July 16, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're asking God to do on earth what I want done.
That's not prayer.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Doctor Tony Evans says prayer ought to be less about
what we're saying and more about what we're hearing.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Prayer is finding out what He's up to so that
you can do that on earth.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Relationship experts tell
us that we ought to do more listening than talking.
Well Today, Doctor Evans explains why that idea is even
more true of our prayer lives. Let's join him as
(00:37):
he explains.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Satan does not want you to know your spiritual authority
because then you just might exercise it. He doesn't mind
you coming to church. He doesn't mind you reading your Bible,
or saying prayers, or enjoying Christian music, as long as
you don't understand that that's a far that you're supposed
(01:00):
to use and not simply information you're supposed to capture.
God has given mankind legal authority to execute his will
in history. Let them rule. We will create man in
our own image, and they will act on our behalf
(01:22):
in the visible realm as we act in the invisible realm. Therefore,
God created us like him so that we could communicate
with him in order to exercise his will. In history,
(01:43):
this thing is so powerful and so potent that the
Bible talks about men being able to change God's mind.
When they prayed, God said I'm gonna do one thing,
they prayed, God reversed his decision. So when we talk
about this thing called prayer, this thing that is often boring,
(02:06):
this thing that we often don't know what to say
after three sentences, this thing that where we say the
same thing every day the same way, is not some
minor thing. God says that this access actually reaches up
and pulls down to Earth God's purposes, or as a
(02:29):
lord's prayer says, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth. Let me pull it down. He says, Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The same thing being set down is the same thing
you're pulling down, and now you can see it. But
God must have the go between connecting the two realms.
(02:53):
Is what author put it. Prayer, if I were to
define it is giving earth permission for heavenly interference. It
is Earth giving heaven permission to intervene, because God will
only work when he can work through somebody. And so
(03:17):
that's why the Bible says, you have not because you
ask not or you ask, and I'm not connected with
the request you ask. A miss. Prayer releases God to
do what God has intended to do. It is calling
forth in history what God has determined from eternity. John
(03:42):
it's kind of like the Favorite Disciples and is probably
the closest of the disciples. Jesus is telling his disciples
he's leaving. He wants them to know he's got to
go about his father's business. He get ready die, rise
from the dead and as sind into heaven. So he
(04:02):
leaves them some information. But in chapter fourteen, Philip is
having a discussion with Jesus and Jesus tells them in
verse seven, if you've known me, you would have known
my father. Also from now on you will know him
and have seen him. Philip been raised the question, Lord,
(04:25):
show us the Father, and it is enough for us.
I know we've been hanging with you. We've been rolling
with you for three years. Now you getting ready to leave.
Before you take off out of here, let us see
the Father. Jesus then says to him, have I been
so long with you and yet you have not come
(04:45):
to know me? Philip, If you have seen me, you
have seen the Father. Now watch this. Philip is already saved.
Philip is already on his way to heaven. Philip is
already a Christian. You our vernacular today. Yet Jesus says,
(05:05):
have I been with you this long that you still
don't know me? Point, It's possible to be a Christian
and not know him. It's possible to be on your
way to heaven and not recognize him. On earth. Jesus
has shown up around us many times and we didn't
(05:26):
recognize him. We didn't recognize his voice, and he was talking,
we didn't recognize him sending somebody our way that that
was from him, but we didn't connect him to it,
so we just started with somebody coming our way. Jesus
has let us hear certain things, and we didn't. It
is possible, like Philips to be saved and not know him.
He doesn't mean know him as savior. He means know
(05:47):
him intimately, not be close to him. Because Philip has
already saved, Philip has been walking with him for a
number of years. That leads Jesus into this discussion about intimacy.
Jesus says, in verse ten, do you not believe that
I am in the Father. The fathers in me. We're one.
(06:08):
The words that I say to you, I speak not
on my own initiative, but the Father, abiding in me
is our word. Abiding in me does his works. He
says what I tell you, I only tell you because
God told me to tell you. I don't talk to talk.
(06:28):
I talk because He told me tell you something. And
I do what I do because He is doing it
through me. Now, let me tell you why this is me.
