Prayer Unpacked: Building a Deeper Connection with God #3

Do you feel like your prayer life has become a routine checklist rather than a real conversation? In this transformative episode of The Truth Unpacked, we are stripping away the religious jargon to discover how to pray with authenticity and purpose.

Join Sereta Collington as she explores practical steps for building a deeper connection with God that goes far beyond the simple "bless this food." Whether you are a new believer unsure of where to start or a seasoned Christian feeling spiritually dry, this episode offers fresh insights into spiritual growth through communication with the Creator.

We’ll discuss:

• Why honesty is the most important ingredient in prayer.
• Overcoming the fear of saying the "wrong" thing to God.
• Daily habits that foster intimacy and trust in your spiritual walk.

Stop reciting and start relating. Tune in now to learn how to turn your prayer time into the most dynamic part of your day.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When was the last time you pray without asking for anything? Or better yet? When was the last time you pray without using the same five sentences you have been using from their childhood? Many of us get stuck in the polite prior mode. We treat God like He's some distant relative or some vending machine. We ask, bless this food that we are about to eat. Keep us safe, keep our family safe. We may be afraid of silence or we may not even know the things that we are to say or pray. Today we are impacting what prior really is. It's not a performance, it is a lifeline. And so today we are impacting how to move from ritual to relationship. Today we got some back so we can do this beautiful. Welcome to the Truth and Pacter. This is a podcast in where we share all our experiences as believers. We learn from each other. You are learning from me, and I am learning from you. But we are using all of the truths of God word to unpack our experience and what we go to. So let's start off first by removing some of the mint that we heard about prior. The first thing I want to talk about what prior is not. It does not require fancy language. I am not gonna lie, there was time when I thought prior was that. Like you watch people who pray and they are prior and they have the words, the fancy words, they sometimes make you feel inadequate to come before God and talk to God, right? But prior does not require fancy language, it's a simple everyday language. God is the one who gave us language to speak, He understands every language. I remember once, you know, um, or somebody came to me and was talking to me about how important the Hebrew's language is. Oh, we are supposed to use this E Bruce language, and those who can pray in Hebrew's language are so connected with God. Absolutely not. No. I am going to talk to my best friend. I am not going to try to find some language I are just to speak with. I am speaking to her face to face, and I am going to bring up my truth, my honesty. I'm going to laugh and talk with her. That's what God wants with us. He doesn't need you to go and find some fancy language or speak in some Hebrews language. Though the Hebrews is a respectable language, but the Bible is not only written in, but we also know that God is the one who created language. When they were building the Tower of Babel, he's the one who confused all the people with different language. I think God is capable of understanding us. As long as we seek to speak to Him from our heart. Come on now, you all. The second myth is that fire is this transition. Yes. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Let's be honest here. Have you ever really prayed to God? Ask Him for nothing? You just pray. How does that sound? Does that sound strange?

SPEAKER_02 3:32

There was a time in my life that that sounds strange. Every time I go to God in prayer, you know, yes, I learn how to do the acts prayer or I give other reasons to God, but I always ask God for something. I ask Him to pay my bill. I ask Him to help me find the right husband. I asked Him, let me depict this. I ask him to destroy my enemy. All of those are good because it shows my dependency in God. But God is not available just for us to ask Him something. It's also an opportunity for us to hear from Him, to allow Him to correct us, to seek to know what He wants us to do. Sometimes prior is more than just asking God, it's bringing adoration, it's giving, I believe, one of the most powerful and blessed prior we will ever pray is the one that says, Your will be done. Not mine. That's a difficult prior. Jesus prayed that prior when he wanted to decide if he has to go true, he's giving his life for the whole world.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

He has to pray if he wants to go true, have that nail in his hands and in his feet.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

