Andrew teaches on how prayer is something that every Christian knows they need to do, but very few Christians feel like they do it successfully. In this series, Andrew counters many modern religious traditions about prayer and establishes a foundation upon which a rewarding and effective prayer life can be built upon.

welcome to our Tuesday’s broadcast of

the gospel truth today I’m continuing to

teach about a better way to pray I just

started this series yesterday this is

going to be a multiple week series I’ve

got a book on this entitled a better way

to pray and I’ve also got it in Spanish

and then I have CDs and DVDs and as I

said yesterday Jesus when he started

teaching on prayer in Matthew chapter 6

the very first thing he did was say

don’t be like the hypocrites because

they love to pray and he began to start

just coming against the religious system

of his day that really emphasized prayer

but it wasn’t true communion with God

you know if you are having a

conversation and nobody else is

listening well then it’s not really a

conversation it’s just a monologue and

sad to say this is what a lot of people

are doing in prayer they’re saying that

they’re praying but prayer is communion

with God it’s a relationship with God

and yet it has degenerated down to where

with many people it’s just a religious

exercise and it soothes their conscience

but it is not truly connecting with the

Lord and so Jesus and when he started

teaching on prayer

the very first thing he said in Matthew

chapter 6 and verse 5 it says and when

thou preyus thou shalt not be as the

hypocrites are for they love to pray

standing in the synagogues and in the

corners of the streets that they may be

seen of men verily I say unto you they

have their reward and I think that a

large large portion of prayer is so that

people can get acclaim from other people

you know when I go into churches and I

remember the church that I was raised in

you would take these people and they

would ask them to stand up and pray and

typically they would just be normal

people they just talked you know like

anybody else but when it came time to

pray in church it would be like our God

gaawd God

then they would pray in this Elizabeth

II invoice and they would pray in a

booming voice and they would we beseech

you so humbly today and all of this

stuff and it was just a religious form

and I tell you I hate that stuff I think

God hates it I really do and I play this

same thing to preachers you know I have

people all the time that confessed to me

that they saw my programs for years and

just flipped right on by and the

channels and didn’t watch it because I

wasn’t you know standing and running and

jumping and shouting and screaming and I

wasn’t excited I was just talking in a

normal voice and they thought well you

can’t be anointed because they had this

concept of a certain style that you had

to be to be an effective minister but I

am just the opposite if a person all of

a sudden changes when they get behind

the pulpit or when they open up the

Bible and start sharing the word in

their whole voice changes and they start

using Elizabethan English whether it’s

in prayer or ministry or whatever then I

just look at it and say that you’re

religious and I know that there’s some

people to get upset all right but I tell

you you shouldn’t be any different you

could talk to me in a grocery store you

could talk to me pumping gas you can do

anything and I’ll still talk in this

same voice this is me this is who I am

I’m not a different person when I’m on

television or something

I believe that all a minister is you’re

just talking to people one-on-one and

when you have to change your old

personality and become a different

person then you’re just a hypocrite and

this is what Jesus is talking about

right here don’t be like the hypocrites

they love to pray they do it so that

they can be seen of men you know I held

a meeting one time with RW schambach in

Palm Springs California and some of you

know who RW schambach is and he’s real

demonstrative and he talks you know in a

real dramatic voice and everything but I

went out to eat with him my mother and

my wife and I we all got in his little

convertible and we went out and got some

ice cream and did you know that RW

schambach was exact

the same in the restaurant exactly the

same driving down the road he witnessed

he talked to people and he was real

dramatic but that was just him he didn’t

change to become that way that was who

he was when a person is usually meek and

mild mannered and yet they be goodbye in

the pulpit and they have to change their

old personality or if a person is just

an everyday you know Joe and then they

get up and they want to pray in front of

people too may all of a sudden start

speaking in Elizabeth II and English and

stuff it’s just hypocritical it’s

religious at best and it is total

Apocrypha it worse I know some people

don’t like that but this I’m following

the leadership of Jesus before he taught

what prayer was he taught what prayer

wasn’t he came against the religious

traditions of his day and he mentioned

here in this fifth verse people love to

pray standing in the synagogues and in

the corner of the streets there’s other

examples where Jesus talked about the

scribes and the Pharisees and how they

would literally blow trumpets before

them and then they would stand and pray

at the top of their lungs and they would

actually they would pay a person to go

around and blow a trumpet that attract

everybody’s attention and then he would

stand up and go to prayer now that is

not communing with God that is not true

worship of God that is just religious

and there are people that watch this

program that I guarantee you you are

religious in the way you pray and I know

that some people don’t like this we like

to say well I’m afraid it doesn’t matter

how I do it oh it does matter how you do

Jesus is right here seen that there is

right and wrong ways to pray do not pray