Because Jesus Christ never wasted time. In other words, he
would spend hours with God so that he would only
(06:51):
have to spend a few minutes with people, so that
when he went to heal folk, he went to heal
the people that God told him that's who I'm healing today,
So he went right to it. You know what we do.
We spent hours with people because we've only spent a
few minutes with God. So we are hitt and miss
(07:15):
in our decisions, hit and miss in our direction because
we don't know which one to do, because we haven't
heard what's happening up there, so we're not sure what
the do down here. He says, I only do what
I see the Father doing. He said in chapter five,
it is our intimate relationship. He's gonna do greater things,
(07:37):
all right, Jesus. But you know you're the son of God.
You know, I'm just an ordinary human being, Okay, ordinary humans.
I have this intimate relationship with the Father that's produced
the words I've said and the works I've done. And
I'm getting ready to leave. But don't worry about it,
because what I have with him, you can have with
(07:59):
him him through me. Believe in me, and you will
be able to do works yourself, and even greater works.
How Jesus verse thirteen, whatever you ask in my name,
that I will do so the Father may be glorified
(08:21):
in the sun. What we do is we go to
prayer and tell God what we want him to do.
Do this for me, do that for me. Pay my bills,
give me a new car, give me a new house,
Bless my family. You know, we general stuff, you know,
save the world, you know, just stuff, just just just
(08:42):
vague stuff. Stuff has no specificity to it, And we
certainly don't want to know what he's up to today,
and so we're asking God to do on earth what
I want done. That's not prayer. Prayer is finding out
what he's up to so that you can do that
on earth. And what he's up to always comes the
(09:08):
past because he's up to it. He says, if you believe,
you will experience if my word abides in you and
you abide in me. He talks about two fold abiding.
Remember the Greek word meno means to hang out, loiter,
or stay, not a visit. It's a hanging out. He says.
(09:30):
If you abide in me, that is, we have an
intimate relationship, and my word abides in you, then you
can ask whatever you want because what you're asking for
was my intention to give you anyway, because we're on
the same page. See, if you're asking God for something
he doesn't want to give you or I doesn't want
(09:53):
to give you right now, then you're going to be
frustrated and believe that God's not here in your prayer.
It's not that God's I'm not hearing your prayer, is
that you're not seeing what he's up to. So you're
not praying in light of his will. You're simply praying
in light of your will. Now, that doesn't mean you
can't take your desires to God. The God says to
(10:13):
bring your desires to him, but he wants you and
him to be so close that you have the same desires.
So what you're praying for is what He plans to
give you anyway. And one of the ways you know
you're getting close to God is more and more prayers
are being answered. Because more and more prayers are being specific.
You're not praying generally and vaguely. Lord, bless all the people.
(10:37):
I know what kind of prayer is that, But that's
how most people pray because they don't know what to
ask for.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
But how can we go about hearing God to understand
what he would like us to pray for? Doctor Evans
will explain when he continues our message in just a moment. First,
so we've been learning today about the incredible authority God
gives us through prayer. And that's just one lesson from
Tony's inspiring compilation on the power of prayer. This seven
(11:06):
part journey through the scriptures will help you understand how
prayer can move mountains, transform your circumstances, and keep you
anchored when life feels overwhelming, and we'd love to put
this powerful resource in your hands. When you make a
donation to help support the Alternative, we'll send you the
complete Power of Prayer series along with Tony's brand new
(11:28):
devotional Anchored by Prayer. It's designed to help you learn
how to pray boldly and consistently even when life throws
distractions and doubts your way. This special resource package will
only be available for a limited time, so don't wait.
Visit us today at Tonyevans dot org or call our
resource team at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two
(11:52):
twenty two that's Tonyevans dot org or by phone at
one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two, anytime
of the day or night. Well, right now, let's get
back into our message with doctor Evans.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Jesus would regularly say the disciples this phrase. He said, Well,
I say, can you not tarry for one hour? That's convicting,
isn't it? Can you not tarry for one hour? And
the answer in this room, well probably no one. I
don't know what to say. I don't know what no, no, no, no, okay,
(12:27):
let's let's talk about it. Communication. Last time I checked.
