Skip to content Prayer: It’s Not Just for Sundays - Part A Sep 17 · 26 min ...more
Prayer: It’s Not Just for Sundays - Part A
September 17, 2025 · 26 min
Does prayer feel like pressure—or peace? Tune in as Skip shows you how talking to God can become your natural response—not a religious burden.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast September 17, 2025 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
Does prayer feel like pressure—or peace? Tune in as Skip shows you how talking to God can become your natural response—not a religious burden. ...more Show the full description Show less Does prayer feel like pressure—or peace? Tune in as Skip shows you how talking to God can become your natural response—not a religious burden.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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0:01 This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us for today's program. At Connect with Skip, we're all about helping you go deeper in your walk with God through clear, practical bible teaching. And0:12 right now, we're offering a free resource to help you engage with scripture in a fresh way. It's called studying the bible, a simple 1 sheet download filled with practical guidance for your daily0:24 time in God's word. Download it now at connect with skip dot com when you sign up to receive Skip's weekly devotional, encouraging content delivered right to your inbox each week.0:36 Again, you can sign up for those and get your free resource at connect with skip dot com. Now let's dive into today's teaching from pastor Skip Heitzig.0:46 When you come to church on Sunday, we begin every service with prayer or praise. We typically regard prayer as a Sunday activity.0:59 Not you, but most people, when you think of prayer, they think, oh, yeah, that's what we do on Sundays. When I go to church, we open in prayer, and we close1:10 in prayer. But, of course, the Bible says, pray without ceasing, or pray on every occasion, or if you would like, pray1:22 every day. There was a woman who did pray every day. She had a little apartment, and she was a strong believer. And she would voice her1:34 prayers out loud. Her neighbor was an atheist and could overhear her in her daily devotions. It drove her nuts. So when she would be praying for1:46 something, the atheist would hear it and shout back at the top of her lungs, there is no God. But that didn't deter the Christian lady from being devout and praying every single1:58 day out loud. 1 day she was in dire need of groceries. She prayed out loud for groceries, asked God to provide. The atheist, overhearing her, smiled and said, I'll fix2:10 her. She, the atheist, went to the store, bought a bunch of groceries, placed them on the front porch of the believer, knocked on the door, and hid in the bushes to2:21 see what would happen. The believer came out. She saw the groceries. She understandably got excited, raised her voice to heaven, and said, God, thank you. I knew you would provide and praise the Lord.2:33 And just then the atheist jumps out of the bushes and says, you foolish old lady. God didn't buy you those groceries. I bought you those groceries.2:45 Well, then the believer started shouting even louder and jumping up even higher and more praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. The atheist sort of2:56 bemused at that, said, why does that excite you? And the believer said to the atheist, I knew that God would provide my groceries. I just didn't know he would make the devil pay for3:08 it. Prayer is not just for Sundays. Prayer is for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's3:20 something that we do every day. So answer the question. Do you want prayer? Yes. Yes. Now, some people3:32 will when it comes to prayer, a lot of people don't like the idea that we whenever we the subject of prayer comes up, they get nervous. Oh, it's 1 of those prayer sermons again. And that's because3:44 we all instinctively know this is an area we can grow in. We need to grow in. And when prayer comes up, we might even flag the notion3:56 with several excuses like, look, I'd like to do that. You don't understand my schedule. I just don't have enough time to4:08 develop a quality, meaningful, lengthy prayer life. I get that. I understand the pressures we face as a modern society. I would simply ask4:20 you back a series of questions. Do you have enough time to binge watch a series on Netflix? Do you have enough time to go get a good workout at the gym? Do you4:32 have time to go play a round of golf? Do you have time to go shopping? Do you have time to practice a musical instrument? Do you have time to look at messages on Instagram,4:43 etcetera, etcetera? The average person spends 40 minutes a day on the phone. That is talking in conversations on the phone.4:55 The average person spends 4 hours and 37 minutes looking at the screen of their phone. Isn't that amazing? 