Jack Hibbs Today: How to Pray

Praying should be like breathing for the Christian believer. Prayer is a two-way conversation where we can cry out to God, intercede for our families, pursue God’s will in our lives, and much more! Find out why it’s so important to understand what it means to know the Word and to pray the Word.

Have you ever known that you should be praying, but you oftentimes don’t know how to pray, or you kinda get just kinda balled up Well, listen, we’re gonna be talking about how to pray in such a way that it shouldn’t be a problem for you again.
I mean it. So grab your Bible. Let’s see what happens.
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Now open your hearts to what god’s word has to say to you. Here is Jack Gibbs.
Everybody, we’re gonna be talking about today on this podcast. The issue of prayer.
Normally, when you hear the word prayer, most people most people in the church kind of pause a little bit.
Because the first thought in their mind is, uh-oh, I don’t pray enough.
2nd thing is, I don’t know what to pray for. 3rd thing is I love prayer.
I pray all the time. It’s it’s it’s like breathing air.
A lot of people have a lot of different responses to the issue of prayer, and yet The issue of prayer, the doctrine of prayer, the practice of prayer for the believer, like Charles spurgeon said, prayer is the lungs of the church.
And so if the church can’t breathe, that’s because the church doesn’t pray.
If the church can’t run, if the church is anemic, if the church is is, uh, faint.
It’s because it’s not breathing. And, you’ve got to be able to do that.
And you know this, by the way, in your physical life that when you’re under a lot of stress, um, your physiology goes into shock mode.
When you’re stressed out, when we look, I’m saying you, all of us go through this.
We all have to manage levels of stress in this world.
When you are very stressed out or starting to begin to be stressed out, you start to take shallow breaths breath, and you don’t even realize that.
You’re not even you don’t tell yourself, I’m gonna breathe shallow and get dizzy and see stars.
Your body starts to panic and you’re you’re not breathing right.
And what happens is you’re kind of like in a day’s And you find yourself doing this.
You wake up to the realization. My gosh.
I have to I have to fill my lungs.
I haven’t filled filled up my lungs in a couple of hours because you’ve been going so much like this and you can’t do much because you are under a great deal of pressure.
Shallow breath is stealing the needed oxygen to your brain and you’re really starting to strangle yourself.
We do the same thing in prayer. As believers, we can get so stressed out.
And instead of going to our knees, I say that symbolicly.
Um, although I’m a big fan about praying on your knees, I’ll tell you why in a minute, You don’t have to prune your knees.
A lot of you love praying while you’re walking. That’s awesome. Me too. That’s cool.
Um, but In California, in Southern California, if you wanna hold a prayer meeting, getting a, you know, get on the freeway.
I mean, it’s insane here driving.
It’s crowded on the freeway, but we’re all driving, like, ninety miles an hour in the crowd.
It’s like a race. It’s pretty spectacular, actually, but you better be brain or it comes down to the quick or the dead.
Uh, it’s pretty pretty amazing. The point is this, when you’re under a load of pressure, you have a tendency to get shallow breath.
So does the church when the church is under a lot of pressure, when your faith is under a lot of pressure, instead of praying and filling up your lungs with what god is saying, in his word, you get shallow breathing habits or shallow word habits, and you’re gonna faint rather than relying upon the lord in renewing your strength in him.
So what is this thing about prayer? Think of prayer as a 2 way conversation.
It’s prayer is 2 way. The Bible demands it But even though rarely does the Bible even mention it that way, the structure of prayer is we cry out to god Yes.
We intercede for our nation.
We are making supplications to god for our children or our husband, our wife.
We’re pursuing god in prayer to find out what his will is for our family.
It’s a conversation. It’s two ways, and it must be this way.
God will prompt you in many cases, if not all, many cases, if not all, to pray, and to lead you in prayer.
Now hear me out. I’m not against having a prayer list or journal. That’s really great. Okay?
I need to do that more often myself.
A prayer list or a prayer journal is awesome because when you have those things, you have a tendency to pray specifically.
