Many believers know they should pray more, yet few have been taught how to intentionally build a prayer life that grows stronger over time. Jude 20–21 gives us a clear blueprint: we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit and staying anchored in God’s love. In this episode of Light on Life, we explore prayer as a construction project—adding floors, strengthening foundations, and learning how to both pray to God and talk with Him. We also uncover the biblical connection between prayer, leadership, and global gospel impact, showing why praying for all people and all kings is not optional but essential for God’s purposes in the earth. That’s why we our focus today is How to Construct Your Prayer Life on God’s Word.

This Week: Build intentionally—pray in the Spirit, stay focused on God, and expand your prayer life beyond yourself.

Listen to the Audio

Click Play to Listen | Right Click to Download

Grow With God Every Week

Stay rooted in God’s Word! Subscribe to the Light on Life podcast and receive new teachings every Tuesday that help you grow strong in Him.

How to Construct Your Prayer Life on God’s Word Share on X

Read the Notes

You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This weeks call is:

Build. Focus. Pray.

This week: Make prayer a daily construction project—not a reaction to crisis.

Remember this: Spiritual strength is built deliberately—show up and let God build you.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: What part of your prayer life feels unfinished or underdeveloped?

Share: How has learning the difference between praying and talking to God helped you?

Remember: Spiritual growth doesn’t happen by accident—it happens by faithful construction.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 49 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 44 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

Subscribe to the Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

________________________________________________________________________

Podcast Notes:

• Well again, welcome.
• Let’s pray.

Father God, we ask you today to impart to your Church a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your Word. Let the eyes of our heart be lit with the hope of your calling, the riches of the glory of your inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of your power to us-ward who believe. We ask you for this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Review

Jude 20–21 (ESV) — 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

• In a previous podcast we began to lay out a vision for your prayer life.
• We need to ‘see’ or have vision for what’s possible in the prayer life.
• The first thing you should see is that praying in the Holy Spirit is building up yourself.
• Jude said, we are to “build yourselves up in our most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.”
• Building yourself up involves the idea of construction.
• That’s what the Greek word ‘building’ means — to construct something further.
• Building yourself up is constructing yourself.
• Think of yourself as an edifice to be built.
• So, we are building the prayer life.
• You may be one story tall in your most holy faith but you want to build towards adding a second story.
• You may not have even have the first floor built yet.
• So let’s talk about that.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Adding Floors To Your House

• Let’s talk about your prayer life.
• The first think you should know is that there are different kinds of prayer.

Ephesians 6:18 (ESV) — 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

• In the Spirit, that’s what Jude was talking about: building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.
• He said, when you are praying at ‘all times,’ you should be praying with ‘all prayer.’
• ‘All prayer’ means all types of prayer: there are different kinds of praying.
• The kind of prayer you prayer depends on the kind of situation you’re dealing with.
• If you are tempted to be worried about a situation, there is a type of prayer that you can pray about this.
• If you need something for yourself personally, that’s a different type of prayer.
• If you are praying for someone else, that’s a different type of prayer you can pray.
• Now, with that being said, let’s address this point in the hopes that it will help you when you approach the Throne of God.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Praying Versus Talking to God

• Praying to God and talking to Him are two different things.
• You may say, ‘I thought they were the same.’
• Well, yes and no.
• Generally yes, specifically no.
• Specifically, prayer is to the Father in Jesus’ Name.
• We could say this is in the category of prayer requests.
• Prayer is something specific you ask for.
• You ask for it because you have the right to ask for it — because God’s Word promises it to you.
• For example, Father, in the Name of Jesus, strengthen this person — strengthen yourself even.
• Father, in the Name of Jesus, give this person understanding.
• Father, in the Name of Jesus, give me or give your pastor boldness.
• You are asking for something in Jesus’ Name.
• That’s prayer.
• But, you can talk to God — You can talk to God about things.
• Just talk to Him — just speak to Him without asking for something.
• “Lord, I really messed that thing up — did You see that?”
• Well, of course He did.
• He knows everything but He still wants you to talk to Him.
• “Lord, you are so good and so wonderful, thank you for another great day.”
• You’re not asking for anything — you’re just having a little talk with God.
• There’s no worship music involved — there’s no heavy emphasis on anything special — you’re just sharing your day, sharing your moment with Him.
• You’re talking to Him.
• You’re speaking to Him.
• You know God is a spirit — John 4:24 tells us that.
• As a spirit, God has a form.
• We know that He has hands, feet, and mighty arms.
• Also, we know God has a face — He hid His face from Moses and showed him only His back parts.
• The point is that God is a being that you can talk to — He is not some floaty-kind of smoky-thing.
• You can talk to Him just like you talk to a human person.
• Now with people in your world, do you only ask them for things or do you tell them things?
• Things like how your day went — what you learned — what you did to keep yourself going.
• Some think that just because He is all-knowing that He doesn’t want to hear these things from us — He does.