4 hours, 37 minutes, average5:06 person. We spend, the average person 1 hour a day in the bathroom, 3 hours a day watching television,5:18 1 hour a day eating and drinking. The average Christian will spend less than 10 minutes a day in prayer. And that's even being generous. According to the Barna Research5:30 Institute, they say, 1 minute. 1 minute per day. For years, my wife and I had a little magnet on our dishwasher.5:42 And it was a picture of Billy Graham. And it was a side profile of Billy. It was sort of a famous photograph. And he was praying, and it showed his side profile and5:54 had 1 word on the magnet, pray, exclamation point, pray. So every day we'd walk by that with that reminder, pray, pray, pray. And I think that's such a fitting thing6:06 from his life because when he was older, he was being interviewed and they said, Doctor. Graham, if you could do it all over again, would you change anything about your life? He said, yes, I would study the6:17 Bible more and I would have prayed more. I would have said yes less to speaking engagements. I would have traveled less. I would have spent more time in the word and in6:29 prayer. There's a man who did spend his life and ministry preaching the word and, of course, praying for people. Now, as we begin James chapter 5 this morning, I hope you have6:41 a Bible with you. It's important to do that whenever we study the Bible, have a Bible actually with you to study. James chapter 5, we're going to begin in verse 13. I just want to make6:53 an announcement. I do not want to guilt you into praying. I do want to guide you into praying. So much so that prayer becomes just the natural7:04 instinctive response to everything in life. In everything, give thanks. Pray without ceasing. It just becomes a natural part7:16 of us. Most of us do struggle in this area, But I don't think prayer should ever be something that creates anxiety. Oh, here it is, prayer sermon. Oh, I feel so anxious.7:28 Prayer was meant to relieve anxiety, not create anxiety. You know the passage, Philippians chapter 4, be anxious for7:40 nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guide or keep your hearts and7:52 minds through Christ Jesus. Now James has already said a lot in his letter about the speech that we use, words that8:03 we use, the tongue in particular, and how that the tongue can destroy. He's already talked about the lowest use of the tongue, cursing men, chapter 3, complaining, chapter8:15 5. Now James talks about the highest use of the tongue, and that is prayer and praise. And we're going to look at verse 13 to verse 16. The whole8:27 last section of this little letter is about prayer. We're going to take it in 2 sessions. We're going to look at the first few verses of this, James chapter 5, verse8:39 13 to verse 16. Here's what I'd like to do with you. I want to give you 5 specific conditions of life that require prayer.8:51 When should you pray? Let me give you the times when you should pray. Number 1, pray when you're suffering. Pray when you're suffering. Look at verse 13. Is9:02 anyone among you suffering? Question mark. Rhetorical question. Let him pray. Now let's answer the question. You ready? Ready to answer the question? I'm going9:14 to ask the question. You're going to answer it. Is anyone among you suffering? It's always a yes. It's always a yes in every congregation at any given9:26 time. There's always people among us who are suffering because suffering is a fact of life. Physical suffering, emotional suffering,9:38 spiritual suffering, it's all a normal part of life. Remember in James chapter 1, he said he used the category various trials. Something can9:50 fit in that category somewhere, various trials. We all experience them. A little context, however, just so you understand James in his writing.10:02 James is writing specifically to scattered Jewish believers. They were scattered because10:14 they were fleeing persecution. Back in the book of Acts in chapter 8, it says, a great persecution arose against the church at Jerusalem, and the believers were10:25 scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. Well, that scattering brought them to new locations, including beyond10:37 Judea and Samaria to Asia Minor. And it is believed that James is writing this letter to several Jewish10:48 Christian congregations throughout Asia Minor who are suffering persecution. They were scattered. And even in their new locations, they are11:00 experiencing suffering and persecution for 2 reasons. Number 1, because they are Jewish. Number 2, because they are Christians, and the pagan world did not like11:12 either of those 2 groups very well. And to be a Jewish Christian in those days was particularly threatening. We cannot avoid suffering. It's a fact of life.11:24 We've said it on so many occasions. We can't avoid it because we cannot avoid bumping into the evil of a fallen world. And even if we11:36 could somehow manage to not ever get involved or see or touch the evil in a fallen world, we still have a problem, us.11:46 We're part of the fallen world. We are fallen people. And, wherever you go, you take you with you. And that's a problem.11:57 You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to today's