Experiencing the Prayer Life You’ve Always Wanted

Several years ago, the Lord showed me a vision, and in this vision, I saw myself, and within my body, it was almost as if I could see behind a layer. I peeked into the spiritual realm and saw my soul. Now, I don't believe this was an exact representation of what the soul looks like, but I know that the Lord was communicating something to me through the visual that I had received.

Amen.

And within my—

the center of my being, I saw a glowing white ball of light that would grow and then shrink. It would expand and then shrink.

The Lord showed me that laid over the top of this glowing white orb or ball of light was a layer of dirt, which represented the earthly. And upon that layer of dirt stood all of these structures that, to me, looked like buildings. And whenever this orb would shrink, the dirt itself would become uneven and the structures would fall.

When this glowing white light would expand, The dirt would become even and the structures would stand. The Lord revealed to me the meaning of that vision.

That white ball of light represented my prayer life.

The layer of dirt represented me as a human being— mind, will, emotions. And the structures that stood atop that layer of dirt represented the various different responsibilities that the Lord had given to me. being a husband, being a father, being in ministry, being a friend. And when I was in prayer, I as an individual was stable and the structure stood upright. And when prayer began to lack in my life, that layer of dirt began to go uneven and everything else fell apart.

Now I wanna be careful about the way I communicate this here this evening because I don't want us to look at prayer through the lens of legalism. By that I mean that many believers look at prayer as a performance or they look at prayer as a negotiation to get God's attention. And they think that prayer is our performance that God evaluates and depending upon how we do in prayer, he decides, maybe on some days, to give us his presence and and on other days to remove that presence. Well, that is not how prayer works.

In order to begin in true prayer, you have to accept that you've been accepted.

Amen.

This is why one of the Holy Spirit's primary roles is to cause us to cry, Abba, Father.

What does this mean? It means that many of us have trouble praying because we're filled with shame. Many of us have trouble approaching God Because we think that he's angry with us, because we think that he's rejecting us. Or perhaps you view God as an impatient, angry figure who is wearing thin on his patience toward you so that when you approach him, he's looking down at you, ready to snub you, ready to reject you.

And this, of course, ultimately discourages prayer.

Some believers look at prayer As a means to obtain power.

If I'm a person of prayer, I'll be great. If I'm a person of prayer, the ministry will be big.

If I'm a person of prayer, God will show me real miracles.

Now, there's some truth to that, so I don't wanna take away from the truth entirely, but if you're not careful, you can easily fall into that trap where it becomes all about your performance instead of his perfection.

And you think that God will use you because of your prayer life.

Well then, my friend, your faith is in your own faith.

Your faith is in your prayer life rather than your faith being in Jesus. So I don't want to fall to that extreme this evening. Instead, my goal is to share with you the reality of what's available to you in prayer so that you'll be inspired to reach out and grab hold of what God has made available to you. So never mind with the shame, never mind with checking off Monday through Friday. Oh my goodness, I prayed Monday, thank God. I prayed Tuesday, thank God. I prayed Wednesday, thank God. Surely I'm walking in favor. Surely I've finally been accepted. Surely God finally loves me. And then I missed a day of prayer. Now I gotta start all over again and get back to where I was.

Christians use language like that.

I gotta get back to where I was with God.

Well, wait a minute. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. What does that mean? It means you're already one with him. It means you're already his.

It means you already belong to him.

And that, my friends, is the biggest obstacle to prayer, because some of us are so filled with doubt and shame and condemnation That we can't possibly imagine that anyone would accept us the way we are. But God does. And it is from that place of acceptance that prayer begins. And so we see in Psalm 80:18, So we'll not go back from thee. Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. He has to quicken you before you can call upon him. What does this mean?

It simply means that every day God is giving to you invitations.

You've been summoned to the place of prayer.

Now I understand that we as Christians can pray all day, every day. There's no time that you cannot pray.

Amen.

You can fellowship with the Lord in the car on the way to work.

You can fellowship with the Lord on the job.

You can fellowship with the Lord when you're lying in your bed trying to fall asleep.

