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How To Pray - Misconceptions, Spiritual Warfare, & Honoring Jesus

Though it may seem obvious to some regarding how to pray, that is far from the case, especially in these end times. This post by Witness 2 will address misconceptions about prayer, the importance of spiritual warfare, and how to honor Jesus Christ with our words. Please do not dismiss this post because you think you already know - there may be some new things you learn to aid your prayer life, especially in regards to fighting your enemies and even Satan himself.

Photo credit: Me : )

Introduction - The Power of Our Words

Have you ever seen those celebrities that speak about "manifestation", the "power of positivity" or other similar phrases? Well, they are right, to an extent, but let us examine why it works for them.

Whether you understand or it not, there is a spiritual world all around you, and every single moment in time we have access to it, though we may not see it physically. So, when these celebrities speak about "manifesting", the problem is, and they may or may not realize this, they are manifesting some force - whether it be demons, evil spirits, or Satan himself.

Though many have been told by the world that "black and white" thinking is dangerous, and subjective morality is generally promoted by the world, the truth is, there are only two sides in this world - good or evil. You are either for Jesus Christ or against Him, and there is absolutely no in-between - no fence-sitting, so to speak. Jesus Christ is objective morality, and when you follow Jesus Christ, you follow the law perfectly.

Hence, if someone is not praying properly to Jesus Christ, as He is the only way to the Father, then they are simply accessing something else, and that something else is evil - though it may appear as "light."

  • And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Have you seen the amount of "movements" out there focusing on "light"? Of course, we are allowed to use light but only the light of Jesus Christ. When you see any other movement discussing light, they are referring to a false light, and this is simply dangerous.

Ultimately, what happens with these movements is that people are manifesting help from evil sources, which can come in forms of "powers, principalities, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts" and more.

In other words, there is a ranking in the dark spiritual realm, just as there is the heavenly spiritual realm.

It is not necessary for you to understand it all completely, and I believe that is why the Bible does not go into great detail about the Kingdom of Darkness. All we have to know is how to access Jesus Christ, and He will go from there and work with us. No, we are absolutely not to pray to saints, Mary, or any other people, beings, or objects - this is all considered idolization. Christ is the only mediator, and praying to anyone or anything else is blasphemy to Him.

Yes, demons and Satan will answer your prayers! I remember I lost my keys at work, and at the time, I was a baby Christian. My co-worker told me to pray to the saint of lost things, and while I didn't, she did. I did find my keys, but not in the right way. This is an example of a situation where I believe a demon was aiding in answering prayers.

Remember, also, people sometimes access money and wealth through Satanic prayers; hence, why we see many evil liars such as Joel Osteen maintain wealth despite his evil ways. Wealth and success are NOT an indicator of someone actually following God. I am NOT saying that a Christian can never have wealth; truly, God sometimes blesses people with wealth for various reasons. This is where discernment of the Holy Spirit comes in, and we must always pray to God for more understanding on sources of wealth.

Getting back to the key point, when we pray, we must always pray in the name of Jesus Christ. I have seen many just say "God", and while I do say God often, I always try to clarify that I am working in the name of Jesus Christ. It is best to either begin or end your prayers with the name of Jesus Christ. Remember, there are many gods but only one God.

So then, why does manifestation work? Well, not only are these people accessing something, but they are specific and intentional about what they are manifesting. This is how we should be in prayer, but only through the will of Jesus Christ. Remember, if our motives are impure or wrong, then our prayers will not be answered. For example, celebrities may "manifest" riches or fame, but that is not what we should be asking Jesus Christ about.

This is a great video about prayers that "disappear" as a puff of smoke versus prayers that go to Heaven as fire:

In fact, I would say the more "expert" one becomes at praying, the less one relies on generalizations, as they get lost in the spiritual realm. Our words are a contract, essentially, and they are creating reality around us.

Again, I am not saying to never make generalized prayers, but do not forget to make specific prayers along with them. Let's examine the contrast:

  • God, I pray more Christians come to you in Jesus's name.
  • Jesus Christ, I pray fire upon whatever is stopping Jeremiah, Anthony, and Jacob from coming to Christ. I pray that you open His heart to you and that he seeks you in your Holy name. I pray that I have the right words to properly preach to them in Jesus's name.

Which prayer seems more powerful to you? Again, there is nothing wrong with the first prayer, but the second prayer holds more power because it is giving something for angels and Jesus Himself to focus on. It may sound strange to readers, but start viewing angels as working for you, and in a sense, through Jesus Christ, you can "command" them. To clarify, this goes along with Psalm 91, where He commands His angels concerning you. So, no, do not command the angels themselves, but rather, ask Jesus to command them for you.

