)
• “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7)
• “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24)
• “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;” (Colossians 1:9)
• “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5-6)
• “Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2b-3)
• “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22)
• “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

 
Now that is quite a few New Testament Scriptures concerning asking, isn’t it?
 
But it’s important to understand that the Greek word used for “ask” has several different derivatives in its definition such as “to beg, request, plead, desire, crave, and demand.” So, you can see from this definition that asking can mean anything from “begging” to “demanding.”
 
Now biblical asking is not in any way “begging or pleading.” We are told to ask in faith, which is being firmly convinced that what you are asking for is God’s will and/or that He loves you enough to give you the desires of your heart. To “beg” God is a totally unscriptural and ineffective way of asking.
 
On the other hand, when we ask we are not to get in the other ditch and start demanding things from God like we are bossing Him around. Some have gotten over into this and are void of honor and respect for their God. While it is Scriptural and necessary to remind God of what He has said (not that He has forgotten, but because it is good for us), we are not to do it in a disrespectful manner.
 
So what is the balance? We are to ask in faith—understanding the will and heart of our Heavenly Father, but we are also to ask in a humble and respectful way because He is our God as well as our Father. 
 
With all of this said, the basic meaning of this Greek word for “ask” is what you normally think of when you think of “asking.” As a matter of fact, if you look up every time this Greek word is used in the New Testament, you will find that in instances in the Gospels and the Book of Acts it just simply meant to make a request. I say all of this lest we try and over-think what this word “really” means in order to back up our pet doctrines. It means what you would think it means.
 
So, since we have a scriptural precedence for “asking” under the New Testament, we need to ask ourselves some questions: When is it appropriate to ask? What are we supposed to ask for? How do we ask for it?
 
So, let’s start by answering the question that we started out this teaching with: Why do we have to ask? The reason why we need to ask even though God already knows what we have need of before we ask is because it is a matter of legalities. Let me briefly explain …
 
God created this world and then delegated His authority to the first man, Adam. Psalms states that the heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth has He given to the sons of men. Adam, through willful disobedience, handed over that authority to the enemy, but Jesus came to win back that authority for all of those who are in Him. So, God, through Jesus Christ, has freely given to the church His authority. And since He has given us the dominion on the earth, it is up to us to see His will come to pass on the earth. He has set it up so that if His will is going to come to pass it will have to come to pass through human beings. Therefore, things come to pass that are His will when physical human beings exercise their right to ask, demand, and command. This is why we must ask for things. It’s because God has put us in the driver’s seat. Tell me He’s not a faith God😊
 
In Matthew 18:18, Jesus told us that whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And if you look at the following verse, prayer is the understood subject.
 
So, from this we can see the authority that has been freely given to us by God on this earth. Whatever is bound on earth is what will be bound in heaven. Whatever we loose on earth is what will be loosed in heaven. Notice that in both cases it starts on earth and then heaven follows. This is how God has set it up! He has given us the authority on the earth and so whatever we bind and loose through prayer is what will be bound and loosed in heaven.
 
You see, when Jesus said, “Knock and it shall be opened to you” He was showing us this same principle: We have to knock in order for the doors to be opened. Why doesn’t God just open doors on His own? Why do we have to knock first? It is because of this structure of authority God has set up on the earth …  
 
A good question is then—Why would He have set things up this way? I believe one of the main reasons is because it is simply His nature to do this.
 
You see, God is the epitome of a gentleman. This is demonstrated the best in the fact that He has given us the free will that He has. God is not one to intrude and make anybody do anything they don’t want to do. Therefore, He wants us to invite Him into our lives. He wants us to invite Him to do what He already desires to do for us. You see, God’s greatest desire is to be desired. And one of the greatest ways that we invite Him is through simply asking (or you could say petitioning Him).
 
CONCLUSION
 
So, today we’ve seen several things that we need to understand “when we pray.”

• We want to eliminate any and all hypocrisy from our prayer lives—all the over the shoulder praying, the praying to be seen and heard by others, and all other religion that might be in those prayers. 
• We want to enter the “secret place” of prayer, which is the presence of the Father and that place of privacy and intimacy with Him.
• We want to also get rid of the vain repetitions, which is all of those mechanically repeated prayers where our heart is not in what we are saying.
• Finally, we need to know that our Father already knows our needs and desires. So, we don’t need to pray these long, drawn out prayers. Just simply ask with confidence and believe you receive when you ask.

 
These are just a few of the things we need to know “when we pray.” Prayer is not us standing in the synagogues (i.e. church) and in other places where people can see us. God is the One we are praying to, not them. So, we go to that “secret place” and pray to Him who is unseen. Prayer is not us using a bunch of words. It is us using that K.I.S.S. principle—keep it simple saint--for when we make it simple and simply have communion with Him, receiving from Him becomes simple as well. Amen.

​INTRODUCTION
 
Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
 
How many of you have asked for something and didn’t receive, sought for something and didn’t find, and knocked and it wasn’t opened? The truth is—None of us have. I know there are a lot of us that think that we have, but if Jesus said that everyone who asks receives, then in my book, that’s true and all our experiences are not.
 
Yes, either what Jesus said is true or it’s not—and, church, I don’t believe Jesus was mistaken when He said this. No, I believe it is far more likely that we are mistaken in how we are hearing what He said. In other words, Jesus was likely referring to a different kind of asking, seeking, and knocking than what we have in mind when we think of these things. No, it’s asking the way that He taught us. It’s seeking the way we see it described in the Scriptures. It’s the kind of knocking that the Lord considers knocking, not what we think knocking is.
 