message, have you ever struggled to study the Bible consistently or wondered how to really enjoy your time in the word?12:08 In his book, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It, pastor Skip gives you the tools and insights you need to dig into scripture with joy, clarity, and confidence. This practical guide is our12:20 thanks for your generous gift of 50 dollars or more to reach more people with God's word through Connect with Skip. Request your copy when you give today at connect with skip dot com slash offer or call12:32 809 2 2 18 88. Now let's get back to today's message from pastor Skip.12:39 There's enough evil in each of us to account for the evil that goes on in all the world. Jeremiah put it this way, the heart is deceitful above all things,12:50 desperately wicked. Who can know it? So we are all fallen. We all from time to time suffer. So is any 1 among you13:02 suffering? Let him pray. Ah, but here's the thing. Sometimes people don't pray13:14 except when they suffer. It's 1 minute a day, maybe, according to Barna, except when they suffer. Then all of a sudden, they're like hyper13:26 spiritual all the time seeking the Lord. It's sort of like going to an ER who calls the emergency room just to chat with somebody. No. You have the conversation and13:38 you go to the emergency room if there is an emergency. According to 1 research group, they said the prayer habits of Americans. Here's a little13:50 clip from that. Some of these prayers, these prayers of the Americans they researched are born in extremists. That is, when life is bad,14:02 they're suffering. They're hurting. There's pain in extreme situations. Some of these prayers are born in extremists. There are few atheists in cancer wards or14:14 unemployment lines. And it goes on to say 90 percent of Americans that they researched pray for healing. We understand that.14:26 We understand that when crisis hits, that people instinctively will turn their voices upward toward heaven and pray to God, asking14:37 God for help. In fact, let me just throw this out. Perhaps 1 of the reasons that we suffer is because when a crisis14:49 hits, we talk to God. We just don't talk to God until a crisis hits. And it's like I kind of picture God going, oh, been a while. Nice to see you again. Glad you could show up from15:01 time to time. And that could it be that God just allows a smattering of pain in our lives from time to time to get our attention and bring us back into communion with him.15:13 Because he knows that's where the secret sauce is when we're connected to him. But most people pray as a last resort15:25 instead of a first response. Now let me turn that around. Could it be that if we made prayer our first response, it would never have to be our last resort? We15:36 pray because we believe somewhere deep down that God is the source of help and comfort. As Paul wrote in Second Corinthians chapter15:48 1, he is the father of mercies. He is the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our tribulations. But something you need to know,16:00 and I will try to move along quickly, but you know me by now. So look at the word pray. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Now you might read that little word pray16:11 and say, yeah, I'm going to shoot up a prayer like an arrow. Oh, God help. I'm suffering. Please, Lord. Boing. That's not what it means. The16:23 word here is in the present tense. It means an ongoing continual prayer. It's much like what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7,16:35 ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open. Those are in the present tense. Knock or ask, keep on asking. Seek, keep on16:47 seeking. Knock, keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. It's a continual thing. 1 of my favorite stories in Daniel is in chapter 10. Somebody in16:59 the worship team mentioned Daniel chapter 9, how Daniel was praying, or it was actually Taylor in the announcements that Daniel was praying in chapter 9. Well, in chapter 10,17:11 he's still praying. And an angel comes and says, hey, Daniel, the day you started praying, I was sent from heaven to answer your prayer. But the prince of Persia17:22 withstood me 21 days until Michael had to kinda get me out of that bind, and I showed up. So here's a guy praying. 21 days later, the angel shows up. What17:34 if Daniel would have quit on day 15? He kept on asking, kept on praying, kept on seeking. That's the idea.17:46 Anyone among you suffering, keep it up. Keep praying. Don't stop. Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it this way, prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings17:58 above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell for they pray so languidly. Others give only an occasional18:10 jerk at the rope, but he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continually with all his might.18:22 You get the visual picture of the guy doing that? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, day long. Anyone suffering? Let him pray. So pray when you're18:34 suffering. Number 2, pray when you're smiling. Not everybody is suffering. Some of you, you're doing great. Life is good. He18:45 continues, is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Now I think you'll agree that singing psalms is a form of praying. Sing psalms.18:58 Sing when life is good. When life is good, praise music should come out of your lips. Being thankful. You know, Judaism and Christianity are19:09 singing religions, not atheism. Atheism is songless. They have nothing to sing about. True story. In the19:21 1800s, there was a very I was going to say famous infamous atheist named Robert Ingersoll. He was a lawyer. He was an author. He was a19:32 politician. And he was given the name the great agnostic, even though he was an atheist. Well, on his funeral notice was a line19:44 in large letters that said, there will be no singing. Can you imagine? We're going to have a funeral for this guy. There will be no singing. Well,19:56 let me get it out to the public right now. At my funeral, there will be singing. I hope it's not ding20:08 dong the witch is dead, but there will be singing. Singing is so important to Christians. For the last 2000 years, hundreds20:20 of thousands of worship hymns and songs have been written by believers. The words sing, singing, song,20:32 songs, and sang are found 2 25 times in the scriptures. It's not hard to find churches that want to sing.20:44 They all do. It's just a natural thing. Is anyone cheerful? Let them sing psalms. A survey of 1800 different church congregations I'm sorry, different people20:56 from 24 different congregations. So almost 2000 people, 24 churches. They kind of came up with the idea that people love to sing because21:08 singing brings great comfort, especially if it's a song they remember from an episode in their life. Oh, I love that song. It sort of captured something for me at that time. And here you are suffering21:20 or struggling or happy about something, and you were reminded of it because of the song. Songs bring21:34 brings great comfort. Even though 50 percent say they don't sing very well. So they admit, I don't sing well, but I love to sing. But I don't sing very well. But I love to21:46 sing. I just don't sing very well. But that's okay, isn't it? Because we're not auditioning for a choir. We're God is conditioning21:58 us for the future. Start singing now because you're gonna be doing a lot of it in heaven. Notice though that James never says anything about how we should sing. He says, are you cheerful? Sing. He22:10 didn't he didn't say, sing with a perfect vibrato, with, with, 1, 3, 5, harmony.22:22 Sing beautifully. He didn't say that. He just says sing. Now, are scriptures that do qualify and tell us how to sing. But you'll be happy to know they too don't say22:34 has to be good, has to be perfect, has to be on key. It's nice if it is, by the way. It's helpful. It just says make a joyful noise or shout22:45 joyfully to the Lord. Anybody can do that. We can all pull that off. So the question is not, do I have a voice?22:57 The question is, do I have a song? Has God put a song in my heart? Not do I have a beautiful voice to express it. I can make a joyful noise, but do I have a song?23:10 So this is very natural for the Christian. You're cheerful sing. Interesting that bars have a thing called happy hour. This is happy hour. Right now,23:22 we're in it. Sundays, Saturdays, Wednesdays, we get together. We sing, happy hour, happy hour. But23:34 he does ask a question. I didn't even go over that yet. Is anyone cheerful? Now, you might read that and go, well, that's not me.23:46 And this is why I don't sing at church because I'm not cheerful. Not I don't mean generally, but maybe you're going through a very difficult time, and because you're going through a difficult time, it's just not in you.23:57 You're not feeling it. And so you might say, you know, I'm kind of exempted from this because I'm not cheerful. But here's what the word cheerful means. It means to be well in your soul,24:10 not emotionally or outwardly, but the well-being of the soul. Let me ask you, Christian, saved by God's grace, redeemed by the blood of the lamb,24:22 is it well with your soul? It is well with your soul because of what he has done for you and the imputed righteousness of Christ to you. So are you in that24:34 condition? Yes. Then let us sing.24:40 Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It. This book from pastor Skip24:52 offers practical, encouraging help to take your Bible study deeper and get more out of every verse. It's our thanks for your generous gift of 50 dollars or more to help share God's word with more25:04 people. Call 809 2 2 18 88 or visit connect with skip dot com slash offer. And be sure to sign up for weekly devotionals and get your free 1 sheet25:16 how to approach studying the bible. It's a great tool to jump start your time in scripture. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on connect with Skip Heitzig.25:49 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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