Now that we have worked through some of the basics, I would like to next dispell some misconceptions I have seen about prayer. Then, finally, I would like to give you an acronym I came up with for how to pray, along with some specific prayers for you to utliize starting today.

Misconceptions About Prayer

1) Misconception 1: Your prayers have to be "nice." This is probably the most important part of this post. Because of the idea that Christians always have to be "nice", they are weak in their prayers. There is no commandment for us to "nice" but rather loving, and sometimes the most loving thing to do is to learn how to pray spiritual warfare.

For example, Paul prays to hand a man over to Satan in 1 Corinthians 5:5 in order to ultimately save him. In other words, Paul feels that is the best course of action for the man at his time, and he is still praying in love.

In the morning, I often pray for God to intervene and do what it takes for people to find Jesus Christ, even if that means destroying their idols or they have to lose things. This isn't a prayer out of cruelty. This is a prayer about trying to save people and asking God to intervene.

I also sometimes pray God guides people toward repentance, and I pray for my enemies to repent often.

There is this strange misconception in Christianity that loving our enemies means that we must be weak, stupid, or not understand warfare. Just as there is physical warfare in the Bible, there is spiritual warfare, too. We have written about this before, but there is a time when it becomes "sinful" to be too nice. It is not always in God's will to be nice all of the time, and this type of "niceness" in Christianity has weakened it. Please read more here before disagreeing. Further, "turning the other cheek" doesn't mean we just let our enemies walk all over us. According to this source,

In other words, just because we are Christian does not mean we are passive. In fact, prayer is when we can play the offense or defense, just as in any war. Later in this post, using my acronym, I will give some examples of warfare prayers for you to read out loud. So, please, stick around.

2) Misconception 2: We cannot repeat prayers.

The Bible says that we must not have vain repetitions, but that does not mean repetition cannot, at times, be meaningful. It is all about your heart when praying. Sometimes I repeat, "I burn fire on my enemies in Jesus's name" as many times as needed - until I feel my enemies have backed down. It always has meaning behind it. I am not doing it in a vain way, just to get through some prayers or impress people. The key word is vanity or pointlessness - to avoid vain, meaningless, or pointless prayers.

One week, I said the "Lord's Prayer" 500 times. Why? I wanted to challenge myself and get myself in mental clarity with Jesus Christ. I ascertained that every single time I read it, I believed it - that His will would be done. If I felt it was vain, I started it over and I did not count it. I am not saying any reader has to do this; rather, I just wanted to challenge myself and meditate on that prayer. Jesus used it as an example of how we should pray, and after doing it 500 times, I get it. It's the perfect prayer, and it models what we need to do when we pray daily. Again, I am not going to be fighting with people in emails about this. I read it 500 times. There's nothing anyone can do about it, and I'll read it a thousand times more if needed!

Only God knows if what you are praying is vain, and He will not answer vain prayers.

3) Misconception 3: There is a "right" way to pray.

I once read somewhere that it wasn't right to treat Jesus like a friend. It was on a Christian website. However, that idea contradicts this verse:

  • 15 No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

We are allowed to be Jesus's friends - if we do what He commands us to, He will consider you His friend. So, throughout the day, I talk to Jesus Christ as if He is my best friend.

I talk to Him like I would if I was on the phone with someone I enjoy talking to, honestly.

So many are obsessed with formality in prayer or "sounding right." I joke in my prayers, even with Witness 1. For example, when I am not happy with Witness 1, I often pray something like this. "Dear Father in Heaven, please help Witness 1 be nice to me and not be a jerk in Jesus's name." I feel like it makes God laugh, and it makes Witness 1 laugh, and then the situation eases. God, does indeed, have a sense of humor.

Of course, we are not to make a mockery of prayer or be in constant jest. However, what I am emphasizing is that I do not believe there is any wrong way to pray but there is one key: We must fear the Lord.

In this YouTube Short, a man talks about the 7 spirits of God, and how people forget the one that ties it all together: The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. We have written more on this here, but it is important to always pray with proper fear of the Lord. We should always pray in love and respect to the Lord, and we should not disrespect Him.

Still, there are times when I have been angry in prayer, and God often leads me to Jeremiah's complaint. God knows we are human, and we are allowed to be sad, angry, or even frustrated in prayer. However, all of this should be addressed in admiration and respect, and most of all, with love.

