(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I want to say this, a lot of people misunderstand the purpose of prayer and then they're going to quit doing it because they miss the purpose of what prayer accomplishes. Why do they quit soul winning? Wrong purpose. Why does the church quit being a place that trains and equips God's people? Because they have the wrong purpose. Why do people quit giving the gospel properly and soul winning properly? They miss the purpose of what salvation is for. Why do people quit a good high paying job? Because they forgot that the purpose of the job is to make money and they were looking for a little more fun and enjoyment. There are jobs out there that will give you a massage at the job. I've known people who worked in offices where a guy went around and was performing chair massages and chiropractic adjustments and they have a nap time. I think if you work at Google or Apple or whatever in the Bay Area of California, you get a nap time. Every afternoon they turn on all the lights and everybody gets on their bean bag and takes a little nap. That's great. I've never had a job like that. Every job I was at I had to work hard and get screamed and cussed at but you know what? The money was green. But people will quit their job because they missed the point of why they're there. You're not there to get a pedicure while you're working. You're there to bring home a paycheck. But it says in James chapter 4, and look I'm not criticizing you if you have an easy job because you know, God bless you, you know, it's wonderful, but James 4, what's the purpose of praying? Well let's see what James 4 says. It says in verse 1, from whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members. Ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Now according to this, the Bible says you have not because you ask not. That tells me that the purpose of prayer is to receive something that I would not have received had I not asked. But a lot of people today misunderstand prayer. They think prayer is just like an exercise. Like they just are going through the motions like, well you know we just pray because God told us to and it's a ritual. And you know that's what Calvinism teaches by the way. Calvinism teaches that you know you just pray out of obedience but God's going to do what he's going to do anyway. At the end of the day you can't really change anything because whatever will be will be this fatalistic Calvinistic mentality. But yet the Bible teaches you have not because you ask not. That tells me that if I don't pray I'm going to miss out on good things that God has for me that are according to his will, not things to just fulfill the flesh, but actually good things and blessings that God has in store for me that if I don't ask for them I'm not going to get them. That's what the Bible's teaching. So what's the purpose of me praying as a Christian? What is going to motivate me to take the time to pray? Here's what's going to motivate me. I want to get what God has for me. I want to receive. And so praying is asking and receiving. It's not just, oh I go through the motions. Now I may be down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. You know, dear Jesus bless this food to our bodies in Jesus' name, amen. You know, just going through the motions, but rather we actually want to express real sincere praise and thanks to God, but that's not even prayer. That's thanksgiving. The word pray means to ask. You'll even see people in the Bible say I pray thee, meaning I'm asking you to do something. Not even to God, but even to their fellow man they will pray them. And so what does it mean to pray? If you say dear Jesus, thank you for this food, amen, you haven't prayed because you did not ask for anything. Now if you said God bless the food that we're about to partake of, you know, and let it nourish us, now you're actually asking for something to happen. Now you've prayed. Otherwise you're just giving thanks. And giving thanks is important. But prayer is also important. Why is prayer important? To receive help from the Lord. God's not just automatically going to help you. God's not just automatically going to give you all the things that he has for you. No, you have not because you ask not. And if you want to get everything that God has for you in life, you must, he will give good things to those who ask him, the Bible says. It's that simple. He's not just going to give it to everybody.