You can fellowship with the Lord when you're running your errands at the grocery store.

Whatever it is that you're doing, there's that connection there, and you have to begin to believe that and stop listening to the lies of the enemy that try to make you feel distant from God, because the only distance that can exist between you and the Lord is your unawareness of his presence. There is no distance. Put your hand in front of your face like this. The Lord is closer to you than your hand is to your face.

We view prayer as a call outward and upward, something way out there.

When prayer is actually a retreat inward to fellowship with the God who never leaves us, never abandons us. Now, some might say, are you saying we can live however we want?

Not at all.

But I'm saying that God is more patient than we are stubborn. And that his acceptance is based on what Christ did on the cross.

Amen.

And so he calls to you, this royal invitation. You may have noticed this throughout your day as you're busied by various different activities, this subtle thought somewhere in the back of your mind calling you to read the Word, calling you to prayer. That's the Holy Spirit nudging your heart. That's the Holy Spirit saying, come away. Now I'm talking to you this evening about the secret place. What is the secret place? The secret place is where you go to be alone with God, but it's not a physical location.

It's a mindset. It's a perspective. It's a truth.

The secret place can be right here as you stand amidst fellow believers worshiping God and receiving the word. The secret place could be in your home where maybe you're facing the pressures of this world. The secret place is wherever you dare to believe that God is listening. The secret place is wherever you dare to have the faith that you can have an audience with God.

Amen.

And so the Holy Spirit says, come back to this mindset, come back to this place of faith, come back to this receiving of the presence. Out of this secret place flows everything.

One of the illustrations I like to give to individuals is imagine you take several wine glasses and you stack them in the shape of a pyramid. Now, the conspiracy theory YouTubers are gonna say I'm in the Illuminati.

It's just a shape. God created geometry. I promise you this is okay.

Okay?

Stack the wine glasses in a triangle.

It's okay.

Now, if I have one source and I pour out that one source and I want every glass to be filled, which glass do I fill?

The bottom one. The top.

And if I can just focus on that glass, pour out from that source, let that first glass be filled, then by default, inevitably, everything else will be filled.

Come on, man.

That's what prayer is in the life of the believer. I once heard a man of God remark, there's so much to do today. Today is so much more busy than any other day, unusually busy today, I'll pray 2 hours instead of 1. Because you can accomplish more on a prayer-filled day than you can in a prayerless week.

Prayer is dependency upon God in action.

Come on.

Prayer is a demonstration of faith. Why?

Because if you're praying in the secret place with no one there to see the performance, You're either doing it because you truly believe it or you're not doing it at all.

So how do we respond when the Holy Spirit calls us to put the first thing first? Go with me, please.

Psalm 91.

Psalm 91.

The scripture declares, those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Now wait a minute. Those who what?

Live.

Not occasionally visit. They dwell there.

This I declare about the Lord.

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety.

He is my God and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers.

He will shelter you with his wings.

His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though 1,000 fall at your side, though 10,000 are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Now I want to really simplify this because sometimes I think that if we're not careful, we use church lingo that makes things sound more complicated than they need to be.

Remember that.

Well, what does that mean, those who live in the shelter of the Most High? It means you're connected with God. It means that you stop every so often throughout the day to put your mind on him. And as I said, some of us are so filled with things like shame, guilt, doubt, cynicism. Maybe you've been so hurt in the past. You've been through so many difficult things. It's just difficult for you to open your heart to accept something so wonderful, lest you be disappointed again.

Amen.

Afraid to hope again. Afraid to love again. Afraid to believe again. God is not a man that he should lie. He will not let you down.

Amen.

He invites you to come away with him. When this world is too much to bear, when you feel like you need to escape, when your heart and mind are choked by the thorns of worry and hurt, the Holy Spirit will draw your heart to higher places.

Now I'm not talking about being naive.