Was it two way street? If you just talking and
if no interaction, then that'd be kind of hard to
hang out for one hour like that. He says, if
you abide in me and my word abides in you,
abiding you hang out, then you can ask and then
(12:51):
you will see what I can do. Now I know
your question. I can hear your question. Now I know
what I'm telling him, But how do I know what
he's telling me? So that becomes a question because if
I can discover how I know what he's telling me,
(13:11):
or now we can hang out for an hour because
we got a two way conversation. That is the misnoma
of prayer. The misnomer of prayer is I am talking
to God. Period. That's half a prayer. God speaks to
you and to me, first of all through his word.
(13:34):
So the first question about any issue in your life
is what does God say about it in the word.
But you say, but the word may just give me
something general, it may not give me something specific. Well,
first of all, the word is a lot more specific
than you realize. Because he may be talking to Abraham,
(13:56):
but he may be speaking to you. See it may
be talking the most you may be reading something about Moses.
But it's the job of the Holy Square to lift
it off of the page and write it on your heart.
He will bring here it is thoughts to your mind.
So the way God tells you what He's up to
is by bringing thoughts to your mind, validating it, usually
(14:22):
with something from the Word that may have nothing to
do initially with what you were first thinking about. But
he brings a thought to your mind that you know
wasn't your thought, that was not your thought, but he
brings it to your mind. He may allow a person
to bring it to you. He may allow circumstances pop
(14:42):
it up in your mind, but he brings it to
your mind so that his thought becomes your thought. And
he said, I don't know about what to do with
this problem. God, this is a problem. I want to
find out if anybody in the Bible had a problem
like this, or what you say about problems like this,
and and we'll tell you how to do that. But well,
what do I want to find out? So I begin
(15:03):
to read, and I begin to meditate, abiding I begin
to think on those passages, and all of a sudden, God,
the Holy Spirit begins to move and b a thought
comes that wasn't your thought. Now here's the good news,
Jesus says, when that happens, and you ask in my name,
(15:28):
because i'm your legal representative in heaven. I'm your attorney.
I'm your lawyer. My job is to represent you if
you're representing me. So if you're representing me and ask
in my name, because we've got this relationship, I can
authorize the transaction. I give you legal right to do
(15:51):
business in heaven. You know, when you want to get
to somebody and you don't know to somebody, you will
call somebody who does, and you'll say, look, can you
get me in touch with so and so. They won't
return my call, but you're close to them, so they'll
return yours. You may not see the Father, you may
(16:12):
not know what the Father looks like, but you know
somebody who does because he's in perfect intimate relationship with
the Father. So if you come to the Father, that's
what you mean. By the end of the prayer, in Jesus' name,
we pray you mean you mean what you should mean
is as authorized by him. He is my access point.
(16:32):
He's my authorization to do business in the spiritual realm,
he says. Then you ask, But what are you asking for?
You're asking for what came over your mind. But if
you're abiding, what came over your mind validated by something
(16:54):
He gives you in the Word, was his thought to
your thinking. Now, don't believe me, don't believe me, Just
get up an hour earlier. That's that's partly problem right there.
But suppose you knew that spending an extra hour will
(17:17):
save you days, months, weeks, and years. Suppose you knew
that that extra time musing and hovering over the word
of God and bringing your burdens, your problems, your needs. God,
how do you want us to solve this financial problem
in our family? God? How do you want us to
solve this health problem of how do you want to
Who do you want us to go to to deal
(17:38):
with this situation? How do you want us to approach this?
How do you want us to do? And allow God
the Spirit to take the chaos like he did in
Genesis wand and bring order to it. The earth was
without form and void. Darkness was over the face of
the deep. And then it says in the Holy Spirit
began to move, and all of a sudden the land
got separated from the water. The doness turn to light.
(18:00):
Life began to burst out. Why because when the Word
of God connected with the Spirit of God, order came
out of chaos. He says, this thing is based on
our covenant relationship. Chapter sixteen, Verse twenty three. In that day,
you will not question me about anything truly true. I
(18:21):
say um to you. If you ask the Father for
anything in my name, he will give it to you.
