Try 20/20 Prayer in 2020!

“This, then, is how you should pray.” – Matthew 6:9a

It was a little over 20 years ago. I had been a pastor for only a month or two, and I remember saying to myself, “Dane, what were you thinking when you took this job?”

I didn’t say that because I wanted to jump ship. This church was great. But the reality had hit me: I was 25 years old, trying to teach God’s word to a group of people, most of whom were older than myself. And many of them had been Christians twice as long as I’d been alive! How could I possibly teach them anything?

Good question. And God gave me an even better answer: “No matter how old someone is in the church, I am much older. And no matter how wise someone is in the Church, My Word is wiser. So if you stick to prayerfully teaching My powerful word, your age will be irrelevant.”  What a marvelous insight that was to this young, insecure pastor. And it was during that early season of ministry that God taught me to pray—really pray. Learning to lean on God through prayer helped me do a task that was far too big and far too hard for me to do on my own. As a bonus, my relationship with God became much closer and more meaningful.

Do you long for that? Do you want to partner with God to do things that you could never accomplish on your own? Do you want your relationship with Christ to be closer than it’s ever been? Well, prayer is the key.

Not sure how to pray? Just take a look at Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:5-15. It’s usually called “The Lord’s Prayer,” but a more fitting name for it would be “The Disciples’ Prayer,” since Jesus gave it to us as an example to follow. And there’s a simple recipe based on this prayer that you can use right away to make your personal prayer times more enjoyable and more impactful. It’s easy to remember because it’s spelled out in four little letters: P-R-A-Y.

The “P” in PRAY stands for PRAISE. We all have times when we’re in crisis and don’t have time to pray anything but “God, help! Help!” But as a rule of thumb, just as The Lord’s Prayer begins with praise and adoration, so too should our prayers. Before we get into the “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” petitions within our prayers, we should spend some time praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He’s done.        

The “R” in PRAY stands for REPENT. Honestly, confession and repentance are almost non-existent in our prayers. When we DO remember to ask for forgiveness, we say something very short and vague like, “Lord, forgive me for my sins.” Well, that’s a start. But if our personal prayer times are going to be more powerful, we can’t be vague or half-hearted when bringing our sins to God. He takes our sins very seriously, and so should we. We know that in Christ, our sins are forgiven. But that’s beside the point. As we talk with God, we should grieve for our sins—our foul language, our bad tempers, our lustful thoughts, our lack of love and respect to our spouses—in order to truly repent.

The “A” in PRAY stands for ASK. Most of us are pretty good at asking. But we don’t always remember to think about the needs of those around us. So, let me suggest to you that you incorporate three kinds of asking into your prayers: 1) Ask for your church; 2) Ask for your community; 3) Ask for your family and yourself.

The “Y” in PRAY stands for YIELD. In the Garden of Gethsemene, when Jesus knew that his arrest and beating and crucifixion were just minutes away, he cried out in prayer, “Father, let this cup pass from me! But not my will, but Yours be done.” In the same spirit, Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer to ask, “Your will be done.”

Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield: Four critical pieces to the prayer puzzle. You don’t need to be eloquent; you don’t need to have the perfect words. God’s idea of a “good” prayer is much different from ours. God isn’t impressed by longwinded prayers filled with flowery language and religious jargon. He is drawn to the humble, simple prayers of His followers who come to Him in their helplessness with hearts drawn to His. So, just go to God and talk with Him with your own unique voice in your own unique way. And as you talk with Him, praise Him, repent of your sin, ask Him to meet needs, and yield to His will. That’s it! That’s 20/20 prayer for 2020.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for worship every Sunday at 10 a.m. at the new Dr. Ralph Baker School in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Remember These Two Words

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” – Revelation 3:20

It’s without a doubt one of the strangest prayers I’ve ever read. The year was 1540, and Martin Luther was well underway leading the Protestant Reformation. One day Luther received a letter from his good friend Frederick Myconius, who was deathly ill. Frederick had written Luther a farewell letter, thanking him for his friendship and sharing his final goodbye.

Well, Luther read the letter and immediately wrote his reply, which included these shocking words: “I command thee in the name of God to live because I still have need of thee in the work of reforming the church…The Lord will never let me hear that thou are dead, but will permit thee to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God.”

Up until the final ten words, Luther’s prayer sounds arrogant and self-absorbed. It’s as if Luther believed prayer was for the purpose of bending God to his own selfish will instead of bending his own will to God’s. But the final ten words absolutely transform his prayer. Perhaps Luther understood something about prayer that we don’t.

Let me ask you: What is the point of prayer? What is its purpose? Some Christians might answer, “Well, prayer gives me a chance to talk to God and share my needs with Him.” Others might respond, “Prayer makes me feel better. It allows me to get things off my chest, and it calms me down.” These answers reveal some of the benefits of prayer, but they don’t reveal the purpose of prayer. According to God’s word, what is the point of prayer? 

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 gives us the answer. It’s the longest prayer of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus had just celebrated the Last Supper with his twelve disciples, and he was just a few hours away from being arrested, beaten and led to the cross. And he began his prayer in John 17:1 by saying, “Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son may glorify You.” No less than eight times in this great prayer, Jesus mentions God’s glory. So, what is the purpose of prayer? The main purpose of prayer is to bring GLORY to God.

Glory—When it comes to prayer, this is a critically important word that you and I must understand and embrace. Otherwise, we will most likely misuse and abuse prayer. Far too many Christians hold on to the erroneous belief that prayer is about changing God. But prayer isn’t about me changing God. Prayer is about God changing me. Prayer isn’t about bringing myself glory. Prayer is about bringing God glory.