I'm not saying that we deny reality. I'm not saying that we stick our fingers in our ears, hum really loud, and pretend that nothing bad is ever happening to us. It's just irresponsible. What I am saying is that when you do live in this way, aware of God, walking in that secret place, you live in a protection, yes, a bubble of his presence. This is how I feel sometimes, and I'm not always the best at doing it. I'll just be honest with you. Sometimes my bubble bursts, and I allow my heart to get all messed up. Maybe I worry a little too much. I stress a little too much. Become a little tense. But in those places now, watch this: you're going through your everyday life, and the Holy Spirit says, "Come." Come receive. Come and drink. And we're worked up. I have to do this. I have to do that. I can't believe they said this. What about my finances? What about my job? What about my health? What about my relationships?

All of the questions I have for God, all of the questions I have about God, all of the doubts I have about myself, all of the things that cause me pain. And it's rushing through the mind and the soul. It's affecting the body. And it's difficult to let go and say, okay, God, I'm gonna— Let go of this control for a moment and get away with you. Why? Because worry is the illusion of control. Worry is your attempt to control the outcome of something that's completely out of your control.

Worry is how your flesh prays.

When God gives to us the ability to come away, let go of the cares of this world, and experience the beauty of his presence. Why do we close our eyes when we pray?

It's to remove distraction. It's not like God goes deaf when your eyes are open. When I pray for my Aria at night, She does a little game where she opens her eyes, closes them, tries to get away with it, and I tell her, your eyes are open. She says, well, how would you know? I said, okay, this girl is definitely my daughter. Well, your eyes were open too then.

But we posture ourselves to receive of him.

To disconnect.

To disconnect.

It's the art of disconnecting from this world.

It's to say, I know this is still happening.

I know the trouble is just before me.

And you fear that if you let go of it for a moment, it's all gonna fall apart.

I can't take my eyes off of it 'cause I gotta see the problem coming, because if I can see it coming, I can brace for it better.

Fear grips.

Faith releases. Faith releases.

Faith says, okay, I'm tense with trying to control the outcome here.

And that's why we don't pray. It's not that we don't love God, for the most part. It's not that we don't believe prayer works, for the most part. It's that we're afraid to pause for a moment and give up control when we can be busy trying to solve our own problems. You should do that which is wise. You should do that which is practical. But if you're not adding prayer to your efforts, you're saying to God, I can do this on my own. A day without prayer is a declaration that you don't need God. We involve God through going away to the secret place. There's no substitute for this.

Amen.

There's nothing you can do to replace that time alone in his presence. Yes, you can talk to him all throughout the day, but there needs to be moments where you're totally focused on him, devoted in mind and heart to just the presence of the Lord.

You can't duplicate that. You ever seen people under pressure that just nothing disturbs them?

I know of a pastor who one time he was on an airplane that ran out of fuel. They needed a place to land.

He was taking a nap. They went to wake him up. They said, wake up, we might have to do a crash landing, to which he replied, Jesus slept through the storm.

I'm gonna sleep through this. I knew that man. I'd like to believe that I would do the same. I get a little turbulence, I'm grabbing the seat. But there's something to be said of that supernatural peace that can only be obtained in that place of prayer. You cannot replace it. Nothing replaces that first glass. Nothing can produce the fruit of the Spirit like yielding to the Lord in prayer.

Nothing can cause that flow of the Spirit in your life like daily yielding in the place of prayer.

Someone asked me one time, how do I keep the fire of God? I said, what do you mean by fire? They said, you know, like when I feel like I'm doing good or when I feel like serving the Lord. I said to him, I said, my friend, fire is not a feeling. Fire is a feeling. It's faith and obedience. You see, you're not always going to feel God. Oh, we're going to go a little deeper here this evening.

You're not always going to feel him.

I know for a charismatic, that's like heresy. But you're not always going to feel him in your emotions or on your physical body. And so many people are busy chasing feelings, not realizing that they're never going to mature in faith if they always have their feelings to fall back on.

That's right. Okay.

There's a place you can go in the Spirit where you don't have to feel and rely on experience and emotion, but there's this inner stability That in the midst of persecution, in the midst of criticism and slander, you're patient, you're loving. In the midst of turmoil, when everyone else around you is panicking, you're stable-minded, at peace.

When sorrow presses against you, tragedy strikes, and you experience the heartache of loss, you can't explain it, but there's this Joy that, though you may not be laughing in the midst of the grief, you may not be rejoicing and dancing in the midst of the trial, there's that joy of the Spirit that makes what seems impossible just possible enough, just possible enough.

In Matthew 14:23, We begin to see a pattern emerge in the life of Jesus. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell when he was there alone.

Mark 1:35 says, before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Mark 6:46-47, After telling everyone goodbye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.

Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was on land alone.

But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.

And he will show them his covenant. Now again, let me emphasize this. I'm not here to condemn you, but I do want to challenge you. And you have to consider this and allow the Lord to bring correction.

That doesn't mean you wallow in shame.

It doesn't mean you beat yourself up and say, I'll never be a good Christian. You just receive the correction of the Holy Spirit if he's speaking to you. My question, and you don't have to answer out loud, I want you to reflect internally, be honest. My question is, what are you trading for the secret place? You know, Judas was on the inner circle and he leveraged his intimacy with the Lord for gain. What do we trade for the secret place?

God invites us to know him, to experience the depths of the Spirit with mysteries and treasures untold. To stand in awe of the revelation of his glory, to catch a glimpse of his face, to know his heart, his mind, his nature, his power, his wisdom, to connect with him deep calling unto deep, to have the beauty of those rivers of his presence wash over us, to experience joy and peace and love and life, to see into the activity of the Spirit teeming with life, activity, and vitality. To be strengthened to stand in the midst of trials, to walk in miracles and carry boldness, to be given the keys to overcome temptation and receive revelation of the Word, to search the Word of God and see the face of Jesus. All of these things available for us in the presence of Almighty God, and we trade it to scroll on social media.

Come on.

We trade it for that next episode on Netflix. Now, there's nothing wrong with social media, but my question is, what are you trading for the secret place? Now again, I'm not saying you have to be a hermit, go up to the mountains, never do anything else, because Paul did write to Timothy that the Lord gives us everything we need for our enjoyment. Jesus said that he came that we might have life, life more abundantly. When we talk about this world, it doesn't mean, like, good food and good friends. This world, talking about the patterns of this world, okay? So God does give us blessings to enjoy, but when you have nothing but the blessings, you're exchanging the heart of God for just his hand, and you miss it.

Amen.

Like Mary and Martha. Jesus comes into their home. Martha is busy preparing a meal for him. Mary sits down to spend time with him.

Right.

How often does what we do for him take us away from him?

Why?

Because we jump back into that mindset of trying to earn a good place with him, thinking that we're serving God to receive his acceptance. Instead of accepting that we're accepted and serving God as a thank you because we're already received. All of us have been given this invitation. Quicken us and we will call unto you.

Amen.

And you practice that presence by being aware of him. By acknowledging him. You know, when I first began to drive, I was a single man, and let's just say my driving habits were a little more fun. Now, if someone else is driving, I want them perfectly on the speed limit and in their lane. But if I'm driving, I trust myself a little more. And I would, you know, maybe once in a while go above the speed limit. Now, I'm not— this is not like a confession, so no part of this tape may be used against me in a court of law. But, you know, we did this thing called— when I was from California, we did this thing called the California roll. So you don't stop, you just kind of roll over the stop sign. So, but when I, when I remember, I used to just get in the car and take off. And when I started dating Jessica, I didn't realize that, that it was a little bit rude to just get in the car, take off. She wasn't even ready. And I had to learn to drive with her presence in the car in mind. So before she began to ride in the car with me, I drove as a single man would. And then when I began to date my wife, then girlfriend, then fiancée, then wife, I had to drive with her presence in mind. Her presence in the car changed the way I drove. So I drove with her comfort in mind. Oh, but I'll never forget the day April 12th, 2019, when my precious little Aria was born. And with shaky hands, I placed her into her car seat, triple-checked the seat belts, and you would have thought I was driving with a cop behind me because Every law obeyed, every stop sign acknowledged, maybe even a few seconds extra. Because when I was single, I just drove. When I became a married man, I drove with my wife's comfort in mind. And when I became a father, I drove with my daughter's safety in mind. This is what happens to you when you become a person of prayer, a person of the secret place. You're not living right because you think God will leave you. You're living right because you love him.

Amen.

You're not, you're not living out of fear. You're living from the place of love. You don't want to grieve him. You want to do nothing that disrupts the beauty of that fellowship that you sense. And I'll tell you this, you become transformed. As Moses atop the mountain, When his face began to shine with the glory. There's a shine that comes upon you. He's the source of light, and we as mirrors, when we face him, reflect that light. But only when we face him. Boldness begins to rise. Why? Because you know who you are in him.

Amen.

Joy is overflowing from the heart. Why? Because you know you're connected with him. Love begins to flow. You begin to— I mean, boldness, even if you're a shy person. You love with such divine love that it melts the heart of the cynic.

Amen.

And the one who believes that God does not exist can't help but question their own belief because they see such love in you, and they know that they say that God is love, and here is this love before me, so divine that I can't explain it. Don't even worry about temptation and sin, because when you become so full of his presence that you're hungry for nothing else, sin loses its power.

Amen. Amen.

And in that presence, you'll go from fighting the desire of sin to having that desire itself vanquished because of the newness of life flowing through you. When you live from that place, ministry is no longer an obligation to fulfill. It's a natural expression of your love for Jesus. And you're not tired and weary and beaten down. You're filled with life. Divine energy overflowing. But you have to do one thing. Believe. Confident faith. Confident faith. Not, not wondering if you're accepted. Knowing it.

Amen.

Despite what you feel, despite what you think about yourself, so that when you enter that place of prayer, you're not approaching with fear of rejection. You're not wondering if he sees you, but you know deep within, he's looking at me.

Amen.

He's listening to me, and I don't need to beg. I don't need to plead. I sense even now some of you, you have conversations with God. Lord, forgive me for this. Forgive me for this. He says, I forgive you. And then you say, Lord, please forgive me. And he says, forgive you of what? He separates from his mind your sin and wrongdoing as far as the east is from the west.

That's the Word, man.

You do not pray to connect with God. You pray from connection. Lift your hands and say this. And I want you to say it in faith, even if you're having trouble believing it. Say, "I'm already accepted." Say it again. I'm already accepted. Say it again. I'm already accepted.

But I do want to speak to the opportunity that we as the body of Christ have to make high impact.

Let me read something to you in Second Corinthians. This is chapter nine. This is Paul the Apostle talking. Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Now remember, here the context is finances. He's talking about money, and this is where the concept of sowing and reaping comes from. Now, this is a biblical principle that as you're generous, God releases more to you. Watch this now. Verse 7, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion— that means under pressure— for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever. Now, he who supplies seed to the sower— that's key. In other words, he gave you the resources you have, the finances you've been blessed with. That's a gift from God, and really, it's his, and he watches to see how we handle what we've been given. And so it says, he supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

Amen.

Verse 11, you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. So sowing seed is biblical. Years ago, I had a meeting with one of the largest Christian networks in the world at the time, and you have to imagine this. I'm in my early 20s. I have a YouTube channel. With like 2 subscribers. Some camera equipment, but it wasn't broadcast standard, and a dream that God gave to me that he would use his ministry to impact the nations of the world through media such as you're experiencing now online. And I'll never forget this: in the ministry account, there was $630.89. Now, that's a good chunk of change, but you have to keep in mind there's airfare, there's website fees. We had workers. That was like less than the salary of one worker we had, and we would just kinda faith it. We were going day by day. It was like the manna, right? Just fresh manna for the day, and then it just went somewhere. I don't know. And so I remember I'm sitting in this room with all these executives, and We showed them some content I had, and I said, we wanna do— Steve was with me. Of course, Steve was always there. You're, like, in every story, so he gets to verify it. Steve was there. One of my friends, Isaiah Lopez, was there, and a gentleman by the name of Lenny Gonzalez. The 4 of us went to TBN. I'm meeting with these people, and I'm telling them, here's a ministry we have of healing. I don't have the resources to be on your network. I don't bring in annually what it costs to be on for 30 minutes in your network. Your 30-minute fee is more than we bring in annually. I said, but I do believe will be a great addition. And I said, Lord, it's in your hands. And that day, or I think that was either the day before or just around that same time, I remember that $630.89, the Lord spoke to me to give. And this is not an amount God is speaking to you, okay? This is just my story.

