Andy Baker is a veteran evangelist and the current Vice President for Development at World Christian Broadcasting, the ministry that owns and operates station KNLS.  Andy is currently leading the effort to raise funding for a second transmitter and antenna at the Anchor Point site.  Andy is heard each week on the New Life Station talking ABOUT prayer and leading our listening friends IN prayer.  Below you will find Andy's latest prayer, along with a catalogue of his earlier thoughts on the nature and purpose of prayer.

God follows you everywhere through prayer

Some people think that you have to go to a place to get into the presence of God. It is good to know that God does not live in a certain country or a certain city or even inside a certain building. He is not the God of only a certain part of creation or people. Instead of having to go to a sanctuary -- God, who is everywhere and near you all the time, He, Himself is "a sanctuary". Andy, where did you get that? In the Old Testament part of the Bible, for people who have been mistreated and taken away from their homes, a prophet of God said that God has "been a sanctuary for them in countries where they have gone" (Ezekiel 11:16). You cannot get out of his presence, no matter where you are, what someone does to you or whatever happens to your business, job, health, marriage or freedom. That’s good news.

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How do pray for wicked people?

Do you ever get confused and wonder why it is that wicked and some times evil people prosper? Have you ever thought that it is not fair for good people, like you, to have a difficult life and have many problems during their life? I do not doubt the justice of God. I know that God that you can be trusted and that He is working in our lives and is in total control. I know that some problems are brought on me because I sin. I don’t know about you, but sometimes though, I wonder a little bit about troubles caused by people who come into my country, my town and even my home over whom I have no control. Some of the prayers in the Old Testament part of the Bible contain pleadings for wicked people to be punished. It might seem that when we pray for wicked people to be punished that this contradicts the teachings of Jesus about loving our enemies. That is why it is needful to pray that God bless you and protect you from the results of actions and decisions of evil people and ask his strength for you and me to help anyone around us that needs our help. Prayers of the Bible sometimes request greater understanding of what principles that God uses to govern the world. We can’t always understand can we? But we can always trust God.

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Trust God and pray

The little girl had just heard a speaker present a speech to answer the question, "Is God dead?" When she said her bedtime prayers, she prayed, "And please, God, don’t die, because if you do, we are all sunk." That really is true isn’t it? We cannot always see how He is working in our lives, but we can trust Him. We cannot always see where He is leading us, or all the lessons that he wants us to learn, but we can always trust Him. When we feel helpless and hopeless, he gives us hope. God has given us a promise that can give us a different way of looking at everything. The promise comes out of the New Testament part of the Bible, in the book of Romans 8:28. We know that all things works together for good, to them that love the Lord.." Not everything that happens is good, but God works in all the events of our lives. Like the little girl prayed, if He didn’t, we would all be sunk.

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Don’t know how to pray? Practice!

Where do you think God is? Do you think He knows you and me personally? Do you think God works in our lives? Hasn’t there got to be a purpose for our lives and something that can help us find out the real meaning of our lives? Let me tell you what I have realized about God. You and I do not have to go to a temple or a synagogue or a church building or even be in a certain city or country to be in the presence of God. Would you be shocked to know that God doesn’t live inside anything or inside anywhere? You are near God right now, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You know what that means? It means that you and I can pray to God right now, anytime and anywhere. Andy, I do not know how to pray. Practice. Start talking with God about the things going on that is affecting your life. You only get good at things when you practice. Practice praying. Pray a prayer of thanks when you eat food. Pray for a few minutes when you get up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night. Pray silently all day about things that you see and hear about that need God’s help. The Bible says we can pray with boldness and courage about the world in which we live and about our lives.

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Pray your tears

I wish I could sit beside you today and pray about things on your mind. Often our prayers are saturated with tears, aren’t they? When we feel desperate and lack hope that things are going to get any better, it many times brings us to tears. Has anything in particular brought you to tears lately? Write those things down and pray about them. I wish you would write to me and send me your list so I could pray about them too. Crying around some people might embarrass us and make other people a little uncomfortable. But when we realize our deep need and we remember that when we pray to God, it is like we are having a direct conversation with a good and true friend, then we know our tears are ok to have. There are some things that bring me to tears.