So saying your will be done is not saying God, we are waiting for God to do it. What we are saying is whatever God desires of us, let that be done. God has already shown us his will. To how to word, he told us what his will here. And so sometimes it's complete surrender for us to just let God be God. Yes, sometimes our prayer just has to be in that place where we want to let God be God. Now I want to jump over and read something from the book of Matthews with you. This is coming from Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 to 8. I'm reading from the New Living Translation, okay? And here's what it says in Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 to 8. It says, when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who pray publicly on the street corner and the senator, where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that's all the reward they will get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your father in private. Then your father who sees everything will reward you. When you pray, don't babble on and on and on as the Gentile do. They think that prior is the answer merely by repeating their word again and again. Don't be like them. For your father, he knows exactly what you need, even before you ask him. Jesus took the time to tell us what to do when we pray. So from this, we understand a couple of things. The first thing, prior is private. Now that doesn't mean that we can't pray a corporate prior. You know, you gather together in your faith community and someone lead all of you in prior, or someone pray for everyone. That's natural. But private priors are the most powerful prior because there is just you and God. There is no one observing, there is no one for you to perform, there is no one um for you to point at their mistake. It's just you and God. The second thing that Jesus says is that we don't have to babble on and on about the same thing. So, like you don't have to go 50 times by one ahead, Jesus blame my bed, Jesus play my bed, Jesus. No, you say God has already knew what you need. That part right there, that's the clue. It says here, he said, your father knows exactly what you need, even before you ask him. Come on. And so, you know, when I first was going through this, I asked myself, so then if God knows what we need, why do we pray? This is pride is not about asking for God for things. He knows what you need, but it activates our relationship with him, it shows our dependency in God. So when we come to God and surrender and I need to, he's like, Yeah, I know, I know you need that, baby God. I got you. I got you, I got you. But I'm coming to him. So I am showing God that he is the one I am depending on being my provider. Now that we we got rid of those myths that may have been in the back of your mind, I want to share something personally with you. When I was praying consistently, asking God for things over and over and over, nobody told me I was wrong. And so every day my prior life was that. Every time I pray, I thank God, I give honor to him, and then I spend the rest of my pride asking him to do things for me. I remember one day in my prayer that the Holy Spirit revealed to me, I'm treating God like a sugar daddy. Yes, the way I was coming to God all the time and just asking, give me this, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me. That's okay to ask God for things. He is our Heavenly Father, He loves us and He wants us to come to Him. But we can't allow it to just be about us. But my point is, the Holy Spirit had to reveal it to me. So in the midst of my prayer, I was cut off. Well, wait a minute, why do I just keep asking God? Maybe now it's time for me to give God what God wants. And God needed a relationship with me. And so my prayer changed then. But it was hard because first I wondered. So if I'm not asking God for things, how am I praying? What am I supposed to say? First, the Holy Spirit. But while you're praying, He will reveal to you if your prayer is good or bad. He will grant you what you need so that you can pray and say, God, this is what I need. I need to go to this. I need to hear from you. I need to know your will. I need to know your desire in this. And now let's look at what raw good prior looks like. When we look at the biblical model of how people are supposed to pray, one of the greatest examples of prior world in the Bible is David. David prays some powerful prior. Some of David's prior makes me uncomfortable. He expresses anger. He expresses doubt. You know, David prayed a whole prayer. Make that man's wife a widow. He even told God how to kill his enemies. And he came before God with his doubt. He was like in Psalms 13, he is like, Have you forgotten me, God? Yeah. That's real prior. He speaks out the abundance of his emotion to God. God is not scared of your emotion. He won't turn you away because of a conversation you have to him. As a matter of fact, these types of prior, these raw prior, that's what God wants to hear. He can angle your emotion, he can handle your truth, he can angle you because he created you and he loved you. But this is the type of prior that we have to come and surrender to God.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

God changed my life completely. That was one way that God changed my life.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

I have to be honest before God whenever I sing, whenever I have bad thoughts in my mind about people who hurt me. I come before God and I lay it out to Him. And I always feel better after. Don't worry about that situation. And sometimes while I am praying, I hope in my eyes and God's words will come across. It's like an answer. He is speaking to me. He's saying, My daughter, such and such. But God wants us to be honest. He wants us to empty ourselves in front of him. Don't try to hide who you are in the one who created you. Remember, while we were yet sinners, Christ died on the cross. We don't need to be perfect for God. Jesus was already perfect for us. And so David, greatest example. If you want to really learn what raw prior is, check out David. He prays and pride. Cry on his sick bed, complain about his enemy, speak about his death with God. How long will you forget me alive? Those were David pride. Now let's take a step from David now and let us look at one of David's ancestors. Jesus. Let us keep his name holy. Jesus cried in the Jesuim. When Jesus got on his knee and he prayed, he prayed so much. It was in Luke. Um, let's go to the book in the Bible. Luke chapter 22, verses 42.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Luke chapter 22, verses 42. And it says if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done. Jesus prior is surrendering.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