Verse twenty six. In that day, you will ask in
my name, and I do not say that I will
request of the Father on your behalf of the Father
himself loves you because you have loved me and have
believed that I have come forth from the Father. If
you take me seriously, the Father takes you seriously, you
(18:45):
skip me, you skip the Father. And then he closes
in chapter fourteen. He repeats it in verse fourteen of
chapter fourteen. If you ask this is real, broad, isn't
it anything that's connected to my name? In other words,
I can sign off on it, I will do it.
(19:10):
I will do it. And then he says this, if
you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you
love me, you will keep my commandments. Look look at
watch this now. If you love me, you will keep
my commandments. I said that too fast. If you love me,
(19:38):
you will keep my commandments. Let me tell you what
it doesn't say. It doesn't say keep my commandments so
that you can love me. First, John says. Jesus says
through the same writer, my commandments are not burdensome. In
(19:59):
other words, they aren't that hard. They don't weigh you down.
But a lot of us in here are weighed down
by the Christian life. I'm a Christian. I'm happy in Jesus.
You know it seems so burdensome. You know why it's
burdensome because Jesus said, you got it backwards. You don't
(20:24):
obey me so you can love me. You love me,
and then you will obey me. Usually a happy wife
doesn't mind cooking for her husband. Usually a happy wife
doesn't mind serving her husband when she has to do
(20:47):
it because that's your job, because you the wife. She
may still do it, but you won't like the attitude
in which it is being done, because she's doing a
commandment without the love. And when she has to do
the role because she's supposed to do the role, when
(21:10):
there is no abiding in the relationship. It might get done,
but the atmosphere in which it gets done won't be
a happy one if things are hot in the atmosphere,
she liable to ask you what else can I do
for you today? Because there is a relational motivation to
(21:32):
the action that is taken. Jesus says, if you abide
in me, let's develop this intimate relationship. And you can't
abide if you're not hanging out, if we're never talking,
if we're never communicating, if all if I get is
a three sentence thing while you rush out to go
to work, a thirty second prayer because you suppose to
(21:53):
say grace. If that's all I get from you, then
don't be surprised when you pray that you don't get
an answer because you don't even know what I'm thinking.
Because you didn't have enough time to do what most
women say to listen. You ain't have enough time to
hear how I was feeling about it. You didn't have
(22:14):
enough time to interact with me. All you want to
do is just just say come in and eat and leave.
There's no abiding. So I was not able to tell
you what I was thinking. So you didn't even know
how to talk to me when you prayed because I
never had access to your mind, the unspoken word before
(22:34):
it comes out of your mouth. So you say prayers
a little deeper than now. I lay me down to sleep.
Pray the Lord my soul will keep If I die
before I wait, Pray the Lord my soul will take
no prayers me talking to him, finding out what he
thinks about the matter, and then distributing it in my day,
(22:59):
and then watching greater works. More authority, you ruling your
world instead of your world ruling you. Jesus Christ has
made himself available if you want to now rule your
world through.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Prayer, Doctor Tony Evans with advice on turning prayer into
a powerful, productive, two way conversation with God. Now, if
you'd like to receive the full length version of today's message,
including material we didn't have time to present on the air,
copies are available to you. Just visit Tonyevans dot org
(23:37):
and search for the title Ruling through Prayer. Better Yet,
you can get it as a part of Tony's current
seven message series called The Power of Prayer. As I
mentioned earlier, it's available for a limited time along with
Tony's brand new devotional book Anchored by Prayer They're are
gift to you when you help keep this teaching ministry
on the air with your generous support, learn how to
(24:00):
pray with confidence and experience God's power like never before.
Visit Tonyevans dot org to make your donation and request,
or call us anytime at one eight hundred eight hundred
thirty two twenty two. Again that's Tonyevans dot org. Or
call one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two.
(24:23):
God answers prayers, all prayers, but tomorrow doctor Evans will
talk specifically about the ones God answers with a yes.
As he talks about connecting our prayers with God's purposes,
I hope he'll be with us
We're asking God to do on earth what I want done.
