Have you ever wondered whether God hears your prayers or why you don’t see His will come to pass? Prayer should be one of the most rewarding parts of a believer’s life, but for many people it is frustrating and ineffective. There was a time when Andrew had many of the same questions you do, but over the years, he found a better way to pray.
welcome to gospel truth with Andrew
Wommack a teaching ministry that focuses
on God’s unconditional love and grace
Jesus forgave us of all sin past present
and even future sin the first time I
realized that Jesus took the absolute
penalty punishment all of it for my sins
that was freedom for me and now here’s
Andrew welcome to our Monday’s broadcast
of the gospel truth today I’m going to
start a series entitled a better way to
pray I have a book on this this is the
English version this is the Spanish
version una mejor manera de Ora
something like that and I also have CDs
and DVDs on this and this teaching on
prayer is probably one of the most loved
and hated teachings that I have people
either love it or hate it but you will
not be neutral to this teaching on
prayer let me just say that this is
going to be a lot different than
anything you’ve ever heard taught about
prayer I’ll get into this in more detail
but let me just say that I think that
prayer is probably one of the most
abused men misused things in the
Christian life majority of people
believe that just as long as you pray
that everything is fine that is not true
there is right and wrong print and wrong
praying can actually release the power
of the devil in your life and I’m not
going to spend a lot of time on this I
mentioned these things in the past
especially when I was teaching on Romans
12:1 and 2 but there is actually some
teaching that I got on prayer that I
brought back from a conference gave it
to a girl that I was unofficially
engaged and she prayed and asked God to
give her cancer so that she could
glorify God in the way she handled death
and this girl died and that wasn’t God’s
will that was because somebody was too
that everything that happens to use God
and that God uses sickness to break you
and glorify himself and that wrong
teaching and therefore the wrong prayers
that came out of it actually caused her
to die and there’s a lot of people that
their prayers are destroy in their life
you know I have a lot of people come to
him it seems like it’s more women than
men and they will ask me for prayer and
say would you please pray for my husband
I’ve been praying for him for 20 years
what do I do and I one of the first
things I tell them he’s quit praying for
your husband and a lot of people are
just taking back walton there’s nothing
wrong with prayer yeah you can’t get
enough prayer you can’t get too much
prayer well it depends on how you’re
praying and the way that a lot of people
pray it’s actually releasing negative
things if the way you pray and intercede
for your husband is you spend 45 minutes
save God he beats me beats the dog he
spends our money he’s a drunk he’s mean
he doesn’t appreciate me doesn’t love
you and you spend 45 minutes rehearsing
how bad he is and then you say save him
in the name of Jesus that kind of prayer
is not helping you are him it’s focusing
your attention on everything that’s
wrong you’re just speaking forth the
problem prayer is not an opportunity to
inform poor misinformed God of how bad
your situation is I feel sometimes like
people think God you know must have a
million people asking him for something
and so he’s got so many requests you got
to get yours to the top of the pile and
so you just go through it so God the
doctor said this and you give all of
these details thinking God doesn’t know
what’s going on and you got to inform
him and let him know that this is crisis
this needs immediate action all of the
things that I’m gonna be teaching here
come against that prayer is not an
opportunity to just unload and gripe and
complain and and talk about how bad
things are
I heard Charles Capps one time and he
was talking about prayer and he said he
was praying and the Lord stopped him
right in the middle of his prayer and
said Charles what are you doing and he
says well I’m praying and God said you
aren’t praying you’re complaining and
I’m telling you
of what people do is nothing but griping
and complaining and if you started with
in the name of Jesus or our Heavenly
Father and then you end it with in the
name of Jesus and whatever said in
between you think well that’s prayer no
there’s a lot of unbelief there’s a lot
of griping there’s complaining there is
a right and a wrong way to pray and this
series on prayer has caused some people
to be set free I’ve had so many people
tell me about this just revolutionize
their relationship with the Lord it’s
one of the most important things they’ve
learned I’ve had other people who were
friends of mine who’ve been friends of
mine for decades
got up and left during my teaching on it
because they couldn’t handle it they
thought I was coming against everything
they held dear
I believe that prayer is one of the most
misused abused parts and there is a
right and a wrong way to pray notice
that I say a better way to pray I didn’t
entitle this book you’re of the devil if
you don’t pray this way because
everything that I teach against in this
teaching I have done and yet God loved
me and I loved God and I’m not saying
that it was you know off the devil and
that God hated me and because of it
rejected everything about me but over
forty seven years of seeking the Lord I
learned some things and I’ve learned a
better way to pray I get better results
today than I have ever gotten
I believe that my prayer life my