He trusts God. Yes. We too can come to God with complete obedience, ultimately raw deep prior. Deep prior involved, honest struggle. Jesus was struggling with this task that God has given to give his life for her. You have to come to God with all your struggle. When you come to God with all your struggle, your honesty, even your thought, if you're thinking really murder or stuff, come to God about it. Yes, especially those thoughts. Those are the thoughts that God wants you to come to aim about. Because sometimes the enemy plants seed in our mind and we can't get rid of it. But we do when we speak it into the presence of God. Thank you, Oli Story. He helps us to find a way to hold on to it. I want you to understand how much God loved us. He's willing to hear our struggle. Yes, he knows all we need. But sometimes the deepest struggle in our heart is what he needs to hear from us.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Let me share some practical steps that you can take away today.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Um that you can take away to help you. However, I'm consciously saying this because I believe that each of us have our own individual needs, our own individual um ways that God wants to change. So you may already be in praying deeply, for example, and God already knows that. But maybe there's just one more thing God wants to add. So my point is wherever you like in your prior life, let God tell you. Come before Him and honestly and ask Him to show you how do I need a change how I talk to you? How do I need to talk to you more? Bring that whole thing to God and God will share it with you. But I am sharing some way that I believe can help all of us, regardless of where your prior life is, whatever level you are, or whatever stage you are. The first thing is the unpack artist. Yes, that means stop finding yourself repeating the same thing. Stop praying the same way over and over and over again. If you find yourself praying the same way, maybe you can stop and just start over and say, okay, God, hold on a moment. I have to start over. I'm tired. I don't know what to do. Those are the prior that God wants to hear. I have to do that sometimes. I find myself praying repetition prior, like the same prior in the same mode. Whoa, girl, stop. Let me start over. Heavenly Father, I was lost there for a moment. I needed help. That's how we build relationships. Not in using script, but coming before God in a new way each day. So that's the first thing. Unpack all you were already doing it. Whatever is on, whatever is on ultra pilot. Change it. Bring some fresh perspective of how you are praying to God. Second, this is the biggest thing of her. This was a biggest lesson for me. Incorporate silence. Yes. Conversation is a two-way street. We talk to God, we tell God what we want, but we also have to listen. For a long time for me, silence was journaling. When I grab my journal and I am writing, I can hear what God is saying to me. So bringing my journal in my time of prayer helps me for a while. But now I reach a stage where I can do that. I can sit in silence. It doesn't have to be a long time. While you are praying, pause for two minutes and just listen to what God is saying to you. Just pause, open your heart and hear. So after you pray and say, like, for example, I am tired. Pause and listen to God saying something to you. Oh I love the Lord. I just did that. I just did that pause. And you know what came to my mind right away? Jesus said, Come to me and I will give you rest.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Thank you, Lord God. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you. Oh, sorry. I just needed a moment there. That was just an example to you. And now we can do it. He's still in Lord. I need his God.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

When you pray, just take a moment and be silent. The next thing you can do is pray the scripture. I apologize. There are times when I don't know what to pray. I'm lost for words. And I will just um just open my Bible and begin thinking of what I want to say to God. And I use the scripture and pray. For example, we just read where Jesus was talking about how to pray. And so my prayer is that Lord Jesus help me not to pray like Epoch. Teach me how to go in silence and shut my door. The scripture is a powerful way to help you to pray. Plus, it helps us to remove our own words and our whole opinion away from that. It just allows to surrender to God and just use his word to pray. And when we pray, the promise of God, that is even more powerful. Jesus, your word tells me, yes. Pray the scripture. I love the word of God, and that's why I want to unpack it on this podcast. But when we use the word of God, it's even more powerful. It uplifts our prior and it allows our prior to be here, seen, and it also empowers us because God's words bring changes in our lives. The final practical thing that you can do is real life prior. Yes. Um there are people who call this breath prior, or um, I forgot the other name that I heard someone call it, but for me, it's real life prior. Your heart is open. Like I'm talking to you right now. I sometimes of real life prior when I'm having a conversation with people. Um like, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to say to this person? Or quite simple. I'm washing the dishes and I am just asking God to cleanse me, just the way these dishes are being cleaned. And not that I am using soap and water, but I want him to cleanse me with the blood of Jesus. Amen. And so real life prayer means we incorporate God in everything we do while we are praying. We are surrendering over. We're not just limiting God to the big stuff. We are allowing to come in for everything that we need. Really prayer also means you're driving and you're just surrendering over to God. Lord, I'm taking this trip. Be my passenger.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Help me to make the strip. Or maybe take the wheel.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