That's not prayer.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Doctor Tony Evans says prayer ought to be less about
what we're saying and more about what we're hearing.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Prayer is finding out what He's up to so that
you can do that on earth.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. Relationship experts tell
us that we ought to do more listening than talking.
Well Today, Doctor Evans explains why that idea is even
more true of our prayer lives. Let's join him as
(00:37):
he explains.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Satan does not want you to know your spiritual authority
because then you just might exercise it. He doesn't mind
you coming to church. He doesn't mind you reading your Bible,
or saying prayers, or enjoying Christian music, as long as
you don't understand that that's a far that you're supposed
(01:00):
to use and not simply information you're supposed to capture.
God has given mankind legal authority to execute his will
in history. Let them rule. We will create man in
our own image, and they will act on our behalf
(01:22):
in the visible realm as we act in the invisible realm. Therefore,
God created us like him so that we could communicate
with him in order to exercise his will. In history,
(01:43):
this thing is so powerful and so potent that the
Bible talks about men being able to change God's mind.
When they prayed, God said I'm gonna do one thing,
they prayed, God reversed his decision. So when we talk
about this thing called prayer, this thing that is often boring,
(02:06):
this thing that we often don't know what to say
after three sentences, this thing that where we say the
same thing every day the same way, is not some
minor thing. God says that this access actually reaches up
and pulls down to Earth God's purposes, or as a
(02:29):
lord's prayer says, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth. Let me pull it down. He says, Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The same thing being set down is the same thing
you're pulling down, and now you can see it. But
God must have the go between connecting the two realms.
(02:53):
Is what author put it. Prayer, if I were to
define it is giving earth permission for heavenly interference. It
is Earth giving heaven permission to intervene, because God will
only work when he can work through somebody. And so
(03:17):
that's why the Bible says, you have not because you
ask not or you ask, and I'm not connected with
the request you ask. A miss. Prayer releases God to
do what God has intended to do. It is calling
forth in history what God has determined from eternity. John
(03:42):
it's kind of like the Favorite Disciples and is probably
the closest of the disciples. Jesus is telling his disciples
he's leaving. He wants them to know he's got to
go about his father's business. He get ready die, rise
from the dead and as sind into heaven. So he
(04:02):
leaves them some information. But in chapter fourteen, Philip is
having a discussion with Jesus and Jesus tells them in
verse seven, if you've known me, you would have known
my father. Also from now on you will know him
and have seen him. Philip been raised the question, Lord,
(04:25):
show us the Father, and it is enough for us.
I know we've been hanging with you. We've been rolling
with you for three years. Now you getting ready to leave.
Before you take off out of here, let us see
the Father. Jesus then says to him, have I been
so long with you and yet you have not come
(04:45):
to know me? Philip, If you have seen me, you
have seen the Father. Now watch this. Philip is already saved.
Philip is already on his way to heaven. Philip is
already a Christian. You our vernacular today. Yet Jesus says,
(05:05):
have I been with you this long that you still
don't know me? Point, It's possible to be a Christian
and not know him. It's possible to be on your
way to heaven and not recognize him. On earth. Jesus
has shown up around us many times and we didn't
(05:26):
recognize him. We didn't recognize his voice, and he was talking,
we didn't recognize him sending somebody our way that that
was from him, but we didn't connect him to it,
so we just started with somebody coming our way. Jesus
has let us hear certain things, and we didn't. It
is possible, like Philips to be saved and not know him.
He doesn't mean know him as savior. He means know
(05:47):
him intimately, not be close to him. Because Philip has
already saved, Philip has been walking with him for a
number of years. That leads Jesus into this discussion about intimacy.
Jesus says, in verse ten, do you not believe that
I am in the Father. The fathers in me. We're one.
(06:08):
The words that I say to you, I speak not
on my own initiative, but the Father, abiding in me
is our word. Abiding in me does his works. He
says what I tell you, I only tell you because
God told me to tell you. I don't talk to talk.
(06:28):
I talk because He told me tell you something. And
I do what I do because He is doing it
through me. Now, let me tell you why this is me.
Because Jesus Christ never wasted time. In other words, he
would spend hours with God so that he would only
(06:51):
have to spend a few minutes with people, so that
when he went to heal folk, he went to heal
the people that God told him that's who I'm healing today,
So he went right to it. You know what we do.
We spent hours with people because we've only spent a
few minutes with God. So we are hitt and miss
(07:15):
in our decisions, hit and miss in our direction because
we don't know which one to do, because we haven't
heard what's happening up there, so we're not sure what
the do down here. He says, I only do what
I see the Father doing. He said in chapter five,
it is our intimate relationship. He's gonna do greater things,
(07:37):
all right, Jesus. But you know you're the son of God.
You know, I'm just an ordinary human being, Okay, ordinary humans.
I have this intimate relationship with the Father that's produced
the words I've said and the works I've done. And
I'm getting ready to leave. But don't worry about it,
because what I have with him, you can have with
(07:59):
him him through me. Believe in me, and you will
be able to do works yourself, and even greater works.
How Jesus verse thirteen, whatever you ask in my name,
that I will do so the Father may be glorified
(08:21):
in the sun. What we do is we go to
prayer and tell God what we want him to do.
Do this for me, do that for me. Pay my bills,
give me a new car, give me a new house,
Bless my family. You know, we general stuff, you know,
save the world, you know, just stuff, just just just
(08:42):
vague stuff. Stuff has no specificity to it, And we
certainly don't want to know what he's up to today,
and so we're asking God to do on earth what
I want done. That's not prayer. Prayer is finding out
what he's up to so that you can do that
on earth. And what he's up to always comes the
(09:08):
past because he's up to it. He says, if you believe,
you will experience if my word abides in you and
you abide in me. He talks about two fold abiding.
Remember the Greek word meno means to hang out, loiter,
or stay, not a visit. It's a hanging out. He says.
(09:30):
If you abide in me, that is, we have an
intimate relationship, and my word abides in you, then you
can ask whatever you want because what you're asking for
was my intention to give you anyway, because we're on
the same page. See, if you're asking God for something
he doesn't want to give you or I doesn't want
(09:53):
to give you right now, then you're going to be
frustrated and believe that God's not here in your prayer.
It's not that God's I'm not hearing your prayer, is
that you're not seeing what he's up to. So you're
not praying in light of his will. You're simply praying
in light of your will. Now, that doesn't mean you
can't take your desires to God. The God says to
(10:13):
bring your desires to him, but he wants you and
him to be so close that you have the same desires.
So what you're praying for is what He plans to
give you anyway. And one of the ways you know
you're getting close to God is more and more prayers
are being answered. Because more and more prayers are being specific.
You're not praying generally and vaguely. Lord, bless all the people.
(10:37):
I know what kind of prayer is that, But that's
how most people pray because they don't know what to
ask for.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
But how can we go about hearing God to understand
what he would like us to pray for? Doctor Evans
will explain when he continues our message in just a moment. First,
so we've been learning today about the incredible authority God
gives us through prayer. And that's just one lesson from
Tony's inspiring compilation on the power of prayer. This seven
(11:06):
part journey through the scriptures will help you understand how
prayer can move mountains, transform your circumstances, and keep you
anchored when life feels overwhelming, and we'd love to put
this powerful resource in your hands. When you make a
donation to help support the Alternative, we'll send you the
complete Power of Prayer series along with Tony's brand new
(11:28):
devotional Anchored by Prayer. It's designed to help you learn
how to pray boldly and consistently even when life throws
distractions and doubts your way. This special resource package will
only be available for a limited time, so don't wait.
Visit us today at Tonyevans dot org or call our
resource team at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two
(11:52):
twenty two that's Tonyevans dot org or by phone at
one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two, anytime
of the day or night. Well, right now, let's get
back into our message with doctor Evans.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Jesus would regularly say the disciples this phrase. He said, Well,
I say, can you not tarry for one hour? That's convicting,
isn't it? Can you not tarry for one hour? And
the answer in this room, well probably no one. I
don't know what to say. I don't know what no, no, no, no, okay,
(12:27):
let's let's talk about it. Communication. Last time I checked.