Now, that’s easier said than done. Let’s get really practical here. Sooner or later, we’re all going to get sick. So, when we are ill, how should we pray? How about like this: “Dear Lord, if it will glorify You, take away this illness. Heal me! But if it will glorify You more, then let me remain sick. And while I am sick, give me the power to glorify You through my illness.” Wow! Do you see how powerful prayer can be—on so many different levels—when we understand and embrace the true purpose of prayer: to bring glory to God?

But there’s a second vital word that you and I must also understand and embrace: ACCESS. You see, prayer is the means by which Jesus is given access to our lives. It has been said that God interferes in the affairs of men by invitation only. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Usually when this verse is quoted, it’s used to urge nonChristians to accept Christ into their lives. But in Revelation 3, Jesus was speaking to Christians who had, in some way or another, shut Jesus out of their lives. So, there Jesus was, patiently knocking at their heart’s door asking them to let him come back in. Why? Because these messed-up Christians had issues, and Jesus wanted to help them with their issues. If only they would let him in!

So, prayer is about giving Jesus an open invitation to come into our lives and have full access to our issues. And—this is the hard part—we give him full permission to deal with them in whatever way he sees fit. And that’s ALL of them: our attitudes, our marriages, our children, our finances, our health, our church … even our President. We can’t hold anything back. We need to invite Christ to move in each and every one of our issues for his glory.

With weak, trembling hands Frederick Myconius read Martin Luther’s letter and prayer. And surprise, surprise! His health was restored. Once again he was able to join Luther in his work, and he even outlived him by two months. Luther’s strange prayer had been miraculously answered. Is it surprising? It shouldn’t be. Amazing answers to prayer become the norm when we give God full access to our lives, lifting up each prayer for His glory.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

Four Steps to a Better Prayer

“This, then, is how you should pray.” – Matthew 6:9a

It was a little over 18 years ago. I had been a pastor for only a month or two, and I remember saying to myself, “Dane, what were you thinking when you took this job?”

I didn’t say that because I wanted to jump ship. This church was great. But the reality had hit me: I was 25 years old, trying to teach God’s word to a group of people, most of whom were older than myself. And many of them had been Christians twice as long as I’d been alive! How could I possibly teach them anything?

Good question. And God gave me an even better answer: “No matter how old someone is in the church, I am much older. And no matter how wise someone is in the Church, My Word is wiser. So if you stick to prayerfully teaching My powerful word, your age will be irrelevant.”  What a marvelous insight that was to this young, insecure pastor. And it was during that early season of ministry that God taught me to pray—really pray. Learning to lean on God through prayer helped me do a task that was far too big and far too hard for me to do on my own. As a bonus, my relationship with God became much closer and more meaningful.

Do you long for that? Do you want to partner with God to do things that you could never accomplish on your own? Do you want your relationship with Christ to be closer than it’s ever been? Well, prayer is the key.

Not sure how to pray? Just take a look at Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:5-15. It’s usually called “The Lord’s Prayer,” but a more fitting name for it would be “The Disciples’ Prayer,” since Jesus gave it to us as an example to follow. And there’s a simple recipe based on this prayer that you can use right away to make your personal prayer times more enjoyable and more impactful. It’s easy to remember because it’s spelled out in four little letters: P-R-A-Y.

The “P” in PRAY stands for PRAISE. We all have times when we’re in crisis and don’t have time to pray anything but “God, help! Help!” But as a rule of thumb, just as The Lord’s Prayer begins with praise and adoration, so too should our prayers. Before we get into the “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” petitions within our prayers, we should spend some time praising God for who He is and thanking Him for what He’s done.        

The “R” in PRAY stands for REPENT. Honestly, confession and repentance are almost non-existent in our prayers. When we DO remember to ask for forgiveness, we say something very short and vague like, “Lord, forgive us for the things we did today that made your heart sad.” Well, that’s a start. But if our personal prayer times are going to be more powerful, we can’t be vague or half-hearted when bringing our sins to God. He takes our sins very seriously, and so should we. We know that in Christ, our sins are forgiven. But that’s beside the point. As we talk with God, we should grieve for our sins—our foul language, our bad tempers, our lustful thoughts, our lack of love and respect to our spouses—in order to truly repent.

The “A” in PRAY stands for ASK. Most of us are pretty good at asking. But we don’t always remember to think about the needs of those around us. So, let me suggest to you that you incorporate three kinds of asking into your prayers: 1) Ask for your church; 2) Ask for your community; 3) Ask for your family and yourself.

The “Y” in PRAY stands for YIELD. In the Garden of Gethsemene, when Jesus knew that his arrest and beating and crucifixion were just minutes away, he cried out in prayer, “Father, let this cup pass from me! But not my will, but Yours be done.” In the same spirit, Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer to ask, “Your will be done.”

Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield: Four critical pieces to the prayer puzzle. You don’t need to be eloquent; you don’t need to have the perfect words. God’s idea of a “good” prayer is much different from ours. God isn’t impressed by longwinded prayers filled with flowery language and religious jargon. He is drawn to the humble, simple prayers of His followers who come to Him in their helplessness with hearts drawn to His. So, just go to God and talk with Him with your own unique voice in your own unique way. And as you talk with Him, praise Him, repent of your sin, ask Him to meet needs, and yield to His will. That’s it! That’s prayer.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.