I want to just quickly take a moment to review all of those practical advice. First, remove get yourself off autopilot, right? Um audit, unpack or audit your prior. Make sure you're not saying the same thing over and over and over and over again. Start incorporating silence. Be still in the moment of your prayer. Take a two minutes quiet just to be still. Pray using the scripture. Use God's word to help you, especially when you don't know what to say. And finally, use real life prayer. I hope those practice those four practical skills can help you as you go forth to help your prior life be a better prior life. Let's now talk a little bit about the boundary, the things that stop us from praying, the things that let us not want to pray. But I think the first thing that stops us from praying is this. I'm busy. Yes. We are all busy in life. We all get busy sometimes, and you know, we don't have time to pray. Or sometimes you you pray in the morning, but you get so busy throughout the day you don't have prayer to pray. You know that Martin Luther King, it says that Martin Luther quote, not Martin Luther, Martin Luther the Christian, he says, once I have so much to do that I spend the first three hours in prayer because prior saves time, because it's gives clarity. I had to learn from that. That was so amazing. Have you ever spent three hours in prayer? It's powerful. Yes, you are not again, you're not just taxing God, it's a moment where you're sitting, you're talking, you're talking to him, you're giving reverence to him, you're having a conversation with God in your mind. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

When we are too busy to pray, it will change our life, not for the better.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

No.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

But when we stop, drop everything and pray, it brings clarity and it helps us to even have a better day. I used to incorporate that in my work day because I would spend, you know, 30 minutes in the morning with God. Then I get to work and that whole day I'm just too busy to pray.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

And so what I had to do was I set my alarm for one for noon, one for 3 p.m. And I said, it's that was my stop everything and pray. If I'm in a meeting or something at noon and I can't stop everything and pray, or if I have a team lunch, I still stop everything and pray. I excuse myself and go to the bathroom and pray. I excuse myself and say, I'm going to my computer for a second and pray. I stop and pray. Eventually, it becomes an habit. I don't have to use my alarm anymore. I just stop and pray at certain times for the day. And it's not just for alarm. I had to start with alarm so that my habit comes. Now I don't need an alarm because I developed the spiritual habit of stopping and praying. Never be too busy to pray. Every time you spend time in prayer before your day, you will have a wonderful day. God intervenes on your behalf. He brings you peace, he brings you clarity, he brings you protection. It's just, I want to tell you how I knew that prior is just powerful. Now, when I start my day in prayer, it's always a good day. If I'm too busy, I'm rushing to get to the door, and I can't pray. My day always ends up different. So I know when we start with a day inviting God in prayer, we will have ability. This is the biggest one. I feel unworthy. Yes, we all feel unready. I mean, literally all of us. All of us. It doesn't matter your position or tackle, whether you're a pastor, minister, priest, all of us eventually. If you don't feel worthy before God sometimes, you may think too oddly of yourself. But I believe that all of us feel unready. I am trying to find the book of Hebrews 4, verses 16 for me to read it with you. I want you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4, verses 16.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