relationship with the Lord is better
than it’s ever been and yet when I was
just really getting started I still
loved God and God touched me and there
was good things that happened out of it
I would see a few miracles happen every
once in a while you know it’s kind of
like on an old chicken an old blind
chicken I’ll get you know a grain of
something every once in a while if it
doesn’t quit you just keep after it
eventually you’ll stumble onto something
a blind squirrel will get a nut every
once in a while every once in a while I
would see the presence of God and the
power of God show up and I’d see my
prayers answered but
were few and far between when I was
praying the way that is traditionally
taught and I’ve just learned some things
and I’ve come up with a better way to
pray and so I can guarantee you I’m
gonna rub some of your religious
feathers the wrong way I am going to
counter a lot of religious teaching
about prayer but that doesn’t mean that
it’s wrong I had some people who are
leaders in the body of Christ get so
upset over this book they came back to
the people who published it and said how
could you have even published this book
it’s against everything we believe for
and I remember the lady just saying you
know get past the first chapter the
first chapter is so offensive it
counters so much stuff that a lot of
people won’t read the rest of the book
but I tell you it’s powerful and some
people think well why do you do that
well did you know that this is the way
Jesus approached prayer look at what
Jesus said when he started talking about
prayer in Matthew chapter 6 verse 5 it
says and when thou prayest thou shalt
not be as the hypocrites are for they
love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corner of the streets that
they may be seen of men verily I say
unto you they have their reward you know
the very first thing that Jesus did was
say that hypocrites love to pray this is
my very first teaching in this series
the first CD in this is entitled
hypocrites love to pray and I make a big
point out of this and you know I
actually had a guy come to me just
recently last week and say that their
kid was up in the room listening to some
of my teachings and he came down and he
said dad you’re a hypocrite and his dad
says what what are you saying and he
didn’t explain it he just left went back
up listen for a while he came down he
says mom you’re a hypocrite too and they
couldn’t understand so finally they went
up to the room says what are you saying
and says well Andrew right here says
hypocrites love to pray you love to pray
so you must be a hypocrite this little
kid didn’t quite get the full impact of
it but Jesus when he started
talking about prayer he said don’t be
like the hypocrites because they love to
pray did you know that every religion on
the face of the earth prays I mean you
can look at the Muslims and they have
three five times a day whatever it is
that they put down their little mat and
they bow towards Mecca and they pray you
can go into the Hari Krishna or alarm
the Buddhist you can go into anything
and every religion loves to pray they
emphasize prayer and yet there is only
one way to God the Father Jesus said
that I am the way the truth and the life
no man comes unto the father but by me
if you aren’t praying in the name of
Jesus and going through Jesus you are
not connecting with Almighty God there’s
people watching this program that I’m
sure take issue with that and say how
narrow that is but that is absolutely
true you have to pray and approach God
the Father through Jesus he isn’t a way
he is the way the only way and so that
means that the millions and millions and
millions of people in other religion who
are putting so much effort into prayer
are not connecting with God the Father
they may be connecting with some demonic
power they may just be listening to
themselves soothing their own conscience
but they are not in true relationship
with God and even inside of the
Christian church there are a huge amount
of people who go through the ritual of
prayer and they may say that they’re
praying but they aren’t connecting with
God if that’s true of people outside of
Christianity who are praying to Allah
and praying in the name of whatever and
all of this stuff and I think that most
Christians would acknowledge that that’s
true well then it’s also true of people
even inside of the body of Christ who
aren’t praying in a proper way Jesus is
going to go on and expound and counter a
lot of things but when Jesus started
teaching on prayer the very first thing
he did was teach what prayer is not
jesus said this in Matthew chapter 7
verse 13 he says the traditions and
turns of men make the Word of God of
none effect before you can actually so
the proper seed and get a harvest
sometimes you have to dig up the ground
pull out the rocks you have to get rid
of these traditions and doctrines of men
that negate the Word of God it’s not a
matter of just teaching what prayer is
Jesus started by countering all of the
religious hypocrisy and concepts against
prayer and so I’m following his example
in the very first teaching in this
series is hypocrites love to pray and it
comes against just the concept of some
hour now they’re going through these
rituals you know I’m not against any
individual but I’m also not afraid to
speak the truth and I’m telling you I’m
not trying to single anybody out but I’m
saying that there’s people that have
these beads and you go through and say
so many Hail Marys and so many our
fathers and they call that prayer that
is not prayer that violates everything
that Jesus is teaching right here he
