how to pray

Today I would like to focus on something that has to do with the subject of prayer. And if you could go with me to the book of Luke, chapter 11, there is something that I would like to refer to here in this verse. I'm going to be in Luke, chapter 11 and in Matthew, chapter 6. And maybe you'll say, like, wow, the topic of the sentence is burnt as it were, but no, no, no; The subject of prayer is always vital, very important.

This does not go out of style or fashion. Luke, chapter 11, verse 1. I am reading the God speaks today edition, so you can follow me. I really like the version, God speaks today. It says, once, Jesus was praying in a place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, could you teach us to pray as John taught his disciples,' and Jesus said to them, 'tell me when…' No, no, don't read the rest.

He said, when you pray, say... Look, here is something that I think is very important. And the first thing I'm seeing is that if you have to ask something, it's often important that you ask an expert in that area you're asking about, right? If you want to know about computers, who do you have to ask... A Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, or something like that, you have to ask them.

If you want to know something about… I'm trying to think. Oh, if you want to ask about cycling, ask Lance Armstrong, not me. If you want to know something in the area of music, who can you ask? Whom? Beethoven, well, look for him seven feet underground or I don't know where he is now, but let's go closer, not so contemporary. Who can they ask? Where is Quique? I miss Enrique. You see that it's in there, no, okay. Up there, of course Arturo did too. Oh, what's more, if you want to know about sounds and audiovisuals, another expert too, Bruno is there, you can also ask him.

If you want to know about how to cook, the style, I'm going to mention different styles. I'm going to start with the Dominican style, look here you have quite a few people you can ask. If you want to learn how to cook Colombian-style, who can we tell? Colombians, here, yeah? Miguel, of course, you are an expert in the kitchen. If you want to ask how something is cooked in Costa Rica, who are we going to talk to? There is Berta, there is also Antonio. We can ask them. From Puerto Rico, I know that there are others who are not me. So…

Now, but when it comes to the topic of prayer, this is where I see an example where the disciples of Jesus went to the expert, they went to the Master to ask about prayer. They didn't start talking to each other, but went directly to the information resource. And this is where I see, my brothers, that there was something in the style of praying of Jesus, that captivated the attention of his disciples in such a way that it provoked them to go at a moment to Jesus, and tell them… Guys! ! Thank you. It provoked them to say at one point, 'Jesus, we need You to teach us to pray like You pray, we want to learn to pray like You pray.'

And this is where I see that there is something that is very important. Here is something very important, because the point is that... Lucas does that to me all the time... So... Diana, don't worry, I'm totally familiar with that scene, so I go one way and they go another, but I am very clear, my brothers, that there is something in what Jesus was doing that the disciples said, wow, there is something different here and I want to learn how he does it.

And look at what Jesus said to them that caught my attention, when Jesus says, well, "when you pray, do it this way...." Look, how interesting, because that phrase is very important. He didn't say, if you want, pray this way. He said, when you pray, do it this way. In other words, Jesus was assuming that his disciples were going to have… what? The time to pray.

And this is where I realized that this is something so revealing and it's not that I'm saying, wow, I didn't know I had to take time to… But, rather in those words of Jesus, because when Jesus teaches us to pray is because he is telling us, well, if you want to pray it is because you have the time to do it. Look how I'm saying this. If you want to pray, if you want to talk to me, it's because you have the time to do it. And my basic question today is, are we getting the most out of our prayer time? Are we making the most of our prayer time?

And, look my brothers, I am going to make a confession here in front of all of you and the whole world on the Internet, I am not making the most of my prayer time. Because? Because I don't have time sometimes, or I don't make the time, rather. Let me tell you like this. I don't make time like I should. I know that many of us when we are praying, yes, I pray in my house and things like that, easy, when I go to bed, I kneel down and pray and I am there for five minutes and after five minutes, the fatigue is so much that one falls asleep.

So we say that we use prayer as an anesthesia in order to sleep well. Or if not, when they invite us to come to prayer time at five in the morning, it's like, Oh, but getting up so early! When usually the best sleep is taken at five in the morning and there are times when it becomes difficult, and out of four Saturday mornings I come one every… fill in the blank. Monthly, okay, you got me, thank you, monthly.