Misconception 4: Prayer Does Not Work

There are many things that can come in the way of a prayer being answered, and if a prayer isn't being answered, you need to ask yourself these questions:

  • 1) Is my prayer selfish? Is it in God's will?
  • 2) Am I being patient? There are so many examples of when patience pays off in the Bible.
  • 3) Am I praying effectively? Soon, I will give you some examples of effective prayers.
  • 4) Are my sins coming in the way of prayers being answered? God genuinely likes to deal with the righteous and answer their prayers. God is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the righteous.
  • 5) Am I being consistent? Do I only pray when I want something?

How do you feel when people only come to you when you want something? How do you think Jesus feels?

I often see people get their prayers answered, and without thanking God, they just move on to their next complaint. They also easily forget the times God has answered them, and I am guilty of that, too.

When your prayers are answered, thank God and sacrifice to Him if or when necessary. Forms of modern day sacrifices include tithes, fasting, and helping others. In other article, I will discuss the power of tithing but let's continue with prayer. When God answers my prayers, I sometimes will buy someone a Bible or give to someone I was not originally considering. I just want to say, "Thank you!" No, God may not expect anything, but I think He appreciates it.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you always pray, and nothing changes about your situation, then you must ask yourself if you are praying effectively.

I will say this, and this is the message from Jesus Christ: Many readers are sinning, and therefore, their prayers are not being answered.

If you want Jesus to bless you, you must forsake sin. If you don't know how to stop sinning, email us for help, OR directly ask Jesus Christ in prayer to help you stop sinning.

Just a caveat, God can tell in your heart when you truly want something or not. When I used to drink, I used to pray to want to stop, but deep down I didn't want to. God knew this, so why would He answer my prayer? He couldn't because my heart was not in the right place.

If you do not have the desire in you to stop sinning, pray for Jesus to put that desire in you!

Now, let's actually get into some specific prayers you can say today to help you right here, right now.

PRAYERS

When I was trying to teach our council how to pray, I was trying to come up with an acronym that would cover everything. There are many acronyms out there, but they just did not contain all the components of a good prayer, so the above image is what I came up with through the help of the Holy Spirit. Yes, I prayed to the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ to help me come up with it. Now, I am going to lay out what each part of it means, and I highly suggest you give it a try. Of course, as you learn to pray, you do not have to perfectly follow this, but believe it or not, I now use it almost every day.

P - Praise

Did you know praise is actually a form of spiritual warfare because of how angry it makes Satan? Many people completely forget it in prayer, which is why it should be done first. Praising God is a powerful act that makes hell tremble. It is often forgotten by Christians, and that is because sometimes it is difficult to do. How do we praise God? What type of praise does He like? Well, there are many examples here, such as about the wonderful things He has done. Let me give an example of praise. You can read this out loud, right now.

  • Father in Heaven,
  • I praise you for the wonderful things you have done in my life in the name of Jesus Christ. I praise you for creating me, and I praise you for all the beauty you have placed in my life. I praise you for sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. I praise you for your mercy, forgiveness, and perfection. Thank you God for being an awesome God! I praise you for your love, grace, and understanding. I praise you for your patience with humanity. I praise you for the perfection of the Bible and how it guides my life. I love you, and I praise you!

Remember, these are just examples. You can add or take away whatever you'd like.

R - Repentance

If you think just "saying sorry" is enough in this area, I am sorry, but that is not the case. Of course, when you pray, you should say sorry, but what I mean is that repentance is an action - a change of mind and heart. This change of mind is referred to as "metanoia."

Still, the first step in repenting is saying sorry - just make sure you follow-up with actually changing after asking God for forgiveness. Here is a prayer for repentance, which you can read aloud right now.

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • I ask for forgiveness for the following sin (write a list if needed!) in the name of Jesus Christ. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my mind, body, soul, and DNA, and I ask that this sin is forgiven and forgotten. If I have any hidden or unknown sin, please reveal it to me and forgive me in Jesus's name. Next, God, I ask that you change my heart and mind so that I no longer continue this sin. Help me resist temptations today, and help me put on the full armor of God so that I can resist all of Satan's tactics. In any way my armor is lacking, patch it up for me, Lord. God, I ask for your mercy, grace, and blood to cover me in Jesus's name. In this very moment, I am forgiven for all my sins!

