7 things that happen when you pray
March 26, 2026
Hebrews, if you would, Hebrews chapter number four. We’re going to start Proverbs. Next Wednesday is the Lord’s Supper. The Wednesday after that, I’ll be out of town, and then that next Wednesday we’ll start the study on Proverbs. So tonight, I thought we’d just go back to the subject of prayer, since we’re emphasizing it. Let’s think of prayer. I don’t know that you’ll hear anything new, but it’s just good to be reminded of these things. We’re going to try to hit seven things that happen when you pray. Seven things that happen when you pray. This is not all of them, but… I pray people are setting alarms. Amen. People are ready. That’s good. Amen. I like it. I like it. Let’s stay after this thing. And some of you are just slipping in, Ms. Jennifer and others. We do have a showing tomorrow at noon, so that might be a good time to pray.
But Hebrews chapter number four, we’re going to start there, and seven things that happen when you pray. Probably a host more things happen. We’re just going to hit seven things that happen when you pray tonight.
Hebrews 4. We’re going to start in verse number 15, if you would, and let’s please stand. You say, “Man, you’re getting us on our knees and standing and everything. Goodness gracious, we’re getting a workout. You don’t have to pay a gym fee for this.” What about that? Of course, we don’t want to get the doctor’s bills from you getting up. We can get down; getting up is a problem. I’ll tell you why. I thought, honestly, I did. We used to be quicker to get on our knees at the altar. I’ve seen a lot of people weren’t; they’re going to the front rows. I thought our church is getting older. Anyway, I got down, no problem. Getting up was a problem, though.
But anyway, Hebrews four, looking at verse number 14: “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling”—I love that—“of our infirmities.” Not just your infirmities or weakness, but with the feeling of your infirmities. Pretty amazing. “But was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of…” What’s the next word? Wow, I like that: “throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Seven things that happen when you pray. We’ll just kind of use this as a springboard to get going in it. Would you bow your heads as we pray together? Lord, just come. Would You bring life to Your people? Father, grow our faith. Lord, give us a little insight, Lord, maybe even into the spirit realm. What happens when Your children pray? And Father, thank You for what You do. We ask this in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen.
Now, isn’t it interesting? It says, “throne of grace.” A couple of things happen. First of all, when you pray—now, God is the I AM God. It’s amazing that your whole witness tries to say He has just one name. He has so many names for Him. But He is an almighty God. He is the God of the universe. But when you pray, it’s kind of like—oh, I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking of this like that—but my daughter: I’m her pastor, I’m her boss or employer, she works in school. I’m also her father. So I wear a couple of different hats with a daughter. It’s bad when they all come together at one time. That’s not a good thing; that has happened before.
But here’s the thing: when you’re praying, when you’re praying… God has so many hats. He’s a God of the universe; He’s the one that keeps the stars in time; He holds it all together.
I was talking with someone today who had some issues with some other people, and they said, “Well, doesn’t the Bible say something about vengeance?” Yeah, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; I will repay.” He’s a just God, just and right as He is. He’s the one that oversees His word where it says, “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” God’s not mocked. Be not deceived; God is not mocked. He oversees all that.
But when you come to Him in prayer, one thing that happens for a child of God: He puts His dad hat on. You notice when it says over there in Matthew 6, the Lord’s Prayer—we call it the model prayer—“Our Father.” When you go to prayer, He becomes your Dad.
That’s over in Matthew 7, verse number 11, I think it is: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
When you pray, God says, “One of My children.” I was at a conference one time, and there were three different preachers—I remember at least two, I think it was three—the dad and one of his sons. I think both sons are preachers. I think both sons were preaching at a conference. But I remember one of his sons said this: At the time, the dad was pastoring a larger church; he’s not now. But one of the sons said, “Dad always told us, no matter how busy things were, what’s going on, we have the right to be able to come into his office anytime, and he’ll deal with us as his sons.” If it’s an emergency, now it was happening all the time, no, but you have the right. And we have the right to come to God. And God says, “I’m going to put my dad, my Father hat on.”
So, seven things. One thing: when you come to God in prayer, He says, “All right, when you come to My throne room, you come to Me about prayer, I’m going to put my dad hat on.” You come to Him as your Father. Okay.
Number two: something about the verse we just started at. He says, “the throne of grace.” That’s interesting. The throne of God. The Bible talks about heaven is My throne, earth is My footstool. It says that very clearly two times in the Bible. His throne can be a throne of judgment. Psalm 9, verse number 7: “But the Lord shall endure forever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.” Psalm 97:2: “Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” Revelation 20, verse number eight: “A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.” Use that verse, and then the great white throne. We talked about Sunday just a minute ago over in Revelation 20, when God is on that throne there and heaven and earth flee away. And it says just with His eyes, you know, a king sitting in the throne of judgment, and He just scatters evil away with His eyes.
Now, just the throne of God—I would not want to be a lost person standing before God at the great white throne judgment. Wow. Goodness. But here’s the thing: when you come to God in prayer—now, I don’t know exactly; I studied that a little bit, and I’m not sure. I’ll tell you what I think, but one of two things happens: either if God is sitting on His throne of judgment, and boy, He is sitting on that throne, and He has just got that austere look, and He is the Judge of the universe—when one of His children comes to Him in prayer, either He gets off that throne and comes over here to a throne of grace. Okay, that’s either one thing. This is what I think happens, but one of the two happens. It’s the throne of judgment, see, but when one of His children comes, it just automatically becomes a throne of grace.
Isn’t it amazing? It’s amazing sometimes. Grandparents can be just a better illustration. But you meet this guy; he’s a mean, hardworking man. He bosses, you know, 200 people, just, you know, and you let him get around his grandson or granddaughter, and he melts, you know. Or sometimes men and their daughters—those daughters can get anything in the world from them. You think, “Man, this guy was so, you know, in charge,” but she’s got him wrapped around her pinky. My wife’s pointing to Sarah, and Miss Stacey’s been looking at Marlin this whole time now, you know. But it’s a little bit along that line. When you come to God in prayer, God’s going to put my Dad hat on. I’ve got the universe to run, but that’s no problem for Me to take care of. I’m going to put my Dad hat on because, by the way, He says, “The prayer of the upright is His delight,” and He says, “Come on in.”
Aren’t you glad it’s a throne of grace? Man, it’s a throne of justice. Well, if we got what we deserved, we’d be in hell, you know. But it’s not a throne of justice at that moment. It’s a throne where God says, “I’m going to give out blessings that My Son, Jesus Christ, bought on the cross at Calvary.” Grace. It’s a throne of grace.
So, two things we’ve studied out. First of all, when you come, God says, “I’m going to put on my dad hat,” because just so many times, “Our Father which art in heaven,” you know. And Matthew over there, “give good things to them that ask.” And Luke 11:13, “my Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask.” He opens up again the Father. So, He puts His dad hat on, and then His throne becomes a throne of grace.
It’s pretty amazing what all happens when one of His children prays. Let’s go home. We’ve got seven things to cover tonight, so we’ve got a lot going on.
This is an interesting little illustration about that. Someone and I were texting and kind of joking about some things, and he said that he’s preaching in chapel coming up, and he said, “Well, you know, their second-best scholar in Tennessee is going to be judging me.” I’m not—I don’t know what all he meant by this. First of all, I’m not a scholar. I thought, “You went the wrong way.” And I told him what he really meant by “second hearing.” I said, “First of all, second of all, I’m not judging you; I’m cheering for you. I love it. I love to hear how people preach. I want you to hit it out of the park.” And he said, “Well, something along the line, well, I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about our scholar, the guy that graduated second in the state in Bible. He’s one of the students that’s going to be listening tomorrow.” So, okay, now it makes sense.
But just the thing about judging: when you come in prayer, that’s not sitting on the throne of judgment. He’s sitting on the throne of grace. So when you come, it becomes the throne of grace.
Let’s get to number three. We’ve got to hurry along here. Number three: look, if you will, over in Romans. Romans chapter number eight. Romans chapter eight. While you’re turning there, let me just mention Hebrews 7:25: “Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us.”
Now, same truth over here in Romans 8. Romans 8, verse number 34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
Number one, He puts His dad hat on. Number two, it becomes a throne of grace. Number three, Jesus intercedes for you.
There’s a story told about a little boy. He lived close to the palace but he never saw the king. One day he got up and traveled a little bit, got over to the palace, wanted to see the king. But every time he tried to get in to see the king, those soldiers there said, “No, boy, you can’t come in here.” He wanted to see the king so bad. The little boy just cried and cried. He kept trying every door, every little gate he went to. He couldn’t get in the palace. He wanted to see the king, and those soldiers were just standing there on guard, never would let him in.
Finally, a man pulled up in a carriage. As he was pulling up, he saw the little boy over there crying. He got out of the carriage—or the big carriage, like an entourage coming up with him—and he came up to the boy. He said, “Son, why are you crying?”
They said, “Well, I’ve lived here, and I like my king, but I’ve never gotten to see him. I’d like to see the king.”
The man said, “Well, I tell you what, I’m not the king, but I can get you in to see the king. Come on with me.”
That little boy followed that man. They walked up to the gate. Man, those soldiers stood at attention, opened the door, and they walked right on in. They went to the palace. The boy was just amazed. A little boy was like, “Wow, this is amazing.” They went to the throne room, and that man led that boy right up to the king and said, “Hey, Dad, this little boy wants to see you.” And he turned and looked at the little boy. He said, “I always get to see the king because he’s my dad.”
And Jesus, He intercedes. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He’s our go-between. He gets you to the Father’s seat. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but He intercedes on the right hand of the Father, and He gets you in there to the throne room.
So, what happens when you pray? When you pray, God says, “I’m going to put on my dad hat.” I’m running the universe, but that’s all right; I can run that with just one hand tied behind my back, if you will. You don’t know a problem there. I’m a dad. And then it becomes a throne of grace, and Jesus intercedes for you.
Now, here’s the interesting thing. Look, if you will, you’re already in Romans. You’re in Romans 8. We just read 34. Look up in verse number 27. Romans 8 and verse number 27: “He that searcheth the hearts”—that’s God, by the way, according to Jeremiah 17:10—“knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
So, when you pray, Jesus is in heaven interceding for you, but the Holy Spirit is living inside of you. He’s interceding. I don’t know if this is technically right, but I use it in my prayer time. I say, “Jesus, thank You for interceding for me, and Holy Spirit, thank You for interceding with me.” And it’s inside. By the way, He speaks to us. His Spirit bears witness. It is our spirit bearing witness with God. That’s why sometimes—I was speaking to someone the other day; God just did a huge, amazing answer to prayer. I can’t announce it yet, but I’m excited about announcing it one day. But they said the Holy Spirit spoke to them and said, “First of all, before I answer that right there, you’ve got to get right yourself.” They were praying for someone else. God said, “I’ll hear about that, but you’ve got to get right yourself.” The Holy Spirit does it; He intercedes with you.
And when you pray, my life—sometimes God can change your heart so good in prayer because you’re entering into the throne room. Jesus is interceding for you there in heaven in the throne room, and the Holy Spirit is interceding with you. Oh, my goodness, He is a wonderful prayer partner, and He will change your heart. It’s amazing. Boy, when you pray, so many things happen. God says, “Well, I’m going to put on my dad hat right now.” And He said, “Nope, this is not a throne of justice right now. This is a throne of grace right now.” “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” That’s what it says in Hebrews. Jesus intercedes for you, and the Holy Spirit intercedes with you. It’s amazing what all goes on when you’re praying.
But here’s something else. Look, if you will, over in Zechariah. Zechariah—this is interesting. We won’t have time to go through it all, but I want you just to see this a little bit. Zechariah, chapter number three. Once you find that, if you’d say amen for the Pattersons. Guy that’s one of those… You ever go look for it and you’re like, “Where’d that book go? I know it’s in there somewhere.” Go to the table of contents. Amen. You know, Zechariah, Zechariah chapter number three. Once you find that, amen. Good deal.
Let me remind you before we read over here. Remember what happens over there in Daniel? He’s praying, and he’s fasting and mourning for three weeks, 21 days. And what happens? There’s this battle in the spirit realm, a war goes on. And really, the devil is fighting that. And then the two high angels or seraphim come—Lucifer, and then Michael and Gabriel—all engaged in this battle. His prayer life really shakes up the spirit realm. There’s a battle going on. And eventually the answer comes and says, “Now, Daniel, if you would have stopped praying anywhere along the line in those 21 days, we might not have won. But you continued in prayer these 21 days.” And so here’s the answer. It revealed so much about his nation, Israel, he was burdened about. But the thing I want you to kind of notice: when you pray, there becomes a battle. Satan fights prayers. He doesn’t want you praying.
This is what’s happening right here in Zechariah 3. Watch what goes on here. In Zechariah 3, verse number 1: “And he showed me Joshua the high priest.” Now, in our day and time, we’ve learned over there in Hebrews, the great high priest is Jesus Christ, interceding for us. So this represents Jesus in our prayer time here. Look at this: “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord.” And what? And what? Satan’s going to fight your prayer time. He doesn’t want you praying. Friend, if you try to do what you can, Satan kind of laughs at that, but you start praying, Satan says, “Oh no, he’s battling this prayer.”
“And Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”
Now, Joshua was clothed in filthy garments. I think he represents our sins. But here’s the thing: when he prays, that’s when the Lord rebukes. We ain’t got much power to rebuke the devil; he laughs at us for it. I like what someone said—I’ve got it wrote down here, I want to read it: “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees.” The weakest saint. He trembles. All this, and Satan said, “I’m setting you up.” But when you pray, Satan says, “Man, I’m in trouble.” Notice over there in Zechariah, the Lord rebukes. And you get God involved. Oh, boy, Satan’s in trouble.
So, seven things. Seven things when you pray that happen: God listens as a Father. His throne becomes a throne of grace. Jesus intercedes for you. Holy Spirit intercedes with you. Satan and his demons fight against your prayers. Number six. We’ve only got two more. Amen. Look over in Revelation chapter number eight. Revelation chapter eight. I like this truth here. Revelation 8.
Seven things happen when you pray. Oh, my goodness. When you pray, there’s power. Power in your prayer. You say, “Me?” Yeah, you, if you’re a born-again Christian. Oh, yeah. Romans chapter 8… Look in verse number four, would you please? Revelation. Did I say Romans? Revelation chapter 8. We’ll get it right in the next three years. Revelation 8. We’ll start in verse number two. How about that? We’ll start verse number two.
“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne.”
By the way, just for a second note, jump up to verse number one. We’re going to get there. Jump up to verse one: “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” I won’t tell you what those other preachers say—that proves women can’t be in heaven. I won’t go there now. Women of the world, they do stuff. The women of the world, they don’t do that stuff. I did have a point besides that. I just made all the women mad at me in the room, didn’t I? I’m going to be on video. I just thought, we need to delete part of that. I rather lost my train of thought now.
Isn’t it interesting? There’s silence. It’s almost like, sometimes, right before something big happens, there’s silence. And the next thing that happens is this vial, this bowl, if you will, is being poured out, which represents the prayers of the saints. It’s like heaven just waits: “Hang on here. Something big is about to happen. Be quiet.”
And the prayers of the saints. Notice how He describes it, verse number four: “And the smoke of the incense, that’s the prayers of His saints, the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God out of the angel’s hand.”
It’s like to God, all those prayers are just a sweet smell. The stench of this old world kind of drowns it out, and He smells a good aroma. It’s the prayers. Here’s the thing about that: your prayers—it’s not like you pray, boom, they’re done. They’re stored up. They’re stored up. I wonder how many times maybe I got to keep praying. Daniel had to pray, you know, three weeks. I wonder maybe this prayer here, you got to ask a hundred times, and boy, if I stop at 98 times, I’d be ashamed. But they’re stored up. I don’t want to stop because all my prayers have been stored up. They’re not just gone. When I get prayers through to heaven, it’s kind of like the recorder in the throne room says, “Record all that’s been said. Hey, go back and see how many prayers he prayed or she prayed for that thing right there.” And they’re stored up. Eventually, in heaven, it’s going to be poured out, and it’s going to be like a rain of God—all the prayers of the saints.
So, your prayers, friends, they’re not just going with the wind. They’re stored up. And when you pray, a lot of things happen. I mean, so many things happen. God puts His dad hat on. It’s a throne of grace. Jesus intercedes, and the Holy Spirit intercedes with you. It’s amazing what all happens when you’re praying.
Satan, he’ll fight against it, but that’s all right. The Lord will rebuke him. You keep praying; the Lord will rebuke that old devil. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee.” He’ll run, tuck his tail, run like a whipped puppy. Yeah.
And then your prayers are stored up. They’re recorded. I thought about Brother Richard that’s worshiping here on Sunday morning. Brother Richard got saved a year or two ago. We were in his living room, and there was a battle. Praise the Lord, he got saved. Man, it was just one of those battles; it was sweet for God to bring the victory. After he got saved, he said, “Hang on, Pastor,” and he went back down the hallway to a bedroom. He came back with his wife’s Bible. He said, “Pastor, let me show you her prayer list.” See, his wife, she’s in heaven now, but she had been praying for him for years to get saved. Years. He’d go to church with her and never get saved. But he brought that Bible out and said, “Pastor, let me show you her prayer list.” It was like sacred prayer, and the number one thing on her prayer list was for Richard to get saved. Pray—Lord God heard those prayers. She was in heaven, by the way; she was rejoicing in heaven. But those prayers—well, she’s gone. They’re done? Oh, no, they’re not done for you. They’re stored up. Your prayers are stored up.
Last thing. Last thing. We’re done. Look, you’re there, Revelation 8. Look in verse number—oh, verse number five, right there. Verse number five: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”
Now, verse number four: “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God out of the angel’s hand.” And then verse number five: “Wow.” This fire of the altar is cast into the earth, and there are voices, thunder, lightning, and earthquake.
Here’s what I think this represents: These prayers are poured out up in heaven, and it brings things that are cast down here to earth. So much fire, thunder, lightning, and voice—it’s mighty things. Prayer that reaches up into heaven moves things down here on earth. It affects things down here on earth. That’s what it means over there in Matthew 7, verse number 11: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
It’s amazing, but prayer—someone said prayer moves the hand that moves the world. Prayer changes things down here.
Who was at George Müller, that had the orphanage, thousands and fed thousands and thousands? He said at the very beginning, “I want to do something without telling anybody my needs,” and he never told anybody. He said, “I just want to tell God, and I want to show people.” You have to go to everybody else; you go to God, and God will move people by you going to Him. He didn’t have any fundraising campaigns; He just prayed. God hears prayers. It moves things down here.
I thought about this: We were trying to start the school over four years ago, and we had already put out word, and people signed up, but we were having trouble with the fire marshal. We just couldn’t get through the higher-ups. You have to get through approval, and in Nashville, you deal with the people at the headquarters. We could not even really get a phone call through, just very short. You have to have all these things. We were trying everything we could have. Man, the school was about to start, and we couldn’t get anything to happen. They wanted us to have a fire hydrant at one point, and the piping or water lines running down Seminary Road are not big enough to handle a fire hydrant and run a new pipe all the way down Seminary Road. You talk about money, folks. Every angle we went, there were problems, problems, problems. We wanted drawings of the building; we sent them drawings of the buildings, and still just nothing, nothing. We could not meet with someone in person.
If you remember, we got everybody praying. Y’all started praying. We didn’t change anything at the time; we’d been trying for months. I just said, “Everybody started praying.” And we were praying. Getting closer. I remember—this is the one I remember the most of all—the parents, Donnie and Debbie, especially Brother Donnie, because he’s big, amen. Brother Donnie had told me, “Yeah, we’re excited.” I think it was like four days before school started, and you don’t want to call parents who have been putting their money and planning to put their child or grandchild in your school and say, “Hey, we can’t do it.” Lord, that guy’s going to kill me; he’s a big fella, you know. He’s a good man.
But everybody started praying. You started praying. I can’t remember if we did the 7 o’clock thing or what—somebody with a better memory than me. But boy, I just remember we started praying. You started praying about that. And Brother Frank and Miss Wanda were at Lowe’s shopping for plants for their garden. A guy walks up to them and says, “Hey, you look like just a southern couple. You probably do a lot of gardening. I’m going to have my first garden. Could you kind of give me some advice about it?” And boy, if you ask anybody about advice or opinion, they’re going to give it to you. Brother Frank started talking to him, and Brother Frank looked over and saw a little badge on his jacket, and it said, “Fire Marshal.” And maybe within five minutes, the fire marshal called me. And, boy, the local fire department has been so very, very good. We worked for everything, but I’m telling you, after God’s people started praying, things we couldn’t get to him, God sent him to us.
Prayer. When you pray, some of the things happen. When you pray, God puts His dad hat on. It’s a throne of grace. Jesus intercedes for you. The Holy Spirit intercedes with you. Satan and his demons fight, but you keep praying; God will rebuke him. Your prayers are stored up. They’re not going with the wind; they’re stored up. And prayer changes things in the spiritual world.
Would you bow your heads? Let’s just spend a little time praying tonight. Whatever it may be, maybe about the church thing, maybe something personal for you, whatever it is in your life. Let’s just spend some time in prayer. Maybe it’s for your neighbor to get saved. I don’t know what it might be. Let’s take it to the Lord in faith, this thing of prayer. Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. You just spend some time praying before the Lord. Thank You, Father, for being our Dad, the best Dad in all the world. I don’t deserve You, Lord. It’s amazing that just your weak, messed-up child gets to come to You, and You put Your dad hat on. Thank You, Lord. It’s a throne of grace. Jesus, thank You for interceding. Thank the Holy Spirit for interceding with us. Thank You, Lord. My prayers are stored up, and all and on, we praise You for it all. Bless our people as we pray. Thank You that You’re listening, and bless these few minutes, Lord, please. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Would you just spend some time? Every God, you’re just in prayer. In prayer, so much happens when you pray, and I think the whole spirit realm says, “Oh my goodness, you know, so-and-so down there is praying, shaking up everything.” I love it. I love it, and the Lord rebuked that old devil. Amen. Glad you’re here tonight. Appreciate you being in God’s house.
Original File: 2026-03-26 - Pastor Paul Chisgar -＂7 Things That Happens When You Pray＂ Wednesday 3⧸25⧸2026