So, the point is, my brothers, that here the aspect of time is key. And the point is that Jesus himself, in his example, took time to pray. And it is not that Jesus did not have, as they say, an empty agenda. Jesús had a pretty full schedule, but even in his schedule, he took that time to talk to dad... talk to his dad, talk to his father. And he was leaving that example to us as well. My brothers, I know, and here we are all in the same boat, the circumstances of life can drown out that time of prayer.

There are times when one worries so much about the worries and chores of daily living, that you look, I understand that many times it is difficult, it is hard to take that time; Taking that time is a sacrifice, it is an effort, or you have to sacrifice, hours of sleep or you have to sacrifice hours to get to work, or you have to sacrifice time to share with the family to do this or that or the other. It takes time, but if I don't take that time, there's something we're missing, there's something we're not, yes, I'm saying it for everyone… There's something we're missing. And what is it that we are missing?

Go with me to Matthew, a moment, Matthew, chapter 6. Just a few observations that I want to make here from verse 5 onwards, because when I say that you have to get the most out of that time of prayer, it is to be able to make good use of the time. It does not mean that the time has to be a whole hour, that I spend praying in the presence of the Lord, or two hours, or three hours. Rather, the least amount of time that I can get, even if it's five or ten, or fifteen minutes, but that it's five, ten or fifteen minutes that are well-intentioned, very significant, but that I'm getting the most out of that time.

Look how verse 5 says, “and when you pray…” Furthermore, Jesus is emphasizing, “and when you pray,” in other words, when you take time to pray, “let us not be like the hypocrites who like to pray standing in the synagogue and in the corners of the squares so that people can see them. I assure you, they have their reward."

Now, let me make a footnote here. Because it does not mean that if we are here in the church in public, it does not mean that we are being hypocrites, it is not that, on the contrary, when we are here in the church we encourage the fact that we can all pray, because that prayer that we are doing here it is to bless one another, to call the presence of God here in this place, invoke his presence and ask him to move in the middle of the church.

So, that type of prayer, which we practice is a totally different one than what Jesus is talking about here. Because what Jesus is emphasizing is the people who speak more for a sense, or who pray, not who speak... but, people who pray more with a sense of arrogance and selfishness and vainglory, as if to say, look at me here how good I pray with all this verbiage of... the last words of the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy and no one can pray with the eloquence that I do.

That type of spirit, I think it is the spirit... I understand that it is the spirit that Jesus says, look, don't do it like that, because that is a false way, it is not genuine. There you are wanting to pretend something that you are not, or you are wanting to offer something that you do not have. And I'm not saying that one doesn't learn to speak well, obviously with God, but the point is that God also focuses on the words that one speaks with simplicity. Look how it says, verse 7, I'm going to skip verse 6.

Verse 7 says, “but when praying, do not repeat useless words as the pagans do, who imagine that the more they speak, the more attention God will pay them. Don't be like them, because your Father already knows what you need before you ask him." Look at this, here I want to stop for a moment, my brothers, because Pastor Gilberto, when he was preaching certain Wednesdays ago, made me reflect on this.

He was talking about the example of many times people who come, "Oh, my God, Hallelujah!" And they have to decorate their prayer with this word like this, look at me the water bath fell. I pray the same way, and I get stuck and I'm there, “Holy Lord, Hallelujah, and You live and You have power and I get all these words that are like, well, repetitive.

But the thing is that many times one stays in those very repetitive words, one is losing the son and the ton to what the sentence really wants to do. Have you not realized that there are some people who when they are praying have the phrase, "Holy Father" and "Holy Father" this and "Holy Father" that, and "Holy Father" the other, and all this is "Holy Father" ” and “Holy Father” and most of the sentence goes into “Holy Father”. Have you heard that or am I the only one who has heard that? OK. I was already getting scared, like, I'm going to another church or something like that.

But one hears that and, my brothers, the thing is that it becomes a filler, that's what they call it, a filler, that you have to, as they say, so that the prayer becomes longer and fuller and more powerful. Well, I have to say these things for God to hear me a little more or for people to shout, "Glory to God, Hallelujah!" But it is not necessarily so.