It is important you specifically confess your sins. Using general prayers like "Forgive me for my sins" is not likely as effective as "Forgive me for engaging in sexual immorality." God already knows the sins you have committed, so confession is important. Also, there are times when it is appropriate to confess to others, but not always. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. Sometimes we get emails with people confessing sins, and I think God truly appreciates the bravery in that.

A - Appreciation

I originally named this adoration, which is okay if you want to use that, too! Praise, adoration, and thanksgiving all go hand in hand, but I specifically put appreciation here so we do not forget to thank God daily. Remember, rejoicing and thanking God even in your suffering is extremely powerful. Here is a prayer you can read:

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • I thank you so much for forgiving my sins in Jesus's name! Thank you that I am alive right now, that I am breathing. Thank you for the times you have helped me in my struggles, and thank you for the times I have drawn closer to you. Despite my struggles, even though I am suffering in this area (name it), I still thank you for all you do for me. I thank you for teaching me how to patiently endure through my trials, and I know you will conquer all things for me in the name of Jesus Christ. God, I thank you for a beautiful day, the air in my lungs, the words of the Bible, and my family. I thank you for the beauty you have provided through this ministry in Jesus's name.

Feel free to add a list of anything else! Witness 1 and I say 5 things we are grateful for to God before bed, and I believe it is very powerful. When you think about it, our gratitude for Jesus Christ should be endless.

Y - Yourself

This one is obvious, but this is when you need to start being more specific in your prayers. Here are some things I say about myself on a daily basis.

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my mind, body soul, and DNA. Today, I ask you to help me resist temptations from Satan, especially (name it). Father, I ask you to help me with all my struggles (name them). I ask you to protect me from Satan and his tactics. I ask you to guide me in a decision with (name it). God, please help me love people as Jesus loved. Please help me do your will. Please help me treat others the way I want to be treated. Please help me serve you, Lord Jesus Christ, at every opportunity. Please have Scripture glued to my heart, mind, and soul, and help me walk in the ways of Jesus Christ.

There is so much more you can add here. Be very specific with how you pray for yourself. Do not just say, "God help me" but go deeper. What do you specifically need help with? Address everything specifically.

E - Everyone Else

This is your time to make a list. I have a list of about 50 people I pray for each day, and it's growing. This is not counting the groups I pray for, as well. If you do not make a list now, you never will. Download a note taking app, such as Colornote, and entitle it "Prayer List." Or get a journal just for prayers. This is where you need to write down when someone asks you to pray for them. How many times has someone asked you to pray and you said you would, but you never did? This is why a list is necessary.

Do you know how many people ask me to pray for them on a daily basis? If I do not immediately pray for them, I will forget. If I cannot immediately pray for them, I add their name to the list.

My list is always moving and changing because some prayers get answered. Some I am still waiting on.

It is so strange what happens when I do this every day that I have to testify.

Sometimes I do not always wake up feeling the best. Who does? Well, when I get to the part of the prayer where I have finished praying for everyone else, I always feel better. Always. If I had a headache, for example, it is gone by that time.

I asked God about it, and He has told me because I am praying with true love, so it heals me. It covers me.

When I do this prayer list, it takes a long time. Sometimes I get tired of doing it, but God tells me not to forsake it. Yes, many of you are on it, even the people who are mean to me. In fact, whenever someone is mean to me, their name immediately gets added to the list!

Anyone who talks to me consistently is on my list. It takes me a while, and it grows every day. I pray for people I love and my enemies.

So, while there is nothing wrong with generalized prayer, do you see the power in the idea of actually praying for individuals in their lives?

Now is your time to make the list! In the meantime, here is a prayer for everyone else:

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • I thank you Lord for all who are reading this blog. I pray that anyone reading this blog right now in the name of Jesus Christ is touched by the Holy Spirit in Jesus's name. I pray for all the lost sheep reading this blog to return to you and do your will in Jesus's holy name! I pray that if anyone feels compelled, that they message us and let us help them in Jesus's mighty name.

R- Refuge/Resistance

This is the spiritual warfare section. I believe Psalm 91 is one of the best refuge/warfare prayers, and I recently memorized it. It was hard! I challenge readers to start memorizing your favorite parts of the Bible, even just verses. It really has helped reshape my mind. It took me weeks to memorize Psalm 91, but now I say it every day. If that is too hard for you right now, start with just verses. The shortest verse, for example, is "Jesus wept."

Earlier, I explained that we are allowed to utilize warfare prayers, and we are allowed to pray against our enemies. The way I understand this all is that not all of enemies are human. We are not called to love demons or non-humans, so I am not worried about destroying them with spiritual fire, which all readers have access to if they want.