1 Kings 19:13–14 (ESV) — 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

• Do you see that the all-knowing God asked Elijah, ‘What are you doing here?’
• Well, being all-knowing, He already knew the answer to that.
• Yet, He still wanted Elijah to tell Him.
• And he told the Lord, Elijah wasn’t asking for anything in prayer.
• He was talking to God about how he felt.
• He felt isolated and lonely.
• He wants you to tell Him as well.
• Speak to Him — talk to Him.

1 Corinthians 14:2 (ESV) — 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

• Notice what the scripture says — ‘Speaks to God.’
• Now, it helped me in my prayer life to differentiate praying and speaking.
• Maybe it will help you.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Don’t Let Your Mind Drift

• In either case, remember that whether you pray or talk to God, your focus should be on Him.
• If you are speaking to Him, focus on His face.
• If you’re praying and making a request, focus on His face.
• Don’t allow your mind to wander all over the joint.
• Be conscious of the fact that you are talking to a living being.
• Be conscious of Him.
• If your mind drifts, pull it back.
• And with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.

Life is Attention: “When we reach the end of our days, our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default.¹

• Pay attention to God when you talk to Him.
• So, here you are praying for your friend and your mind drifts: “Oh Lord, my mind went off on the grocery list, [that’s speaking to Him] — I apologize — let me get back to praying [making requests in Jesus Name] for my friend.
• God is God but He is also a person — treat Him as such.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Three Significant Links

• Now in March of 2017, I did a podcast on ‘How to Pray for a President You Don’t Agree With.’
• This podcast was in Season three and it was episode 27.
• At that time, our 52 week podcast season was running from the month of September through the end of August.
• In season five, I reset the podcast to go from January to December.
• Now, this podcast was recorded two months after Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States.
• Since that time, I’ve gotten some light on the passage in 1 Timothy 2 that talks about praying for kings.
• I want to share some of that with you today.
• So, let’s read this passage.

1 Timothy 2:1–4 (ESV) — 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

• It’s vital that we understand that God means what He says when He says it.
• He said, ‘First of all.’
• So, can we agree that when Paul said, ‘first of all’ that this should carry a weight of importance in our thinking?
• That would be the right conclusion to come to.
• That’s backed up by the word ‘urge’ — ‘I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.
• The Greek word ‘urge’ is one we want to look at and, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
• The Greek word ‘urge’ means to ask for something earnestly and with propriety—‘to ask for (earnestly), to request, to plead for, to appeal to, earnest request, appeal.’²
• Paul is pleading, by the Spirit of God — or we can say that the Holy Spirit is pleading through Paul that we, pray for all people.
• Now, there are three connecting links here in these four verses.
• Let’s take a look at them one at a time.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Link One — All People

• Notice what God’s end-game is.
• We have it in verse four.

1 Timothy 2:4 (ESV) — 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

• God’s desire is that all people be saved.
• So, the ‘all people’ of First Timothy 2:1 — that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for ‘all people’ — this group of ‘all people’ is tied directly to the ‘all people’ of verse four.
• That is we are to pray for ‘all people’ so that ‘all people’ can come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.
• That’s the endgame — all people being saved.
• So, the Lord wants you to pray for ‘all people.’
• Start right here and make a list of ‘all people’ in your world: your family, your friends, your boss at work, your pastor — you get the idea — people in your world.
• But, don’t just stop praying there.

Jeremiah 29:1 (ESV) — 1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

• So Jeremiah sent a letter to the children of Israel who are under Babylonian rule because they wouldn’t follow the Lord, and wouldn’t obey Him.
• This is what the letter said.

Jeremiah 29:4–6 (ESV) — 4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

• So, the Lord is saying ‘I sent you to this foreign place — to this city — build your life here.’
• Now, here’s the prayer part.

