Connecting With God in Everyday Life
Humans were created to live in a trusting relationship with God where he guides our lives with his perfect love and wisdom. Prayer reconnects us to God in the ways he always intended us to live.
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar talks with author Neil Cole about prayer and finding ways for ordinary people to connect with God in all of life.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Why prayer is much more than advertised.
- The true purpose of prayer… and it may not be what you think!
- Simple, yet powerful ways for you to bring about change in your life.
- A 4-step process that will transform (and simplify) your prayers.
From this episode:
“Don’t limit your prayers to a one-way conversation towards God. Talk with him. In all the many ways we get to: adoration/praise, thanksgiving, praying the scriptures, petition, blessing prayers, intercession, meditation, journaling. Any of the ways that you choose to communicate with God are a good thing, and constitutes prayer.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Free Download of the Big 3 For Episode #411
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.
Transcript
You know, the Gospel, and you know this, bro, the Gospel is really all about getting us to have relationship and access with God.
Neil Cole:That is what prayer is, and those are the most meaningful moments in my life, and they will be the most meaningful moments in anyone's life that wants to turn to.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know if people believe that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't, You know, as I hear you say it, like my head and you know, my Christian Head is nodding, but I, I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know if we really believe that.
Neil Cole:I think if you'll tell you, I didn't either.
Neil Cole:I, I would say I did earlier in my life, but it's not until I've had those kinds of breakthroughs over and over again, and it takes a lot to get through this skull to realize that that's the real meaning, that connecting with God is the most important thing.
Announcer:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Announcer:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Announcer:This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Announcer:And now here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:Alrighty, here we go.
Caesar Kalinowski:Back in the saddle.
Caesar Kalinowski:Good to be with you today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Good to be back and feeling pretty much back to normal This is gonna be a cool episode I got a special guest on.
Caesar Kalinowski:Before I get to that, let me just go ahead and read a review.
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Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know if you've ever left a review on your particular podcast listening source, you know, iTunes or Stitcher or Podbean or wherever you listen, but I sure appreciate it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's one that came in from Ryan G.
Caesar Kalinowski:He says, Great podcast for Missional Living as a pastor of Missional Community.
Caesar Kalinowski:This has been an invaluable resource with practical advice.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey, thanks Ryan.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what I try to do every week.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what we're trying to give you is how the Gospel speaks into all of this, and how discipleship then works itself out in everyday life.
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Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, so let's get into things today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, I have a really cool guest.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, as I said, Neil Cole is joining me.
Caesar Kalinowski:He was supposed to be with me last week, but couldn't do that from the hospital bed.
Caesar Kalinowski:But Neil Cole, he's a Missiologist.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's sort of a fancy way of saying he helps people live out what they actually learn in the Bible and what God's been up to, uh, throughout all of history.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:He's a speaker.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, he speaks nationally and trains people actually internationally all over the world.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's how we met.
Caesar Kalinowski:We used to do a whole lot of conferences together and over time became pals and he's an author of a ton of books on discipleship and Missional Living.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll bet you have read some of them yourselves.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, his recent release.
Caesar Kalinowski:His latest book is called Pray Finding Ways for Ordinary People to Connect With God in All of Life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that sucked me in right away.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I love whatever Neil writes, but when I wrote that Finding Ways to Connect with God in all of Life, I was like, Oh man, I gotta have him on to talk about this.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I recently had a conversation with Neil about prayer and some of the stuff that from the book, and I really love the way he demystifies things and brings prayer into.
Caesar Kalinowski:Everyday life.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think you'll like it as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:So let's take a listen to the conversation I had with Neil, and then I'll come back at the end with a few thoughts and I'll give you the big three for today.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right, let's listen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Neil, thank you so much for being on today with us here in the Everyday, Disciple Podcast.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:A lot of people are excited to hear, uh, hear you and hear this topic of prayer, kind of really grounded into normal everyday life, and, and so it's been too long since we've seen each other.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm glad we're getting to do this, at least virtually.
Caesar Kalinowski:I can see you, You look good.
Caesar Kalinowski:You look healthy.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I hope I do.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't . You
Neil Cole:do You look great.
Neil Cole:. Caesar Kalinowski: But, uh, yeah.
Neil Cole:Haven't changed a.
Neil Cole:There's not nearly the amount of conferences going on these days that we used to see each other.
Neil Cole:I don't know, at least half dozen times a year it seemed right.
Neil Cole:We would get all the same conferences.
Neil Cole:Yeah, it's true.
Neil Cole:It's true.
Neil Cole:There was a season where we, you and I and others like us would get together all the time, have drinks and.
Neil Cole:Coffee and enjoy life together.
Neil Cole:And it just, I miss those times.
