Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez
Ever wish you had your own personal cheerleader or coach in your ear, whispering encouraging words? Telling you how to kick butt in life, plus showing you how to get there? That’s exactly what you’ll get when you tune into Your Joyful Order Podcast. Each week you’ll get a mixture of preaching and teaching from your host Leslie Martinez who is a Certified Life Coach, Business Owner, Wife and Mom. Listen along for some entertaining real talk about life, business and relationships. Leslie wants to help you to reach your goals and motivate you to live out your God given purpose, by bringing you insightful knowledge, resources and sharing some tips and tricks to take action. No topic is off the table here, just know that faith will always be the foundation of our conversations and an occasional kick in the butt might come in the most loving way! Get ready to take your life to the next level and learn how to chase joy!
Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez
#83-The Power of Prayer: How to Develop a Consistent & Meaningful Prayer Life
In this episode, we’re diving deep into one of the most powerful tools we have in our walk with God—prayer! Now, I know for many of us, prayer can sometimes feel like a challenge. We want to pray more, but life gets in the way, distractions pop up, and before we know it, our prayer life can feel inconsistent or even distant. But here’s the thing: Prayer is not just a routine task; it’s a lifeline to strengthen our faith and relationship with God. Today, we’ll talk about the power of prayer, how to develop a consistent and meaningful prayer life, and even how worship can be a form of prayer. Stick with me, because by the end of this episode, you’ll have practical tools to break through any roadblocks and build a solid, consistent connection with God through prayer.
Through personal anecdotes and practical advice, Leslie guides you on establishing a meaningful prayer life that aligns with God's will, helping you communicate your needs, desires, and gratitude more effectively. You'll learn how combining scripture reading with prayer can refine and renew your faith, making your spiritual journey more enriching and fulfilling.
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Today we're diving deep into one of the most powerful tools that we have in our walk with God, and that's prayer. Now, I know for many of us, prayer can sometimes feel like a challenge. We want to pray more, but life gets in the way, distractions pop up and, before we know it, our prayer life can feel inconsistent or even distant. But here's the thing Prayer is not just a routine task. It's a lifeline to strengthen our faith and our relationship with God. So today we're going to talk about the power of prayer, how to develop a consistent and meaningful prayer life, and even how worship can be a form of prayer. So stick with me, because at the end of this episode you'll have practical tools to break through any roadblocks and build a solid, consistent connection with God through prayer.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, I'm Leslie Martinez and you're listening to your Joyful Order podcast. Each week I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you and, at the same time, bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say the show will be a mixture of preaching and teaching, with a kick of motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order podcast.
Speaker 1:So let's just get right into this conversation. This month, our theme is strengthening your faith, and today we're going to learn ways on how to strengthen our faith through prayer. I'm going to give you some key points and some really practical tips on how you can strengthen your prayer life. First thing I want to talk to you about is the importance of prayer and how the power of prayer can really strengthen your faith. I want to start first here in scripture, we're going to start in reading Philippians 4, 6 through 7. And it says here do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus. This scripture right here tells us so many things not to be anxious, but in every situation, through prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present those requests to God. Now, prayer allows us to lay our burdens before God, it allows us to find peace and it strengthens our faith by trusting him in every situation, in these moments of communication that our faith is refined and renewed. That's where we start to see how we can strengthen our faith and putting more trust in God's word versus carrying the burdens and feeling the anxiety of carrying those things on our own. The burdens and feeling the anxiety of carrying those things on our own. Now, prayer is more than just asking for things. Prayer is not always about me, me, me, me, me. Prayer is a way for us to align with God's will and it helps to deepen our relationship with him.
Speaker 1:If you listen to episode 81 and talking on this topic of strengthening your faith, we talked about how building a strong foundation in scripture is a big part of that. Well, that goes hand in hand with building a strong prayer life. It is more than just you know. Again, like I said, asking for things, it's our way of aligning with God's will, and then it also allows us to understand his character. So, reading the Bible, understanding scripture and prayer, they go hand in hand to help to strengthen our faith. In the moments of when we need to communicate and actually put into action our faith, that's where our faith begins to strengthen. So, moments of communicating to God our needs, our wants, our desires, it's not just about us, but it's also petitioning for others to God. It's also seeking solace in God's word, and that is where our faith is refined and you're strengthening your faith in those moments.
Speaker 1:Now next I want to get into some very practical tips. So we're just laying the foundation here of why prayer is so important and I just I want to kind of go back to the scripture Philippians 4, 6 through 7. This is a verse that I have memorized, like, moreover, and I have used it many times in prayers I have shared here on the podcast. I have shared openly about my struggles that I used to have with anxiety, and my anxiety was heavy when I used to work in ministry. Ironically, you would think that when you work in ministry, that, oh, you have no worries Like you get to do God's work, y'all. It's real when you work in ministry. I mean the burdens that you are carrying, the stress that you are carrying, the constant feel of needing to be perfect and not, you know, be human, is real when you work in ministry. It was not a healthy way. That's why I winded up, stepping down, because it took its toll on me.
Speaker 1:But I suffered from serious anxiety while I was working in ministry and that's because I was carrying a lot of these burdens. I had the need to control situations, I had the need to feel that I needed to be perfect. I felt that I had to have the answer to everything. I felt that the constant stress of having to be there for others all the time and people pleasing, and that is a form of chronic anxiety, which is why I had constant anxiety attached. This verse do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, your prayer and petition and thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God. Your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. I have repeated that verse a multitude of times because when anxiety would come and seep into my head, into my body, into my spirit, I had to remind myself to not be anxious in every situation and I would just go into prayer, repeating this verse over and over and over again. And I will tell you and this isn't just like a plug for my journal, but once I started the practice several years ago of everyday prayer goals and gratitude every day, my journal my anxiety started to go away. I, in the last seven years, I can count on one hand the amount of anxiety attacks that I have had, in addition to doing away with a lot of the need to control, to be perfect to people, please to have the answers for everything, because I have given my petitions to God in them.
Speaker 1:And the journal that I created is based off of this verse right here, is based off of this verse right here, through prayer, petition and thanksgiving, gratitude, goals and prayer right there, that practice, presenting it to God. I am putting my prayers to God every day. I am petitioning for my heart's desires to align with what God is putting in my heart to do. Those goals. I am petitioning God. Here are the goals and the desires that I want to aim for, with thanksgiving, with gratitude. I am presenting those requests to God every day. That practice has changed my life and that is why I felt that God put it on my heart to create this journal so that it could do the same for others.
Speaker 1:And again, this isn't like a plug to go buy my journal on Amazon, but it truly is a form of, or a practice, I should say, that has allowed this verse to just come to life in my everyday prayer and faith walk with God, truly, truly. It's been another way for me to practice. Strengthening my faith by doing this every day and again, let's go back to prayer is not just about asking for things. You want to align yourself with God, you want to deepen your relationship with him, and through prayer we can find peace. We can align our thoughts and our goals and our desires with what God has planned for us. We can go in the direction where God wants us to go, and it will help to just strengthen our faith walk on a daily basis with God.
Speaker 1:Now let's go to the next practical tip here in talking about ways to overcome roadblocks that we have in our prayer life. This is real. There are tons of roadblocks that we have, and I want to give you just some practical tips that can help you to overcome the roadblocks. Now, one big roadblock that we have are distractions. Y'all, let's be real. I mean, life is a distraction. This is a constant distraction. Technology is a distraction. Life is a distraction. Our families are distractions, but we have to learn to turn the noise down.
Speaker 1:It's important that you designate a specific time and place where you can focus on prayer, turn off your phone, allow yourself to be fully present with God and y'all. That time doesn't have to be like a long, elaborate time, like give yourself the first five minutes of the morning when you wake up. It's as simple as that really truly A way that I pray a lot. I think I've shared this previously in other episodes, but I do my prayers in the shower. It may seem like a weird place. You're like God sees and knows everything. Us in the shower is nothing new to him. Okay, if you think like when you're talking to God, like he can see you or something, he sees us all the time. So in the shower, like I can't be distracted by my phone, I can't be distracted by my family Most of the time they know not to come in while I'm showering and a lot of these like distractions they can't be done in the shower. So I have chosen that that is a prayer place for me.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the prayers are really quick, you know, depending how much time I have, I'm like, oh, today's just a, you know a wash the body kind of day. Or I have the long sought out showers where I'm just like in deep, deep prayer, deep, deep thought, and that hot water is just hitting my back and you know we're doing the full like woman scrub down, shave and, you know, exfoliate, washing the hair, conditioning the hair, like those are some good prayer times that I get in the shower, y'all Just being real, just being real, but it's all about learning to turn the noise down, and that is a roadblock. It is very challenging, but it's important that we get just a little bit of time each day where we can be fully present with God, and that is why I do a lot of my prayers written out. The journal is a great way to do this, and I'll get more deep into the next section about doing a prayer journal but when you are writing your prayers out, you got to be focused on what you're writing out. So it is very, you know, it's just a great tool to do that write your prayers out to help you to not be distracted as well.