You know, there are times when the prayer that God hears the most is the prayer that is more of a conversation. When we try to define sentence, what do we always say? It is a conversation with God. I sit down with God to talk to Him and express my feelings. That's why when Jesus is saying, look how Jesus says, in verse 6: “but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret.” In other words, this is implying a very simple conversation between two people, and this is where I see the beauty of prayer. Because there are times when I think about what Jesus says, like we want to decorate and elaborate our prayer in such a religious, Sunday way, with a very biblical, very proper vocabulary, and like this is the way, this is the formula in which God will listen to me.

But look, no, there are times when the mere fact that one sits in a chair and that one can say, 'Lord, I can't take it anymore.' That already becomes a prayer. I mean, the mere fact that I could come and sit and look at the stars one night and be blown away like that, I mean, wow God, you really are amazing! You who did all that, if you are in control of all those things that are up there, how can you not be in control of the toothache that I have, to give an example.

And I understand that there are times when prayer becomes intense. How many times does a conversation between two people not get intense? That one is talking between two people and the argument can become intense, look, there are times that one expresses that intensity in that conversation with God. But the point is that we are talking in such a free way with Him. And if I see what the second part of verse 6 says, "and your Father who sees what you do in secret will give you your prize." And your version says, he will give you your award in public.

Look at this, I mean, don't think that for God to reward me in public I'm leaving here, I'm going home, I lock myself in the room and we're going to pray because I want to see my reward in public Hey if you proceed With prayer like this I believe that your reward will remain private and it will remain private in God because not even you will see it. In other words, let's not proceed in the conversation. Now I know, now I know that I am going to talk to Blanca who is laughing here and I am going to talk to Blanca because I want her to give me 10 dollars so I can get home today. And I'm going to start talking and I'm going to turn the tables on Blanca just because I want 10 dollars. I'm just waiting here in public now for the 10 bucks.

My brothers, that is where I see the simplicity of how Jesus teaches us to pray. Perhaps the disciples were waiting for Jesus to give them a chair in prayer. These are the appropriate words to use to address the Father, to address the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords... don't come with words like that, you scum of the underworld, no, no, no, no. You are addressing the creator of the universe, you have to speak to him like this with this tone of voice because if you do not use that tone of voice, God will not listen to you. If you talk to him like that, he won't listen to you.

No, that is something else because sometimes even our tone of voice changes when we are praying. God! Even with echo and everything. In other words, God listens to that simple heart. The prayer of the righteous, God listens to it, my brothers. That soft prayer that many times is even whispered. What happened to Ana, Samuel's mother? She was speaking between her lips but her prayer was being so intense that God heard her. What's more, look, you know what? There are times that even myself when I'm in a conversation with another person, in counseling or something, there are times when people are surprised why I don't end up praying at the end of that counseling.

And you know what I always respond to that person, look, I believe that this conversation was a conversation before God, too. That perhaps the only thing I have to say, amen, may God take care of everything but the person expects me to lay hands on him and anoint him with oil and rebuke the devil and that is where the counseling is given.

No, look, there are times when it's just a conversation. I believe it, when... before the person arrives at my office, there I am, "Lord, this conversation is in front of You, take control, guide us and let You take charge of doing what you have to do." And we sit, we talk, we cry, we laugh, we make jokes and everything. Even the jokes, God laughs with us at the jokes too. Those who are good, because God has a sense of humor. If the joke isn't good, you won't laugh. You had to laugh there.

Look, my brothers, I want to leave you with this thought. I believe that in that teaching that Jesus was giving his disciples was a teaching to keep a simple heart before Him. If you want to take something with you tonight, take that with you. When you take time out to talk to God, keep your conversation with Him simple. Don't worry about embellishing it, putting flavors on it, putting sounds on it, if you want to put music in the background, put music in the background but make your prayer simple in front of Him.

And He who is listening to you, He is going to take care of giving you his answer. Not only in public but also in private, as He wants to do in your life. He will take care of giving you his answer. So I just want to encourage you with this, what's more I'm going to end like this: There are times that God is going to put you in situations and I don't know who this drop falls on but, there are times that God is going to put some of you in situations that may seem somewhat average, such as what happened? If I am asking you for something good and this happens to me and there are times when God has to put us in those situations that apparently could be negative but if we do not fall into those situations we will not be able to pay attention or take the time to connect with Him.

Me, on my vacation I had to get sick in bed for two days to pay attention. “Sir on my vacation, why? Why do I have to get sick? But, that's why I'm preaching to you, I learned my lesson very well.

