Praise Jesus today everyone. I want to make a quick message in regards to prayer and who we should be praying to. Jesus said that all power and all authority is His. There are people that say "you don't pray to Jesus, you pray to the Father in Jesus name." And they divide hairs that they don't know anything about. But if we can't pray directly to Jesus, then how in the world is all power and all authority in Jesus? How could Jesus say that if He cannot hear or answer prayer?
It is obvious that the people that say that Jesus doesn't answer prayer don't have a relationship with Him. They're religious. They think that they will be heard because they're praying in a certain formula. They're praying things like "in the name of our father, through His gracious merciful son Jesus Christ". And they're very liturgical. They pray in such a way that they think sounds good that God will accept them or listen to them because of their special magic prayer. And that's just not the truth.
God is always looking at our hearts. And Jesus Christ has been given all power and all authority. We have to respect Him as God. He is not just how people say the second person in the trinity. He is God Almighty. He is one with His father. The father, son and Holy Spirit, these three are one. You cannot really distinguish between yourself as three in one. You wouldn't say “I am my mind, I am my flesh, I am my spirit.” You don't really divide those you are who you are. Although those are three separate elements that make up you. But your mind is not a different person than you, nor is your flesh from your spirit, you are all one.
A big deception though is praying to Saints and praying in this pattern that the church has made that makes it very legalistic. It makes prayer as if it's a magical formula. And so you have all these Saints and people who think that if they pray to these Saints then their prayers will be answered and the catholic church teaches this. And it's not of God, guys.
Remember how Jesus said, that He wanted to be our only teacher. He said, "call no one on earth your teacher, you have one who is the teacher, the Christ He who is in heaven." Jesus is in heaven with His Father. And He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him. If you're praying to people whether they are alive or dead, how do you know that person has any power? How do you know that they are not guided by a serpent themselves? How do you know that you're not praying to the devil?
A lot of Christians they're not like the Catholics that are literally praying to dead people, but they are going to people who are spiritually dead for answers. And they're making these spiritually dead prophets and pastors and teachers, they're making them their spiritual leaders. And what Jesus said about that. He said, “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.” They're gonna both fall into the pit of hell.
If you want to know the truth and be guided into everlasting life, you have to hold Jesus's hand. How do you do that? That is when you start genuinely praying and you have a prayer closet. You have a private place to pray and to seek the Lord, and you wait upon Him in prayer. You don't first go run to a pastor or your grandfather or anyone else on this earth for answers for your life. You first go to the Lord and say, “Lord Jesus, I pray that you guide me. I'm not sure what school to go to. I'm not sure what job to work. I'm not sure what spouse I should marry. I'm not sure what to do in life.”
Whatever your question is in regards to life, go to Jesus first because He is the author of life. And He knows how to perfect us and guide us and lead us. But if you're going to men first, if you're praying to men, and you're going to men for guidance, you're going to be deceived. Satan has plenty of men and women that he controls. And he uses these people to lead others to hell. And so if you become like the Catholics praying to essentially demons but they call them Saints, so praying to dead people, you're going to get yourself all all mixed up.
We have one intercessor. We have one who intercedes before God and men, and that is Jesus Christ. He is our high priest. He is the one who can wash away our sins. He's the one that we need to confess to. He's the one that needs to lead us and guide us. And if you bring yourself before Him in humility and say, “Lord, please set me free from sin. Please guide me. Please lead me into everlasting life.” And if you're serious to make Him your teacher, He will be the one that leads you and guides you. So who do you pray to? Are you praying directly to Jesus, to Him alone? Is He alone your teacher? Or have you made a thousand other people your teachers? And are you praying to dead men? Are you praying to the so-called Saints and statues in churches? Make sure that you rid yourself of this sort of idolatry. Be separate from dead religion. Be separate from the deceptions of the ungodly churches. Keep yourself unstained from the world. And by all means, stay in prayer continually, be praying, be seeking the Lord with all your heart, because He is worthy to lead you and guide you into everlasting life.
May the grace of Jesus be with you.