Speaker 1:Now, another roadblock and I think this is probably one of the number one roadblocks, next to distractions as to why a lot of people do not maintain a, you know, a regular or consistent prayer life, and that is the feeling of unworthiness. This is the feeling that you don't feel that you are worthy enough to open up the Bible. You don't feel that you are worthy enough to pray to God, and I just want to remind you that God welcomes you as you are. In Hebrews 4.16, it says let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. We need to approach his throne with confidence. Know that you are worthy of God's presence. He will receive you as you are. He just wants you to come to him.
Speaker 1:And I will say I struggled with this kind of I should say battled, this feeling of unworthiness just recently, and I've been in my faith walk for a long time, many years, with God. I, in February, I actually joined our prayer team at church and I will say the November, december of the months prior to that, I felt God tugging on my heart, maybe even a little bit sooner, maybe like September of last year, where I felt God tugging in my heart about joining the prayer team. And I can tell you, of all the different areas and teams there are to serve on a church, the prayer team would be the last place that I would see myself or want to be. I have been in those prayer rooms. When I seen those diehard prayer warriors where they are, you know, casting demons out and they are, like you know, speaking in tongues I'm just like what in the world is going on here?
Speaker 1:And people that are being healed, people that are falling on the floor, like I have seen some crazy prayer rooms, y'all crazy prayer rooms, and I'm seeing these people and I'm like I don't think I have that gift of prayer like that. Like I've never healed someone, you know, I've never laid my hands on someone and healed them. I've never, you know, casted demons out of someone. Like no, that's God, that's not me, that's not me. But you need a diehard prayer warrior to be in those prayer rooms in the churches. You know I'm the like oh, god is great, god is is good. Let us thank him for our food. That that's my kind of prayer. I joke, y'all, I joke I'm a little bit above that level.
Speaker 1:But casting demons out and healing people, I was just like I'm not. I'm not at that level, god, I don't feel that I am worthy of that calling. But God just pressed on my heart like no, leslie, no, leslie, you are worthy of this. Like I pray with a lot of my friends, a lot. Some of you guys are probably even listening now and you're one of those friends that you text me all the time that you need prayer. You're like Leslie, I need you praying for this, and these are friends that I know, you know, people that I have had relationships with, and I am always open to pray for people that I have connected with, know a little bit of background with.
Speaker 1:When you go into a prayer room out of church and pray for people, those are some heavy, heavy prayers that you are battling with. You have people that are carrying some heavy stuff and those prayers can be heavy on you just as a person, as a human, and I didn't feel worthy of it because I'm like, oh Lord, no, I'm not that kind of prayer warrior, I'm not that kind of person that can be in those prayer rooms. You need, like the saints, to come up in there and cast those demons out and lay their hands and heal them and all that stuff. Like I'm not that level kind of saint. That's not how it works. And God reminded me of that Going back to the you know those scriptures of knowing that we're worthy and that God called us to be disciples, to pray with people, to be in those rooms with them. And since I was obedient, I should say, and I was like all right, god, I'm going to do this, but I just know I'm going to need you more than ever now, because some of those prayers can be very heavy. And I share this all with you because I too, in my walk and where I'm at now, like I feel I'm not worthy enough to pray at that level with people. And I want to tell you that you are worthy. If God calls you to pray for someone, no matter how simple your prayer is, pray for them. You are worthy enough to pray for them.
