Prayer: Remix

Prayer is the steady state of awareness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, creating a constant and seamless union of the heart and mind with the Almighty that SHIFTS earthly perspectives, plans, and purposes as heaven becomes visible.

Matthew 6:5-8 points out the hypocrisy of the praying for show. That is not what God desires. So after Jesus tells us to pray in humility, he reminds us that the Father already knows what we need before we ask Him. So then, why ask Him? Because we are His children, there is a relationship, and are confident that He is working everything out in motion before we even know what to ask for.

When we pray, pray to heaven! Call on heaven! We can be anywhere on earth and have direct access to heaven.

What routine prayers need to be remixed?

1. "Lord bless me," bless us, bless this gathering, bless this meal, etc

We have already come under God's extraordinary blessing. Ephesians 1:3 refocuses us from "I don't" to "I do", "I need" to "I have", "I'm not" to "I am". Matthew 5: 3-11 starts every line with blessed. Exodus 33:12-17 is where Moses asks how he will know he has God's favor and God says He will give him His Presence. Moses is so certain of the Lord's blessing and knows he needs it so bad that he tells the Lord, if you're blessing doesn't go there, then we don't go there. God promised His Presence.

It's not moving first and asking God to bless it last minute. It's a shift to constantly moving in the blessing all along.

Remix: Thank you, Father, that I am blessed. Let me in this moment bless Your Name.

2. "Lord, be with us, be with me."

We are really saying that we need to know He is in the midst, we need evidence of this God that dwells within moving with us in this moment. (So just say that.)

Asking God to "be with us" is ridiculous. Galatians 2:20 tells us that Christ lives IN us. We are asking God who lives in us to be with us. If He is living in you, He is most definitely with you.

Remix: Thank you, Lord, that you are here and You dwell in me. Jesus lives through me.

3. "Watch over and protect me."

We don't want to pray for hardship or difficulty. This isn't saying that we should pray for the Lord to not watch over and protect us, it's just a shift to understanding that we have a Heavenly Father who is always watching over us and His angels are working on our behalf. He knows what we need before we do

What is your mission? If your mission is safety and security; this will keep being your prayer. However, if it is to advance the Gospel to the ends of the earth, this probably isn't going to be your primary prayer. Remember Acts 4:29-30, the prayer was "consider their threats and enable your servants", at no point did they pray for God to watch over and protect them, instead they asked God to stretch out His hand and move in power. They asked for God's power to be used through them.

Remix: Lord, we commit our way to you. Empower and use us.

4. "Please forgive me."

Some people are stuck in this cycle. Colossians 2:13-14 states that God has forgiven all of our sins. Past, present, future. All. What we are really trying to say is it's good to confess our sin, it clears the air in the relationship. We want to admit our sin and say we're sorry for doing something foolish even though we are forgiven children of God. (So just say that.)

Shift out of the routine and express the reality of where you are. It doesn't honor God to keep asking for forgiveness. Thank God that you're forgiven.

Remix: Father, I confess my sin to You. I own it. Thank you for the forgiveness I have in Jesus. I receive it and I choose to turn to you and follow your ways.

Pray the Real Truth that uses Real words that foster a Real connection in a Real Relationship with God, not prayers prayed in rote that does nothing to invigorate the Spirit within us.