Podcast Transcripts

How does the content of your prayers differ from the biblical patterns and teachings about the things we should be praying about? This is the question discussed and how setting goals will help you align your prayers to the biblical patterns and teachings in the Bible, as well as, action steps to get started. 

 Please enjoy this podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Although efforts were made in editing, this transcript may include a few typos. It’s difficult to catch some minor errors. Enjoy! 

Introduction

Saints, welcome to Hanging Out With Jesus Podcast, I’m Lyvita Brooks, Christian author, Bible teacher, and founder of The Me Project Academy, bringing you information on how to live in a corrupt world which refuses to accept the word of Christ Jesus. This podcast gives you a wake-up call to who you are and whose you are, and how to practice spiritual disciplines to help keep you and yours faithful, in a fallen world which is not your home. John 14:23 says, ““If anyone loves Me (referring to Christ), he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” 

So if you can find this episode transcript, our free Christian Blueprint and much more at www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com. 

Now on to the show … 

59.0 - This is episode 72. It’s going to be short and sweet. Saints, as you know I am trying to get everything squared away for my new book Nuggets for Thought. I feel so blessed to be publishing my mother’s poems. This has been an inspiring and uplifting and tearful journey for me. 

Thank you to everyone for supporting this ministry which contains the podcast, academy, blog, books and purchasing journals, Bible studies on Pinterest and Amazon. You can support the podcast by leaving a review on the platform you are listening to. 

I enjoy receiving comments on the blog, podcast transcript, YouTube and through email in which everything can be found in the transcript or www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com. I’d love to hear from you because then it makes this feel more like a conversation. 

Now come walk with me where we intentionally and daily hang out with Jesus. 

Episode Begins – Biblical Patterns and Teachings Defined 

2:25 - To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,  

“Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 

  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: 

  To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Galatians 1: 3-5 

2:52 - Saints, I ran across this question from my daily devotional called, 21 Days of Breakthrough Prayer The Power of Agreement by Jim Maxim. It is a simple question that causes you to stop and ponder. It’s one of those questions that you could easily miss, unless God’s highlighting your mission, purpose, prayer. Here is the question: 

3:22 - “How does the content of your prayers differ from the biblical patterns and teachings about the things we should be praying about?”  

4:03 - First, let’s look at our prayers. We are usually asking God, to bless this person, heal that person, provide financial support to this organization, guidance for that leader, a new car for ourselves and better living conditions, get me out of this mess, save this person, help me see your will more clearly, etc. 

4:33 - I’m laughing because I see even more clearly this quote written in the same devotional by James Walker in which he said, “We spend more prayer energy trying to keep sick Christians out of heaven than trying to keep lost people out of hell.” 

Whoa – something to think about huh? 

5:06 - So let’s return to our question at hand. “How does the content of our prayers differ from the biblical patterns and teachings about the things we should be praying about?” 

5:20 - So what are the biblical patterns and teachings of prayer? Where would we find them? The Bible of course, but where in the Bible. Let’s check out Jesus’s prayers, Paul’s prayers and the early church. 

5:32 - Now Jesus did a lot of praying in private. So we aren’t privy to those personal prayers that He had with God that seemed to rejueinate Him for the next days journey of life events. But what we do have are places in which He spoke to God freely in front of all, to hear. Like John 11: 41 -42 which he spoke after they rolled the tomb so Lazarus could come out. It reads,  

 “41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” 

6:40 - Search the scriptures Saints, because you will find more scriptures like this where Jesus is praying out loud to the Father, giving Him thanks and glory being in total submission to God’s will. Another scripture is Mark 14:36. Look and see for yourself. 

7:02 - Now let’s look at Paul. The first chapters of his letters always talks about his prayers of thanksgiving to the Father, praises to God, his love for the believers and the mission of advancing the Gospel in some way. Check it out for yourself. It’s some good Bible study information. 

7:58 - Then let’s look at the early church as they pray. We can get most of our findings out of the book of Acts. We see that pray was a daily ritual for spiritual growth. Hey saints, that’s what we call a spiritual discipline. Practice makes one better. They requested fresh anointing, boldness to endure and here is something that stood out to me. Acts 4:30, they were praying aloud and they said, “…through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Which just confirmed for me even more that we pray in the name of Jesus. Just a side note, I thought I’d share. 

8:48 - Now knowing all of what we just learned, it makes you rethink your prayer life. True all those things we are praying for are good but is that where God wants our focus?  

9:02 - When you look at the prayers of Jesus, Paul and the early church theirs were more focused on spreading the Gospel, having the boldness to speak God’s word, and mission focused on completing their calling. Another thing I want you to notice is that, all of them spent alone time with God. These bold prayers didn’t just come out of the wind because they were around their friends, but because they spent time with the one God who filled them with the Holy Spirit to pray such courageous prayers. 

Pastor John Piper said in his message, “Ask Whatever You Wish.” 