Speaker 1:I know people that have been going to church for years that feel unworthy and they lack confidence to pray out loud. People that have been sitting beside me in church, at conferences, reading Bibles together, in study sessions, in prayer or Bible study groups, prayer groups together, and I've never once heard them pray out loud because they feel unworthy and they lack the confidence, because they too, like me, feel like, oh no, I don't know enough of the Bible or I don't, I don't have that gift or calling. And this is why I'm doing this episode, because I first and foremost want to give you the tools to help you to build a confident prayer life. But I want you to know that you are worthy of having of praying with others, first and foremost, but also praying to God, no matter your sin, no matter your background, no matter your past, don't let that hold you back from having a praying relationship with God or even opening the Bible and thinking that you are not worthy of it. That is the enemy trying to hold you back from that Practice praying out loud, just by yourself.
Speaker 1:I talk all the time to God and people may think I'm like cray cray in my car. I am always praying out loud. Sometimes I'm praying out loud while I'm getting ready. I'm just like all right, you know, and I'm just like kind of whispering like under my breath. But if you lack that confidence, I want to encourage you to start practicing praying out loud and that way you have what it takes to start praying with other people and know that you can build it up. You know, just like a muscle, just like anything that we are trying to get strong, strengthening our faith here. We have to put it into practice and I want you to begin with some of these practical tools that I'm giving you now, to start practicing praying out loud, start practicing a consistent prayer to God, so that you can reap the benefits and rewards that come with being a prayer warrior.
Speaker 1:You're a prayer warrior. I'm just going to tell you that now you are a prayer warrior. You may not carry that title. You may be like, no, that's not me. Own it today and start walking in it and say you know what? I'm going to start praying for everyone and everything, starting today. All right, now here's another roadblock. I went deep in that one, y'all, because I know that that is a huge roadblock for so, so many, and I got a little nudge in the Holy Spirit to kind of go deep with that one. Now here's another roadblock. This is the lack of words. Now, if you struggle with what to say, lean into scripture this again, going back to learning and studying the Bible and making sure that you start to implement these scriptures into your prayers. Now start by just praying the Psalms. That is a great place to start, or just sit in silence, knowing that the Holy Spirit will intercede on your behalf.
Speaker 1:Now the book of Psalms I have it up right here the book of Psalm. Is it's titled A Cry from the Heart? Is it's titled A Cry from the Heart? Songs for Sorrow as well as Joy. Now, david is known to have written most of the songs and y'all there is hold on. This is like one of the longest books in the Bible, I think, because there's like over a hundred and something. There's 150 chapters in. There's 150 chapters in the book of Psalms, but the songs see, I'm saying songs, it's Psalms. The Psalms were written as a way to worship God and in Romans 8, 26, it reminds us that when we don't know what to pray, the Spirit himself intercedes with groanings to deepen our words. The Holy Spirit will kind of intercede on our behalf when we don't know what to say, when you have a lack of words. That's where you can come and open up this book in the Psalms and just start reading some of the scripture out loud, because it's written as like a prayer and worship to God.
Speaker 1:Another way to help you eliminate these roadblocks is to find a prayer partner. Y'all, I'm a prayer partner for, like so many people. Some of you are listening right now and you're probably saying, yes, girl, you're my prayer partner because you're one of the ones that come to me often for prayer and I may come to you. We have an accountability, my prayer warriors, because there's. I have a big project that I'm working on and the enemy's been trying to distract me some with some things and I'm like I need to go to my prayer warriors and I sent them a message like hey, I need you to be praying for A, b, c and D. And here it is, and I know that I have these trusted people. Find those trusted people. Y'all I'm open to be anyone's prayer warrior. I often share on social media I will put you know. I try to do it as often as I can, a few times a month.
Speaker 1:Prayer requests, you know, hey, if you have any prayer requests, drop them in here. Oftentimes I get a lot of people that send me DMs to be praying for them. I am open for that. Become a prayer partner for someone else. Also ask someone hey, how can I be praying for you? So a prayer partner? I want to call him a prayer warrior, that's my word for it. Your prayer partner is nope, here's my prayer warrior friend, and it also helps for accountability and encouragement. Also, when I sent that text out yesterday, I got even some responses today of just encouragement and y'all. I mean God is just so good.