so that you can just be recognized by

people don’t pray in a Elizabethan tone

of voice so that you’re like the King

James Bible and think that somehow and

other you’re holier when you do that you

just need to be real you need to talk to

God like he’s a real person you need to

talk to him the way that you’d talk to

me maybe with more respect and honor but

you don’t need to change your whole

personality and go to being something

that you aren’t you know the word

hypocrite comes from a greek word and it

was literally it

behind the mask and it went back to the

Greek theater how that they would come

out on stage and they would hold up a

mask in front of them and pretend to be

a different person and so you were an

actor

you weren’t really yourself you were

projecting something you were being

somebody that you weren’t and that’s

what the word hypocrite is describing

and when a person all of a sudden just

starts you know acting totally different

and you’re talking to God in words that

you never use unless you’re praying and

stuff you’re just a hypocrite I’m not

saying that out of bitterness or anger

I’m just trying to say that until we get

rid of the religious junk that it’s been

taught us about prayer and we get real

with God you aren’t really communicating

with God you know I have people that

come and they meet me and for whatever

reason they want to impress me and so

they just start talking about all of

this stuff and promoting themselves and

they’re doing it so that I can be

impressed with who they are and you know

what that does it makes a negative

impression on me I know that this person

is putting on you know a show for me and

it doesn’t bless me the type of people

that I really like are the people that

are just themselves there are some

people I know that you know what they

aren’t necessarily the most diplomatic

they just say what they think and that

turns a lot of people off but I like it

because I can I can know where I stand

with this person if they don’t like

something they’ll tell me and I can

handle that it’s not a problem with me I

just like people being genuine you know

when I get introduced the number one

thing that people say about me when they

introduce me is they say he’s the same

whether he’s on television or eat

someplace else and I think to myself

what kind of introduction is that what

does that mean does that mean that other

people aren’t the same does that mean

that other ministers act one way in the

pulpit and they talk one way but then

when you get them by their self they’re

different and I’ve asked that question

to people and they say yes that’s what a

lot of people are there’s a lot of

people that is just a show and this is

this is the very first thing that Jesus

said don’t be like the hypocrites don’t

be hypocritical in your prayer be

genuine be honest talk to the Lord don’t

do it for the praise of men if you do it

says they have their reward that little

pat on the back that they give you and

say oh you’re so awesome that’s your

reward you aren’t going to get a reward

from God you’ve got with your reward

it’s just that little bit of recognition

that you get in verse 6 this is Matthew

chapter 6 verse 6 it says but thou when

thou prayest enter into thy closet and

when thou is shut that door pray to thy

father which is in secret and their

father which seeth in secret shall

reward thee openly now I’ve had this

verse misused on me you know when I was

in the Baptist Church and I got really

turned on men a lot of the young people

in that church got excited at the same

time and we used to have morning prayer

before we would go to school and we

would get together and pray as a group

in the youth director of this Baptist

Church saw us as a threat to him because

he was not spiritual at all and he was

intimidated by us and so he came out

against us and told us that we should

quit praying and I said how in the world

can you say that what right do you have

to tell us not to pray and he came up

with this verse and he says you’re

supposed to go in your prayer closet you

should not ever pray in front of another

person that’s not what this is saying

because Jesus himself who said this

prayed openly in the 12th chapter of the

book of John he just outloud said father

glorify your name and there came a voice

from heaven said I have glorified it and

will glorify it again

jesus prayed when he was on the cross

and said father lay not this sin to

their charge forgive them for they know

not what they do and there’s multiple

instances where jesus prayed publicly in

front of people so this is not saying

that you can’t do it but the emphasis is

that you should not be praying to get

recognition from people you shouldn’t be

praying to have bragging rights and I

tell you there’s a lot of this I don’t

know how many of you remember when the

could you

Terry won our teaching came out that’s

been I forget now but twenty or thirty

years ago in the body of Christ and

anyway that came very popular and they

took the Lord’s Prayer listed right here

in Matthew chapter six and they said it

was like a runner on a track that there

were signpost and when it says our

Father which art in heaven Hallowed be

that name that means that you enter his

gates with Thanksgiving in his courts

with praise and so you spend twenty

minutes

you know just worshiping the Lord and

then you go in to give us this day our

daily where that’s where you and they

had a an hour’s worth of Prayer broken

down into you spend so much time

praising the Lord so much time asking

for your needs to be meant so much time

confessing your sin and then you end it

and they had this little tract and

people started doing this and pray in an

hour a day and Larry Lee was the guy

that came up with this but it wasn’t him

it was one of his associates there was a

guy who was out traveling and teaching

this series on could you not tarry one

hour and he came and ministered here in

the Colorado Springs area and he came to

my office and I mean after you know

