 If prayer is to be effective, it must be focused. The wandering mind keeps the believer bound to the natural realm. The excess of distracting thoughts is too heavy to allow for heavenly ascension. Now, you'll notice that when you go to pray, one of the assaults that the enemy uses is distraction. Have you ever noticed that you go throughout your day without a distracting thought? And then all of a sudden when you go to pray, when you finally say, I'm going to commit this moment now to the Lord that I might focus on Him, that I might seek His face in prayer, that suddenly all of these thoughts begin to bombard your mind. Distractions, the cares of this world, responsibilities, relationship issues, questions and doubts and concerns, thoughts just begin to wander through your mind and it can be very difficult to grab hold of those thoughts and pull them in under subjection to the Spirit. And what begins to happen is as you're trying to pray, you become so distracted, not just even by the thoughts themselves, but you become distracted at the battle against those thoughts. So there's almost two layers to it. The thoughts themselves are distracting bombarding your mind and then we get distracted by another layer of distraction. We become frustrated that we have to fight those thoughts in the first place and we begin to feel guilty or ashamed or we feel condemned or we feel like we're not doing a good job because these thoughts are being thrown into our minds. We deal with worries, we deal with doubts. All of these thoughts I call inner chaos and they clutter the mind. Now it's interesting because we say things like, well all day I was perfectly fine but it wasn't until I went to pray that suddenly all of these thoughts showed up. Well that inner chaos my friend didn't show up when you started to pray. That inner chaos was revealed when you started to pray. You just were never quiet enough to hear what was going on inside of you. Well no wonder we're walking around feeling lowly. No wonder we're walking around filled with fear. No wonder we feel so distracted spiritually. We have inner chaos with us and we don't even recognize it because we're never still or quiet enough to hear what's going on inside of us. So again it's not that that distraction. It's not that that inner chaos suddenly appears when we start to pray. Rather it's that that inner chaos is suddenly revealed when we begin to pray. Now how do you focus the mind? Because it's one thing to point out a problem distraction worry doubt but it's another thing to present a solution. So if you've ever dealt with that when you go to pray just this bombardment of a series of thoughts that just distracts you and keeps you from focusing on the things of God while you pray. I'm going to give you keys to overcoming that problem with focus. Number one the first key to overcoming distraction. Number one is silence. Matthew 6 6 says but when you pray go away by yourself. Shut the door behind you and pray to your father in private. Then your father who sees everything will reward you. Jesus here in Matthew 6 6 is speaking of private prayer. Prayer that's secluded. Prayer that's secret. Only those who actually believe in prayer pray privately. Why? Because if I don't believe in the power of prayer then why am I going to pray in private when there's no one around to impress? So you see it's when you go to those secluded places that you're proving you believe in prayer. Those who believe in prayer actually pray. And so it is doubt that keeps us from going to the secret place and we may not even realize that it's doubt. And so that silence that we find in the secret place actually cultivates an atmosphere in which we can more clearly hear the Lord. You see prayer and focus on prayer doesn't cause God to speak. It causes us to recognize and hear more clearly. So if we are to focus in prayer if we are to overcome these distracting thoughts then we number one need silence. Now silence is a very practical thing. I set the atmosphere. I shut the door. I seclude myself. I turn off the cell phone. I turn off the television. I communicate with my loved ones that I'm not to be disturbed for that moment of prayer. And you carve out a section of your day in which you say this belongs to God. This is God's portion. Now of course you can pray 24 seven all throughout the day. And that's one form of prayer. But what I'm talking about here is that very intentional form of prayer where you carve out a section of your day. You carve out a place that you can bring forth silence in. And in that moment in that atmosphere you're praying without distraction. Now silence is good because silence gets rid of all the distractions around you. But silence doesn't get rid of the distractions within you. You see silence will help you get rid of outer distractions. But only stillness can quiet the inner distractions. But without silence in the first place you would never know what was going on inside of you. Think about the fact that we live such fast paced distracted lives that we hardly have a moment of pause in which we can consider all that we're thinking of. Have you ever really gone to a quiet place put aside distractions and just listened to your own thoughts? Think about how we constantly put distractions before us. We're constantly before screens. We're constantly communicating. We're constantly consuming media and data and information and music and interactions. We are constantly stimulating the mind with all sorts of things around us. This is why when all of it goes silent we can become uncomfortable because