Amen.

All right, so so you hear from the Holy Spirit for yourself. I promise you, I'm not trying to like subconsciously put a number in your head.

But this is what the Lord told me at the time.

He said, "Give $500." I said, "What?" You know, say again, Lord. Is that you? I was hoping it'd be like Abraham and Isaac where I give it, and then he goes, "But you can keep it." I say, "Okay, Lord. Thank you." But that's not what happened. He actually took it. So I so I sold the $500. And I said, Lord, this is yours anyway. I remember we come out of the meeting and we went to this Italian restaurant called Finbar's, which I didn't know was that pricey. I thought it was like a, you know, one of those just fast food service type Italian kitchens, and it wasn't. We sit down, and I'll never forget because Lenny ordered the mushrooms as an appetizer, and I'm going, I don't even know if we can afford those mushrooms. And so I sowed that seed, $500. And I just said, Lord, I'm just gonna by faith. This is between you and me. This is not a formula. This is just. I believe you're telling me to give this. I'm gonna trust you. And we get a call, and the the the head of the production was name was Mark McCauley. He calls me, and he tells me, look at here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna let you put your program on the network.

He said.

He says, on the condition you have to— he gave me some tips on how we could do better on the production side. And I'm thinking, okay, great, amen. He says, now we're gonna find you a slot. This is gonna be Tuesdays and Thursdays. I said, great. And one of 'em was like an evening slot, which was great. It was on a national network. And I said, so how much is this gonna cost? He said, well, for the first year, we'll just give you free airtime.

And God used that as one of the milestones on our journey.

I share that simply with you so that you might be encouraged when you step out in faith on what God has spoken to you to do. And every single time— that's why I tell my team all the time, when we get into a pinch, we sow. When we're backed into a corner, we sow, because every single time God will meet the need. And so I'm asking you to consider the needs of the ministry as you give this evening— the media, the events. Now with this church, we actually are wanting to acquire this property. We're praying for a miracle because there's a window of time we have to purchase the land so that we can expand, because as you can see tonight, we're going to need a lot more space. So we want to acquire the land. It's 7 acres here. We need a miracle to acquire acquire that in the time frame we have to acquire that. So I'll let the Lord speak to you all watching online, here present. You want more information, you can talk to our team later, but, but do so generously. I'm going to ask the ushers now to come and pass out the envelopes, and you just hear from the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, what would you like me to give? And you do as he leads you to do. This is going to help to fund the events that we do around the world. As you know now, we in some instances are having to We rent arenas to hold the crowds, large conference centers, so that can require quite a bit of resources to do. We produce the media on a regular basis. We do at least 2 live streams a week with a podcast also, and then we do 14 short-form videos. So all in all, I think we're just at about 17 videos every single week which comes out, and that's all, of course, donor-supported. And then we have the Holy Spirit School, which many of you have heard about. We offer online courses for free. It's not something we charge for. So all of these things are donor-supported. And many of you, by the way, are also partners, and I want to thank you for your monthly partnership. Those of you watching online, many of you watching are partners from around the world. We appreciate that support. Thank you for your giving. And so I'm just asking you to give as the Lord leads you. Use that QR code.

Use the website.

If you do fill out the envelope manually, I do appreciate that we're all spirit-filled, but please do not write in tongues. We want to make sure that's legible and clear so that we're able to make out the information and properly apply it for the donation that you're submitting to us today. And I want to take a moment to thank you. I know that for many of you this is a sacrifice, and many of you this evening you're giving in. Faith, maybe a little more than, than, than others might say you should, but you just obey what the Lord says and he will not lead you astray. You obey the voice of the Spirit.