Secondly, we are allowed to ask God to intervene in our human enemies' lives, such as asking Him to change their hearts or help them repent. I think in some circumstances, we can ask God to give someone over to Satan; however, your motives must be pure. Remember, all of our prayer should be centered in love, and if you are praying out of hatred, that is not the correct way to pray.

I put the word resistance to indicate resistance to Satan and his temptations. In other words, this is a spiritual warfare section where one takes refuge in Jesus and then resists all things coming against them.

Here is an example of a prayer I would say in the morning:

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • I pray spiritual fire upon all setting out to harm me in Jesus's name. God, intervene how you see fit in the lives of my enemies. If they can repent, please, lead them to repentance. If they do not repent, scatter, blind, and confuse them spiritually in Jesus's name. God, I stop the tactics of ________ (name enemy) right now in Jesus's name. This person is harming me, and I pray it stops now. God, I do not have your wisdom, so I ask you to divinely intervene into my conflicts in Jesus's name. No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and I plead the blood of Jesus over (name specific conflict). I ask, Lord, that you rescue me and keep me under your wing. God, I pray that I will be victorious against all my enemies in Jesus's name. For my non-human enemies, such as demons, reptilian beings, powers, or principalities, I destroy them in the name of Jesus Christ. For my human enemies, I pray they repent, and if not, that you deal with them accordingly. I plead Psalm 91 over my life and my family, and I ask that we are constantly protected throughout this day in Jesus's holy name.

There is much more to add here, but that may be for another post. In the meantime, this is a good starting place.

S - Spiritual Growth

This one is actually fun! I feel this wraps it all up in a more light-hearted way, whereas there is such intensity with warfare prayers.

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • Please help me grow in faith in Jesus's name. Please help me spend more time with you. Please help me walk in your footsteps. Please help me be better in (name specific area).

I have fun with this. I ask to be more loving, or to have more powerful prayers. This one is personal, so decide what it is you need spiritually.

Conclusion

There is no "right" way to pray, but I believe this is a great starting place for all who are struggling or just wanted to freshen up some of the things they are already doing well with prayer. If you use this acronym well, it will likely take 15 - 45 minutes, depending on how in-depth you go. My morning prayer sessions average about 30 - 45 minutes.

Then, I pray all throughout the day in shorter sessions, and then I do more fosused sessions in the afternoon and evening. Here is how my day often looks, but I sincerely pray the majority of the day. In between the official sessions, I am always praying, and Witness 1 can vouch for that:

Morning

- PRAYERS acronym

- Read Scripture (I read 1 chapter a day. Right now, I am in Daniel. I recently have finished Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel).

- Read from prayer book (I download these for free on Kindle. They teach me new ways to pray).

Afternoon

- PRAYERS acronym

- Conversational prayer (I often sit out in my chair and just talk to God about anything).

- Read from prayer book

- Recite Scripture

Evening

- Prayer with family

- Bible Stories

- Read Scripture (We are currently in 2 Samuel)

Before Bed

- Pray for protection over my dreams

- Pray for the next day

- Pray for God to resolve unresolved issues

- Pray for protection in sleep

- Confession/forgiveness of sins from the day

I also always pray before each meal and bless my food. You would be shocked by the amount of evil you can get rid of, and I feel so much better when doing so. Here is my simple prayer before meals:

  • "Dear God, thank you for this food. Lord, I pray you remove all evil from it and bless it in Jesus's name."

Obviously I do not follow this exactly or perfectly from day to day, but do you see how much prayer consumes my day? I once heard a video that said, "Your life should be a prayer." That is what I strive for!

The point is that I am always talking to God, all day. When this happens, it's like the enemy cannot come near me. He cannot even touch me because I am in the secret place with God.

How do you think we are running this website? How do you think we are doing any of this work?

I trust in God through my prayers, and He is protecting our work. Still, we do appreciate when you all pray for us, so please, pray for us, too! Add us to your list.

So, let me wrap this all up with a prayer.

  • Dear Father in Heaven,
  • Protect our ministries in Jesus's name. I pray no weapon formed against me, Witness 1, our family, our council, or our true followers shall prosper in Jesus's name. I pray for all lost sheep reading to return to you in Jesus's name. I pray for new people to reach out upon reading this post, and for older followers to say reach out, too, in Jesus's holy name! I also pray for people to be nice to me when they email me in Jesus's name.

Love you all,

Witness 2