Jeremiah 29:7 (ESV) — 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

• The Lord told them to pray for the city that I sent you to.
• Now, it’s a wicked city.
• Lot’s of bad stuff went on in this city.
• Bad stuff happens because of bad people.
• But the Lord said pray for the city that I sent you to.
• As you pray, I will prosper that city — and in it’s prosperity you will find yours.
• How does God prosper a city? — By bringing them to a knowledge of God.
• Why?
• So that all men can be saved.
• Here’s the point: part of praying for all people is praying for your city.
• Don’t forget to expand your prayer list to include your city.
• Pray that God will bless it — profit it — that people in your city will come to know Jesus.
• Pray for your city.
• That’s the first link.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Link Two — Kings Plural

• That gets us to the second link.
• Notice what the Word of God said.
• That supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions,
• Note that when he is talking about praying for ‘all people’ that you include in that list ‘kings.’
• Now here is where I missed it.
• The word kings is plural.
• I was praying for a king — I was praying for the president of the United States.
• It didn’t matter who he was — Republican or Democrat — I was praying for them because God’s Word said to do so.
• It didn’t matter whether the person was a Christian or not.
• The Bible didn’t say pray for kings if they align with your spiritual values.
• The scripture did not say pray for the president if you agree with him.
• In fact, the president that is in office at any given four period of time, might be someone whom you deeply disagree with.
• That should not affect the quality of your praying.
• Don’t pray politics — Pray the Word.
• So the second link or connection is that ‘all people’ links to kings (plural).
• Don’t just pray for your king, your president, pray for kings plural.
• Now your reason for praying for a president you may not agree with (maybe you do) is found again in verse four.

1 Timothy 2:4 (ESV) — 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Link Three — Church and State

• Here’s the third link: government is tied to the Great Commission!

Matthew 24:14 (ESV) — 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

• This praying that we are doing for kings and people of high positions, and if you’re not doing it I trust that this will stir you up to begin, is connected to the fulfillment of the end-time harvest.
• The gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world because Jesus followers throughout the world are praying for kings.
• If you think church and state should be separate, think again.
• They are tied together right here in your Bible.
• The whole concept of separation of church and state is not in our Constitution.
• The phrase originated with Thomas Jefferson in 1802 when you wrote a letter to the Baptists who were concerned about government interfering with religion.
• They feared that the government would control churches.
• This was happening on other parts of the world.
• Jefferson was reassuring them that the federal government would not establish a national church nor would they interfere with religious belief or practice.
• Jefferson was talking about protecting the church from the state, not removing Christianity from the state.
• Now, 150 years later, in the 20th century, The Supreme Court twisted Jefferson statement and used it to justify removing prayer from public schools and limiting the Name of Jesus in government settings.
• The Supreme Court said that religion was something that must stay “private.”
• God never intended faith to be locked out of public life.
• They are linked right here in 1 Timothy 2:1–4.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Praying for Kings Plural

• Pray for kings.
• Kings are involved with the gospel being preached to all nations.
• All people — all kings — all nations.
• Now, here’s where I missed it.
• The word kings is plural.
• I was praying for a king — my president — whoever that person was.
• I prayed for George Bush and his son when they were president.
• Did the same for Barack Obama when he was president — prayed for him.
• I prayed for Donald Trump.
• Did the same for President Biden.
• Some of these men, I completely disagreed with.
• I still prayed for them — not against them — for them.
• But I was only praying for my president.
• I wasn’t praying for any other nation’s leadership.
• That was a mistake.
• So I corrected it and began to pray the same prayer for wisdom, for revelation, and for insight for some, that we would say, are really not nice people.
• The Russian president — Vladimir Putin.
• The Iran president — Masoud Pezeshkian and Ali Khamenei
• The Chinese President — Xi Jinping.
• The North Korea — Kim Jong Un.
• Again, these are not nice men — they are the bad guys.
• You have to pray for the bad guys.
• Praying for other kings, because kings is plural, has a lot to do with whether we are able to live a peaceful and quiet life.
• Are you getting this?
• When you pray for the bad guys, you are praying in line with God’s desire ’so that all men may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.’
• Whether or not you realize it, God wants murderers to come to know Jesus — if they come to know Jesus, they won’t be murderers anymore.
• Pray for kings — pray for more than your own.
• Now again, these are not lovable men.
• But, doesn’t the Bible say.

Matthew 5:44 (ESV) — 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

• Doesn’t your Bible also say?

2 Peter 3:9 (ESV) — 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

• Love your enemies and pray for those who are mean because your heavenly Father is not willing that any should perish.
• God does not want the four presidents of the Axis of Evil, that’s how they have dubbed, to perish.
• The Lord your God does not any of these men to go to hell.
• Now that’s a decision they are going to have make just like Pharaoh was confronted with it.

