So I was getting ready for a workout. And um my mind was just in a stream of thoughts. And uh the Lord, I was thinking about how my prayers have changed over the years and content and quality. And the Lord said, uh tell them about, about your prayers. And I said, OK, so I came out here and it's cold
and my hoodie broke so I can't zipper it anymore. But my cat ran up. He's very vocal. So if you hear him meowing, he's just giving me my hype man for this video. Um If I don't trip on him, uh if you've read the book I wrote called Seek Ye This Jesus. Um There's a lot in there about prayer and you may
have heard me say before. That one reason it took so long for me to write that book is that as I was writing the best I knew about a topic that I felt like was worth something. Um for the purposes, I wrote that book, um the Lord would teach me more and then I had to do it. I had to change so that I did
it before I could write about it with, with sincerity from experience. And um so there's a lot about prayer in that book and there's a time where I pray for hours a day and then I got up early to do it and I, I'd meditate over the scriptures. I just, I'd read them and think about them and ask questions
and get answers and I still do a lot of that, but I don't really pray much anymore. That might be a shocker for you to hear. I said a prayer this morning. Um and I think the last time I can remember praying was weeks ago, weeks ago. And uh I truly believe that's what the Lord wants me to do. So that
might come as a shocker. So here we go, let me explain and maybe you find use for this. So my prayers before other than the length, I guess in topic, they're pretty similar to what you might expect. So maybe I'll go through each of these things and say why I don't do this anymore. Because basically what
, what has happened is that every time I try to pray, the Lord interrupts me and he tells me to go do something else, which I do. And so it's kind of like, uh you know, the ceremonial, put down a knee in football games. I don't know football enough to say why they do this, but they get the ball and they
just take a knee and it's almost like, that's how far I get in most prayers. I've got the next order and I just go do. And, um, so I used to pray. Let's see, some examples. I used to pray and I'd say, Lord, I don't know what to do about this or that. And sometimes he'd tell me what to do and sometimes
he'd teach me what to do through the things that happened after the prayer. And now I don't have that question because if I'm in a situation, oh cat claws on my leg, I know what to do. I know what to do and, and I know what the Lord would have me do. And so if I were to not know, then I would ask. And
, and the only time I ask now, is it something like Lord, you know, all the reasons I'm doing this. And um I think this is all I strongly believe this is what you want. I have no reason to doubt, but I'm just checking in because I'm an idiot. And if I'm wrong, here's your chance, please help me see what's
right. And then I go and I do because I want to check in and not be like the ancient Israelites who had the spies show up and there was commanded to kill that whole population. But these people pretended they were from a far off country and they didn't check in with God and they got bamboozled. So I
don't, I don't really pray so much about what to do anymore because I already know and the spirit tells me in the moment. But if I lack, if I lack understanding about something or, or total confidence in what I'm doing, I will pray and I will ask him, I used to pray a lot uh of prayers of gratitude,
chat. Quit calling me. I used to pray a lot of prayers of cat attitude, gratitude in the Lord. He began to tell me if you really appreciate this, then the way to show me is to go share it with others, go live it and help others. So I said, OK, so every time I pray a prayer of gratitude and he tells me
that I just go and do it this morning, I prayed because um I felt overwhelming gratitude uh because of an exchange I had with my sister. And I realized that I hadn't really thought about how grateful I am for that in a while. And I started to pray, thanking him for that and all the ins and outs of that
relationship over the years. But very quickly it turned into and uh acknowledgment of his wisdom in the way he arranges everything, knowing exactly how things need to be, to be the best that they can be. And then very quickly got to basically, the only prayer I offer these days, basically, which is to
beg him with all my heart to not shield me. From anything that would be for the benefit of the world and for his glory. And I, I beg him that he put me into places where no matter how much it hurts or how long it lasts, that somehow somewhere somebody can gain a little more awareness of how much he loves
us and how good he is. And that's something that I do pray about. Um because there are things in this life for which our consent is required. And so I regularly renew my consent to suffer for the benefit of others. And I beg him not to cut that short. What else did I used to pray about? I used to pray
for miracles, for people. And since then, he's taught me a lot more about the mechanisms of those miracles. And so I exercise the same faith well, even greater faith than I would in praying and asking for something not understanding by living according to the understanding, what else? Um So many of those
miracles. And that was the first prior prayer in a long time that I can remember that was weeks ago was I was praying for a man who's uh who was in a tight spot, a life threatening tight spot. And when he told me about it, the Lord showed me more than what the man had said and I saw a bit of the future
and what was at stake and I offered up my life um for kids and the Lord gave me what I asked for. But that wasn't a prayer in the normal sense. I was just using those mechanisms of miracles that I told you about. Part of them. It's a, it's a big, big stack of things. So, yeah, whenever I, whenever I
had tried to pray, that's a long time. Now um about how tough things are. II, I haven't done that in a very, very, very, very long time because every time I did it the Lord, but show me more of what he went through for us in a very, very vivid way. And I got to the point where I didn't need to see more
of that to believe him. And so I stopped praying about how hard things were. And I just, I just asked him to help me do it in a way that helped people see his love and his goodness more than they would and, and switch to the other prayer that he told you about that he wouldn't take it away, right? And
whenever I prayed to know what I should do in a certain situation, I kept finding that he'd remind me that he had already told me. And he said, what are you doing? Go do what I told you. Don't ask the same question again. You've got standing orders. Go do what you were told. And so I just do it in the
second. I run out of the next step. The second, I even turn the slightest way to say, Lord, what's next? I've already got the next thing. So some of the next things have been very large. Like these books, these books have been, they defy description, the process defies description. But as I've had questions
because I run out of the next thing because every day, every moment I work on these, the next thing is right in front of me. It's, I I, it's so hard to describe but I can see it. It's like, it's like the words stand out on the page and I know what to do and it's, it's work. It's the hardest work I've
ever done. Uh, it's harder than any. It's not just, uh, it's not, not just more difficult in, in, uh, quality. It's more difficult in kind. It's a different thing. It's a different thing, but it's just like, step by step. It's like walking a path or crawling inch by inch. And I know the next thing I
need to do and I do it and I know the next thing I need to do and I do it. Um, but any time it has been anywhere close to not knowing the next thing, the second my mind even recognizes it, I see the next thing again. And so, um, once it dawned on me a few years ago that, um, I wouldn't have forever,
my, my kids would not be home forever and it dawned on me through observation of others whose kids were older in a very visceral way. I realized that there would come a day where I would regret not if I, if I hadn't done everything I could to spend every moment with my kids in the, in the, in the way
that would help them the most in the future once they weren't at home. And so I was racking my brain because I was tormented by the fact that I felt like I was a slave to work. And I had discovered this value that I couldn't have because my time was in so many ways, not my own because of, you know, you
have to feed your kids in order to have the kids to spend time with the kids, but you spend all your time feeding your kids, you don't have any time to spend with them. And the Lord put me on a path where I started to find ways of spending more time with them without reducing my performance on the things
I needed to do to feed them. So um by, by merging together the I uh how I, how I spent time with them and the work I needed to do. I discovered not quite 40 hours a week but a whole lot of hours a week that I could spend with my kids that I wasn't spending with them and actually not just on kind of,
you know, maybe meaningful but less than useful recreation, but actual practical things that they, they could value that, that would impart value for, for their lives. And like that my prayer life, you know, once you dedicate yourself to the Lord and you learn enough about him that you can see how his
will touches every little piece of your life, every minute of your day, every minute of your day, you walk in prayer, you worship in spirit and in truth. And the more you do that, the more traditional prayer ceases to have something unique to offer. And in many ways, you get a lot more out of life, lived
in prayer, then you do prayer about life and then the things that remain, that need to be addressed in explicit prayer. It's because they can't be addressed in just life. And so that would be my answer to. Why don't you pray much anymore? I'd say, well, I don't pray much anymore because I pray all the
time because my life is a prayer. You know, when I pray and I say, Lord, I want to thank you. He says, then go and live in a life dedicated to giving to others. What I've given you, you show others what I've shown you proclaim on the house tops, what I've whispered in your ear and they say, OK, and you
know, I go to ask what to do. But uh he's already told me what to do and so on and so forth. So you know, when we see the word prey in the scriptures, it doesn't mean kneel down and close your eyes and talk or think that's a piece of it. It's not the fullness of that idea. And so I invite you to pray