Your Prayer WON'T Work | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

0:01 Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist, and founder of John Gifta International.

0:43 Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. A lot of times I've come across people right they say, Oh, John, you know what I've been praying about this. I'm praying, I'm praying. Nothing is happening. I'm praying, I'm praying. I'm not seeing a change. I'm praying. I'm praying. Will prayer work? Can I tell you something? See, there is another idea to understand here that prayer as a whole, your effort as a whole, that you're doing it as a ritual, you doing it with your own strength. You is thinking that your act of prayer is going to make a difference.

1:21 It's not going to make a difference. It's not going to make a difference. I want to start up by sharing a scripture with you, and I want to take this forward. There's a moment found in Jonah chapter two. Here to understand that Jonah ran away from God. God and asked him to go towards nin Away, But he took a ship towards Starshish, and he ran in the opposite direction. He put everybody in jeopardy, and eventually he finds himself in the middle of the waters, swallowed by a veil, a big fish, and his life is just at stake.

1:54 He doesn't know what's going to happen. And chapter two begins from a place where the Bible says, and I'm reading from the nib version. Okay, from inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God. He said, now listen to this. Even in that moment, he's praying to the Lord, right, He says, in my distress, I called the Lord, and he answered me. From the deep, in the realm of the dead, I call for help, and you listen to my cry. You held me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and and and and it goes on to talk about her direct conversation he has with God.

2:35 Okay, he's not just doing it like a ritual. Oh you know, I'm I'm I'm in a very bad shape. Oh my goodness, Oh God, do something. You know. He's not doing it like that. It's not a ritual. It's not an act. Okay, he's talking with God. He's saying, um, you know, um, you listen to my cry, you held me, you know. So he is having a direct talk with God. Okay. It's not an act that he's doing. It's not just a performance. And many of us may be in a place where you're in a deep trouble. You may be in a trouble waters, you may be in a very bad situation right now, and you're doing the act of prayer instead of talking with God, instead of having the real relationship with God.

3:20 Today, I want to encourage you guys. You know, even before I started, I want to tell you something. Okay, before I start recording every single episode, I pray and then I start, okay, and this word is something I had to do myself, and I said, God, you know what, I don't want to just pray like you know, I put my faith on the prayer. I put my trust on the prayer, my confidence on the prayer. God, you know what helped me to pray from a place where I am involving you. I mean, I mean inviting you into this.

3:47 Uh you know me recording this and I'm asking you to take control and I depend on you. At the same time, I'm having the direct conversation with God instead of praying as a rich will saying you know what, I'm done as an act of prayer, so something good is going to happen. I'm doing it from a place of ritual, so it's just going to work out. No, it's not. Because I want you to understand. The word that really caught my attention was if you look at worse ten okay, from worse one on words, he starts talking with God and till worse nine and he says, those who cling to worthless idles turn away from God's love for them.

4:29 But I, which shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you what I avowed. I will make good and I will say salvation comes from the Lord. And listen to this worse tend It's what really caught my attention. Okay, it says, and the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah into the dry land. And the Lord commanded the fish. I want you to get this into your spirit. It is not that his prayer made the fish to vomit him. He prays from a true place, from the genuineness of his heart. He has the conversation with God where he's pouring out to the Lord.

5:06 And the Bible is very clear in noting us and telling us that, you know, it's not that once he started stop praying, the fish just vomited him. The Bible is very clear that at that moment, the Lord commanded the fish and it vomits it Jonnah into the dry line. I want you guys to understand this. You know your prayer as a ritual, it's not going to work out. You can't say, oh I prayed and things would have changed. No, when you have that real conversation with God, it's not your prayer that has the power.

5:38 It is God who has the power. So you need to always come to the place I know something. I know. I keep checking myself. Yes, God, I'm praying, but is it coming from a place of a ritual? Sometimes you are so used to have the style of prayer or a heart of prayer. The way you pray, this is the way I do, or sometimes you know, it can just flow like, you know, okay, when everyone says, oh, let us pray, or somebody says, you know, close your eyes, let's pray, you know, in a corporate prayer. So we have accustomed to think that is prayer.

6:10 That you know, citing a few words and saying it in a certain way means prayer. You close your eyes or you get into a certain posture, and you think that is prayer. But I'm here to remind you, guys that something that you need to constantly check yourselface. Are you putting your confidence transtant reliance upon your act of prayer? Or are you really putting your trust confidence on God who is the one who's going to act in accordance to your prayer. Amen, I want you to think about it. I want you to introspect where is your prayer coming from?

6:41 And I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, that every single person who's listening will get this into the spirit of God. Help us to get to that place where we ensure that we don't put our trust, confidence and reliance on our prayer. That we don't pray from a place of a ritual, but we put our trust in you because we believe that a prayer is not going to set the miracle emotion. You are going to set the miracle emotion. It is not its prayer that commanded the fish to go out and vomit him. It was the Lord who did it.

7:17 Because a lot of people are doing the act of prayer, they're saying, oh, you know, prayer is not working for me. Prayer will not work for you. You need to have that communication with God. You need to have the direct relationship with God, and then you will see the difference in your life. Amen, God bless you. You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you. Make sure to subscribe to the John gifted YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews, and more.

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8:32 See you on the next episode of The Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. God bless you