Like, for example, I’m praying well, you know what?
I’m praying for one of our pastors today. This is a real z.
Um, I’m praying for one of our pastors today. He’s going in for a procedure.
Uh, we’re concerned about the outcome.
And so I can pray specifically because I know a little bit of the specifics so I can be more specific about my prayer.
And so I write that down or I make note of it so that when god answers, whatever his answer will be, I can go back and I can say, wow, I prayed this way, but god decided to answer it this way.
Or I prayed this way, and look what god did. He answered just like I prayed. Wow. That’s cool.
That’s amazing. It actually needs to be that much of a dialogue, not a monologue.
There is no monologue in prayer. Okay. Uh, that would be tragic. Um, man, listen.
If you don’t know the lord Jesus Christ, as lord and savior as king of kings and lord of lords as the elfinomega, the beginning and the end.
If you don’t know the lord Jesus Christ as god the son, Okay?
Then you if you’re if you’re a Mormon or if you’re a Jovan witness or if you’re a Jew or if you’re a Muslim, or if you are a Hindu or if you are a Buddhist or or whatever you might be, Listen.
According to the Bible, no one’s listening. So there’s no dialogue.
You’re just praying Let’s be honest. Come on. Don’t be mad at me. Just be honest.
I have Muslims tell me. I pray, but we never get answers.
In fact, listen, a lot of Muslims.
I’ve had Muslims tell me that they know among themselves, man, if you need prayer, go find a Christian and have them pray for you.
I’ve had people tell me that in Turkey. I’ve had people tell me that in Jerusalem.
I’ve had people tell me that in the West Bank.
I’ve had Muslims tell me in America. Hey. We know.
I mean, there’s something with we don’t believe you’re Jesus.
And what you but we know that your prayers get answered. Listen. Only the Christian understands.
We pray to the father in the spirit by the son. In his name, Jesus.
So check this out. Watch this.
This is a good way to have I think a healthy prayer life.
I mean, I’m just gonna do it and then I’ll hope hopefully, remember why I put it in this order.
So John 15, for example, and I’m reading from the Bible.
I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. That’s verse 1. That’s deep.
Lord, I’m not sure what that means.
But I’m asking you in Jesus’ name that you teach me what this means.
Every branch in me that bears fruit. Right?
He takes and he, uh, every branch in me that does not bear fruit.
He takes it away and every branch in me that does bear fruit, he prunes it, right, so that it might bear more fruit.
So, lord, you’re telling me something here.
Make my eyes open and my ears open and my heart open to what you’re saying.
Um, he goes on to say that if you are a branch.
And if if that branch being your life and the word of god being in you, There is a connection.
There’s that dialogue where god’s word is speaking into your life. He goes down.
He tells you in verse 5 that Um, I am the vine. You are the branches.
He that abides in me. So now I’m praying lord Jesus.
I wanna make sure that I have my understanding right. Always that you are the source of everything.
And down at verse 7, which goes to the point of what we’re talking about, he says If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you verse 8, herein is my father glorified.
That we bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples? So, wow, lord, wait a minute.
Your board just said here, as I’m praying to you now, as I’m talking to you now, that if your word abides in me, I can ask what I will, what I desire, and it will be done because the father’s gonna be glorified through that.
Okay. God would teach me that. What is this? Now pause right there.
You might be saying, Well, then pray to run the auto. Pray for Ferrari.
Pray for a a mansion. Pray for it. Yeah. You know what?
That’s why I said earlier, when you go to pray, you wanna pray the word.
You need to know the word to pray the word.
So when Jesus says if my word abides in you, that’s the qualifier to your request.
See, this is what’s fun about prayer. If I know the word, then I’m gonna know how to pray.
I won’t be praying for a Ferrari. I will be praying according to the will of god. Is what?
In Psalm 34, uh, verse 7, I think.
Or maybe it’s 37 verse 4.
The scripture says delight self on the lord, and he’ll grant unto you.
He’ll give unto you the desires of your heart. You hear the prerequisite? What’s what’s the the requirement?