introducing himself and telling me who

he was he said so how much time do you

spend every day praying and it just kind

of took me back when he asked me that

question and immediately I thought so

why do you want to know and the only

reasons that I could think I was either

he wanted to know so that he was going

to criticize me and say you aren’t doing

enough and try and get me to spend more

time praying or he wanted to compare

himself with me and see if he was holier

than I was because he spent more time

praying everyday than I did I couldn’t

think of any good reason for a person

asking how much time you spent in prayer

and so I was kind of just thinking about

this and the Lord spoke to me and he

said how much time did you spend with

Jamie yesterday and it’s just so

happened that I had been home that day I

stayed at home and I spent all day with

Jamie and he says so how much time did

you spend I said well all day he says

could you say that you talked to her

five minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes 30

minutes now I said no I talked to her

all day long we weren’t talking the

whole time but we were there together

and we were visiting and and basically

the Lord just spoke to me if a person

can reduce their prayer time to an hour

a day or 30 minutes or whatever it is

then you have a pretty sorry

relationship with God because he’s with

you 24/7 he’ll never leave you nor

forsake you he’s always there and if God

is always there how could you just spend

you know a few moments talking to him

and then ignore him the rest of the day

that would be like me being with Jamie

all day we may not have talked the whole

time but we were there I was aware of

what she was doing she was aware of what

I was doing we did talk a lot we

communed everything that happened to me

it happened to her and vice versa

and you know this is the way that I’ve

come to pray I just pray and talk to the

Lord constantly when I’m asleep I dream

about the Lord I’m praying I wake up in

the middle of the night when I roll over

I’m talking to the Lord and I’m praying

when I get up I’m praying when I go to

bed I’m praying I’m talking to the Lord

all of the time you know over in 1st

Thessalonians chapter 5 it says pray

without ceasing and I think that there’s

multiple ways that you can apply that

but one of the ways to apply that is

that you ought to be in communion with

the Lord at all times I think it’s

dangerous when a person can just say I

pray an hour every day well man you

should be in communion with God all the

time the sad fact is some people devote

1 hour and they’re focused on the Lord

and they’re talking about the Lord and

talking to the Lord but then the rest of

the day they’ll sit there and watch

things on television that I guarantee it

grieves the Lord it’s not good for you

if you were in communion and praying

with the Lord right then you would not

be watching those things you wouldn’t be

saying some of the things that you say

you wouldn’t be going some of the places

that you go you wouldn’t talk about

people the way that you talk but some

people they just spend a certain segment

of their day with God and the rest of

the day they’re on their own but because

they spend an hour

or something with the Lord well then

they think that somehow or another

there’s relationship with God is

superior that’s this is preaching

against that your prayer should not be

so that you could go ask somebody how

much time do you spend in prayer every

day I spend more time than you do I’m

better than you are if you’ve got that

kind of an attitude your prayer stinks

it is not ministering to God it’s not

truly touching God it’s not communing

with God there’s a lot of religious junk

going on with prayer in verse 7 this is

Matthew chapter 6 verse 7 but when you

pray use not vain repetitions as the

heathen do for they think that they

shall be heard for their much speaking

so this is really clear when you pray

don’t use vain repetition don’t just say

the same thing over and over this would

be comparable to people pray in the

Rosary our Father

Hail Mary all of these kind of things

people reciting the Lord’s Prayer which

the Lord’s Prayer is given just the next

few verses right here but there are

people that you know they just recite

this as a mantra and think that somehow

or another this is connecting with the

Lord it’s not you know I’ve been in

services before where demons manifest

themselves and I’m casting demons out of

people and I mean there’s some strange

things happening and it causes fear in

some of the people that are around and I

remember an instance where a woman

standing next to me when this demon

manifested she got fearful and she

started saying my father which art in

heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom

come thy way and she was just spitting

out the Lord’s Prayer like a machine gun

and she was just repeating his thing as

fast as she could and I actually turned

over and said stop it and she thought

wrong I’m repeating scripture I’m

repeating the Lord’s Prayer she was

doing it in fear it wasn’t from her

heart

it’s you know it says over in 1st

Corinthians chapter 13 if you give all

of your goods to feed the poor and if

you even make the ultimate sacrifice and

give your body to be burned and don’t do

it motivated by love it profits you

nothing the motive behind your

action is more important than your

action right there in first Corinthians

13 verse 1 and says if I speak with the

tongues of men and of angels and have

not charity I’m a sounding brass and a

tinkling cymbal if I can prophesy if I

have faith if I can do all of these

things and don’t do it motivated by love

it profits me nothing if you are

reciting the Lord’s Prayer and you’re

just spitting it out but your heart is

full of fear well then the motive behind

your words are more important in your

words and there are some people that

just recite these prayers they have

these mantras they go through a rosary