And it says here. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it the most. People feel unworthy, but Jesus already gave us a way to come before the throne of grace. Boldly, don't be a coward, don't hold back in fear. Everything you do, nothing at all. But everything you do, Jesus already fixed it for you. Yes. His blood already cover you so you can come to the throne of grace. Jesus split the curtain that was wholly set apart for priests so that they can go in the presence of God. Jesus did it all. It's not about what you do, it's not about how you live, it's about what Jesus did for you. And because of his blood, you can enter the presence of Christ boldly. Boldly to the child of death. And you will receive his mercy. God wants you to come before him in confidence every day to know that you can receive. You are never unworthy to come before God unless you are not a believer. Now that's a whole different bargain. Because if you are not a believer, if you don't believe in Jesus and you're gonna go before God, it has to be the pride of salvation. Otherwise, you can't go with the same confidence as a believer who's covered on the blood of Jesus. But otherwise, if you are a child of God, you should feel very good in going before. This is also another common one. A common barrage that people feel unworthy. Yes, I have experienced that. Um when I was a minister and I was hacked to pray, and I felt unworthy. I didn't feel like I was a good enough person to pray for people. And whether you believe it or not, God used me to pray. It wasn't about the word I have, and no, I remember I was going to write my prayer the night before because I was so nervous about praying for the first time on that altar. And I said, let me write my prayer down so I know what to pray. And you know what happened to you all? I left at home. So I have to get on the altar and pray. And I remember I stopped praying, I was so nervous, but the confidence of the Holy Spirit came over me, and it was revealing to me what people needed, what they need for God to intercede on. And so I was able to pray. Yeah. And so it has become before God. If you don't feel anything, it's okay. It's not about how you feel, it's not about your emotion, it's not about feeling powerful. Nervousness and all of that, it's okay. But you don't need to feel anything, you can leave the presence of God and feeling just the way as you go in. But you should feel a little better, you know. But I'm not, I'm just saying, don't expect some supernatural feeling because you are praying. And stop that thing and don't let that stop you from coming before God. Just because you don't feel anything doesn't mean that you can't come before God. God wants you to come before Him. So think about all of these barriers. There are more barriers that can stop. What is some barrier that stops you from praying? If it doesn't fall under feeling unworthy, not knowing what to say, what are some barriers that stop you from saying? Share that with me so that we can find it out together or we can fix these barriers. But whatever that barrier is, I want you to know one thing. Jesus paved the way for you. He paid it all on the cross so that you can come before the throne of grace. There is no qualification required for you to come to God's Chrome. Maybe just one. You need to be his child. But you can still come to his throne if you are a sinner to ask for forgiveness and to receive his son. Yeah, that's all you need. You don't need a degree, you don't need to be fancy, you don't need a talk, you don't need to be holy. All you need is a desire to talk to God. When we look back at all of this, it's helping us to build a relationship with God. It takes away, you know, the ritual practice and brings us to a way where we are having conversation with our heavenly father. Jesus' blood not only covers us and allows us to be able to come to the throne of grace, but it gives us the DNA so that we can also say, Have a father. God loves you just the way you are. He wants you to come into his presence, but he also wants you to pray bold prior. So let's look back at it. Prayer is simple being with God. It's a place where we most know where we can be changed, we can be love, we can surrender, we can come before him in boldness. God won't judge you based on how you come to him and pray. It's when you don't come to him and pray that the struggle is there. And so for the next seven days, I want to challenge you to do something. Pray some no ask prayer. That means go to God in prayer, but don't ask him for anything and see how that changes. And spend five minutes today in praying where you are not allowed to ask God for anything, but you're also allowed to be still and solid. Just be still in God. So that's my challenge for you. After you watch this or listen to this podcast, I want you to pray some no aspires for at least five minutes. Spend some time talking and listening to God. Let us close and pray. Heavenly Father, I come before you today and I thank you so much for just allowing us to come before your throne of gifts. I thank you for your son Jesus Christ and what he has done for us, allowing us to come before your presence. As I pray today, I ask that you grant us the words that we can come to you and pray. I pray for the person who is praying with me right now, wherever they are struggling in their prior life. Help them to overcome it so that they can come before you with confidence and with love. Father God, I pray that you will bless them in new ways to come through you. We come before your throne of grace to obtain mercy. May you continue to reveal the truth. May you continue to help us to know who you are as we come before your throne of grace. You are our God and we love you, and we thank you for everything you do. In Jesus' mighty name I pray. Amen. I am Sarita Carnaton and remember the truth when we unpack this is not just about what we learn, it's also about someone or who we are talking to. Keep unpacking. God bless you.