Delight yourself and the lord. He’ll give you the desires of your heart.
If my word abides in you, ask whatever you want. And my father’s glorified. See the connection?
If the word is in me, I’m not gonna ask for selfish things to gain things for myself, for self, self, self.
If I pray, lord, only you know my heart and only you know what’s right.
Cause me to delight in you, lord, whatever that means in my life.
For me, father, cause my life.
I surrendered to you now that you would cause me to delight in you.
And I’m gonna leave the outcome to you.
Or if your word abides in my heart god, I will know how to pray and what not to pray for and what to double down on because I know that this is your will.
When you pray the word, That is how you can pray confidently.
I’m gonna give you a real life thing.
All the time as you can imagine, people will come to church services and either before or after, they’re gonna ask for prayer.
They have needs. And someone might come and say, Pastor Jack, will you pray for my son?
He was just diagnosed with leukemia or diabetes. And will you pray?
Yes. Of course. Oh, by the way, let me insert this.
I always interrupt people who are telling me the dynamics of the issue. Let me explain.
Especially pastors or Christian workers, you’re gonna appreciate is. When somebody comes and says, will you pray for my son?
He’s got leukemia. Yes. Of course. Let’s pray. Well, let me tell you.
And then they start they’re like a nurse, right, or they themselves are a doctor, and they start going through the details of how bad the leukemia is And this is what it’s doing to the cells, and the white count is two levels they’ve never seen before.
And they start painting this picture. That is so huge. I don’t let them do that.
Friends, listen to me. Learn this from an old guy. I tell them, stop, stop, stop, friends, listen, stop.
Do not tell me any more of the details.
Because the more I hear of how big and bad and ugly this is, The harder it is it’s going to be for me to pray in faith.
I don’t need to know the details.
Frankly, you don’t know the details Doctor Dingdong doesn’t know the details. Only god knows the details.
So don’t tell him anymore. Let’s pray for him.
Anoint them with oil according to the book of James.
We pray for them by laying hands on them, and I pray something a lie something like this aligning with scripture.
Number 1. Lord, we thank you that you’re good.
We thank you that you are a god who has revealed to us you’re a god who answers prayer.
We thank you god that throughout your scripture, you are a god who heals.
And you’ve made it very clear in your words.
So father, we come now believing in your word that you are god of all power and all healing strength that there’s nothing too hard for you.
And so far, we pray, thankfully, knowing that you’re hearing us right now, because frankly, god, we are obeying your word praying for this young man right now.
So father, we now pray in faith believing that lord, if it be thy will, you heal this young man completely by whatever means you so choose.
You can choose to heal him now.
We know from your Bible that you can choose to heal him in 1 hour.
We know from your Bible that you can choose to heal him by tomorrow morning, or 3 days from now.
Lord, we know that you heal as you will. Lord, we also know that you heal through medicine.
That is something that you’ve invented.
So give the doctor’s skill or or the treatment, the ability because you’d have provided that genius, uh, to have medication treat the issue.
And then, father, finally, we leave the results into your hands, but we praise you and thank you as we leave it all into your hands, to you be the glory, thy will be done in Jesus’ name Amen.
I’ve covered all the biblical bases I believe in every single one of those ten steps I just gave you.
And we leave it in god’s hands. I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
They don’t have to worry about it anymore. They lay it down.
First Peter, 57, They cast all their cares upon the lord because he cares for them.
And they can just proceed according to god’s will, according to god’s leading. See, what does that mean?
Well, does the does the young boy have an appointment tomorrow? Go to the appointment. Have them do another scan.
Whatever they decide to do. But let god intervene? Because you know what? How many times have we seen this?
Where god winds up touching somebody’s life 6 months into a process so that this doctor and that nurse and finally that radiologist hears the gospel.
Oh, yes. Did I mention that? All along the way because you’re Christian. You’re you’re sharing with the doctor.
Doctor, my son has what leukemia? Well, I want you to know doctor at in our home.
We’re gonna be praying for you, doctor, and we’re gonna be praying for my son.