Was it two way street? If you just talking and
if no interaction, then that'd be kind of hard to
hang out for one hour like that. He says, if
you abide in me and my word abides in you,
abiding you hang out, then you can ask and then
(12:51):
you will see what I can do. Now I know
your question. I can hear your question. Now I know
what I'm telling him, But how do I know what
he's telling me? So that becomes a question because if
I can discover how I know what he's telling me,
(13:11):
or now we can hang out for an hour because
we got a two way conversation. That is the misnoma
of prayer. The misnomer of prayer is I am talking
to God. Period. That's half a prayer. God speaks to
you and to me, first of all through his word.
(13:34):
So the first question about any issue in your life
is what does God say about it in the word.
But you say, but the word may just give me
something general, it may not give me something specific. Well,
first of all, the word is a lot more specific
than you realize. Because he may be talking to Abraham,
(13:56):
but he may be speaking to you. See it may
be talking the most you may be reading something about Moses.
But it's the job of the Holy Square to lift
it off of the page and write it on your heart.
He will bring here it is thoughts to your mind.
So the way God tells you what He's up to
is by bringing thoughts to your mind, validating it, usually
(14:22):
with something from the Word that may have nothing to
do initially with what you were first thinking about. But
he brings a thought to your mind that you know
wasn't your thought, that was not your thought, but he
brings it to your mind. He may allow a person
to bring it to you. He may allow circumstances pop
(14:42):
it up in your mind, but he brings it to
your mind so that his thought becomes your thought. And
he said, I don't know about what to do with
this problem. God, this is a problem. I want to
find out if anybody in the Bible had a problem
like this, or what you say about problems like this,
and and we'll tell you how to do that. But well,
what do I want to find out? So I begin
(15:03):
to read, and I begin to meditate, abiding I begin
to think on those passages, and all of a sudden, God,
the Holy Spirit begins to move and b a thought
comes that wasn't your thought. Now here's the good news,
Jesus says, when that happens, and you ask in my name,
(15:28):
because i'm your legal representative in heaven. I'm your attorney.
I'm your lawyer. My job is to represent you if
you're representing me. So if you're representing me and ask
in my name, because we've got this relationship, I can
authorize the transaction. I give you legal right to do
(15:51):
business in heaven. You know, when you want to get
to somebody and you don't know to somebody, you will
call somebody who does, and you'll say, look, can you
get me in touch with so and so. They won't
return my call, but you're close to them, so they'll
return yours. You may not see the Father, you may
(16:12):
not know what the Father looks like, but you know
somebody who does because he's in perfect intimate relationship with
the Father. So if you come to the Father, that's
what you mean. By the end of the prayer, in Jesus' name,
we pray you mean you mean what you should mean
is as authorized by him. He is my access point.
(16:32):
He's my authorization to do business in the spiritual realm,
he says. Then you ask, But what are you asking for?
You're asking for what came over your mind. But if
you're abiding, what came over your mind validated by something
(16:54):
He gives you in the Word, was his thought to
your thinking. Now, don't believe me, don't believe me, Just
get up an hour earlier. That's that's partly problem right there.
But suppose you knew that spending an extra hour will
(17:17):
save you days, months, weeks, and years. Suppose you knew
that that extra time musing and hovering over the word
of God and bringing your burdens, your problems, your needs. God,
how do you want us to solve this financial problem
in our family? God? How do you want us to
solve this health problem of how do you want to
Who do you want us to go to to deal
(17:38):
with this situation? How do you want us to approach this?
How do you want us to do? And allow God
the Spirit to take the chaos like he did in
Genesis wand and bring order to it. The earth was
without form and void. Darkness was over the face of
the deep. And then it says in the Holy Spirit
began to move, and all of a sudden the land
got separated from the water. The doness turn to light.
(18:00):
Life began to burst out. Why because when the Word
of God connected with the Spirit of God, order came
out of chaos. He says, this thing is based on
our covenant relationship. Chapter sixteen, Verse twenty three. In that day,
you will not question me about anything truly true. I
(18:21):
say um to you. If you ask the Father for
anything in my name, he will give it to you.