So, my brothers, don't be surprised if there's some… I mean, I'm not wishing any harm on your life, mind you. I want to clarify that. But don't be surprised if even when you're trying to get that time, if you see that situations still come up that may seem a little adverse, look, don't go as they say, against God quickly. oh! But Lord, why do You allow this? Because maybe the answer you're going to get is, I allowed it because I need to spend time with you. I need you to lower your revolutions so that you and I can truly connect.

So let's talk, let's talk to God. Don't dress up your vocabulary, keep it simple, keep it simple, straight to the point. Say, "Lord, look here it is." If your tears don't let you speak, well look, let your tears speak for you, because God understands the language of tears too, but the simple fact is that we're keeping it simple and we're being intentional about taking that time out. When? I don't know, I'm not going to give you a recipe, look, the best time to pray is at five in the morning. For some that may be the alternative, for others perhaps, the best time to pray is at work at noon when they take their lunch break, they get into that cubicle where no one bothers them, that is their best time to pray. . For others, perhaps the best time to pray is when the children go to bed, so that then you can, so to speak, even set aside half an hour and feel, okay, God, one on one. Maintenance check, let's talk.

Proceed with God, proceed with God. And obviously let's not forget these congregational times as well, this is a time not only to talk to God. When you come here on Wednesdays, you have your time to sit there alone in your chair and talk to God as well as time to join with another brother, with another sister, and talk together with God to intercede for one another on behalf of … So the time is there, we just have to be very aware of… and remember the simplicity in our words.

So, my brothers, I'll leave you with that, let's not let the summer vacations eat up the time of… our time – they eat up the time of our prayer time with God. But you get the picture, right? OK. I'm still coming back from vacation. Next Wednesday I will speak more clearly.

My brothers, we are going to stand up, we are going to finish. Finish. We will conclude our time today. Wow! And I still have time, my God. OK. No, I have ten minutes, okay? We have ten minutes to talk to God, so why not? Why not?

Dear God, how nice it was to see you in the faces of each one of these people, Lord! How nice it is to know that you want us to talk to you, that you long for us to talk to you. And, Lord, we let you know that we long to hear you speak into our lives. Maybe if we heard your voice we couldn't resist it. But, Lord, we long to hear you, God, through your word, through the word of other people around us.

Through nature, Lord, into our midst. Through a preached word, a sung word, through silence we want to listen to you. So, Lord, as the disciples said very well, we also say it. Teach us to pray every day, more and more. Teach us to know what it truly means to enter into a direct conversation with You, without distractions, a well-intentioned conversation, a conversation that even if it is five minutes, but it is five minutes that fills that space that only You can fill.

And that we can fill that space that is in your heart too. That You long for, and that we can brighten your life, Lord, when we can talk to you. God, I ask you for each one of my brothers and sisters here tonight, I beg you Jesus that in their agendas as they can be any of them, Lord, full or half full, I beg you to please help us to be well intentional with our time, Lord. And to be able to truly set aside those moments, Lord, when we can talk to you.

Provide those opportunities, Lord. Wherever those opportunities are, but open them up. Lord, whether it's in traffic, whether it's while we're cooking, whether we're talking to a person or whether we're walking in the park alone or whether we're enjoying ourselves with the family, Lord. Whatever the opportunity, allow us to always be well intentioned with using our time and separating the portion that You deserve on that day.

Also teach us how to pray, how to use our words, Lord, so that we are not repeating things that have no meaning, Lord. And that we do know how to use our words at specific, strategic moments where they truly invoke your presence, Lord, in the midst of our lives, in the midst of the congregational meeting. Help us to be very aware of that, Lord. That we do not pray as they say over there, like a parrot, but that we always pray consciously, Lord, about what is coming out of our mouths.

Because our mouths reflect what is in the heart, and if the heart is speaking like a parrot, then there are problems. Fill our hearts with conversations with you, Lord. I declare your blessing on each one of my brothers and sisters tonight. Fill them with good, their family, their homes, their jobs, my God, that they can leave here with a sense of peace that only You can give.

Renew our lives at tonight's rest and that tomorrow if You allow it, Lord, we can get our hands on everything that comes in the day. We ask this in the name of your son Jesus. Amen and amen.