Neil Cole:I missed those times more than I missed the conferences, to
Caesar Kalinowski:be honest with you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Amen to that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I just had Hugh Halter on the podcast a few weeks ago and, uh, he and I stayed pretty good in touch, but he's also, A grandfather now and it's like he's lost his mind.
Caesar Kalinowski:He loves it.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's as much as we do.
Caesar Kalinowski:We were talking a little before we got on here today about our grandfathering and uh, it's the best man.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's the best.
Caesar Kalinowski:I have three grandsons and then one little baby girl, and um, Oh, it's so good man.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's so good.
Neil Cole:I got three little boys and two little girls.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, see, look it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, you're ahead man.
Caesar Kalinowski:, I'm ahead by one.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know we had, Tina and I had hoped to have a whole lot, but, uh, the kids are all kind of into like, I think we're just having two, maybe, you know, maybe a third.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll see.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we're always pulling for more, but we don't have to bear them . That's so, Hey.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, I, I'm really excited to talk.
Caesar Kalinowski:This topic of prayer, but specifically because we get to talk about it today in light of, you know, finding ways, and this is right off the cover of your book, Finding Ways for Ordinary People to Connect with God in all of Life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Man, that sounds like, like a subtitle I could have written myself, brother.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, I think, I think we often mystify prayer, uh, we certainly make it very, very one directional.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know that, uh, we talk about listening to God, like you'll be amazed at what you hear that the omnipotent, sovereign father of the universe, our dad wants to say.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, um, let, let me start by asking you what do you think is maybe some of the biggest misconceptions that, uh, people have, uh, about prayer and, and I'm gonna say Christians, be it like they're baby Christians, or maybe they've been around the faith for a really long time, but what do you think some of the biggest misconceptions about prayer.
Neil Cole:You know, I almost didn't use the word pray or prayer because there are so many misconceptions, or it's really not so much a misconception, it's a MicroCon conception.
Neil Cole:It's that we've made it too small and too packaged and put it in a box and prayers much bigger than that.
Neil Cole:So I almost tried to come up with a different word, a new word, uh, but in the end, I, I, I thought it was better to redeem the word and show people what it really means to pray.
Neil Cole:It just means to connect with, A lot of us just think it's asking God for things.
Neil Cole:It's talking with God, and certainly prayer is that.
Neil Cole:But that's like saying pressing on the accelerator is the way to drive, and that is part of driving.
Neil Cole:But you have to do more than just press on the accelerator.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:So talking with God, yes, that's prayer, but sometimes prayer is not talking
Neil Cole:Oftentimes it's groaning or it's listening or it's just experiencing his presence.
Neil Cole:And so I, I tried to expand on all those things.
Neil Cole:I think we make it too sacred and at the same time too, And that's the intent of the book, is to make it, um, something anyone can do, everyone can do, and not make it so, so, uh.
Neil Cole:Special.
Neil Cole:I mean, it's special.
Neil Cole:You
Caesar Kalinowski:said pretty early on in the book, and I'm just gonna read a little piece of it cuz I won't be able to paraphrase it as well as you said it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:But you said, as you look back on your life, you can say without hesitation that most significant breakthroughs, whether in personal growth or leadership of others, were always the times you spent praying, listening carefully and, and, and you say, Listen here, I'm not saying that the breakthroughs came about because of prayer.
Caesar Kalinowski:Instead I'm saying prayer was the breakthrough.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Expand on that a little bit for me.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, That caught me, man.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right out of the gate.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, it's really true.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, I, I journal every single day and part of the benefits of that is you go back over the course of 30 years and see what's going on in your life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the breakthroughs were not, Because I tapped into this resource that prayer offers the breakthroughs was God himself connecting with God.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what prayer is, and those were the turning points in all of my life, every single time and will be in the future, I'm sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we need to stop seeing prayer as this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Superstitious act that gets God on our side to accomplish something great and realize that the praying itself is the great thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:The connecting with God is where the breakthrough happens, that it really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, the Gospel, and you know this bro, the Gospel is really all about having.
Caesar Kalinowski:Getting us to have relationship and access with God.
Caesar Kalinowski:That is what prayer is, and those are the most meaningful moments in my life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they will be the most meaningful moments in anyone's life that
Caesar Kalinowski:wants to turn.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know if people believe that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't, You know, as I hear you say it, like my head and you know, my Christian Head is nodding, but I, I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know if we really believe that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think if we,
Neil Cole:we'll tell you, I didn't either.
Neil Cole:I would say I did earlier in my life.
Neil Cole:But it's not until I've had those kinds of breakthroughs over and over again.
Neil Cole:And it takes a lot to get through the skull to realize that that's the real meaning.
Neil Cole:That, that the connecting with God is the most important thing.
Neil Cole:I think a lot of us are driven by our own egos and our ambition, even when it's sanctified un under kingdom terminology.
Neil Cole:And I think there comes a point in time when you've, you've spent yourself and you've gone through enough that you realize it's those moments with.