talks about vain repetitions and people
thinking that they’ll be heard for their
much speaking there are people that call
at prayer there are people that recite
written prayers and they call at prayer
which although you could listen to what
somebody else said and repeat those
exact words and there may be an
opportunity for you to get a connection
there between you and God in the vast
majority of cases I mean the vast
majority of cases people are just saying
words they aren’t connecting it’s not
coming from their heart prayer is just
communication from your heart to God and
it’s not a one-way communication it’s
not a monologue where you’re just saying
all of these things to God you need to
also listen and let God minister unto
you and anyway many people today have
turned prayer into a religious
calisthenic that they do it’s something
that they do primarily to sue their own
conscience they feel that if they will
spend a certain amount of time in prayer
then it makes them feel better that they
are somehow a better person and they
feel that God now owes them something
they’ve put in their time
they collected so many stars for all of
their prayers and after you get so many
stars you can cash them in for one
answer to prayer and it’s something that
people do and many times God isn’t in it
you know I used this example but there
was a time that I used to pray a couple
of hours and I would set the timer and
and I would force myself to pray and yet
one time right before this prayer time I
was just having a wonderful time with
God and God was speaking to me through
his word and I was speaking to him and I
was having a wonderful time in prayer
and yet it came time that this two hour
of prayer time was coming up and I just
told the Lord I said you know how I feel
anyway so I’m just gonna be honest and
confess it but I said I’d read there’s
two hours it seems like it takes four
hours and I’d read I said I’m having a
wonderful time right now just studying
the word and praying and fellowshipping
with you and I’d read these two hours
where I go in and have to just force
myself to talk for two hours and I
confessed and said I’m sorry but that’s
the way it is and the Lord spoke to me
and he says don’t worry Andrew he says I
go to dreading it thirty minutes before
it’s time for the prayer God doesn’t
like that kind of Prayer either you know
people are always saying things like put
me on your prayer list you can’t find a
prayer list in the Bible now am I saying
that prayer lists are of the devil you
can’t find anything against prayer list
either but I’m saying that there’s some
people that think that you just have to
go through every single day and mention
these people over and over and you got
to keep bombard in heaven I’m gonna be
coming against a lot of that and showing
you that God loves the people you’re
interceding for more than you do and you
do not have to twist God’s arm and beg
God and somehow or another get God and
is as in love with these people as you
are you know I actually when I first got
started again I my heart was right but
my head was wrong I was just modeling I
was following the model that I had been
taught and we started begging God and
pleading with God for a revival because
I was taught that this is the way you
have to do it
I’m not against revival America the
world needs a revival I am forced seeing
a supernatural move of God but the way
we’ve been taught to pray for it and
that we’ve got to get hundreds or
thousands or millions of people to pray
and just put pressure on God and not let
go until he releases his power is
absolutely wrong
that actually is detrimental to you and
your relationship with God I’m gonna be
coming against that stuff and talking
against the way that intercession is
spoken off today but back when I first
got started I’ve been taught all of
these things that we forced God we
grabbed hold of God and don’t let go
until God releases what you want that is
a sorry-sorry
attitude but that’s the attitude that I
had I’d been taught this and so I
started praying and I literally caught
myself saying this one time I was
praying for the city of Arlington Texas
that’s where I lived and I mean I
interceded in beg God to touch people
and save people every day of my life and
prayed for a move of God and all of this
and I actually found myself one time
just crying out to God pleading with God
and I said this out loud I said God if
you love the people of Arlington Texas
half as much as I did do you we would
have a revival and as soon as I said
that I realize something is wrong with
this picture
I’m imputing to myself that I love
people more than God but see I wanted to
see people touched and I thought well
I’m praying and I’m not seeing people
touched I’m not seeing people turn
around and come to God so it must be God
who’s not answering my prayer and I just
had to pray longer and harder I started
all-night prayer meetings and we started
bombarding the gates of heaven and
begging God for a move of God and
praying through this and I tell you what
that’ll wear you out it’s hard on you it
actually is a criticism against God I
had a woman come to me one time and she
said I’ve been praying for my husband
for 20 years I
I prayed I’ve done everything I know how
to do it God hasn’t answered my prayers
so would you please pray for my husband
maybe God would answer your prayers now
some of you may not think that there’s
much wrong with that but boy when that
woman said that to me I said I will not
pray for your husband and she
immediately took well why wouldn’t you
pray for my husband I said because I’m
not gonna enter into agreement with you
because your whole attitude towards God