Verse twenty six. In that day, you will ask in
my name, and I do not say that I will
request of the Father on your behalf of the Father
himself loves you because you have loved me and have
believed that I have come forth from the Father. If
you take me seriously, the Father takes you seriously, you
(18:45):
skip me, you skip the Father. And then he closes
in chapter fourteen. He repeats it in verse fourteen of
chapter fourteen. If you ask this is real, broad, isn't
it anything that's connected to my name? In other words,
I can sign off on it, I will do it.
(19:10):
I will do it. And then he says this, if
you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you
love me, you will keep my commandments. Look look at
watch this now. If you love me, you will keep
my commandments. I said that too fast. If you love me,
(19:38):
you will keep my commandments. Let me tell you what
it doesn't say. It doesn't say keep my commandments so
that you can love me. First, John says. Jesus says
through the same writer, my commandments are not burdensome. In
(19:59):
other words, they aren't that hard. They don't weigh you down.
But a lot of us in here are weighed down
by the Christian life. I'm a Christian. I'm happy in Jesus.
You know it seems so burdensome. You know why it's
burdensome because Jesus said, you got it backwards. You don't
(20:24):
obey me so you can love me. You love me,
and then you will obey me. Usually a happy wife
doesn't mind cooking for her husband. Usually a happy wife
doesn't mind serving her husband when she has to do
(20:47):
it because that's your job, because you the wife. She
may still do it, but you won't like the attitude
in which it is being done, because she's doing a
commandment without the love. And when she has to do
the role because she's supposed to do the role, when
(21:10):
there is no abiding in the relationship. It might get done,
but the atmosphere in which it gets done won't be
a happy one if things are hot in the atmosphere,
she liable to ask you what else can I do
for you today? Because there is a relational motivation to
(21:32):
the action that is taken. Jesus says, if you abide
in me, let's develop this intimate relationship. And you can't
abide if you're not hanging out, if we're never talking,
if we're never communicating, if all if I get is
a three sentence thing while you rush out to go
to work, a thirty second prayer because you suppose to
(21:53):
say grace. If that's all I get from you, then
don't be surprised when you pray that you don't get
an answer because you don't even know what I'm thinking.
Because you didn't have enough time to do what most
women say to listen. You ain't have enough time to
hear how I was feeling about it. You didn't have
(22:14):
enough time to interact with me. All you want to
do is just just say come in and eat and leave.
There's no abiding. So I was not able to tell
you what I was thinking. So you didn't even know
how to talk to me when you prayed because I
never had access to your mind, the unspoken word before
(22:34):
it comes out of your mouth. So you say prayers
a little deeper than now. I lay me down to sleep.
Pray the Lord my soul will keep If I die
before I wait, Pray the Lord my soul will take
no prayers me talking to him, finding out what he
thinks about the matter, and then distributing it in my day,
(22:59):
and then watching greater works. More authority, you ruling your
world instead of your world ruling you. Jesus Christ has
made himself available if you want to now rule your
world through.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Prayer, Doctor Tony Evans with advice on turning prayer into
a powerful, productive, two way conversation with God. Now, if
you'd like to receive the full length version of today's message,
including material we didn't have time to present on the air,
copies are available to you. Just visit Tonyevans dot org
(23:37):
and search for the title Ruling through Prayer. Better Yet,
you can get it as a part of Tony's current
seven message series called The Power of Prayer. As I
mentioned earlier, it's available for a limited time along with
Tony's brand new devotional book Anchored by Prayer They're are
gift to you when you help keep this teaching ministry
on the air with your generous support, learn how to
(24:00):
pray with confidence and experience God's power like never before.
Visit Tonyevans dot org to make your donation and request,
or call us anytime at one eight hundred eight hundred
thirty two twenty two. Again that's Tonyevans dot org. Or
call one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two.
(24:23):
God answers prayers, all prayers, but tomorrow doctor Evans will
talk specifically about the ones God answers with a yes.
As he talks about connecting our prayers with God's purposes,
I hope he'll be with us
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