Neil Cole:That are the most important ones.
Neil Cole:Uh, I think it's often like you're going to remember your, if you had good parents growing up, you'll remember those special moments with your parents the most.
Neil Cole:And I think with God, it's those moments with God that are the most significant moments of your life.
Neil Cole:And I think to try and.
Neil Cole:Brush those aside and is foolishness.
Caesar Kalinowski:I wrote down a few of the headers, just like parts of the book just to remind me of certain things.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, one thing you kind of touched on already, there was a, there was a section called Prayers More Than Advertised.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, and I, and I think that's where you, you talked a little bit about why you weren't even sure if you wanted to use that word, pray, because, you know, like we, we bring too much baggage with us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, it, tell me a little bit more about what you're thinking there.
Caesar Kalinowski:Prayer is, is much more than advertised.
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you thinking there?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, it's just
Neil Cole:that, you know, um, We've limited prayer to these ideas of, of just, um, asking for things or talking with God and that, like I said, that's part of it, but there's so much more, you know, there's, um, it can actually become.
Neil Cole:You're like breathing to you in, in spiritual life where every moment of your life you're connecting with God, so that you're seeing the world through the framework, the mindset of who God is instead of your own small little world.
Neil Cole:And that just opens up.
Neil Cole:So much to you.
Neil Cole:It, it's so much more than just, uh, a few newness of prayer before a meal or before you go to sleep at night.
Neil Cole:It's more than asking God for things.
Neil Cole:It's more than negotiating with God when you're in trouble.
Neil Cole:It's all those things and 10 times more so.
Neil Cole:I just tried to get that across and I also wanted to make the book such that prayer was accessible.
Neil Cole:I have read books that I respect deeply by, by prayer warriors that have worn holes in the ground with their knees in their closet, and I admire them.
Neil Cole:But the thing about those books is they oftentimes make prayers seem so, you know, unique to just really super spiritual people and
Caesar Kalinowski:so hard, special place, or a certain time of the day only, or, Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And
Neil Cole:so I wanted to make it accessible to ordinary people all the time.
Neil Cole:So I list out tons of ways you can pray and, and just show 'em how easy it's to pray.
Neil Cole:And I wanted to make prayer more accessible, less distant.
Caesar Kalinowski:I found that you did, you broke it down into many, many different types of prayer.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:There again, we probably all have our one or two sort of ideas that come to mind.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe it's like me talking, God talking , you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like there's two, What else you got?
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:But you really, you really did break down a lot of different ways that we get to.
Caesar Kalinowski:And communicate with God.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, before I, I wanna, I want you to think of some of those and share with some of those kind of be, it'll be salty for folks with the book, but you know what you were just saying about prayer being so much more than just though we get to so much more than just a.
Caesar Kalinowski:This one special time or you know, it's only when we're on our knees or it's only in this closet or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:Really reminded me of, uh, Brother Lawrence.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you mentioned him in the book too.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Practicing the Presence, and that's one of my absolute favorite books.
Caesar Kalinowski:I try to read it annually, you know, if I can't, at least, it's a short little read, but it always wrecks me.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I have to say, it is transformed not only just my understanding of prayer, but my relationship with dad.
Caesar Kalinowski:This idea that I could moment by moment.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let the spirit remind me of God's own presence in my life and his wisdom and access to his heart and his perspective on the world and all of that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And but not only is that beautiful Neil, but it, it also then like quickly kind of connects the dots right back to Genesis for me.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like were what was up with Adam and Eve and did God just really become unhinged cuz they had a piece of fruit?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or was it that they thought they could live a self apart from God?
Caesar Kalinowski:Where they managed the knowledge of good and.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right and wrong for themselves, and then created this identity apart from him that they would then go about making their decisions right and wrong, good and bad for me that so I look a certain way or I gain a certain thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so to me, this idea of prayer isn't, it really isn't just rubbed a lamp and try to get stuff outta dad.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a reconnecting to this beautiful, powerful privlege and we, we often talk about in, in our coaching and discipleship and all humans, were not created to manage the knowledge of good and evil.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right and wrong.
Caesar Kalinowski:We weren't.
Caesar Kalinowski:We weren't given, That was not, that was God's role all along.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if you think, like we were just turn on the news there, there's like, you know, scripture says, uh, people will call good evil and evil Good.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like 50%.
Caesar Kalinowski:Exactly.
Caesar Kalinowski:49, 51 like last week, you know, here in the States.
Caesar Kalinowski:What, And so I, I man, I really resonate with all this and, and I think the more we can normalize prayer as an ongoing dialogue.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:This idea of prayer without ceasing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah,
Neil Cole:it's, you know, it's like, it's like going back to Eden, it's like going to heaven and still having a heartbeat.
Neil Cole:It's like you have access to almighty God's loving wisdom and power 24 7 available to you, and he wants to hear your opinion about things.
Neil Cole:He doesn't want it to be a one way street.
Neil Cole:I mean, that just is, That's so much more than.
Neil Cole:You know, asking God for your daily provisions.
Neil Cole:That's part of it.
Neil Cole:But there's so much more, and, uh, and, and, and it, it, that's why it's the breakthrough.
Neil Cole:That is the most break biggest breakthrough of my life.
Neil Cole:Connecting with God is everything.
Neil Cole:That's the Gospel.
Neil Cole:That's what Jesus came for.
Neil Cole:So I would.
Neil Cole:I think we minimize it by making it sacred and putting it in a small box.
Neil Cole:And I wanted to take it out of the box, play with it, and toss it at you so you can play with it.
Neil Cole:. Caesar Kalinowski: Well, and you know, you kind of, you kind of build a structure that really, I, I loved it.
Neil Cole:Gave some great handles and you built it around.
Neil Cole:And I'm not gonna get this right off the top of my head, so you're the author, but um, around.
Neil Cole:Something, lather, rinse, repeat.
Neil Cole:What was the first?
Neil Cole:Yes, it's basic instructions on every shampoo bottle.
Neil Cole:Apply lather.
Neil Cole:There you go.
Neil Cole:Rinse, repeat, Apply.
Neil Cole:Lather, rinse, repeat, You know, and they put that on the back of every shampoo bottle because they want you to keep.
Neil Cole:Using more shampoo than you really need so that they get more money.
Neil Cole:Why not ? But yeah, but I just, I took that simple thing.
Neil Cole:It's easy to remember except in your case and
Neil Cole:, Caesar Kalinowski: darn it.
Neil Cole:I dunno why I couldn't have applied.
Neil Cole:Uh,
Neil Cole:yeah, apply lather, repeat and just, you know, put the different kinds of prayer that we can do in those four categories.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, so help us see, see that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Give us like, we don't have, you know, obviously I want people to get the book and it's gonna go way deeper into all this, but, um, give us, give us oversight here.
Caesar Kalinowski:A little insight.
Caesar Kalinowski:What's, what's the apply part?
Caesar Kalinowski:So
Neil Cole:apply is, is real simple.
Neil Cole:It's just connecting.
Neil Cole:So it's adding, you know, in shampoo, it's putting the shampoo on your head, and in this case it's just connecting with God.
Neil Cole:It's as little as, as praising him.
Neil Cole:That's prayer, that's adoration or thanking him.
Neil Cole:You know, you get a car, you get a parking spot.
Neil Cole:Give thanks.
Neil Cole:If you, you know, something goes your way.
Neil Cole:Thank him.
Neil Cole:If things don't go your.
Neil Cole:Still thank him because an attitude of gratitude changes everything in your life.
Neil Cole:Uh, but it's simple things like that just.
Neil Cole:Adoration Thanksgiving, um, connecting with God on those simple things.
Neil Cole:Uh, you can pray the scripture.
Neil Cole:So as you read the Bible, don't just read the Bible, pray it.
Neil Cole:Uh, you read it.
Neil Cole:Since then, you can pray what it says, or you can pray that God show you what it means, or you can pray that God gives you opportunities to apply this in your life.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:Or you can just literally read the scripture as a prayer.
Neil Cole:And so I, I throw that in there.
Neil Cole:There's also.
Neil Cole:Asking God for things.
Neil Cole:Now I don't wanna minimize that by,
Caesar Kalinowski:let him know our needs.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah,
Neil Cole:he's our dad.
Neil Cole:Let him know and he knows your needs before you ask him.
Neil Cole:But asking him does something to you.
Neil Cole:It shows you that you have faith in your father, to provide for your needs, and you're not just doing it by yourself and just reframes your whole way of thinking.
Neil Cole:And then there's the blessing and comfort, you know, just giving people blessings.
Neil Cole:How often do we do that?
Neil Cole:Uh, don't be stingy with your blessings.
Neil Cole:It's, you know, the love of God is a currency.
Neil Cole:, Unlike money, money, you spend it, you, you no longer have it.
Neil Cole:But with blessings, with love, the more you spend it, the more you get in return.
Neil Cole:It's a wonderful currency, so be generous with it.
Neil Cole:Jesus even told us, or Paul told us to pray and bless those who persecute us, our enemies.
Neil Cole:So just give those blessings
Caesar Kalinowski:to yeah, our right.
Caesar Kalinowski:So lots of ways to apply.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's, uh, help us understand the, uh, lather.
Neil Cole:So lathering, you, you're working it, you're, you're actually putting more, you're investing more of your physical.
Neil Cole:Emotional, intellectual energy into the act of praying.
Neil Cole:It's not just a one time connection.
Neil Cole:So in Lathering, I, I, I think of things like meditation, not with a mantra, but with, uh, just simply focusing your mind on an idea, a truth.
Neil Cole:Until you get to a deeper level with it.
Neil Cole:And so that's, that's an important part.
Neil Cole:You can do that with scripture, but you can also do that in nature and other things and learn from God about his creation and why he's created things.
Neil Cole:So there's meditation's, um, You know, I mentioned this already, but for 30 plus years, I've, I've journaled every day and most every journal entry is a prayer, is, is focused to God.
Neil Cole:And writing out your prayers are meaningful because, um, some people process things by speaking them out, but I find when I write the words, I have to think about what word I'm going to put on the page.
Neil Cole:And it makes me think about what I'm actually thinking.
Neil Cole:Yeah, it's a deeper level.
Neil Cole:And if it's a prayer, then you're actually working through what are the things going on in your life and how do you work those out, and what's God saying to you?
Neil Cole:So prayer journaling is important.
Neil Cole:Declaration or pronouncement is a different one.
Neil Cole:That's where you actually.
Neil Cole:Come to a place and declare a truth out loud.
Neil Cole:And I think that's profound.
Neil Cole:Um, you know, Jesuses out, he said, Announce that the kingdom God come.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:Uh, that's a something that we sometimes.
Neil Cole:Just pass right over and never think about doing.
Neil Cole:But something happens when you actually take truth that's already in your mind, your heart, and you verbalize it with your tongue and your mouth, and you do it in a way that you not only think it, but you hear it in your own years.
Neil Cole:And the enemy, the true enemy, the spiritual demonic world, they hear it.
Neil Cole:And it makes
Caesar Kalinowski:it, it's powerful.
Caesar Kalinowski:I completely agree.
Caesar Kalinowski:I completely agree.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I think that there's, we get to take authority over things and speaking the truth, speaking God's words out into his universe like that, It does, it does change things.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know.
Caesar Kalinowski:It changes me too.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's obviously a big part of it.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's a big part of it.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think you say it in the book, um, I don't know if you're quoting somebody, I can't remember, but, you know, prayer is not about changing God's heart as much as it's.
Caesar Kalinowski:Our heart's changing and conforming to his right.
Caesar Kalinowski:His
Neil Cole:world.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:We're not trying to bend his will to ours.
Neil Cole:We're trying to bend our will to his.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:And that's a whole different thing.
Neil Cole:And that's what prayers really it, it.
Neil Cole:You know, you, you, here's the thing, people, God's will is better than yours.
Neil Cole:Amen.
Neil Cole:God's will is better for you than your will is for you.
Neil Cole:So the more that you surrender to his will for your life, the more blessed you're gonna be and the more of a blessing to others you're gonna be.
Neil Cole:And that's why this is such a breakthrough in your life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just praying, you know, it really, really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, so apply lather, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, what about Rinse?
Neil Cole:Okay, rinse is, you know, when you, you get rid of the shampoo.
Neil Cole:So in this case, it's removing something and there are ways that we remove things in prayer.
Neil Cole:You know, you, you can cleanse yourself from sin, you can, uh, discharge demons, you can, uh, remove mountains, Jesus said.
Neil Cole:So prayer is also about removing things, making things less, subtracting from what's there.
Neil Cole:So it can be listening and being.
Neil Cole:So what that is, is it's an absence.
Neil Cole:Of noise is a form of prayer.
Neil Cole:Sitting in solitude and silence and listening to God without, uh, putting a whole lot of words out in the world, just listening, you'll, you, it's very valuable.
Neil Cole:Um, there's also the, uh, confession of sin to cleanse yourself.
Neil Cole:You know, the Bible talks about this.
Neil Cole:This is as vital to the Christian life as.
Neil Cole:That we actually exhale the, the, the toxic stuff we've taken into our lives, so it's no longer affecting us.
Neil Cole:And that's the confession of sins.
Neil Cole:And that's where you receive not only cleansing according to First John chapter one, but also healing according to James.
Neil Cole:Hmm.
Neil Cole:So healing and cleansing comes about by confession, and that's a form of prayer that we can also do communally.
Neil Cole:So that's removing something.
Neil Cole:There's a, I talk about rep representational, uh, repentance where we take ownership.
Neil Cole:For what our people have done.
Neil Cole:And that's something you find throughout the, the Bible.
Neil Cole:Um, but we don't do it very often.
Neil Cole:But there's a lot of injustice and evil in the world and I think, you know, you talk about taking back authority, that's really what it is.
Neil Cole:God gave us authority.
Neil Cole:Early on to rule and reign over the earth.
Neil Cole:And it's when we sacrifice that authority to the demonic world that the kingdom, the God of this world begins to take over.
Neil Cole:Um, we can take it back.
Neil Cole:. Yeah.
Neil Cole:All we have to do is repent.
Neil Cole:That's, that's, that's spelled out in a book and just listening to God and healing.
Neil Cole:Healing is also removing of the disease or its sickness or even.
Neil Cole:It could be a crippling thought process that's killing you or keeping you suff, suffocating you with lies.
Neil Cole:All of that is a part of the, uh, cleansing or the, uh, rinsing part
Caesar Kalinowski:of the, and then there's repeat, which I guess maybe just means that like, and then we get to do more of this , we get to do it again.
Caesar Kalinowski:Don't stop.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:Keep going.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:Uh, yeah.
Neil Cole:Just repeat it.
Neil Cole:And there are actually, you know, I get into, There's a lot of debate.
Neil Cole:You know, do I, the more I pray, the more God answers my prayer.
Neil Cole:And can you actually manipulate God?
Neil Cole:Do, do you, do you act?
Neil Cole:Does God actually have to bend because you said the magic words.
Neil Cole:So I get into that, in that chapter.
Neil Cole:Trying to understand that repetition of words is not what's important, but having a heart that goes to him continually, uh, is what's.
Caesar Kalinowski:And do you know, do we believe that dad , our dad wants to bless us?
Caesar Kalinowski:And some people say, Why didn't he just do it anyway?
Caesar Kalinowski:But what if in his what if in in his will, because his desire for relationship is so real and so strong.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he's proven it over and over and over throughout human history.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:What if in his will, he says, When you come to me and you tell me this, or you ask for this, that's when I, that's when I'll release.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's not transactional.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's, I want you and I want you to want me more than my stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:you know, I, that, that, that alone changes my heart, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That alone, that attitude towards in prayer, not, not to earn or not like it's a tit for tat or like, Oh, what if I.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is serious.
Caesar Kalinowski:So watch me, dad.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm getting down on my knees now.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, But, but, but believing that his desire for relationship is so strong.
Caesar Kalinowski:That, and, and though he knows the plans, he has to bless and prosper me already.
Caesar Kalinowski:He wants to do it in relationship, not like a vending machine and, and, you know, being a dad or a grandfather or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:I fully understand this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:I plan to bless my kids either way, but I sure like it when we get to do it in a relationship and they, you know, they wanna hang out.
Neil Cole:Well, you know, the, the, the ultimate aim of spiritual maturity is that you have this intimacy with God and he becomes your friend, and, and I can't imagine a friendship where there's no communication.
Neil Cole:So, uh, I love the way John writes.
Neil Cole:He uses masculine terms, so just, you know, be forgiving of that.
Neil Cole:But it, he talks about little children and the what they get in, in this is their sins are forgiven, and that's kind of what a young brand new.
Neil Cole:Follower is looking most for, but then they become young men who go off to war and fight the enemy and win the, the love of the bride.
Neil Cole:And that's, that's a very busy section of your life, . And the blessing for them is you've overcome the enemy, you win.
Neil Cole:But man, when you get to the spiritual fathers and mothers where you are reproducing the next generation, and you want their success more than your own, the, the reward for the fathers is, you know, And prayer is no longer just, uh, something you, you, uh, you know, bookends behind events to try and solicit God's power to make your event a blessing.
Neil Cole:It's much more than that.
Neil Cole:It becomes your, your life breathing.
Neil Cole:It's your connecting with God.
Neil Cole:It's the, it's the stuff that your, your life is really all about.
Neil Cole:That intimacy with the.
Neil Cole:And that's what it's really going towards.
Neil Cole:And that starts simply with your very first prayer.
Neil Cole:And it doesn't end until you have your last breath.
Caesar Kalinowski:So as, as we start to kind of head towards wrapping up, I don't wanna do that, but we'll see how long this goes.
Caesar Kalinowski:But, uh, um, you talk about prayer and mission for quite, you know, nice little chunk of the book and you talk about prayer and mission have been sewn tightly.
Caesar Kalinowski:From the start, And we talk a lot on, on the podcast about mission, you know, God's plan to fill the whole world with his glory, and that happens to disciples, making disciples.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, but, uh, I, I wanted, I, I, I really love some of the stuff you were saying in there, like, help unpack that a little bit.
Caesar Kalinowski:How the, the connection between prayer and mission.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:So I walk through the mission, first of all is nothing new.
Neil Cole:You know, it doesn't start in, uh, the gospels.
Neil Cole:The mission of God.
Neil Cole:It did.
Neil Cole:It started in Genesis chapter three when God came to the garden searching for man, and he's been seeking that, which is lost ever since.
Neil Cole:And so God doesn't give us a mission.
Neil Cole:He calls us into his mission.
Neil Cole:Yeah.
Neil Cole:And so it's, the prayer is really about us joining God in his mission.
Neil Cole:And so, you know, I, I walk through some of the examples in history.
Neil Cole:Um, the mission was most prolific and how prayer was the beginning of it all.
Neil Cole:And even, even Jesus, you know, when he talks about a great harvest and you and I both want the world to change, So he says the harvest is plentiful.
Neil Cole:He says, But the workers are few.
Neil Cole:It's not dollars we're lacking.
Neil Cole:It's not strategy.
Neil Cole:We're lacking it's workers.
Neil Cole:And then he tells us where to find workers.
Neil Cole:And it's not seminary and Bible colleges and Bible Seminary.
Neil Cole:She says, Go to your knees and.
Neil Cole:Hmm.
Neil Cole:Wow.
Neil Cole:And, and that's really the difference.
Neil Cole:We, we begged, begins with prayer, begging God for workers, the word beseaching in a lot of our translations.
Neil Cole:What does beseaching mean?
Neil Cole:Well, it just means to beg as if your life depends on it.
Neil Cole:And it's not that God is dangly in front of you.
Neil Cole:He begged me for it and I'll give it to you.
Neil Cole:That he wants you to want this as
Caesar Kalinowski:much as he does.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:We want, we should hunger for his glory, that the whole world would be filled.
Caesar Kalinowski:His glory.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that, that's the, that's the thing behind the thing with the mission right now.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, this is a great opportunity and I love going practical, uh, your ten two or ten two B virus, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, I want you to tell me a little bit about what happens on your, uh, Your clock watch or whatever at 10 0 2 every day and invite, invite, uh, invite us into this brother with you
Neil Cole:Sure.
Neil Cole:You know, on almost every chapter there's practical stuff you can do right away.
Neil Cole:And, and in this chapter we talk about what we call the 10 to be virus.
Neil Cole:And it's a really simple idea.
Neil Cole:It's that, um, Luke chapter 10, verse two says, Beg God for workers for the harvest.
Neil Cole:And so what we do is we program our cell phones to go off at ten oh two every single.
Neil Cole:So you can just easily program it in and then when the alarm goes off, it's my call to prayer.
Neil Cole:And even when I'm speaking to a large group, my alarm goes off and everybody Snickers cuz they were told to turn their phones off.
Neil Cole:I look on my phone, I say, Oh, I'm getting an important call.
Neil Cole:Do you guys mind?
Neil Cole:I take this and I say, It's not a phone call, it's to, And I tell them that every day at 10 0 2, I do what Jesus said to do.
Neil Cole:I ask God for workers.
Neil Cole:And I, I, I ask God to awaken a new generation.
Neil Cole:I've asked God for a global movement.
Neil Cole:I ask God to raise up workers and send them out, cast them out into the fields.
Neil Cole:And I do this every single day.
Neil Cole:And I think that since I've been doing this for about 15 years now, no other thing that we do.
Neil Cole:Can be attributed to so much of our fruitfulness is this.
Neil Cole:This is by far the most effective thing we do, and we spread this virus everywhere we go.
Neil Cole:Right now, get out your phones, whoever you are, program 'em for 10 0 2.
Neil Cole:You can do it in the, you can do 'em in the pm.
Neil Cole:I prefer the am and, and every morning.
Neil Cole:At 10 o'clock, no matter what your due, stop it and pray.
Neil Cole:And if you
Caesar Kalinowski:10 0
Neil Cole:2 at ten oh two, ten two . Yeah, at 10 0 2, just like 10.
Neil Cole:Luke 10, chapter two, verse B 10.
Neil Cole:We call it the ten two B virus.
Neil Cole:Uh, we have spread this in multiple time zones, so every single hour of the day, God is hearing His people call out for workers.
Neil Cole:And this isn't Neil's idea.
Neil Cole:This is Jesus' plan.
Neil Cole:It is bound to work.
Neil Cole:He's the Lord of the harvest and he wants a harvest even more than Caesar or I to, and, uh, he will make it happen and so can guarantee these
Caesar Kalinowski:prayers.
Caesar Kalinowski:I believe that, Hey, listen, uh, let's join Jesus and brother Neil in, Uh, let's do this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's set our, I wanna do this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's set our alarms to go off at 10 0 2.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, we all set alarms and calendar things that are important to us.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if, if we value what Jesus values and, and what our father values, then, then I hope that we value this, that God would release more and more workers into this plentiful harvest.
Caesar Kalinowski:And no one would disagree with that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like there's nobody out there that needs Jesus left just . You know?
Caesar Kalinowski:There's nobody out there who doesn't know him yet, Like, and so since we all agree with that and hopefully God has moved our hearts to wanna love what he loves, let's join him.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's, let's, let's, like, you know, scripture says Besie, like, beg him for this and watch what he'll continue to do in that.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, man, I'm in Brother
Caesar Kalinowski:. Neil Cole: Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Amen.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, Well, it spreads so easily and it spreads so quickly and he has so profound.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, I love it when we have our conferences.
Caesar Kalinowski:At 10 o'clock, 10 0 2, there's just this chorus of music all over the room.
Caesar Kalinowski:Beep, boo beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, it's just beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's beautiful to hear.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, and so it's so simple.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's so easy.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if you're with people and it goes off to 'em, this is my call to prayer.
Caesar Kalinowski:What can I pray for you for?
Caesar Kalinowski:And you tell them, Hey, why don't you program your phone and spread the virus?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really
Caesar Kalinowski:simple.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, and you use the word virus now.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's so socially, uh, relevant and scary.
Caesar Kalinowski:And . Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, uh, and hopefully no vaccine for this one.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, we'll make this a lifelong thing, you know,
Neil Cole:for this one is selfishness.
Neil Cole:Oh boy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, alright.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey, Neil, I gotta wrap us up, man.
Caesar Kalinowski:I wish we could keep talking.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thank you again for, for being on, for sharing your heart, for writing this book, Pray, and I'm gonna put links to it in our show notes and, uh, yeah, hook people up for getting that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And also
Neil Cole:for, for now, we're giving the ebook away free on our website starling initiatives.com.
Neil Cole:So if you sign up to be a part of Starling Initiatives, you get a free ebook of of Pray.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, I, I bought it yesterday cuz I missed that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was digging around starling initiatives.com but I was happy to
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, I was happy to get it.
Caesar Kalinowski:What a deal.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean just, but yeah, and you also have cool, like ways to get bulk and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:So anyway, I'll put all the information for that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Great.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hook peoples up.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks so much again, Neil.
Caesar Kalinowski:I love you, brother.
Caesar Kalinowski:I miss you.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope we get to see each other face to face and hug your neck soon.
Caesar Kalinowski:In the meantime, keep hugging those grand babies.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:I will
Neil Cole:do that.
Neil Cole:You don't have to tell me.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Blessings, man.
Neil Cole:You too.
Neil Cole:Bye-bye.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, that's always great being with Neil.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I miss that guy.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't get to see him as much as I would like to these days.
Caesar Kalinowski:I guess I'm not seeing many people face to face like we used to, but I love a guy who not only has such a, a deep heart for God and grasp of God's mission, but someone who lives this stuff out.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so I really, I loved that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope, I hope you loved it as well.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you're encouraged by it.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope it'll, uh, encourage you to pray in all kinds of different ways and realize that we really do get to pray without ceasing, and God wants to hear from us.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's, yeah, it's beautiful, so it's amazing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, as always, I wanna leave you with the big three takeaways from today's topic and from this talk with Neil.
Caesar Kalinowski:If nothing else, you don't.
Caesar Kalinowski:These.
Caesar Kalinowski:These are sort of the three big takeaways I have for you.
Caesar Kalinowski:And by the way, you can always get a printable PDF of this week's big three as a free download by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:Pretty easy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, so here's my big three for today.
Caesar Kalinowski:First, humans were never created to manage the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong for ourselves.
Caesar Kalinowski:We were created to be in a trusting relationship with God, where he guides our lives with his perfect love and wisdom.
Caesar Kalinowski:Prayer reconnects us to God in the ways he always intended us to live.
Caesar Kalinowski:What a privilege that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Second, don't limit your prayers to a one-way conversation towards God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Talk with him in all the many ways that we get to.
Caesar Kalinowski:And Neil outlined several, There's a lot more in the book.
Caesar Kalinowski:We, we can, we can pray with adoration and praise with thanksgiving.
Caesar Kalinowski:We could pray through the scriptures.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can petition.
Caesar Kalinowski:With, with needs, blessing, prayers, asking God to bless us and others.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can pray with intercession.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can spend time in meditation or journaling, and any way that you choose to communicate with God is a good thing and all of it constitutes prayer.
Caesar Kalinowski:And third, I wanna invite you to join Neil in Jesus in daily, asking God to send out more workers into the harvest field.
Caesar Kalinowski:Set an alarm to go off at 10 0 2.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can do it either AM or PM wherever you live, to remind you to pray.
Caesar Kalinowski:Luke 10, two B.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's a beautiful prayer asking God, please send out more workers into the harvest field.
Caesar Kalinowski:You'll be joining thousands of people all over the world that are eager to see God, use them for mission and move others into the mission and see God glorified in all things.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I, I really do wanna invite you to purchase a copy of Neil Cole's book Pray.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, uh, I believe for what he said right now, you can get the ebook if you go to starling initiatives.com, starling initiatives.com, just like it sounds, I'll put that link in the show notes for this week's show over there at everyday Disciple dot com.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay?
Caesar Kalinowski:. I hope you'll join me next week.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right, I'll talk to you soon.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks
Announcer:for joining us today.
Announcer:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com and remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.