stinks you are implying that God could
just save your husband and you know the
snap of his finger if he wanted to he
could just force your husband to be
saying I said that’s not what the Word
of God teaches faith comes by hearing
hearing by the Word of God Jesus told us
to pray Labor’s to go across his
people’s path I said there is a writing
the wrong way to pray but you are
praying as if there is nothing that you
have to do or anybody else has to do or
your husband has to do it’s just up to
God and so you’re begging God and since
your husband hadn’t been saved for 20
years therefore it must be God that
somehow or another just isn’t motivated
to save him so maybe I’ll carry more
weight with God maybe I can motivate God
more than you have I said that is a
sorry attitude
God loves your husband more than you
love your husband you do not need to
pray for people and beg God to save him
because God is disinterested and if it
was just up to God he’d let them all go
to hell no that’s not true God loves the
people you’re praying for more than you
love them prayer is not an opportunity
for you to beg and plead with God and
somehow or another trying to get God to
be as holy and is compassionate and as
good as you are
see when you approach God that way and
this is primarily the way that prayer
has been done that we somehow or another
are motivating God we are forcing God to
do something that he wouldn’t do if it
wasn’t for you when you approach prayer
that way it is a slam against God is an
insult against God you are starting from
a position of unbelief it hurts you you
aren’t gonna be effective I tell you
what prayer is an area that has been
really
really misrepresented and I’m still in
the introduction but let me just say
this before I get into some of the exact
details that there are people who
glorify prayer and they will talk about
prayer they teach on prayer you got to
pray you got to do all of this I’m
teaching on prayer there is a place for
it but I’m saying that there’s a lot of
people that glorify prayer and not what
prayer accomplishes to me prayer is like
a vehicle you know I’ve got a car that
got me from my home to my office so that
I could make these programs today
and it’s a nice car and it’s got things
on it and I like the car but the car is
just a tool it’s what I can do with that
it’s I don’t sit there and glorify my
car I don’t sit there and talk about old
men I just love my car no I love what I
can do when I get in my car and where
it’ll take me and how it gets me there
and stuff like that there are people
that just talk about prayer
I believe that prayer is really not the
issue its relationship with God that is
the issue and prayer is just communing
with God talking to God and
communication talking to God is an
important part of our relationship but I
don’t glorify a prayer I glorify my
relationship with God and prayer my time
of communion with God is an important
part of that but I don’t put the
emphasis on the vehicle that I use I
just talk about what it accomplishes and
I am big into relationship with God and
having personal time and intimate
relationship with God in prayer is just
the vehicle that helps me get there so
again I go back to Matthew chapter 6
verse 5 and and says and wind out
prayers this is Jesus speaking thou
shalt not be as the hypocrites are for
they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and in the corners of the
street that they may be seen of men
there’s a lot of people that pray today
because it gives them clout in their own
mind and then as they boast about it and
talk about it other people are in prayer
with how long they pray and all of these
kind of things and I’m telling you it
says right here it says that that they
may be seeing a man in the last part of
this fifth verse says verily I say unto
you they have their reward what does
that mean I believe that it’s primarily
talking about that you know what when
you brag about man I spent an hour in
prayer I did this I did this I pray
every day I discipline myself I get up
at 5:00 in the morning that little pat
on the back that people give you and say
oh you’re so wonderful you know what
that’s your reward that little bit of
recognition the fact that people think
you’re awesome that’s your reward you
aren’t going to get anything from God
you aren’t gonna see your prayers really
be effective if you are praying for the
acclaim of man so that you can boast and
brag about what you’ve done that little
bit of satisfaction you get that’s your
reward you know I’m out of time today
but I do have this book entitled a
better way to pray I would encourage you
to please contact us get this book we’ve
also got it in Spanish we’ve got CDs and
DVDs if you’ll listen our announcer will
give you that information and please
call or write today entries complete
teaching titled a better way to pray is
available as a book in either english or
spanish today andrew would like to offer
this book as his free gift to you go to
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like to encourage you to get this free
book that we’re offering on prayer I’ve
got other product here study guide DVD
CDs but we’re offering this book to you
as our gift and I tell you this is a
powerful teaching especially during this
time you know we’re just going through
this virus that hit the world actually a
pandemic and man people are praying but
many times are praying wrong out of
desperation begging God they don’t know
the rights and privileges that God has
given us and I promise you this would
transform your prayer life we are
offering this as a free gift to you so
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