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Jesus intercedes through your prayers

Who is the most popular person in your mind? Who is the most powerful person in the world? How many of those you just thought about knows your name? How many of these talk about you with people that they know? The Bible tells us some wonderful news about God and about His Son, Jesus Christ. Your name has already been on the lips and in the ears of God today. They neither one sleep or slumber or take any time off. In fact, Jesus Christ, after he came to earth and lived for about 30 years died so our sins could be forgiven and arose from the dead and went back to heaven is sitting at the right hand of God. Guess what part of his primary work is in heaven? Pleading, defending and taking up for you and me to God. Well Andy where did you learn that? It is taught in the New Testament part of the Bible in Hebrews 7:25. The Bible there says, "He lives forever to plead to God on their behalf". That’s good news. What kind of picture do you get of that promise in your mind? I see Jesus carrying on a conversation with the creator, the God of the universe. That makes us look at everything differently, doesn’t it?

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Do you have God’s telephone number?

She was sitting in her wheel chair, badly handicapped but with a radiant smile on her face. "Don’t you ever feel down," asked her visitor. "Doesn’t your handicap bother you and discourage you?" "Oh, no," she replied with a smile. "You see, I have God’s telephone number. I can call Him up anytime I want to. His line is never busy. He always answers Himself, and He always has the answer to my problem." "God’s telephone number, huh? What do you mean, you have God’s telephone number?" "I have it alright," she said. "It is in the Old Testament part of the Bible in Jeremiah 33:3. That’s where God says, ‘call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.’" Wow. It really is there! God has promised to answer. He will do things beyond our imagination, if we just call. You’ve got the number! Call on him. Although God is in heaven and you and I are upon the earth, prayer can bring about a blessed contact between both worlds. Pray today as though you were having a direct conversation with a good friend. Just ask. If the request is good for us, God will grant our wishes.

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Prayer adds God’s strength to yours

A little boy was trying to remove a huge rock that was in his path. His father was closely watching him struggle with it. He finally said to his son, "Son are you using all your strength?" "Yes, daddy," replied the boy, "I’m using all my strength." The Dad’s response was very pointed. "No, you’re not! You are not using all your strength because you have not asked me to help." So many times we say, "Oh, I’m using all of my strength. I’m trying with all my might." But God is our strength. Have you asked him to help you with your problem or obstacle? What blessings we miss when we do not come to the Lord in prayer. Not praying is more than a weakness or an evidence of a busy life. In the Old Testament part of the Bible, a man by the name of Samuel said, "Far be it from me to cease to pray for you and sin against God!" John Bunyon said in Pilgrim’s Progress, "Prayer will make a man cease from sin but sin will make a man cease from prayer."

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Prayer connects you to hope

I will never forget November 15, 1989 and the words that my doctor told me. He gave me a report from some tests that I had taken that said that I had an illness that if we had not detected it early enough that it could cause my death. For a while, I did not feel much hope. Have you ever felt lonely and desperate because you had lost hope? Have you ever felt that things in your life, in your marriage, with your job or in your town where you live were never going to get any better? One of the things that you and I cannot live without for very long is hope. God is a God of hope. God is the source of hope. He is able to work around the plots of evil men. Nothing surprises God. He works in our lives when we do not even know it. Because God exists and is actively working in our lives and listening to our prayers, everything can look different. Pray to God about the things today that have taken away your hope. The God of hope can work in those things and help us to see everything differently.

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Is it possible to shock God?

I could tell her anything. I could tell her bad things I had thought or done and she would not shut me out and get all upset. I could tell her what was going on inside of me and it was ok. Have you ever had someone like that? That is true friendship isn't it. That's what prayer is: pouring out our hearts to God. Nothing will ever happen that shocks him. He knows the future. He loves you and me with a perfect love so nothing we can say or do will ever make him run away from us. He is one that we can draw near to and trust. In fact, the ones that God loves to hear from the most in prayer are those who recognize their own weaknesses and their need of him. Prayer is always worthwhile.

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Do you believe that prayer can change things?

Do you believe that prayer can change things There was a man in the Old Testament part of the Bible named David who taught people that "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry" (Psalm 34:15). A man in the New Testament part of the Bible named Peter reminded the people of his day of this very promise and quoted the same verse, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers" (1 Peter 3:12). There was a man in the Old Testament by the name of Hezekiah. He had an illness that was going to end his life and he tearfully prayed over and over to God. God's response to him was, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years" (Isaiah 8:5). The Bible over and over is trying to tell us that we can pray with confidence and courage because prayer changes things in our lives.

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God gives you what you need, not always what you pray for

I bet you had parents like mine. They did not give you everything that you ask them for all the time, did they? Mine didn't either. They said yes sometimes. Sometimes they said that I could not have what I requested. They always had a pretty good reason why. There were some things I ask for that I did not receive till months or even years later. Looking back, I probably wasn't ready for those things at the time I ask my parents for them. The God of heaven hears our prayers and answers them in the same way. When our requests are good for us and would help us serve Him better, He gives us what we ask for. When our prayers would hurt us or when it would not help us in our walk with Him, He answers no. Since God knows us so well and He knows what we need and when we need it, He might say yes to our requests and then give them to us at a later time. This is good to know. It gives us hope and confidence when we pray.

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Should you pray an angry prayer?

Can you imagine being so upset with God that you would accuse him harshly? Would you ever have enough courage or be so mad that you would try to tell God off? Listen to what a man named Job told God in the middle of a lot of personal troubles. A story told in the Old Testament part of the Bible in the book called Job tells us some things he actually told God. Job said to God, "You created me just to destroy me? What do you hope to gain by destroying me? What profit should we have if we pray to you?" Hardship and sorrow often cause doubt. Prayer though may not change your circumstances, but it may change you. Prayer changes people. You get to know yourself and God in a new way. In fact, God want us to reason with Him and plead our case to Him. If Job learned anything from all his troubles and questions to God, he learned that we can approach God reverently and humbly yet unafraid.

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Does God like short prayers, or long?

When you study the prayers in the Bible, you know what you find? Short prayers with few words. God can't be tricked. He doesn't hear those who try to manipulate Him or impress Him with how deserving they are of his blessings. He listens to simple words, honest requests and prayers that are in agreement with His will for our lives. God is not impressed with a lot of talk. He is always ready to grant the things we long for if such a request is unselfish and helps us accomplish his plan for our lives. When you pray, make a list. Pour your heart out and open it up before God. Use simple words. Mean what you pray and pray what you mean. Have you read the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples to pray? Note the simple words and sincere desires: "Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

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Troubles make prayer easier

It is easier to pray when you are not right in the middle of a problem or a time of sadness, isn't it? I got the call today about my Dad and his need for open-heart surgery. He's 81 and has a tired heart. Sure makes you pray differently doesn't it? Sometimes we do not know how to pray, as we ought to. In his Word to us, God says, when we don't know how we ought to pray, "the Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26,27). That's a great promise. When we stumble and stutter in our attempt to pray about things going on in our lives, the Holy Spirit takes our feeble attempt at praying and presents our words to God in a way that is best and in agreement with God's will for our lives. What a relief! Talk to God about everything. Pray the best you can. Then enjoy help from God when you just don't know what or how you ought to pray.

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Can prayer change the world?

Have you ever prayed for it to rain? Have you ever prayed for it not to rain? Elijah was a man. An average man. He was not a super hero or an extra ordinary follower of God. He was just a man with a big trust in God. He knelt and prayed a prayer of faith and it caused the rain to stop for 3 1/2 years. Think of it. The laws of nature were altered year after year because a God fearing man prayed. God is all-powerful and he can alter the working of his own laws. He is able to change and control the earth and everything in it. Elijah is proof that the prayer of a righteous man accomplishes a great deal. He prayed again and it rained. If you and I talk with God out of a heart that truly trust Him and we pray continually about things that are important to us, would God really work in our world? Would he work in your life and mine? I think that is the very lesson that Elijah is trying to teach us.

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Pray even when it hurts

There is a 19 year old girl who lives in the city where I live who is a good athlete and a good student in college. She is well liked and had a great future ahead of herself. A great family. Many friends. She got sick with an illness that almost killed her and as it worked on her body, she lost both legs and might still lose one hand. Forgive me God when I complain. We need to be thankful. Isn't it just great when someone says thank you to you. It gives meaning to the work that we do for others when they say thank you. God has even told us, "In everything give thanks". In fact, it was said in the book of Psalms in the Old Testament part of the Bible that "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord" (Psalms 92:1) When you pray, spend some time thanking God. Thankful people are happier and have greater peace in their hearts.

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Is God too busy, like I’m too busy?

Do you ever get so busy that you do not listen very well to your wife or husband? Do you remember ever being so involved with things you were doing to listen to your son or daughter when they wanted to ask or tell you something? I've done that. It is so reassuring to know that when we have things to talk to God about that He is never too busy to listen. Nothing ever happens that surprises God. He knows us and knows the future and what we need to live in that future. Listen to this good news: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry. The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles" (Psalms 34:15,17)

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