This message was shared by Apostle Kathryn Krick, Lead Pastor/Apostle of 5F Church in Los Angeles, CA, on December 20, 2024. To watch the full video, scroll to the bottom of this post. We pray this teaching blesses you and equips you to walk as a powerful vessel of God. 

Today I’m going to go deeper into how to pray the right way, in a way that is pleasing to God and not religious: the Jesus way.

Matthew 9:14-15

One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked Him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not.”

Matthew 9:16-17

“Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”

Jesus spoke about old wine and new wine as a response to John the Baptist’s disciples asking, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” This was his answer: You are fasting and praying in the old wine way—in a religious, ritualistic, traditional way. But I have come to bring new wine. I have come to destroy religion and to show you My way, the way that leads to true life. Now I am teaching my disciples how to pray and fast in the new wine way—in a non-religious, non-ritualistic, new wine way. This new wine way has POWER. It is not dead, like religion. It has power because it is the Holy Spirit-led way. 

We see religion with the Pharisees. They were interpreting the Word of God in one way, but they had no revelation of Jesus because he hadn’t come yet. They had old wine/religious revelation. For them, following the Word of God became about rituals and earning acceptance from God. If I do this, check off this list, perform well enough, then I will be righteous and acceptable to God. But that is religion. It’s not personal—it's about rituals. It’s performance. It's about checking things off of the list. Jesus was bringing them out of that and into the new wine, which is led by the Holy Spirit—not based on tradition and rituals, but on a relationship with God. Jesus helped God’s people to be free from religion, but the Pharisees wouldn’t accept Him, and so they remained bound in religion. But for those who accepted Him, He helped them out of it. 

Over time, the enemy has tried to bring religion back into the church. Many of the testimonies we heard today were from people who were delivered from religion. They shared how they were trying in their own effort to do the right things, but they felt like they were never measuring up. They never felt like they were a “good enough Christian.” That is the heaviness of religion.

The reality is: God is FULL of love, understanding, compassion, and mercy. He is a real person. He is not a statue or an alien. We are made in His image. He is relatable. He is like a parent with a child—a parent who is not lording a checklist of rules over the child, a parent who wants their child’s heart. The parent knows the child won’t be perfect, and they're not expecting them to be perfect, but they want to see their character built, for them to do their best and to have a good heart. When the child messes up, the parent isn’t shocked. He or she has grace for their child, they see the best in their child, and they love their child more than they love themselves. This is how God is toward you—but multiplied beyond comprehension. 

So do you see the difference? God is not judging your prayers, your relationship with Him, or whether you checked every box. He is after your heart. He is cheering you on. He wants the best for you. Before you can learn how to pray the right way, you need to see God rightly. When you think of God, you need to think of His amazing love and compassion for you, of how He wants the best for you and sees the best in you. That is the foundation of praying in a way that is pleasing to Him. He is a person, not a statue. Many people think if they pray religious-sounding prayers with lofty words that they normally wouldn’t use, or pray for hours, that will touch God’s heart. But that is performance. 

Think of the people you love most. You don’t try to impress them with your vocabulary or time your conversations. You don't think to yourself, “If I speak for 2 hours to them, then they will love me.” God is a real person. If we treat Him like a robot, we won’t want to spend time with Him, and we will fall into the enemy’s lies of condemnation, feeling like God is disappointed or that we will never be a good enough Christian. This is why it is so important to see Him rightly—as a real person.

Matthew 18:3

Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is saying: “Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” You won’t receive the abundant life, the healing, the deliverance, the miracles, the joy, the peace, and the intimacy that comes with entering into His Kingdom. Being like children means being teachable and humble, but it also speaks of your relationship with Him. Some of you struggle in prayer, thinking “I don’t know how to pray. I feel like I’m doing it wrong. I’m not praying long enough.” But God says that children are the ones who enter His Kingdom.