they go through their rituals on Sunday

and they recite these written prayers

and this is exactly what Jesus is

teaching against he says do not use vain

repetitions as the heathen do they he

then have these mantras that they go

through they just say the same things

over and over and over and somehow or

another think that that makes them holy

it just makes them carnal it makes them

hypocrites

you know I know that there’s a lot of

people not being blessed by what I’m

saying but before we can actually lay a

good foundation we got a jackhammer and

get rid of all of this old stuff and I

am reading to you scriptures that Jesus

said Jesus was in a religious culture

when he was here on this earth and the

religious Jews were hypocrites to the

max they would blow trumpets pray on

street corners they would do all of

these things they had these phylacteries

that they little strips of leather that

they put around their forehead and it

had a pouch right here and they kept

scripture in there so that this

scripture would be constantly in front

of their eyes and it’s went back to

Deuteronomy chapter 6 where it says that

you shall meditate in these things and

you keep this scripture in front of you

day and night and never let it depart

from your eyes so they would put these

little phylacteries there and they would

do all this stuff they had all of the

motions down pat but it was just

religious exercise it was not genuine

and God hated that stuff and he still

hates it today there’s a lot of people

that your prayer is not

but just religious stuff you aren’t

talking to God from your heart this is

they think that they shall be heard for

their much speaking the length of your

prayer isn’t what’s important it’s not

if you pray an hour that you’re somehow

or another better than a person that

prays for a minute

did you know that some of the very best

prayers that you could possibly pray are

help man that’s a great prayer oh god

help Matt’s you know that’s a great

prayer you look at Jesus and his prayers

were real short like be healed he would

speak to the seed be still I mean he

just one or two words he didn’t pray

long long long prayers now there are

sometimes there’s twice two separate

instances it’s recorded more than once

because of the four Gospels but there’s

two separate instances where Jesus spent

all night in prayer one of them was

before he chose his twelve disciples and

I believe he was specifically asking for

wisdom and direction so that he would

make the right choices and so there’s

twice that he prayed all night and of

course there’s other times that he would

go up into a mountain to pray in Jesus

prayed but most of his prayers were very

short prayers he said specifically that

the hypocrites think that they will be

heard for their much speaking that is

just absolutely wrong and we have that

same pharisaical attitude in the body of

Christ today that it’s all about how

long you pray and whether or not you use

the Elizabethan English and whether or

not you say God gaawd instead of God and

it’s all of this junk that doesn’t mean

a thing to God and that little pat on

the back that little you know smile that

people give and they nod your head when

you walk by because you’re so holy

that’s your reward that’s all you’re

going to get it doesn’t connect with God

I’m telling you God would rather you be

real with him you know when I first got

started in ministry I was in Pritchett

Colorado and I ministered to a lot of

farmers and ranchers and most of them

never went to church and one of the

reasons because they didn’t

to be with the hypocrites that we’re in

church but they were good people and

many of them were born-again and if they

weren’t born again I got them born again

but I love these people because they

were just totally non-pretentious it was

just all genuine and man I loved it I

fit right in with them and I think that

God many times is more pleased with that

than the people who put on all of their

fancy garment go to church and they can

say all the right things and do all of

this but their heart is far from God

it’s all about your heart God looks on

the heart first Samuel 16:7

and God is looking at your heart and God

knows whether you’re putting on a show

or not I’m telling you these scriptures

to me just say don’t be hypocritical be

real with God I said Lord now that I

know what you have done for us send us

whatever you want to do you want to do

things for you

I felt boom inside me go we had this

idea we were to go preaching in the

remote villages where the name of Christ

has never been heard we didn’t know how

it was gonna work out we just knew we

were going at the time it seemed like

big steps it’s just a lot of faith that

God would take care of it and provide

for it if you just know what God told

you to do then it’s not a challenge it’s

an adventure but it’s not hard and it

doesn’t have to be scary we knew that we

were called and so that was the main

that was the main drive it was it was a

miracle

when we’ve had moments in Russia where

it was tight man well that just was what

really propelled it to another level

you know some nice people look at what

is my $5 word what is my $50 worth it’s

not really going to change anything but

it does it really does give us give us

the foothold to be able to reach out

into the world we have so many

testimonies of people being healed

people being set free because of the

materials that are going out who world

outreach you know it has supported us it

supports the work the project that’s

there all the projects throughout the

world this has been a major influence in

changing the world and bringing the

gospel to the nation’s you know as much

as we’re doing and we get the blessing

people that finance it gets just the

same reward and that’s oh I think is

phenomenal so it’s definitely a team

effort for those that give thank you for

being part of our team

I am one outreach I wrote out run roads

open world I am I am world

you