of the things going on within us. Silence will put away outer distractions, but silence can only reveal inner distraction. It can't get rid of them. So silence can get rid of maybe a conversation that would distract you from prayer. Silence can get rid of what you're looking at on social media, how you're constantly checking your phone, how you're constantly checking the computer, how you're constantly looking for something to stimulate your mind externally. Silence can put that away, but only stillness can quiet the inner man. You see, silence, that turns my phone off, but how do I turn my thoughts off? How do I turn those distractions off? How do I turn worry off? How can I turn off doubt? How can I turn off cynicism? How can I turn off shame and all of these things that prevent us from entering the secret place of prayer? Well, in order to focus, we must number one, practice silence. And this is a practical but effective means of bringing focus to our prayer lives. That is to intentionally set the atmosphere so that distractions from the exterior realm do not affect us. Now these next two keys that I'm going to give you in regards to focus have to do with quieting those inner thoughts, that inner chaos of the mind. So first is silence. Number two, the prayer request. Philippians chapter four, I'm going to read verses six and seven. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. Now this is a powerful key, but it's often overlooked. You know, in the church, sometimes we embrace superstitious cliches that sound spiritual but aren't actually biblical. One such example is this cliche that you should never ask God for anything. Don't ask God, just thank Him. Don't ask God that shows you're not grateful. Stop always asking God to do for you and give to you. But do you realize that your heavenly Father wants to bless you? Your heavenly Father wants to provide for you. Your heavenly Father wants to give to you, and that's why He's given us the prayer request. So the Bible says, let's break it down now. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Do you realize that worry is a useless attempt at control? Worry is the flesh's powerless counterfeit for prayer. I want to say that again. Worry is the flesh's powerless counterfeit for prayer. Your spirit prays, your flesh worries. Your spirit gives it to God through prayer. Your flesh tries to control the situation through worry. And some of us confuse worry for prayer. We think that because we're thinking about it, obsessing over it, that we're therefore praying about it. But that's not the case. The flesh worrying is an illusion of control. The flesh worrying is an illusion of productivity. Jesus said, who can add any more height to His stature just by worrying? In other words, He's saying it's futile. It's useless. It doesn't actually produce anything. Worry just works you up. It doesn't actually cause anything to happen. But our human nature says to us that if I can think about this enough, if I can obsess over this enough, maybe somehow some way by thinking about it, I can either A, keep myself from being caught off guard, or B, prevent it altogether. And that's the illusion of worry. Because we have this strong sense of control. But worry is just a lack of trust. Prayer is a demonstration of faith in God. And so worry is the flesh's powerless counterfeit for prayer. And the Bible says, don't worry about anything. There's nothing that should cause you to worry. Instead, pray about everything. Now watch this great exchange here. Tell God what you need. That's the request. And thank Him for what He has done. That's giving Him praise for what He's done. I request God, please provide. God, please work a miracle. God, I'm asking for your intervention. Well, at the same time, I'm praising Him for what He's already done. So we see in Scripture that it is actually quite possible to be thankful for what God has done while also asking Him for more. So we have to get rid of that cliche, that superstition. Oh, don't ask God for anything. Don't ask God to perform for you. He's already done enough. No, no, no. Our Father is generous. Our Father is giving. Which one of us who are parents wouldn't want to keep giving to our children? We don't say, I give you food and shelter and clothing. That's all you need. I don't want to give you anything else. No, as parents, we want to give good gifts. We want to not only provide for needs, but also in some cases, not in every case, in some cases, we also want to provide for their wants. And our Heavenly Father is the same way. It's the giving nature of the parent. And so our Heavenly Father wants to give, wants to pour out blessing, wants to give us favor in our lives, but we must practice gratitude. So don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Pray about that job you want. Pray about the rent that's due. Pray for the healing of that sickness. Pray for the wayward child. Pray for the battle in your mind. Pray about everything. Give it to Jesus. And thank Him for all He has done. Watch this now. This is so powerful. This is the key portion of the Scripture. Remember, I'm giving you a key to silencing that inner chatter, that inner chaos, the inner distractions of the mind and emotion. Then you will experience God's peace. Wow. When will I experience God's peace? After I've had a prayer request. After I've made my request, then I will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. Prayer is like climbing a mountain. Remember, God told Moses, come up to the top of the mountain. And the Bible says that as Moses ascended