Let me give you an example of this: I’ve been in my office before and people have come to the door of the church office and knocked and I didn’t hear them knocking, and because I never heard them, I never opened the door. I wonder if that’s ever happened with us and the Lord. I wonder if we’ve knocked but it was not a knocking that He heard, so the door never got opened for us.
 
How about the asking part? Have you ever had someone come to you asking for something and they did it in a way that you considered inappropriate, and because of that, you didn’t give it to them? Now I am not implying that we need to say “pretty please” to the Lord in order to get our prayers answered. I’m simply making the point that our idea of asking and God’s idea of asking might not be the same. That is why we need to study to show ourselves approved in order to find out what the Lord has told us about prayer and how to see the answers to those prayers because I believe that if we ask, seek and knock the way the Lord intended, we will be heard by God and receive the answers every time just like Jesus said here. Amen?
 
I make this point, not to have us go back into our past and try and figure out why we didn’t receive what we asked or to feel condemned about these times. It is simply to help us understand that there is indeed a protocol to experiencing the power found in prayer to where we do indeed receive the answers to our prayers.
 
So, this is what we will be learning starting today as we begin a new series about prayer. And I am entitling this series— “The Power and Protocol of Prayer.”
 
Now the reason I am entitling this series this is because these are two very important things that I believe we need to understand about prayer: We need to first know that there is indeed power in prayer. When you and I pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, heaven and earth can be moved to see results when, in the natural, there seems like there is no way things could ever change. So, prayer—the kind God has intended—is powerful, and it requires faith to know this.
 
So, let’s turn over to James 5:13-18 and look at a section of Scripture that talks about the power that is in prayer:  
 
James starts in verse 13 by saying— “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” What does he say to do when we are suffering? Let him pray! He doesn’t say— “Call up your friends and get them to pray for you.” No! He says that we are to pray for ourselves.
 
Not interpreting it this way would be the same as interpreting the next part as “Is anyone cheerful? Let him ask somebody else to sing a song for him.” That would be ridiculous! If you are happy then you sing a song. Likewise, if you are going through something then you pray.
 
James is not saying that you should never ask somebody else to pray for you because of what he goes on to say in verse 14 but, as a general rule, we should take the responsibility to pray and trust in the Lord ourselves. You see, it does not take a lot of effort to ask people to pray for you when you are suffering. Immature believers will pass the buck on to somebody else and lean on their faith to see their breakthroughs. They will run to the phone before they run to the throne! So many times, when we are having hardships, we become too focused on our self and begin to call everyone we can think of to get them to “agree” with us in prayer. If you look ahead to verse 16 James tells us where our focus should be. He says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” When we are going through something, we shouldn’t call everyone up to get them to pray for us. Instead, we need to call everyone up to pray for them! When you focus on praying for others that are going through similar struggles you will reap the answers to your prayers. Love never fails!
 
In verse 14 James went on to give us the example of a sick person calling for the elders of the church to anoint and pray for them. Now this does not contradict what we talked about from the previous verse. The word “sick” here describes someone that is extremely weak—even to the point of being bedbound. Thus the reason he had to call for the elders to come to him. So this describes someone who is too weak to believe for themselves. Just as Moses needed help to keep his arms lifted, so those that are extremely sick sometimes need friends to pick them up and tear the roof open for them to get their miracle.
 
Verse 15 goes on to describe what gets the results when these elders anoint the sick with oil in the name of the Lord. He says, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” You see, it was not the oil that brought the healing; it was faith and the Lord! Someone might say, “Wait a minute Trey! Jesus is the healer, not us!” That’s right…but Jesus Himself attributed peoples healing to their own faith. He said to the women with the issue of blood— “Your faith has made you whole!” The healing power comes from God, but our faith is what grabs hold of that power and takes it for its own!
 
Then after James describes the prayer of faith in reference to healing, he begins in verse 16 to explain that there are also times that we need to pray earnestly and fervently for some things. You see, there are those times and circumstances that we are to pray the prayer of faith—which is, praying one time and believing we receive—but there are also times that we need to pray continuously with perseverance.
 
At the end of verse 16 James gives us a tremendous promise concerning those persevering kind of prayers. He says, “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The words “effective fervent” are the translation of the one Greek word energeo. This describes a prayer that is continuously active and energetic (This word is where we get our English word “energy” from). In other words, it is a prayer that does not lose its passion and zeal. But rather, it is a prayer that remains full of energy and power after time. The word that is translated “prayer” in this verse is deesis which makes this a poor translation. The word deesis describes the requests and petitions in our prayer times. A better translation would have been “supplication.” James says that the energetic, fervent petitioning of a righteous man “avails much.” The word “avails” comes from the Greek word ischuo and describes “inherent power”—that is, “the power that one possesses.” So, the way you could translate “avails much” is— “possesses a great amount of power and ability.” Wow! Do you see that? James is saying that the continuous, fervent, and energetic supplications of a righteous man (or woman, of course) possess awesome power!
 
Someone might be thinking- “What kind of power?” Then James gives us an example of the Prophet Elijah in verse 17 & 18. He starts off by saying that “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” The King James Version says that he was “a man subject to like passions as we are.” What James was trying to get across to us was that Elijah was just a regular person like us. He was subject to the same feelings and emotions as any human being. In other words, he was not “superhuman.” He was just “human!” He had his ups and downs just like we all do. So, James’ point was this—that we do not need to look at the answered prayers of Elijah as unattainable because, after all, he was a man of God. No, we are not any less than him! As a matter of fact, what we have is greater than what he had! Jesus said in Luke 7:28 that there was no greater prophet than John the Baptist. And that would include Elijah! But the most amazing statement in that verse is what Jesus said next— “but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” That would include everyone who is born again! Jesus was saying that everyone under the New Covenant has something better than what John the Baptist, Moses, and Elijah had! Wow! Now that does not mean that we have done greater obviously, but it means that we can do greater!
             