We’re believers in the lord Jesus Christ.
He died in the cross for his sins and he rose again from the dead.
He’s the guy he’s the guy who can heal. Listen, what do you think your son’s going through?
What he’s going through? Are you going through what you’re going through?
Are your mom’s going through what they’re going through?
So you can go to places and share the gospel because those people will never go through the doors of a church.
God knows that. He loves souls so much that he will allow sickness to be used as a via goal to get you into places that those people would never turn on a Christian radio program.
See, Jack, this looks extreme, isn’t it? No. Not at all.
I think going to the cross to get people to hear about the love of god, is extreme.
Everything outside of that is nominal. Are we not his? Are we not his servants?
Does not our bodies belong to him? Then can’t he use us any way he wants?
Yes. You can. So when we pray, don’t pray with repetition.
If you have a book that tells you how to pray, Put the book away.
Put the book away. Unless it’s the Bible, put the book away, and talk to him.
Like, you would talk to anybody else. Hey, I wanna wrap it up this way.
In the US capital, you can go on a tour And part of the tour takes you down into the original congressional chamber.
It’s downstairs, and it’s the original where shortly after the capital was built, you have these seats and these desks.
It’s kinda like old school desk.
Remember the really old ones are made out of wood and they they lift up like this?
All these senators and congressmen, they had these desks.
And, uh, one guy, I believe it was it was either Noah Webster. Who was the congressman?
Noah Webster or Daniel Webster. But it might have been Noah Webster.
But he he took a knife and he he was he would carve in his desk.
You can see his desk, it’s there today.
And, he was he’d car stuff in his desk and it’s uh, he was an amazing believer, by the way, but at break time, he would go and read his bible.
And there is a, uh, an account that, uh, I mean, I’m not gonna say eyewitnesses, ear witnesses, would hear Noah Webster reading his bible out loud, and they said that he read it so dramatically.
He had voices that he would use where god said to Noah, and he would say it.
And then Noah responded back to god or Daniel said, and then nebuchadnezzar said, and Noah Webster would read his bible like that by himself.
And there would be other senators in congressmen leaning against the door listening.
They were spellbound by the dramatic version of Webster reading his bible by himself. I thought that was pretty awesome.
And, um, why do I say that? Because, uh, again, forgive me.
It was either Noah or Daniel Webster, they prayed like that too.
They took that interaction and the word of god coming into them.
They turned it around and they prayed like that. I love that. It’s kinda childlike.
And so we’ll wrap it up this way. I wanna really recommend to you a little booklet.
It’s called, um, it’s called, I forget. Effective prayer life by Chuck Smith.
Effective prayer life by Chuck Smith. It’s about that thick.
I recommended for everyone, for everyone, especially young people.
It’s a great tool parents to teach your kid how to pray, and it’s a great reminder for you to get back to praying like a kid.
Because that’s so important.
Jesus said to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must be like a little child.
Little children are believing Little children are filled with faith. Little children don’t doubt.
Little children, you better watch out. When you put them on a wall, to jump in your arms.
Don’t turn your back on them. Those little stinkers. They’re so trusting.
They’ll jump like a Swan dive right into your arms.
They trust you so much guts as that’s how I want you to be. So pray always.
The Bible says in 1st thessalonians without ceasing. So how do you do that? It’s a good question.
Open up the dialogue, the conversation. And I wanna believe this.
That your prayer life and my prayer life is never ending.
It’s not gonna end until the day that we see Jesus face to face. How’s that?
Your prayer life is like breathing. Just keep breathing, and you’ll live.
As you’re living, keep praying. And as you pray, you live.
And you’ll be filled with vitality.
You’ll be filled with freshness and you will not grow weary and well doing because those that wait upon the lord will renew their strength.
Right? They will walk and not be weary.
They will run and they will not they will take they will be born aloft on the wings of Eagles.
So listen, I hope that helps you. Grab a book of the Bible. Maybe start in John.
And start praying through chapter by chapter verse by verse in your prayer life. Watch what happens.
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