CHAPTER 22: ‘PRAYER-Werks’ 2024

People do the stupidest things in the name of God. Really, people tell me all the time, “I prayed about it and God is leading me to do this,” then they say something really stupid and costly, wasteful and time consuming. I had to get to the bottom of it. It was probably around the time Prince was singing 1999. I sat at my desk, and began to write. I did not want to “hear God” telling me to do something stupid. God doesn’t tell people to do stupid things. So who does tell you to do stupid things, well, it ain’t God. I had to make up a concept that could keep me honest, keep me close to God’s way. I see the universe as a giant machine, an awesome powerful machine tended to by the Father, the Supreme Being, the Creator. So, a machine, I thought and I named it in my head. “Prayer-Werks,” I thought, a machine, and for a machine I would need a passcode to address God in the throne room. Now, that gave me a visual for sure. A passcode, a tool I thought, ah, a key. A key to the door of the machine, how cool. To prepare myself for prayer, for a meeting with God, that is what I contemplated. A giant smooth running set of gears and bearings that would open with the correct key. Yes, keys, I was on to something. Consider keys that would access that machine and the power and strength generated by such a thing. That is how I thought of the Throne Room of God and the administration of all creation and the daily application of running it. How do I get those keys? I pray. Chapter 21 is about prayer, Chapter 22 is about the machine, how to access the machine, the God of the universe. How can I be sure that God is hearing me, not some god I made up or the salt shaker on the table. People stand firm on their version of God, “my god is a loving god, my god loves me even though, my god isn’t an angry god, my god — bla, bla, bla. Now if pressed, generally they don’t have scripture to back that up. I had to invent a way to understand prayer, access to God, and the machine made sense to me. A set of keys that open the door to the machine. Hmm, my preparation, so I set myself to the task. The Master’s keys, I thought. I realized there were many reasons to talk to God, but they could all come under the heading of four Master’s Keys. Anything could be talked about, and in conversation many things come up, but first, it seemed there was work to do. First, ask the Holy Spirit to keep my prayers in order and to be sure that my conscience was correct and secure. That I’ll talk about in a second, very important to prepare my self in the Holy Spirit. Keeping in mind the Holy Spirit will pray with me and for me when I’m confused and I don’t know how to correctly petition the Lord. So, back to the four keys that surely open the door of the machine into the the Throne Room of God.

• Key #1, Be grateful for what I have and what I have not, thank Him for all of it, the good, bad and the ugly. Boom, the door opens.
• Key #2 Ask for what I may do to honor His will with the talents given to me this very day and pray for others. Key #2 Boom, the door opens.
• Key #3 Share my challenges asking for Discernment and protection requesting strength to Obey the directives. Boom, the door opens.
• Repent for my sins that are too numerous to comprehend, and give thanks for the Blood of Christ that forgives me. Boom, the door opens.

Four of the Master’s Keys that open the door to God’s Throne Room. After that, the conversation is on, and anything and everything is on the table. It’s been a good tool, Chapter 22, for many years. Let’s put it to practical use. It’s an election year, November 5th is on everybody’s mind. Let’s use the keys on such things as an example. Let’s name some prayer Keys.

• Our Constitution is an instrument for the people to restrain the government. Patrick Henry. Thank you, Jesus for allowing the last 248 years of freedom from Tyranny. Key #1 gratitude.
• The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. Patrick Henry Thank you, Jesus for such a statement reminding us Government is accountable. Key #3 Learning the gifts.
• In 2020 in the state of Arizona Biden won by only 10,457 votes. 730,624 Evangelical Christians did not vote. We left the America given to us at risk. Requesting forgiveness. Key #4 Repent
• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petitions the government for a redress of grievances. The Bill of Rights, the first of amendment. Thank you, Jesus for 286 years of government not able to control church.
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. In Congress, July 4, 1776. Thank you Jesus for America, may we serve our church and may our church serve our country, all given by God for 286 years.
• Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams Jesus, may God give your church the strength to return this great nation to the God that created her. Key #2 What do we do with the gift, Lord?

Acts 4:29-30
Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness the may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs an wonders may be done through the name of Jesus Christ.

Before accessing the keys, I thought, I gotta be ready. How do I know my prayers are okay, or that they’re even making it to God? Geez, very good. I asked the Holy Spirit to help insure my prayers make it.

Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered”.

Okay, now I gotta make sure my conscience isn’t lying to me. I thought, my conscience could be taken captive by the enemy, scripture says I can be fooled, deceived. I get that. I mean the devil could fool me, my prayers could be compromised, my very conscience could be stolen, so to speak, manipulated, fooled, deceived by the enemy and I would think it was God’s direction. What do I do? God protects you from the devil is Psalm 91:1-2, which says, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”. Thusly, I prayed to the Holy Spirit to direct me to correct scripture and watch over my prayers, both to the Lord and from the Lord.

Psalms 121:7-8 New American Standard Bible –
The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.

I pray both of those scriptures, and ask the Holy Spirit to deliver my prayers and the answers from God. How do I know my prayers could be hampered from the Lord? Why do I pray that I hear the Lord? In the book of Daniel, Daniel had prayed to the Lord, and waited for an answer that didn’t seem to come. Daniel prayed and fasted, waiting for the Lord to give him direction on His people. Finally, Daniel understood, an angel appeared and told Daniel this…

Daniel 10:12-14 New International Version
12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

Who is the Prince of Persia? An enemy of God. The Key here is asking God what to do, and Daniel did just that. Key #2.

What about everything else besides the four Master’s keys? Terror, fear, pain, rage, heartbreak, condemnation, contempt, revenge? All of those are listed under the Four Master’s Keys, first praying for God’s will and giving thanks, then petitioning anything.

1 John 5:14-15
New King James Version
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

He is a sovereign God and yet he gives us free will. Will we choose God in all things? I hope so. Many times we forget. If we choose a country without God, America will fall. It is our part, as the church, to warn the world.

The Bible verse Ezekiel 3:18-19 says, “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ you must warn them so they may live. If you don’t speak out to warn the wicked to stop their evil ways, they will die in their sin. But I will hold you responsible for their death”.

The church must stand strong, to bring the truth in world of darkness and sin, lest we have forsaken our duty. Hell is a real. Unfortunately, the message is sometimes thrown out by the world.

A quote by C.S. Lewis “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.” I say, if there was more prayer and understanding taught from the pulpit, there would be less souls in hell.

It is vital that my prayers, relevant or stupid, reach God, and I receive His answer. It is vital I pray to the Holy Spirit in preparation, that my mind is clear, my conscience protected. You see, just calling up God and saying “give me a truck, or a car, or whatever,” I’m not sure that’s my best move. The Keys keep me reverent to the God who made me. Doesn’t it sound better to first approach the throne and…

1. Be grateful for what I have and what I have not, thank Him for all of it, the good, bad and the ugly.
2. Ask for what I may do to honor His will with the talents given to me and pray for others.
3. Share my challenges asking for the strength to Obey.
4. Repent for my sins and honor the Blood of Christ that forgives me.

Try attaching that to, “I want Bob to see it my way, I need a Carerra Porsche.” The Keys and the protection of the Holy Spirit sounds better to me, before I ask for a truck and a car and a, and a, and a.., right? The prayers to the Holy Spirit, keep my conscience protected and make sure my prayers are in a safe delivery system. Pray for His church, the church is having trouble. Thomas Jefferson said, “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles, every other correction is either useless or a new evil. America, without the church, the Devil is taking her captive, as the Jews allowed Hitler to have their country, as Israel gave away God for false idols all to a perilous end?

Colossians 2:8
New American Standard Bible
8 See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, [a]rather than in accordance with Christ.

Fake stuff, temporary fixes, self-help books, imitation teachings, a wasting of dangerous moments without the direction of the Holy Spirit and God’s Wisdom.

Psalm 139:1-19 New International Version
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.

 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!  How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.  If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

Thank you, Jesus for the Word, Gratitude Key #1. Master’s keys, I try and use them first, by my free gift of choice to choose His choice. Having said that, it is an election year, and I can’t vote for transgenderism, men in women’s restrooms, I can’t do it, I can’t vote for a party that wants to mutilate little girls to make them boys, I can’t do it, I can’t vote for a party that says you can be a boy today and a girl tomorrow, I can’t do it, I can’t vote for a party that wants to remove God from it’s party platform, puts drag queens in our schools reading stories to our children, taking the rights of parents away, arresting parents who won’t go along with the sexualization of their children, I can’t do it, I can’t vote for that. I gotta make that decision, what I stand for. And what I must stand for is the God that gave me life, and you and for today He gave you a positive balance sheet, millions of dollars to shepherd, families that are healthy, marriages that shouldn’t be okay and yet they are, businesses that shouldn’t be okay and yet they are. It’s time to make a decision, to stand for the God who stood and still stands for you and has stood for this country so that you can now, this day honor him in “the republic of America, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed by thy name, thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Everything else just doesn’t matter. The Four Master’s Keys, they’ve helped me maybe they can help you.

1. Be Grateful
2. His Will done by you, pray for others
3. Confirm challenges currently
4. Repent

The Four Master’s Keys: “Click”, did you hear it? Prayer-Werks, the lock opens and the door to the machine, the mechanism is clear and Jesus will walk you in where God has been waiting for you.

Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Now that is great, and it sounds great, and it is great, as long as you remember, quite clearly every single solitary minute of your short term existence, the following.

“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” Proverbs 16:25

Chapter 22 PrayerWerks 2024, borrow the concept until you have your own. Amen, Amen.