Speaker 1:So I've been going through my little challenges, like I said, and I know it's just the enemy really trying to come against me, because there are some big things that God put in my heart that are about to launch into the world, having been this podcast that just launched, where this is the third episode of the season, and then he's just trying to distract me with all kinds of madness that's going on and it's stopping me from doing what I need to do, which is bring the word to you and encourage you. And I reached out to some prayer partners, but then I got messages from people that I didn't even reach out to and I, literally this morning, I got a message from a friend that she just gave me a really good word. She was like I'm so excited that the podcast is back. I listened to your last one and I didn't know if you were coming back, and she just left me a heartfelt message that left me in tears. She wasn't one of the people that I had messaged yesterday, and not that I wouldn't have messaged her for prayer, but when she sent me that message, I was in tears because I'm like, look at my request to ask people to you know, protect me and guide me in this time that I need it the most.
Speaker 1:Right now, God is sending people that I didn't even let them know, so the Holy Spirit is already working on my behalf, that God went before me and put me into the hearts of others so that they can be praying for me, and the hearts of others so that they can be praying for me. And like, I got super emotional with my friend this morning when I heard that message. She sent me a voice message and it just made me cry because I put a prayer request out yesterday for other people and it made me realize how the Holy Spirit is working, where you know what. I'm not just sending your name to the people that you asked, but I'm going to put your name into the hearts of other people. And I know that friend. I know that she has a heart, you know, a great heart for prayer and she's a great prayer warrior also. So the Holy Spirit, god already going before me to put my name into other people's hearts.
Speaker 1:And that's just how prayer works. Is that once you start aligning yourself with the word and start praying for people and you don't know what to say, people just start popping up and you're like, oh, I got to pray for this person. And that happens to me often where I am praying, I'm writing my prayers out, or I'm in the shower washing my hair, and then someone's name, someone just pops in my head and I'm like, oh, I got to pray for them and then I'll reach out, kind of like a text or something like hey, girl, how's it going? I was thinking of you today, just said a quick prayer and they're like wow, I really needed your prayers today. So just the key point on this, on the roadblocks, is that no matter what stands in your way distractions, feelings of unworthiness or even a lack of words that God is always there, ready to listen. And the first step is really just showing up and just saying God, I'm here and I want to pray Now.
Speaker 1:Next, I want to talk a little bit about building a consistent prayer practice. Now, the first step is just to start small, begin with just a few minutes a day and then gradually increase as you feel needed. Consistency is key. Even just a few minutes of sincere prayer every day can grow into a meaningful habit, and this is where the next tip is using a prayer journal. Writing your prayers down forces you to be present. It forces you to write your thoughts and just what God reveals to you during that prayer time. Now, this can also help you to stay focused and it can allow you to see God's answers over time.
Speaker 1:Y'all, one of the coolest things that I have, you know I will say, in having a prayer journal, is that I will pull prayer journals every now and then from years ago and I just kind of gradually will look through it and I'll see some of the prayer requests and I'm like, wow, god answered that. Wow, god answered that. You got this house. This house that I am sitting in recording this podcast message to you was written as a prayer in one of my journals and, kid you not, it was written where I described the house that I wanted. I'm like I want a house that is a brand new house that is energy efficient, that I want my master bedroom to be big where I can work out in it. I want a huge walk-in closet, double sinks, like I mean, y'all, I, I got that answered. I'm sitting in a house with a nice master bedroom, which I'm recording this episode from, with a huge walk-in closet, double sink, huge walk-in shower, energy efficient. It is like a thousand degrees outside in SoCal right now. I think we're in a heat wave right now and it's I think it was 111 degrees today and I'm sitting in my nice energy efficient solar paneled home with my thermostat set to like 73.
Speaker 1:An answered prayer, really. And there are other answered prayers where and they weren't just selfish prayers for myself, but also prayers for healing, for friends, restoring relationships, like I can go on and on. And when I look through my prayer journals I'm like I remember that prayer was answered for somebody. You can write your thoughts down and everything, and this is where I keep track. If you send me a prayer request, I write it down in my prayer journal. I write their names down and I write what the prayer request. I write it down in my prayer journal, I write their names down and I write what the prayer request is and I will sit on it for, you know, a couple of days. Sometimes I go back a few days and I'm like, oh, I got to keep praying for that. Just recently I put a request out on social media that if there was anyone that wanted me to pray, it was it's back to school time. If you have student, if you're a student, teacher, admin, anything send me your students' names. If you're a teacher, I'll write your names down to be praying for you throughout the school year. I have the list in my prayer journals of a lot of people. There is like probably close to over 25 people that sent to me actually probably way more than 25 people, but I wrote every single name down and from time to time I will pull that out and be praying for those students, those teachers, those admins. And it is just another way to go deep in your prayer is through using a journal.
