In the book of James we are told that often we don't get what we pray for because we are asking with wrong motives so that we can use the answers for our own purposes. I have found that one of the most rewarding aspects of prayer is to begin by asking God what or who He wants me to pray for. That might sound a little strange at first, but if you really think about it, one of the things we are trying to do when we pray is to invite God into the situations we are praying about and ask Him to intervene or work in some way. If we learn to ask God what He wants us to pray for, and He shows us, then we don't have to worry about whether we are praying according to His will or not. If He puts on my heart to pray a certain way for a particular person or situation, then I know that is what He wants to do, and I can be confident that I am praying according to His will and purposes. He is just asking we to invite Him into the situation so that He can work His plan. I have found that this can be a very powerful and rewarding way to pray.

Prayer is something we don't often get a lot of teaching on, we just kind of assume people will know how to do it. Although I don't believe that prayer is meant to be a formal or religious type of thing, I do believe that there are ways that we can learn to pray which will cause our prayers to be more effective. I'm not one to be real big on making sure you use certain phrases or say things just the right way, although I do think the words we use are important. What I really believe matters the most is the heart that's behind the prayers. Some of my favorite people to pray with don't use a lot of eloquent words or flowery speech, sometimes they even stumble in their words, but I can sense the power of the Holy Spirit and His presence as they pray, because their hearts are truly in line with Him and His purposes. I believe this is one of the most powerful tools to grasp in beginning to see our prayers truly move heaven and earth.

We were created to have fellowship with God and to worship Him. Sometimes I don't think we really understand the purpose for this. Worship is more than just singing a few songs in a church service. We can worship God with our lives as we choose to surrender to Him and love and serve Him with all our hearts. It's easy to worship Him when everything is going well, but when we actually choose to worship Him even when they aren't, there is a power that is released in the spiritual realm that can move mountains! I want to challenge you the next time you are facing a very difficult situation, instead of panicking or turning to fear, take a risk and begin to worship Him in spite of the circumstances or your feelings. When you do, He will begin to do a powerful work in your heart to give you the strength you need to overcome whatever the situation might be.

Often times I find that we as believers can be pretty comfortable with relating to our Heavenly Father, since we all had an earthly dad, even if it wasn't the greatest relationship. Also, we can relate to Jesus, as He came and lived here as a man, so we are able to relate to what He might have been like. However, the concept of God's Spirit seems to be more difficult for us to really get our heads around. Sometimes we think He's kind of a ghost, or force out there, but we really are pretty unsure exactly what we are dealing with or how to relate to Him. The Holy Spirit is a person, the third member of the Godhead. He has feelings, can speak to us, and the Bible tells us He can be quenched, He can be grieved and He can be ignored. Yet the truth is, He is the one who actually comes to live inside of each believer, and is the one who walks through this life giving us strength, comfort, guidance, teaching and so many other things. Therefore I believe it's very important that we come to know Him and as much about Him as possible, so that we can truly experience what God desires each believer to have, namely God Himself living inside of us.

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One of the things I get approached on very regularly is people wanting to learn to hear God's voice. in John 10:27 Jesus said that His sheep listen to His voice and follow Him. This is an area that I believe is very important, and yet there are also some things we need to be very cautious about. I believe without a doubt that God speaks to His children, and it's important we learn to discern and hear Him. However, the enemy also speaks to us, and will attempt to imitate God's voice in order to distract us or lead us astray. Also, we can hear our own thoughts and desires, and often mistake them for God as well. I have come to believe that the best way to guard against being misled by these other voices boils down to our level of surrender to Him. I find that the more we are surrendered to Him in every area of our lives, the more clearly we are able to discern His leading because we are not being pulled so strongly by our own desires or the lure of the world.

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Oftentimes as believers, we can go through our whole day without really being consciously aware that God is right there with us. We might give lip service to it, we know that God is everywhere, and yet when we run into difficulties or struggles, we quickly go other places to seek help or comfort. If we will begin to make a sincere effort to remind ourselves regularly that He is there, even picturing Him standing right next to us in everything we do, we can begin to find much more comfort and encouragement when things come up. We can even begin to just have conversations with Him all day long, because He's always available and always listening.

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One of the biggest challenges I find believers facing when trying to get a closer relationship with their Heavenly Father is our tendency to attribute whatever characteristics we saw in our earthly father to Him. If our dad was angry, we tend to see God in that light. If our dad was distant or neglectful, then we will have a tendency to think God will treat us the same way. This can be a very difficult thing to separate. Our goal is to help you overcome these obstacles and be able to recognize your Heavenly Father for who He really is, and the love He has for you. Once you can achieve this, you will find yourself much more ready to draw nearer to Him, because you will understand that it is a very safe place to be.

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One of the biggest things we struggle with in life is dealing with the hardships and trials that come to us all. In varying degrees, we all face circumstances at times that we would really prefer not to have to face. However, if we understand that absolutely everything that God allows into my life has been ok'd by Him for purposes oftentimes that only He understands, then I should have the ability to rest in the fact that He has a good reason for allowing them. Once I can get to that point, I can learn to embrace the trials as something that will produce good fruit in me. Once I've obtained that understanding, while I may not enjoy them, I can rest through them knowing that God is in control and will see me through to the other side. This can be one of the most freeing lessons we can learn as a believer. Trials and hardships will come, but I don't have to dread them anymore.

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Ever since the Garden of Eden, and the first sin, there has been a natural tendency in each of us to fear intimacy with God. The first thing Adam and Eve did was to hide themselves and cover their nakedness, because they were ashamed to be seen as they really were. God's desire for each of us is to understand that He has forgiven us completely, and simply wants to have a close, intimate relationship with us. However, the enemy works very hard to try and keep us in that place of shame, so that we keep God at a distance. Our goal in this session is to help you recognize how the enemy lies to us, and how to get past this fear, and really begin to enter into the joy we were meant to find in a closer relationship with our Maker.

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