The difference between Elijah and us is that, first of all, Elijah walked with God (which is a lesson in itself) and second, James says that “he prayed earnestly” (The Greek text actually says that “with prayer he prayed.” This was a Hebruism and denotes that he prayed earnestly.) James is giving a great example of how the “continual energetic petition of a righteous man possesses a great amount of power!” When James “prayed earnestly” that it would not rain, it did not rain for 3 years and 6 months! The tremendous power that was made available through his earnest prayer was that it did not rain until (vs.18) he prayed again! His prayer stopped the course of nature and then started it back again!    
 
But I want you to notice that this phrase— “the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”—is a specific kind of prayer. So, guess what else is required in order to experience the power in prayer? It is understanding how prayer works.
 
You see, it is not just our own idea of prayer that avails much; it is the kind of prayer that God reveals to us in His Word that has this mountain moving potential. In other words, in order to be more effective in our prayer lives and to see its potential power, we must learn God’s protocol for this powerful kind of prayer.
 
The word “protocol” describes an official procedure, a system of rules, or we might say a proper way of approaching someone or something. How many of you know that God has given us a way of how to approach Him and a procedure of how to approach prayer itself? He most certainly has! There are rules He’s put into place that get the best results in this area.
 
So, this prayer protocol is a big part of what we are going to learn in this series: What prayer is; what it’s not; how to do it; etc. In short, we are going to learn how prayer works and how to see the answers we desire when we pray.   
 
So, as we enter into this study, I want to begin this week with this question—What is prayer? In order to tap into its power and learn how it works, we first need to know what it is, right?
 
WHAT IS PRAYER?
 
So, what is prayer? If I were to ask you this question, what would your answer be? To some, prayer is no more than a position or posture. To them, it is us getting on our knees, folding our hands, bowing our heads, and closing our eyes. To others, it is rehearsed or memorized statements that can be said with the person praying’s heart and mind being completely detached. But is this true?
 
I am the type of person that likes to ask questions like—Why do we do this? Why do we get on our knees when we pray? Why do we close our eyes? Why do we bow our head? Why do we say the things we say? Now I believe that some of these things are good to do when we pray, but I also believe that we need to know why they are good and not just do them out of tradition or habit.
 
For example, I’ve heard Pastor Robert use this as an analogy, that when he was a child, his family would say “grace” at the dinner table, saying that cookie cutter prayer, that “God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food …” but it never dawned on him that God actually was great and that He really is good.
 
You see, I believe people say a lot of things when they pray, but they do not truly realize what they are saying. Here is another example—a lot of us have it engrained in us that when someone sneezes, that we say, “Bless you.” It’s just good manners, right? But why is that good manners? I know there is a back story to why we do bless someone when they sneeze, but are these things biblically based and necessary?
 
Now I am not trying to get you or your children to stop acknowledging someone who sneezes. I just think we need to ask questions like this so that we are not doing things simply out of tradition with no understanding as to why we are doing them. I think prayer has a lot of those “Bless you’s.” I believe people do certain things under the guise of prayer simply because it,s what was modeled to them, it’s how they’ve been trained, or it’s just tradition.
 
So, we need to understand that just because somebody prays, it doesn’t mean that they know God or are a truly spiritual person. In fact, prayer is one of those things that even those who do not know God can do.
 
That’s right—religion (the bad kind) loves to pray. We see it is with the other religions of the world like Muslims, Hindus, etc. who pray much more religiously than most of us Christians do. Now based on what we know to be true, these other religions that pray do not know the one true and living God, right? So, the fact that someone prays does not make them godly or spiritual. In fact, Jesus taught us that hypocrites love to pray (We will cover this more next week). 
 
So, I say all of this to say that there are types of prayer that are absolutely ineffective and not a clear reflection of someone’s healthy relationship with God. On the other hand, there is a right kind of prayer that holds tremendous power to move heaven and earth.
 
So, my heart in this teaching is for us to discover how to be more effective in our prayer lives, and also to put into our hearts a desire to do more of it. Amen?
 
DEFINING PRAYER
 
So, let’s now look at the word commonly used for “prayer” in the New Testament. It is the Greek word proseuche. It comes from two Greek words:
 
The first word is pros which literally means “unto or towards” and denotes “facing” someone or something. Now while it can describe simply turning towards something or someone who is at a distance, it is also used to describe drawing near and coming face to face with that person or thing. I believe the latter description is what is intended when it comes to prayer. Why? It is because God specifically told us in this New Covenant to draw near to Him (James 4:8) and to come boldly before His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). And the reason we can do this is because we who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).
 
So, I see this word pros describing to us the proximity of prayer. We boldly draw near and come “face to face” with God. This is a big difference between “Call Him up, call Him up, and telling Him what I want” (that’s a song, by the way) and going to see Him in person, which is what we are invited to do.   
 
It is also interesting to note that the Greek word used for “worship” uses this same prefix pros also. So, to me, this prefix describes a place of intimacy that whether one is praying to God or worshipping Him, directly drawing near and face to face with Him is a prerequisite.
 