11:04 - So how can we conform our mindset, our prayers to the biblical patterns and teachings of prayer? 

11:16 - Setting Goals. Naw I didn’t stutter. Setting Goals. Saints in order to grow in Christ, the biblical way. You must practice the biblical way and that involves Bible study and Bible practice. It does not involve listening to people preach to you all of the time, watching videos and getting snippets of Bible verses. It means discipline. Now how that discipline looks, well that’s between you and God. All I can do it give you starters. 

Set Goals – A Prayer Goal

12:09 - The first starter is to set goals. Many of you have written your goals for the New Year. God’s given you a word to live by for this New Year or a phrase, or song or even your mission or purpose in life. Well what are you going to do with it? Sit on it? Wait for it to happen? Or are you going to get ready to sail with it? Well to sail with it you need a plan. That plan consists of setting goals with the Holy Spirit. 

12:55 - I thank God for those who have done just that so that now we can move on. 

13:07 - Let’s revist the question one more time. “How does the content of our prayers differ from the biblical patterns and teachings about the things we should be praying about?” 

13:26 - Let’s take the 3 things we have learned from our brief study together, which are focus on spreading the Gospel, having the boldness to speak God’s word, and mission focused on completing their calling. 

13:40 - First let’s set a prayer goal. What should we pray for? 

13:46 - Which of those 3 seem to stand out to you. For me, where I am in life right now, knowing that this year God wants me to blossom where I am planted and thinking about the conversations I’ve had with Holy Spirit around this year, my prayer goal would be that God opens doors for me to spread the Gospel and that I speak His word’s with boldness and confidence. Now before I go any further, I’d pray this prayer making sure that in my heart and mind that is where the Holy Spirit is guiding me because if I need to make an adjustment, now is the time to do it. Therefore, spend time with Holy Spirit making sure you are clear about what your prayer goal should be.  

Action Plan for Using Biblical Patterns in Prayers 

14:57 - Second, what action am I going to take to practice it? 

Well first thing is to put it where you pray and places you will see it regularly. For me that’s in my War journal but also with my goals which I keep on a notecard on my wall. I can’t miss it. 

15:40 - Then, write 1 step to practice it. For example for me to spread the gospel and speak it boldly, I’d need to talk to a person but also spend time having the Holy Spirit build up my confidence through spending time in the Bible and boldness to speak up. So what would I say anyway? Well my first step would be to practice my personal testimony for 15 minutes a day in the bathroom for 4 weeks. 

This reason I started here for me is because I need to have something to fall back on, something to say, something to draw from, something for Holy Spirit to spark in me to get me started. It’s like my crutch until I’m able to fly solo.  

Lastly, now that I have a prayer goal, which is “that God opens doors for me to spread the Gospel and that I speak His word’s with boldness and confidence,” and I have what action I am going to practice, which is “practice my personal testimony for 15 minutes a day in the bathroom for 4 weeks”. Now what do I do? 

Schedule Time To Do It 

18:05 - Simple, schedule it in your life and do it. 

18:36 - The way to grow in Christ is not by asking for a bunch of things but simply by spending time with Him. Saints, we have got to get to a point where it’s not about ourselves but more about completing the mission God’s put us on this earth to do. It is in that that we magnify Christ in our life and death and glory God in everything. 

Renewal of Your Mind 

19:08 - Take time today to re-examine your prayer life and then begin conforming it to the biblical patterns and teachings of prayer. Set your prayer goal, establish your action steps to complete it, then do it. 

19:37 - I thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for this time we have spent together. I pray that we never stop asking God to teach us how to pray so that we can constantly be in aligned with His patterns and teachings on how to communicate with Him. Lord teach us to be confident followers of Christ who spread the gospel with boldness according to your plan and purpose as we walk in your truth. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 

So Saints, until we meet again over the airwaves, intentionally and daily hang out with Jesus. 

Shalom! 

Thanks for listening today you may also find it helpful to receive the Me Project Academy newsletter with episode updates, prayer-a-week, spiritual discipline tips and much more. All this and more can be found, including my contact information, on www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com or in the show notes. 

So until we meet again over the airwaves, intentionally and daily, hang out with Jesus. 

Lyvita and ___: Shalom! 

Resources Mentioned on the Episode and suggested reading & social media handles: 

• Nuggets for Thought: A Mother and Daughter’s Collection of Poems, Reflections, and Flash Fiction About the Life They See by Lyvita Brooks 
• Past John Piper of Desiring God Ministries 
• 21 Days of Breakthrough Prayer The Power of Agreement by Jim Maxim

Calls to Action: 

• Sign up for The Me Project Academy Newsletter for resources on developing disciplines to help you grow in Christ, prayer and new releases of the podcast.  
• Website: www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com 
• @hangingoutwithjesuspodcast (Instagram) 
• @themeprojectacademy (Pinterest) 
• [email protected] (for comments) 
• www.goodreads.com/lyvitabrooks