Speaker 1:Now, another way to help build a consistent prayer practice is incorporating prayer into your daily routine. So I already touched upon the shower, but you can also be praying while you're driving, cooking, while you're out on a walk. Prayer doesn't have to be formal. You don't have to be knelt on your knees on the side of your bed praying every time. You can be praying while you're doing things.
Speaker 1:I pray often while I'm driving. A lot of times, when I drive by a school, I will put my hand out and say God bless the name of the school. As simple as that. Sometimes I'm like Lord, please bless the teachers, the students at you know so-and-so school, protect them, guide them. Lord, I pray and I will say specific prayers for them while I'm cooking, while I'm walking, while I'm walking, sometimes I'm praying for my neighborhood for neighbors that I don't even know. Sometimes I'll get a tug on my heart. I'm looking at someone's house and I'm like you know what, lord? I don't know who lives here, but I just pray blessings over this house right now, lord, just when you get a tug on your heart to just say something as simple as that again, it doesn't have to be formal and just. It's like you're having a constant conversation with God throughout your day and that's what it can look like, so, so simple. Now, another tip on building a consistent prayer practice is really just experimenting with different prayer styles also, such as adoration, where you're just thanking God and praising him and saying, oh, thank you, lord, you're a good God, you're a good God, lord, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. Like just pure adoration for God's goodness.
Speaker 1:Petition. You can be petitioning for something, petitioning on someone's behalf. You can be petitioning for something petitioning on someone's behalf where it's just gratitude, gratitude, prayers and intercession. If you're a prayer warrior and you know about intercession, you can just be interceding when you don't know what to say. Intercession is part of one of the spiritual gifts.
Speaker 1:If you listened to last week's episode with Pastor Bianca, we touched upon some of the spiritual gifts and the gift of intercession. That is a spiritual gift that you have when you are receiving the Holy Spirit and it is basically the Holy Spirit speaking in and through you. I have the gift of intercession and I used to think that it was wacky. When I was 13 years old, I remember I went into, I did like an altar call for people that had said that, or it was an altar call to receive the Holy Spirit and the gift of intercession, and I sat in a room filled with people interceding in the Holy Spirit and I thought what is going on here? And a few years later I actually, like, received the gift and started to speak in tongues. And it was through intercession that I felt this deep relationship with God and felt the Holy Spirit really come in me to be able to petition on other people's behalf and pray.
Speaker 1:I want to leave with this scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, where it says Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. It is important to remember to just continually pray and give glory to God, constantly, be thanking him in all circumstances. Now, last, I want to share how worship can also be a form of prayer. Worship is another powerful way to connect with God. When we worship, we are actually offering our hearts to him, so much like in a form of prayer.
Speaker 1:Singing songs of praise often expresses what words prayers can't express. That's where the book of Psalms comes in, and I'm going to read from you Psalms 102 through 4. That says Worship the Lord with gladness, Come before him with joyful songs, know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. And then in psalms 149, 3, it says let them praise his name with dancing, let them make music to him with tambourines, y'all.
Speaker 1:If these scriptures don't speak to you, with who and the, the whole branding of your joyful order, I I mean hello, have you been part of this community for long or not? But that is this right here worshiping with joy and gladness and praising him in dancing, like that is the environment that I have created with the Joyful Order brand. And not to say that these are the scriptures that I've built this on. But when I tie everything together it's like I haven't done a dancing video on Hot Minute, but if you follow me on social media, you will know that dancing is a form that brings me joy and, I kid you not, I will put on some good old worship music from time to time and I have me a dance, like just session that is just, like you know, raging, and it's just so important for us to seek other ways to worship God, and that's not just in scripture and studying the Bible in prayer, but also in worship.
Speaker 1:And oftentimes, when we don't know what to pray, I have found myself when I am in a heavy storm, when I just feel the world is crashing in around me and everything is out to get me and I'm just upset and I'm frustrated and I'm in that mindset of where I'm like. Why, god? That's where worship comes in, because I'm like God. I don't even know how to pray or what to pray right now. Sometimes I get angry with God where I feel like I don't even want to talk to you, like you're not hearing me. God, you know, I know some of y'all know what I'm talking about. That's where I just throw on worship and I'm just like God. I don't know what to say right now and I'm kind of upset with you on where I'm at right now You're not answering my prayers fast enough, but I know that I still have to praise you through the storms, so I'm just going to worship you through worship music. That's where worship can play its part in creating a great prayer life for you.
Speaker 1:I want to encourage you to just make worship part of your daily practice. Creating a powerful prayer practice is going to strengthen your faith in so many ways, whether through music, in silence, acts of service, worship it all brings us into God's presence and it aligns our heart with his. I'm going to close on this. I just want you to know that prayer is not a burden. Please don't look at prayer being a burden. It is a privilege. It's a privilege that we get to have for guidance, for peace, for so many things. But whether we ourselves, when we are coming before God, if we're looking for guidance, if we want to just offer praise to God or simply just sitting in his presence, you know maybe we're looking for answers to things in life. You know struggles that we're having, challenges that we're having. Prayer strengthens our faith and it draws us closer to God.
Speaker 1:Start small, be consistent and remember that worship is an extension of our prayer life too, so worship can be a form of prayer. The more you engage in both prayer, worship, reading the Bible the more that you will see God move in your life. I encourage you to just take it one small step at a time to help deepen your prayer life, whether it's setting, you know, five minutes aside, prayer and scripture, putting worship songs on. Just start, just start. God is waiting to meet you where you are at right now. It doesn't have to be formal, it doesn't have to be like sacred and holy. You can stop right now and just say God, thank you. Just saying God, thank you is one of the most profound prayers that you will ever say. So, with us talking about prayer right now, I want to pray for you today and I'm going to end us on prayer today. Let's just go before the Lord right now.
Speaker 1:Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this listener that is on the other side of my voice right now. Father, god, as I am sharing this message of learning how to pray and create a consistent prayer life, lord, I pray that you open their hearts to receive their word. Lord, I pray that any shame, unworthiness, lack of confidence that they may be carrying as a barrier to draw close to you in prayer. Lord, I pray that those chains are broken right now. Lord, I pray any chains that are holding them back from drawing close to you in prayer, in worship, in learning your word. Lord, I pray that those chains are broken right now. Father, god, as those chains are breaking, lord, I pray a sense of relief, a sense of freedom. I feel that they are walking lighter because those chains are being broken right now.
Speaker 1:So, lord, as this woman or man that is listening on the other side of my voice right now, father, god, I pray that you just fill them with the holy spirit right now, lord, let them discern your voice in a way that they have never heard you before. Lord, jesus, I pray, lord, god, that this person on the other side of my voice right now, lord, that as they listen to this podcast, lord, that they will learn something that they are going to draw close to you because of the words that you spoke through me, lord these aren't my words, these are your words, lord and I pray that they discern them in a way that is going to impact their walk with you, and that it is going to strengthen their faith, lord. So I pray abundant blessings over this person. I pray that you continue to pour into them, lord, and that they just learn to draw close to you in prayer, in worship and through your word. In your name, we pray Amen, my friend, I love you.
Speaker 1:This podcast is something that God put in my heart because I took the time to stop and listen to him and it came out of obedience. Did I want to end the podcast last season? Yes, but these conversations that I'm having with you right now would not have taken place if I had stopped when God told me not to. So I just I hope that this episode was a blessing to you. I hope that this episode is one that you've learned something, and it gives you tools, practical tips that you can put into place.
Speaker 1:Now I want to share with you that I would love for you to send any prayer requests my way, but also share your prayer experience in the comments below. If you're watching on YouTube, share them there. If you are part of my podcast community, there is actually a link in the show notes where you can send me a text message. Yes, you all can text me. Text me your prayer request or text me your experience with just your prayer life, and if there's something that you took away from this and you implement it, let me know. Also, let's inspire and encourage each other just in our spiritual journey, and I just I can't wait to hear how this episode helps you and to see where God takes you once you start drawing your prayer walk with him. So thank you for listening to another episode of your Joyful Warrior podcast. Until next time, friend, keep chasing joy.