to the mountain top, he disappeared in the cloud. That's what happens to us. God invites us to the top of the mountain. And as we ascend the heights of prayer, we disappear in the cloud or in the Holy Spirit we cease to be. Now, prayer is like climbing that mountain. And some of us tried to climb that mountain carrying a backpack over our shoulders. And we carry these burdens with us. And we try to climb that mountain with the distractions and the weights of responsibility holding us down, pressing us into the dirt, crippling our prayer lives. We can't have any movement. And if we do have movement, it's very little because we are so weighted by the cares and distractions of this world. And we're trying to ascend the heights of God's glory while carrying the weight of the world. It cannot be done. And so as I'm climbing the mountain and I have this weight on me, this bag on me, of all the things that have piled up in my life, what I actually do when I make a prayer request is I remove the bag from my shoulder and I put it in the Lord's hands. And then I'm free. Now, here's the mistake many believers make. And this is actually where that cliche comes from. Don't ask God for anything. This is where the cliche comes from because many believers will pray. They'll unburden themselves. They'll take the bag off their shoulder and they'll give the bag to Jesus through means of the prayer request. And then here's what happens. We remove the bag. We say, okay, Lord, now you take it. The Lord takes the bag. And then we say, okay, Lord, I'll see you later. And then we go back to the valley. We go back down the mountain. Now, wait a minute. God lifted those burdens not so that we could stop climbing. God lifted those burdens so that we could continue to climb unhindered. So some of us come to the Lord. We say, Lord, I'm carrying this. I'm carrying this weight. Here's my distractions. You give them your distractions. He takes them from you. And then we say, thanks, Lord, I feel so much better. We feel that lifting of the burden in prayer. And then we say, thank you, Lord, goodbye. And we leave not realizing that God removed the burden not just so that we could go back to everyday life, not so that we could go back to the valley. God didn't remove that burden so that you could go back down to the valley. God removed that burden so that you might continue to climb to higher heights on the mountain. And so peace is not the conclusion of prayer. That's the problem with some of us. We pray until we have peace. We give them our burdens. We remove the distractions. And then, ah, I feel so good. My heart is filled with peace. Wonderful. Thank you, Jesus. Okay, Lord, I'll see you later. No, no, no, no, no. Peace is not the conclusion of prayer. It's the entryway. So we remove those distractions from our mind by the means of prayer requests. And then once those distractions have been removed, now we can climb to the top of the mountain. The problem is some of us, once we've had that burden lifted, we go right back down. And this is not the way that the Lord intended us to approach prayer. So when you unburden yourself by means of the prayer request, you're actually coming to the place where your focus now, your focus can be on Jesus. And not on the responsibilities, not on the cares, not on the worries, not on the doubtants, but on him. And the way you focus is to silence the prayer request and, number three, worship. Isaiah 26.3 says something so powerful. The Bible says, That's a promise. That's a promise from the Word of God. That if my mind is focused on him, he'll keep me in perfect peace. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed focused, steadfast, given to the attention of on thee. So when we look to Jesus and we keep our minds on him, everything else fades into the background. Worship is the key to still the mind and the soul. So do the practical first. Silence the room. Silence the atmosphere. Set aside all outer distractions. But then you must unburden yourself with the prayer request, let the peace of God fill your heart and then begin to worship. You see, we praise God for what he does, but we worship him for who he is. So when I've found that quiet place and when I've gone to the secret place and I put aside the television, I turned off the phone. I've told my loved ones to leave me for that time. When I've carved out that section of my day, then I can make my prayer requests. When I make my prayer requests, I give God my burdens. He fills me with his peace. Oh my goodness, now I'm focused. Amen. I can worship him. I'm leaving behind the cares of this world. And even as you worship, some of those burdens that maybe weren't completely lifted when you were making your prayer requests, because sometimes we give God the bag but hold on to some of the things that we were carrying in the bag. Worship just liberates you. And worship is not about us, but it does affect us. Worship just liberates you from the cares of this world because you are so captured. Your attention, your mind, so fascinated by his being, who he is that now I see the light of his glory and the light of his glory is so bright, so brilliant, so magnificent, so beautiful, so captivating. Everything in the background begins to fade. All the troubles, all the worries, the wind of the spirit takes you to higher plateaus. And as you ascend, all of the chaos of the world gets left beneath you. That's what it's like to truly worship. You're being raptured into who he is, into the splendor of his glory. You're being taken up into that beautiful place with the Lord.