There is so much weirdness in the church today surrounding prayer. One thing for sure though is most people feel guilty that they do not pray enough and it all feels a bit like a game of chance as to whether your prayer gets answered anyway. Does grace change the way we pray? Is there a better way to do it? What is it anyway? Andrew talks about some of the crazy things we think make our prayers work and encourages us that under the finished work of Jesus that prayer is much different than what we think.

In week 2 of 'Teach us to Pray', Pastor Andrew looks at why we need to beat the formula of prayer - we turn relationship into a process - this other person has a formula tat works, so let's copy them! so we substitute relationship for form. Prayer is a window into our heart - it reveals the different layers of what is going on in there: what we believe; what we think about Jesus, who he is and how we approach him. Prayer is to remind us that whenever we try to work for God, He rests, but when we rest, He goes to work! Jesus wants us to live in a way that is about Him, and him alone, it's all about what he has completed on the cross Praise God, that he doesn't wait on us and our effort - it's all about what Jesus has already done!

In the third of the series, Pastor Andrew explains to us how the Hebrew meaning of prayer involves an active exchange: we give our desires and receive the faith of God. Pastor Andrew also notes from Matthew 6:6 how prayer should not be about us 'role-playing' with God. Be honest, how often have you done this in your own life? How often have we 'recited' the same type of prayer to God? It's time to get real with God in our prayer life - we can always pray, but not say many prayers! If you want to understand more about this, click on play and be blessed by Pastor Andrews' latest message in 'Teach us to Pray.'

Trying to earn what God has freely given will never work! If we try to earn it, our work will always come up short. In this part of the series, Andrew shows us how our attitude towards giving and speaking in tongues will affect our prayer life. Speaking in tongues is the gateway gift to all other spiritual gifts. This is a way that we can communicate with Jesus at any point in the day. Be challenged as Andrew asks about our point in praying - do we think God has forgotten us? DO we think that we need to remind God about what we need? When prayer is about us and what we are doing, the result will always be fruitless. But when prayer is about Jesus, we are released from condemnation and able to fully enjoy God's plan to totally restore, change and elevate us.