What does First B Jackson teach about prayer habits?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on prayer habits starts with a clear purpose: not to present God with a list of problems you cannot solve yourself, but to ask Him to show you what is yours to do today and then to ask for the power to do it. Pastor Ray McDaniel, teaching on Step 11 of the 12 Steps of Recovery, organized this around four words drawn from early AA literature: prayer, guidance, growth, and power. The organizing idea is what Ray called getting back in your lane. Rather than carrying anxiety about everything beyond your reach, you seek knowledge of God's will for this day and the strength to carry it out. He drew from Philippians 4 and 1 John 5 to show that you cannot be anxious and grateful at the same time, and that a mind fixed on what is good and lovely is one that is increasing its conscious contact with God.
Ray also pressed into what guidance through prayer actually looks like in practice, walking through Matthew 4 and noting that Jesus answered every temptation with the word of God, which He had been filling Himself with through prayer and fasting. The path the Spirit leads you on may be uncomfortable, even a place of real difficulty, but that is still guidance. And in John 15, remaining in Christ is what produces fruit, so prayer is not a separate discipline bolted onto life but the condition of staying connected to the vine.
Steve Baldock, one of the elders at First B, brought the same conviction down to the level of daily habit. He described setting out his Bible, notepad, pen, glasses, and coffee cup the night before so there is no friction when he gets up early. The routine is simple: ask God to speak, read, then write down whatever came, even if it is only the date and the passage reference. Both Ray's teaching and Steve's personal example point in the same direction: prayer habits are less about technique and more about showing up consistently and staying close enough to God to recognize His will when it comes.
Taught from 1 John 5:14-15 · Philippians 4:5-9 · John 15:4-11 · Matthew 4:1-11 · 1 Peter 5:7
The passage taught · 1 John 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- October 13, 2024 Praying Only for His Will and the Power to Carry It Out Ray McDaniel walks through Step 11 of recovery: seeking God's will through prayer and meditation, and trusting Him for the power to live it out each day.
- January 30, 2022 Stop Trying to Hide from God Steve Baldock shares two practical tools for Christian growth: praying actively during worship and building a daily habit of reading, praying, and writing with God.
Mentioned along the way
- October 6, 2024 Free Knowledge Missionaries Ted and Kim Ravenold share how farming, discipleship, and the reconciling power of Christ's blood are transforming lives in rural Tanzania.
- October 6, 2024 Move People on the Scale Ted Rabinold shares how 33 years of farming ministry in Tanzania illustrates the gospel's call to reconcile all things, physical and spiritual, through Christ.
- February 12, 2023 Motivation Matters A Wyoming pastor walks through the Lord's Prayer in Matthew and Luke, exploring what it means to pray with honest motivation rather than habit or a desire to be seen.