This means prayer is so simple—even a child can do it. This Scripture teaches us so much about prayer; it's not supposed to be so complicated. We’re not supposed to go in prayer and see God as a professor at Harvard or like the president. We don't have to feel so out of place and inadequate.  A child can be friends with God and pray to God. And when they do, God loves the prayer. Stop judging your prayers to God and your relationship with God. Don’t listen to the lies of the devil. Prayer is very simple, and you can do it in a way that pleases God.

1 Corinthians 14:15

So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding.

The prayer God is looking for is prayer with understanding. Praying religiously, like the Pharisees, is not praying with understanding of who Jesus is. It's not rituals, fancy prayers, and long prayer sessions of empty words that please God. Many people think this is the way, but God is not there. This isn’t intimacy—they're missing Him. Prayer with understanding means having faith like a child, knowing who God is: He is the most loving person in the whole world, the person who loves you more than anyone else, who wants the best for you, who is never judging you or condemning you. It means you know His heart: that His passion is His people, for His kingdom advancing, for people being healed and delivered and freed from the works of the devil. It means knowing who you’re talking to, knowing His heart, and speaking to Him accordingly. When you serve Him and obey Him in your daily life, according to this truth, having fierce passion for His work, for His people, and for His kingdom, that is a relationship. That is intimacy.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So that means, the way to please God is with faith. Praying with understanding means to pray with faith. People believe that the more you repeat a prayer, the more God will hear you. It is the complete opposite of this. God is not dumb and he's not deaf. He’s the smartest person in the world. Do you repeat something a million times to your spouse or your friends? If you did, they would say “I heard you the first time!” God hears you. It's not spiritual and it's not praying with understanding when you keep repeating prayers over and over again, thinking, “I don't see what I prayed for happening yet, so I must pray longer or fast for days now.” 

Rituals don’t move the hand of God. It is faith that touches God's heart.

Isaiah 10:27, KJV

The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

Many people are seeing this revival and God moving in power, but they don't want to let go of religion. I've heard people say, “You don't need to go to that revival event; you don't need a person to pray for you. You can just receive the miracle right where you are.” That's religion. That's living without an understanding of God and his ways. It's the anointing that destroys the yoke. God's ways of releasing his anointing is through vessels, his servants. So the proper way to pray with understanding when it comes praying for miracles to happen and seeing the miracles happen in your life is:

1. Give God your request.

BELIEVE that He has heard you, that He has the power to release this miracle to you, that He is GOOD, and that He wants to release this miracle to you. It's just about His timing. Believe in His Word that you have an inheritance from God, a co-inheritance with Jesus, and that “By His stripes you are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Then REST. 

1. Locate where God is moving in power—where you access what you have requested.
2. Position yourself where the power of God is moving, and receive what you have prayed for.

That is how you pray with understanding. That is how your prayers will touch God’s heart. Rest in Him. Believe in His power, in His Word, in His ways. This is so simple, even a child can do it. 

There are people who want to hang on to religion, and they're missing out on their miracles. They're praying, fasting, and trying to do many things in effort and performance, but they're not seeing any miracles take place in their life. They're not praying with understanding. They’re praying and fasting the old wine way like the Pharisees—and like the Pharisees, they are missing out on touching God's heart, on entering the Kingdom of Heaven and receiving miracles from Jesus. 

James 4:2-3

You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

This does not mean, “God can’t do anything until I ask” or “I need to keep asking.” The true revelation is: You have not because you have not asked with understanding.

The currency of heaven is faith.

The Pharisees were doing so many commands that were in the Bible but they weren't receiving the miracles from God. It's because they weren't doing it with faith. They were performing in religion. People do this today: they pray day and night, fasting for weeks, going to all-night prayer rooms, but still not seeing the miracles they're praying for. It's because they're not asking with understanding. They are not praying with faith, the Jesus way, which is necessary to receive what they’re asking for.

God is not impressed by your rituals. He is impressed by your obedience and faith. Keep this in your heart and this will be your compass of how to pray the Jesus way.