So, when I pray, I ought not to see what I am doing as I’m way down here and He’s way up there somewhere and I hope if I shoot some of these buckshot prayers into the heavens, one of them will hit. No, this describes to me that I can approach the God of the Universe and face Him personally and intimately. It is me entering into His throne room and presenting my worship, petitions, fellowship, etc. to Him.  
 
Now the second word included in “prayer” is euchomai which means “to wish, desire or pray.” The root word describes making a vow or oath. Now a vow or oath is not a request, is it? No, these are statements, not requests. So, what would “euchomai” describe? This word would describe not only our requests and petitions; this would also include, simply, our conversations with God.
 
You see, most people only see prayer as petitions, but let’s look at a couple of verses that clearly do not agree with that theology--Philippians 4:6 & Ephesians 6:18.
 
In both of these passages, the apostle Paul used the phrase “prayer and supplication.” Isn’t it interesting that Paul makes a distinction between “prayer” and “supplication”? The word “supplication” literally describes fervently asking God for things. So, prayer is obviously not just our requests.  
 
So, since I just made the point that at the root of prayer is a “vow,” and vows denote making a commitment or a promise to someone, when does one generally make these statements?  These statements of commitment (i.e. vows) generally come during our times of worship of, and fellowship with, God. Therefore, this second part of our literal definition of prayer shows us that prayer involves our fellowship with God and our praise & worship of Him.
 
SO, WHAT IS PRAYER AGAIN?
 
Herein lies the difference between what prayer truly is and what man has considered it to be: Prayer, in its purest form, is simply our communication with God based on the relationship we have with Him. It is not just us petitioning Him for our needs to be met (although this is one aspect of prayer) but includes fellowshipping with Him through simply talking to Him.   
 
So, in light of this, allow me to give you my definition of prayer: Prayer, literally, is “intimately approaching God (coming face to face with Him) for the purpose of communicating with Him.” In short, you could define prayer as our communion with God.
 
You see, the word “communion” describes the union of two people. So, prayer is simply our coming together with God and enjoying fellowship with Him. This means that prayer is the relationship that we have with God. And, of course, a big part of this relationship is that verbal communication that we have with each other. This means that prayer is so much more than our requests and petitions; prayer is the vehicle which drives our relationship with God. 
 
Now as I made the point of earlier, we can pray and not have a relationship with God, but we cannot have a relationship with God and not pray.
 
Yes, we have a lot of people who can pray up a storm and spend lots of time praying, but they don’t know God. But how can you and I know God without communicating with Him? We can’t. Sure, we can know about Him—learning things that teach us who He is—but in order to know Him and have this personal relationship with Him, we must communicate with Him through prayer.
 
So, it is for this reason that I see prayer not as our relationship with God, but as the vehicle that drives our relationship with Him. In other words, our prayer life is how we arrive at a healthy, vibrant relationship with the Lord because it requires us communicating with Him.
 
Aren’t the relationships that we have with one another driven by good, healthy, and constant communication?
 
CONSTANT COMMUNICATION
 
Now when it comes to, say, the relationship between a husband and a wife, while it is good to have special times with our spouse, the vast majority of the time involved in a relationship is not going on dates. This is only a fraction of the time that a husband and wife will spend together.
 
So, although these date times are wonderful and necessary, relationships are not all about intimate contact and romance. We cannot have these intimate moments with our spouse all of the time, can we? The majority of our time spent in one another’s presence is in the other type of time that I described earlier—the times involving other necessary things such as our children, jobs, hobbies, etc.
 
You see, the downfall of many married couples is that although they go on the occasional “date” and have the occasional “intimate” moments, they do not make the effort to strengthen their relationship with their spouse during the daily affairs of their life. They do not really communicate. They do not touch. They only practice these things when they go on dates and when they have special moments. But by learning to “practice their presence” during these times where distractions are present is what takes a relationship from being just normal to becoming great!
 
Most experts say that the first and foremost key to a healthy marriage relationship is constant communication! They say that a marriage relationship is maintained, not by special occasions or date times alone, but through learning to consistently communicate throughout the day in and day out activities of life.
 
You see, after we begin our new life with our significant other, things tend to become busy and cluttered. Usually, during the time we are married, life begins coming at us real fast. Usually, we are beginning our careers—which take much of our attention and some of our energy. Then we have children—who demand all of our attention and take all of our energy. And these distractions of life never stop. So, if we are not careful, the time we spent successfully communicating with our spouse either before we were married or soon after we got married, can begin to suffer. This is when we must learn to cultivate a lifestyle of communication with our spouse even when other things are vying for our attention. This is when we must learn to keep those lines of communication open throughout the day for all seven days of the week. 
 
So how does this apply to prayer? Well, God’s Word instructs us to pray without ceasing, does it not? So, when you view this command from the perspective of everything revolving around a personal relationship with God, First Thessalonians 5:18 is saying that God desires for us to remain in a place of constant communication with Him! Therefore, we can see that just as constant communication is important in any natural relationship, God apparently thinks that it is just as important in our relationship with Him as well.
 
You see, so many Christians who actually are successful in practicing communicating with God on a regular basis just talk to God during the special times they set aside for Him like; for instance, first thing in the morning. This is a good practice; do not get me wrong. But the problem is that after that time they spent communicating with Him in the morning, they hang up the phone with Him and do not talk to Him the rest of the day. This is, of course, unless they have an emergency. But, you see, what “praying without ceasing” means is that we do not ever hang up the phone! We need to stay on the line with Him all day long and keep those lines of communication open continuously!
 
And this constant communication is needful in all relationships. It is not just limited to the marriage relationship, but should be practiced in all aspects of a family. As a matter of fact, all of these things that we have discussed today that make up a good relationship between both a parent & child and a husband & wife are applicable to making any relationship prosper.
 
But while many of the things I just said apply to the marriage relationship, I truly speak concerning a Husband and a Father who passionately loves us. So, let’s become that bride that is passionately in love with our Groom—Jesus Christ! Let’s become that child that ministers to our Heavenly Father!
 
What a grand opportunity we have, for how can it be that our God desires to have a relationship with you and I!?!  I tell you the truth, He desires this from you more than anything else you could do for Him! He, first of all, desires a personal relationship with you and then He wants for you to introduce others to Him for the same purpose. This is Christianity in its simplest terms— relationship with God!
 
THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
 
And church, this is what it’s all about—having a vibrant, personal relationship with God! It is what the Lord intended from the very beginning when He created man. He wanted someone created in His likeness and image that He could come, walk and talk with. He just wanted a family—He wanted a marriage and He wanted children. This is why the New Covenant that we have with God is described as the relationship between a Father and His children and a Husband and His bride.
 
No, in the Garden, there was not anyone there who needed to be prayed through for salvation. There were not any bills that needed to be paid. There was not anything that they needed to ask God for. Yet they walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. So, since there was not anything they needed to ask God for, what did they talk to God about? They just came face to face with Him with the purpose of communing with Him! That is, they fellowshipped with Him and they also praised and worshipped Him. They had a relationship with Him! They asked Him questions and they listened to His answers. God did not create them for any other reason but to simply have a relationship with them. And if that is the original reason man was created, then we can be sure that that is God’s perfect will for us today. 
 
Having this relationship with God (i.e. prayer) is the primary purpose of our salvation. We were not primarily created so that we can evangelize the world, but we were created so that we can intimately know the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
 
Someone might argue, “How can you say that? Winning the lost is our primary objective as children of God!” I can say that because, again, why did God create Adam? It was not to win the lost, but it was to commune with Him. Revelation 4:11 says that all things were and are created for His pleasure. And mankind was one of God’s creations. So that means that we were created for the pleasure of God. So how do we bring pleasure to God? By worshipping Him, praising Him, thanking Him, and just simply fellowshipping with Him!
 
Jesus said in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus came for one purpose— that we would have eternal life and not perish!
 
What is eternal life? Because I’ve got news for you: You are going to live forever either in hell or heaven! So “eternal life” could not just be living forever. Jesus describes eternal life in John 17:3— “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” The Father’s goal for sending Jesus was for us to come into intimate fellowship with Him and His Son! Eternal life does not start when we die and go to heaven. In John 3:36 Jesus said, “he who believes in the Son has everlasting life.” Not that he will have everlasting life but that he immediately possesses eternal life—which is, having a relationship with God the Father and God the Son.
 
Since having a relationship with God is the high call of every believer, then we need to act like it, and not be religious in our ways of praying. Prayer is not a position or a posture. Prayer is not having your head bowed and your eyes closed. Prayer is simply communion with God—whether it is walking, sitting, standing, eyes open, or eyes shut. Prayer is just talking to God and sometimes it is appropriate to bow our knees in reverence or close our eyes to focus when we are communing with Him but we cannot get legalistic about it and say we have to do these things every time.
 
You see, we need to think about why we do some of the things we do. Are we lifting our hands out of some traditional habit? Are we bowing our head because our Sunday school teacher, Sister so and so, said we should? And just because we begin our prayers with “Our Father” and end them with “in the name of Jesus” does not make it prayer either. We can go through all these religious formalities of prayer and never have those words enter the ears of God. It is not these external rituals that make our prayers acceptable. It is the attitude we have in our heart that God is looking at when we pray!             
 
Church, I say these things today because we need to know what prayer truly is. Once we know this and act on these truths, I believe we can begin to experience the power of prayer in our lives—because we know the One whom we are praying to. Amen? This is the first step in the protocol of prayer—basing it on relationship and not religion. Amen.

REVIEW
 
Well, today we will be concluding our series on the Book of Revelation entitled “The Revelation.” And I expect that you have learned things through this study that have imparted spiritual blessings to you! It has certainly ministered to me as we have focused on all the positive, good things that are found in this, the final Book of the Bible, and not on all the bad, confusing things.
 
So, let’s quickly review what we have covered thus far:

1. In part one (The Spirit of Prophecy), we began by seeing that this Book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, He is the Revelation of Revelations, and worthy of all the attention in this Book. Yes, Jesus Christ is the very spirit of prophecy.
2. In part two (The Golden Lampstands), we looked at what the Spirit is saying to the Church both of yesterday and today. We saw that even in the midst of the church’s need for correction and rebuke, He still sees us as golden and precious in His sight.
3. In part three (Come Up Hither), we saw how John was taken up to heaven to see the things which would take place. So, we learned that the things he saw were from a heavenly and spiritual perspective—the same perspective we should see current world events through. And like the apostle John, when we come up hither, we will see the throne of God, the worthy Lamb of God, etc. In short, we will see the glory and not the gory.
4. In part four (Woe or Wow?), we moved on to the description of the Great Tribulation, and what we learned was while there are certainly “Woes” involved in this time-period, to us there is a completely different perspective to be had. We get the “Wows” because God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, even though the birth pangs will be present, we are “expecting” the birth of something beautiful!
5. In part five (The Defeated Dragon), we looked at the utter demise of the dragon and his angels and studied how he has been disarmed, dethroned and defeated—past, present, and future! Therefore, now our salvation has come! Yes, today is the day of salvation. And we are to live from the perspective that we are ultimately victorious even though it might seem like the devil has the lead in these last days.
6. Then, in part six (Anti-Christ or Pro-Christ?), we looked the antichrist, his false prophet, and the mark of the beast that we’ve heard so much about in the Body of Christ. But we learned that the devil does not just have a counterfeit Christ; there is an anti-trinity—showing us that the devil counterfeits all that is God. And the reason why he copies God is because he knows God’s way works. And, church, we need to know His way works too, and begin following God’s pattern and structure also. We even saw that the mark of the beast was an idea stolen from God because we have three witnesses in Revelation that says that the people of God are sealed and marked too (See Revelation 7:3, 9:4 & 14:1). So, if we are marked and have His seal, then we need not fear being deceived in that day. Yes, we have God’s protection from deception as long as we handle the Truth and become intimately acquainted with Him.
7. Finally, last week in part seven (The Wages of Babylon), we looked at the rise & fall of Babylon—which is that one-world government that the antichrist will rule over in the last days. And we learned that since Babylon is going to be that city that Satan will establish, it will be founded on pride similarly to how the Babylon of old had that haughty king, Nebuchadnezzar, ruling over it. And we learned from that, this is what will lead to its fall—because what goes up, must come down. This illustrated to us how the wages of sin always produces death—which is why we see so much about God’s wrath, His judgment, etc. in Revelation. It’s not because He wants to do it; it’s because He has to do it. God is love, but He is also justice—and He has put the keys in our hand to choose life & blessing. But if one persists in serving sin, death is the only outcome possible. But we also learned that this is not just to be taken negatively. Sure, we will reap what we sow, but that works in our favor to. Yes, we can reap some awesome rewards from the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ if we will sow righteousness. Amen? 

 
So, as promised, today we will pick up in the final two chapters of this final Book of the Bible. And church, I want to let you know that what we will see today is God’s heart and the culmination of His will for His creation: It is to make all things new again!
 
Interestingly enough, when you read Revelation chapter 21 & 22, you see God essentially restoring what He created in Genesis chapters 1 & 2. In other words, He will recreate in the end what He created in the beginning. No, it will not look completely the same, having the name Eden, but it will be paradise restored, nonetheless. Glory to God!
 
But like the fact that these two chapters describe God restoring what He created in the beginning, as we look at these last two chapters that describe our hope as Christians, many of us will likely see that we haven’t clearly seen what our hope entails. In other words, we are going to see some things about the end of this world as we know it, and about the new one to come, that we might not have completely understood correctly. So, open up your heart and mind to believe what we will read today instead of only reading what we believe. Amen?
 
HOW OLD THINGS WILL PASS AWAY
 
Now we begin in Revelation 21:1 where the apostle John said, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.”
 
Now this is something that requires some explanation because I feel there are a lot of Christians that have not heard or understood what will ultimately take place with the heavens & earth at the end. I believe the apostle Peter sums it up best in his second epistle. Let’s look at it …
 
Peter begins by addressing the problems that scoffers either were or would be making, questioning the promise of Jesus’ Second Coming. Then he says in Second Peter 3:5-7 – “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
 
So, Peter compares how the heavens and the earth, which were created by the Word of God and were eventually flooded in the days of Noah, are being reserved now in our generation, not for water, but for fire.
 
You see, this is why we need to read our Bibles and believe what we are reading. Why? It’s because the world would have you believe that “mother earth” is in danger through things like global warming, etc. No, we don’t have to worry about global warming; the world ought to be worrying about global melting because that’s what the Bible tells us is going destroy this planet.
 
Peter goes on to explain this further in verse 10 – “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
 
So, the Day of the Lord—that Day when Jesus returns—will come unexpectantly like a thief in the night. It won’t be something we will see coming through a telescope and will be able to get ready for. No, this passing away of the heavens will sneak up on us unexpectantly—and as Peter says, “with a great noise.” So, we don’t need to have a big bang theory. You know what a theory is, right? I like Brother Hagin’s definition— “A theory is a supposition based on the ignorance of the subject under discussion.” No, the difference is this great noise isn’t what will create all things, but what will destroy all things. Then Peter says that the elements (that is, all physical things from the atom to Adam) will melt with fervent heat to where the earth and all that is within it will burn up.
 
Church, this is what will most assuredly take place in the end. So, knowing this, what should our response be? Should we be dreading that day? NO! Peter goes on to say that it should simply change our conduct—to where we are living holy and godly lives (See verse 11). Then we are “looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of the Lord” (See verse 12). Yes, as he says in verse 13 in light of this “global meltdown”— “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” And not just look for it, but look forward to it, according to verse 14.
 
Church, this is indeed a Day we are to look forward to! It has been prophesied over and over of a new heavens and new earth where peace will be experienced, no more death, no more killing. Only paradise and promise will be experienced in those days!
 
THE HOPE OF HEAVEN ON EARTH
 
But here is another major misunderstanding in the Body of Christ: Where believers go when they leave their body now is not their permanent habitation. Yeah, that’s right, heaven is not our eternal home; heaven will invade earth in that Day and that is where we will make our eternal habitation, ruling and reigning with Christ on the new earth! Amen!
 
Let me illustrate it to you so you can be sure to understand it— One of our longtime members, Barb Scott, will be moving to Pennsylvania at the end of November and she will be traveling by air. Well, suppose her flight includes a short layover in Cincinnati, Ohio. That is a lot like what the heaven we now go to is like. It’s a lot like that layover in Cincinnati while our permanent destination is in Pennsylvania—that symbolizing the new earth that will be created in that Day. Now, of course, Pennsylvania is a far cry from paradise. Perhaps I should have used the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, or something like that. But the point is that the layover city is different than the destination city. However, the intermediate heaven and heaven on earth will not be much different as far as I know. They will both be grand and glorious and worth looking forward to!      
 
But one thing John made sure to describe to us about what he saw is the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to the earth (See Revelation 21:2). He described this city as a bride prepared for her husband. So, I don’t know if the wedding march will be being played when the holy city is coming down from heaven to the new earth, but what I can guarantee you is that the full measure of the same joy and excitement a husband experiences when he sees his bride coming down the aisle is going to be experienced in believers when they see the New Jerusalem descending to the earth. Hallelujah! 
 
Then in verses 3-8, John heard a loud voice describing several characteristics of this new heavenly Jerusalem that will reign over the new heavens and the new earth:
 
The first thing we are told is that the tabernacle of God would now be with men and He would dwell with them. Again, God’s original and eternal plan is to come down and make His home with us! He did it in the Garden of Eden when He would come down and fellowship with man in the cool of the day, and He will do it again when Paradise is reestablished in the Millennium. This is God’s perfect will—to abide with us forever! This is undisputedly the greatest benefit of heaven being brought to the earth.
 
Verse 4 goes on to say that He will wipe away every tear, that there shall be no more death, sorrow, crying or pain, because the former things have passed away. How awesome is that going to be!?! All of these things that were brought on by the curse of sin will die—that is, they will not be a part of this new everlasting kingdom. Glory!
 
Then in verse 5, John sees where God said, “Behold, I make all things new.” This is what the Lord did for us through Jesus as it pertains to our salvation, and it is what He will ultimately do with His creation and for His creation. Amen.
 
For example, in Second Corinthians 5:17— “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” That sounds an awful lot like what God said He would do with His original creation, doesn’t it? Yes, all of the old things (that is, the heavens and the earth that He created in the beginning) will pass away, and yes, all these things will become new! That’s the new heavens and the new earth—where righteousness dwells!
 
But the fact is, this process started in each of us the day we got saved: The old creation we were born into through the transgression of Adam passed away on the day we received Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. At that moment, you and I became a new creation where Jesus made all things new in our spirit. This left us in the position to hope in the same transformation to take place in our outward man that took place in our inward man. And this will be experienced around the same time that God makes all things new on this earth! Amen.
 
Then, in verses 6-8, we see the Lord saying, “It is done!” Again, similar to what Jesus said when He hung on the Cross— “It is finished”—when this process of restoration and redemption began. So, we can now see that it is finished and it is done! Amen.
 
THE NEW JERUSALEM AND OTHER CITIES
 
Now in the rest of Revelation chapter 21, we have this New Jerusalem described in glorious detail. And because we see John spend some nineteen verses describing what this city will look like, we need to know that this is a big part of what we have to look forward to. So, let’s look at a couple of distinguishing characteristics of this city that is to come …
 
The dimension laid out to us in Revelation 21:15-16 equates to it being 1,400 miles in length, width, and height! This would stretch north and south from Canada to Mexico, and east and west from Macon, GA to Colorado Springs. If each story were a generous 12 feet high, this would give it 600,000 stories! That means that it could be anywhere from 600,000 – 1,200,000 stories, depending on the height of each story. (See illustration).
 
Now a building’s greatest strength is its foundation, and the New Jerusalem was said to have not one foundation, but twelve, each decorated with a different gem (See Revelation 21:14, 19-20). John names twelve stones, eight of which correspond to the stones of the high priest’s breast-piece (See Exodus 28:17-20). Church, whatever God builds will last! (See Hebrews 11:8-10).
 
Then, in verses 22-27, we see the glory of this New Jerusalem—that there will be no temple in this Jerusalem because the Father and Son will be its temple, there will be no need for the sun and moon there to illuminate it because the Lamb is its light, and the city’s gates will always remain open.  
 
Now as we move on to Revelation chapter 22, we see where John was shown a pure river (clear as crystal) of the water of life that proceeded from the throne of God. He saw the tree of life there. And then in verse 3 we see something that should excite us— “no more curse.” Glory! And in verse 5 we see that we shall reign with the Lamb forever and ever!  
 
You see, this concept of reigning with Christ is another thing not understood by many. Sure, we see Jesus as coming to reign, Him being the King of kings. But who are the kings He is king of? We are! He is the firstfruit of many brethren—so we, as sons of God, are meant to rule with Him. Yes, rule over sin, the curse, and death now in this life, but over the New Earth that will be created. Amen!
 
Jesus taught us things that lead us to presume that many other cities will be on the New Earth—not just the New Jerusalem. We get this through Jesus’ stewardship parable, the Parable of the Minas, where He indicates we will be given cities to rule over as we faithfully steward what He’s given us in this life (see Luke 19:11-27).  It is for this reason that I believe the New Earth will contain many different cities just like we have now. There will be the capital city of the New Jerusalem, but other cities given to His faithful servants to reign over in His stead.
 
THE HOPE OF THE REVELATION
 
Now, in conclusion, I want us to end this series with the resounding message we see at the end of this Book. Again, it is not bad news, but rather good news! Let me say it this way— The Book of Revelation is a revelation of the culmination of the gospel! As a matter of fact, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the terminology used to describe His Second Coming in other Scriptures (See First Corinthians 1:7-8 & First Peter 1:7). Therefore, the Book we call “Revelation” is ultimately a prophecy of the Revelation of Jesus Christ at His Return. This is evidenced in Revelation chapter 22 …
 
In this—the last chapter of the Bible itself—Jesus repeats that He is coming quickly three times! (See verses 7, 12, 20) In fact, the very last admonition given to us by Jesus is— “Surely I am coming quickly.” So, this must be an extremely important truth for us to understand if the Lord wraps up the Holy Scriptures by giving us this admonition. Then, to establish its importance further, He repeated it three times (for in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established). Therefore, we ought to pay close attention to these final words of Jesus by taking an in depth look at them… 
 
In Revelation 22, Jesus said twice “Behold I am coming quickly” (vs.7&12). The word “behold” renders, “stop, look, and listen.” It is a word used to make the hearers stop and pay attention to what is to follow. When I was in elementary school, I had a physical education teacher who would use this phrase— “Stop, look, and listen” –repeatedly to get our attention. He would say this to make us quit our goofing off, calm down, and pay attention to what he was about to say. Likewise, Jesus used this word to get us to quit messing around in worldly, carnal things and to become sober and vigilant concerning the truth that was in His following statement. 
 
In verse 20, Jesus used the word “Surely.” You know, Jesus oftentimes, during His earthly ministry, would preface some of His statements with the words, “verily, verily.” This meant that what He was about to say was absolutely true, certain, and sure. Likewise, here in Revelation when He said “surely” He was saying the same thing— “This is absolutely true, certain, and sure.” So, what is it that He wants us to heed and pay attention to and also to be certain and convinced of? It is that He is coming quickly!
 
Now when we see the word “quickly” we could think something like— “Now if He said He was coming quickly a little less than 2,000 years ago was He telling the truth?” This is what the apostle Peter was saying in Second Peter 3:3-13 when he said that in the last days scoffers will come saying things like— “Where is the promise of His coming because things haven’t changed in so long?” Peter then points us back to understanding how God’s time operates in verse 8. He says, “… do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” So, you see, God does not have the same timetable as we do. In His mind, since the time Jesus was resurrected, it hasn’t even been two days yet. But one thing is for sure… that we are closer than we ever have been before and, therefore, we need to “watch” (i.e. to stay awake and alert spiritually) because He is coming quickly.   
 
Now I understand that people think they already know this. Sure, we’ve all heard that Jesus is coming back. But that doesn’t mean we truly know it.
 
I remembered hearing of a man’s experience of being taken to heaven and meeting Jesus. He said that Jesus told him to go back and tell people that He is coming. This man thought, “They already know that,” and Jesus, of course, knowing his thoughts, said to him, “No, they don’t! They don’t know that! Go and tell them!”
 
Church, let’s not let it be said of us that we don’t know that Jesus is coming back! Let’s let this truth impact our hearts to where we will live our lives accordingly! Behold, He is coming again quickly to make all things new! Be ready and watch! Amen.
 
THE PARABLE OF THE KING AND THE WIDOW
 
Now let me conclude this series by turning back to Revelation 22 and taking a look at the attitude that John described as saturating the church of the Lord Jesus Christ…
 
In verse 17, he says, “And the Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’…” and in verse 20 he wraps up his Revelation by saying— “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” I hope you can hear the earnest, heartfelt desire in Christ’s bride pleading for Him to “Come!” In these words, I hear a desperate bride who longs for her husband who is in a distant land to come back to her that they may be together forever. This is exactly the attitude the church should have today concerning Christ’s return.
 
Let me paint this picture in a parable. I’ll call this the Parable of the King and the widow …
 
There once was an extremely poor widow woman who had been sold into slavery. Her situation was hopeless, and death seemed to be her only destiny. Then an extremely wealthy king looked from afar and spotted her. His heart was moved with compassion and he decided to do something about her poverty and bondage. So, he traveled a great distance to come to her rescue. When he arrived, he sold all that He had in order to redeem her from certain death and to purchase her freedom. Moreover, he even took her to be his bride! She marveled at the amazing grace that he extended towards her! Not only had he delivered her from certain death, but he also offered her an abundant life in his kingdom. She had never known love like this before! Her obvious response was that she fell in love with her redeemer and fiancé.
 
Then the time came for Him to return to His kingdom and He had to leave her behind because it was not time for her to return with Him. He did not want to leave her comfortless, so he sent her a helper to help take care of her while He would be away. On top of that, he sent her many letters that expressed his love for her and contained his promise that he would again return to her. Although she was left in the same environment that He found her in, she now had His help and the hope of his promise to come again one day and take her back with Him so that where he was she would be also.  
 
She always kept this hope before her—anticipating Him to come back to her at any moment. She would read the love letters that He left for her in order to bring herself comfort and hope, yet she, along with the helper he had sent to her, would groan—earnestly desiring the King to return to them. In her longing, the Bride would cry out— “O, Lord, Come!”
 
You see, this beautifully explains what the heart-cry of every believer should be. Because of our love for the Lord, our hearts should be desirous to see Him. We should actually long for His return!
 
Church, this is the summarization of this, the Revelation of Jesus Christ—it is a promise that our King will return again, and He is bringing His kingdom with Him. All of us who serve Him now, will reign with Him then.
 
This is our hope! It is that the curse will die! His kingdom will come! A new heaven and a new earth will be created with a new capital city, the New Jerusalem. The Lord will dwell with us and there will be no more tears, only blessing! And we will enjoy what God intended in the beginning—heaven on earth. Even so, Come Lord Jesus, Come!