So, Lord touch these men’s hearts — open their hearts and by so doing, open the gospel doors to these countries if they are closed.

• Well, what if you pray and nothing changes.
• Watch these verses.
• Listen to them close.

Daniel 2:21 (ESV) — 21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

Jeremiah 27:5–7 (ESV) — 5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. 7 All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

Constructing Your Prayer Life: The Vision of the Frogs

• To close this out today, let’s talk about the vision of the frogs.
• Kenneth Hagin was a prophet under the New Testament dispensation of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
• In 1970 and in 1979, the Lord showed him a vision.
• This was written down in a book entitles ‘The Triumphant Church.’

I had two very similar and unusual spiritual experiences, one in 1970 and the other in 1979, that showed me how real our responsibility is to pray for our nation and for the world. In both visions I saw three huge, black, frog-like creatures coming up out of the Atlantic Ocean. They looked like huge frogs except they were much larger — about the size of whales.

In the first vision in 1970, I saw these dark beings come up out of the Atlantic, and they seemed to leap all the way across the land. In the second vision in 1979, I again saw three frog-like creatures, and one of those creatures came up out of the water and looked like it was about to land on our shores. You need to know how to interpret spiritual visions. Because these creatures came out of the ocean doesn’t mean they came up out of a literal ocean. From Genesis to Revelation, “seas” or “waters” often symbolizes a multitude of people. In the first vision, I knew that the three frog-like creatures leaping across our country meant that three strategies of the devil would arise out of the multitude of peoples against our nation.

The first strategy of Satan would be riots and disturbances. The second, would be political upheaval (Watergate, as it turned out). And the third, problems in the economic sector of our nation.

These evil strategies from the enemy don’t arise from the Christian population; they come from the masses of those walking in darkness because sinners are held bondage and dominated by the devil in the kingdom of darkness. In the second vision in 1979, Jesus said to me, “If the Christians of this nation had done what I told them to do in My Word and had prayed for the leaders of their country, they could have kept those evil spirits you saw in 1970 from operating in this nation. None of those upheavals would have occurred in your nation. You would not have had the political, social, and economic disturbances in this nation, and the President never would have made the mistakes he made. In fact, I’m holding the Church responsible for the President’s mistakes.” When I heard Jesus say that, I cried out, “My God!” and began to weep. Jesus continued, “Yes, the Church is responsible before God Almighty. I know when you tell that to some Christians, they will laugh. But you wait until they stand before My Judgment Seat and see if they laugh when they are the ones who will receive the judgment.”

Jesus was saying that Christians could have stopped those evil strategies of the devil by taking their place in prayer based on the Word of God. Christians have authority on the earth in Jesus’ Name, and if Christians had prayed for those in authority, America would not have had the riots or the political and economic upheavals we experienced in our nation in the 1970s.

In this vision in 1979, I saw those other frogs about to land on our shores again, and Jesus said to me, “You can see that three similar evil strategies of the devil are about to happen again in this nation. First, unless Christians pray, there will arise another time of riots and tumults and disturbances all across the nation, coming from different causes than the disturbances of the early 1970s. “Second,” He said, “something is about to happen to your President that should not happen and will not happen if Christians will pray, and take authority over the devil’s strategies and bind his works in My Name. And third, unless Christians pray, there is something about to happen that will bring further trouble in the economic scene and in the financial structure of this nation.” Jesus concluded, “Once again, Christians can stop all three of these strategies of the devil against this nation. They can stop the upheaval through riots, tumults, and disturbances in the social structure. They can stop the upheaval and the activity of the devil in the political scene of their nation. And they can stop the devil from disrupting the financial scene of their nation.” Many Christians did pray and the plan of the enemy was greatly averted and thwarted. Because Christians stood in their place of authority in Jesus’ Name and began to pray and exercise their authority over the devil, God intervened on our behalf.³

Constructing Your Prayer Life: Putting the Word Into Action

• Here are a few things you can do to apply the Word of God from today’s teaching.
• Practice both praying to the Father in Jesus’ Name and simply talking with God.
• Train yourself to refocus your mind when it drifts—treat prayer as a real encounter with a real Person.
• Pray for the city you live in.
• If this teaching strengthened your understanding of prayer, make it part of your routine.
• Pray for all people.
• Pray for kings.

Father God, we ask you to forgive us for not taking our place of authority and praying for all people — for kings and all who are in high places. We rebuke riots, political unrest, and economic hardships generated by government in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

• How to Construct Your Prayer Life on God’s Word.
• You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

____________

References: