Equipped to Win is a biblical teaching podcast that equips believers to live by faith, grow spiritually, and walk in the victory Christ has already won. Each episode offers practical, Scripture-based teaching, encouragement, and wisdom to help you overcome life’s challenges, deepen your relationship with God, and fulfill your purpose with confidence. Whether you’re a new believer or have walked with Christ for years, you’ll be encouraged and equipped to win every day.
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Pray without ceasing sounds inspiring until you try to live it on a crowded calendar. On day seven of our seven-day prayer devotional, we slow the phrase down and make it practical: prayer is not only something we do, it’s who we become. Bishop Eugene Taylor shares the moment from thirty years ago that corrected his mindset when the Lord told him, “You pray, but you’re not a man of prayer,” and why that distinction still challenges believers who only pray in emergencies.
Welcome to Equip to Win with Bishop Eugene Taylor. Today, we're continuing our journey through the seven-day devotional. Learn how to build a stronger prayer life in seven days. Each day, we'll explore practical, biblical principles that will help you develop a deeper, more consistent relationship with God through prayer. Whether you're just beginning your prayer journey or looking to strengthen your time with the Lord, this devotional is designed to encourage, equip, and challenge you to grow. Let's open God's word together and discover how a stronger prayer life can transform every area of your life.
SPEAKER_01
Well, God bless you, my friend. We finally arrived to day number seven. It has been a wonderful journey. I'm proud of you because you've hung in there for all seven days. You, the result of these seven days, should have developed a stronger prayer life in you. It creates a brand new foundation. Some of you have been walking with the Lord for a long time. It's good to have seven days like this to strengthen the foundation that you already have. Some of you are new in Christ and you're establishing your foundation in prayer. This was a good seven-day devotional to really become a launching pad for the next level that God is doing with you.
So as we move into our final lesson, our final lesson is from 1 Thessalonians, uh, the 5th chapter, verse 17. And the Apostle Paul he writes to the Church of Thessalonica and he says, pray without ceasing. So I want to talk a little bit because I want to talk from the thought, make prayer a lifestyle. You know, 30 years ago, this year makes 30 years, 30 years ago, the Lord spoke something to me that changed my prayer life. He said, I want you to be a man of prayer. And I remember, I remember, I responded, I said, Lord, I am a man of prayer. And the Lord dealt with me and he said, You pray, but you're not a man of prayer. I want you to make prayer a lifestyle. And I understand now, I understand now that there's a tremendous difference between praying and living a life of prayer. I was talking to a friend uh recently, and I was talking to him. I said, now the Lord called me into prayer. And I know he tells all of us to prayer, pray, but he called me into the ministry of prayer years ago. I said, now it's not about me going into prayer, it's about me coming out of prayer, coming out of prayer to take care of this, coming out of prayer to meet with that one. Because I'm not suggesting that I'm praying 24 hours a day, but my life stays in a spirit of prayer and constant communication with God. You can you can pray occasionally and still never develop a lifestyle of prayer. God was calling me beyond having moments with him. See, I've been having moments with God where I would go into prayer, but he was calling me to build my life around fellowship with him. Did you hear what I just said? I said he was calling me to build my life around fellowship with him. So a few things I want to share with you on this final day of our seven-day devotional. Prayer must move from something you do to who you are. He says, pray without ceasing. That that doesn't mean we spend 24 hours a day on our knees. I said that. But it means that prayer becomes a part of the rhythm of your life. I don't I don't pray when I'm in trouble. I don't only pray when I need money. I don't only pray when I'm sick. I don't only pray when I need an answer. I pray because I have a relationship with God. And that's what God was teaching me years ago when He said, You pray, but I want you to become a man of prayer. It's not that I wasn't praying 30 years ago. I was praying 30 years ago. But he said, I want you to do more than have moments of prayer. I want you to become a man of prayer. I wanted to become a lifestyle. There comes a point where prayer stops being merely something on your schedule, but it becomes your identity. The goal isn't simply to have prayer time, the goal is to develop a prayer life that would impact every area of your existing life.
Then, secondly, I want to say a lifestyle of prayer requires consecration. Now, during that season, the Lord told me, I'm ready to share something with you. He told me, He told me that he wanted me to become what I understood as a spiritual Nazirite. And I want you to hear what I'm saying: a spiritual Nazirite. He was not telling me to be an actual Nazirite, but a spiritual Nazirite. The Bible teaches us in the book of Numbers, the sixth chapter, it describes a Nazirite, and there were uh particular restrictions connected to the Nazirite's consecration. Well, what would stood out to me was it was this right here. Everything the Nazirite had to give up, it wasn't necessarily sinful. But because of the consecration upon his life, there were things that he couldn't participate in. And that taught me something. I'm gonna tell you, it taught me that consecration isn't only about giving up what's wrong, sometimes it's about giving up what's getting in your way. Some of you, for the place that you're trying to go to in God, God's gonna require you to give up some things, and some things are not sin. The Bible talks about laying away, laying aside every weight that so easily beset you. Some things are not sins, but they're weights upon your life. So when the Lord was dealing with me about being a spiritual Nazirite, first thing I want to say this I'm not suggesting that everyone is called to be what God described to me as a spiritual Nazirite. I am not saying that to you by any means at all. This is something that he told me. That was God's personal instruction to me. But every believer should ask: Is there anything in my life that's interfering with my relationship with God? It could be excessive entertainment, it could be an overdose of social media, it could be your phone, it could be your schedule, it could be, it could simply just be distractions, and none of those things are necessarily sinful. But if something consistently takes place that belongs to prayer, you may have to make the adjustment. Meaning, this if something's getting in the way of your prayer time, you may have to make an adjustment. Sometimes going deeper with God is just saying this. I'm gonna have to go the extra mile. So, so let's say I want to say this: the secret
place. You know, I like to talk about the secret place. You know, during that time when the Lord was calling me into prayer, he began to deal with me about Psalms 91. I mean, that's what he was dealing with me about for a long period of time. The Bible says in Psalms 91, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. The secret place produces the strongest version of you. I'm gonna say that again. This is the last thing I want to leave you with. The secret place it produces the strongest version of you. Notice David doesn't say the person who visits the secret place. He says, for the person who dwells there, a dwelling places where you live. And that's what God was teaching me. That's what he was saying to me. He said, I don't want you just to visit the secret place, I want you to learn how to live there. And I believe that this is one of the places that the enemy fights the hardest to keep believers from dwelling in the secret place. Why is that? Well, I'm gonna tell you because there's a version of you that can only develop in the presence of God. And when prayer becomes your lifestyle, your discernment is sharper, your faith becomes stronger, your spirit becomes more sensitive to God, your ability to withstand pressure, it increases, your relationship with God becomes deeper. The secret place produces spiritual strength for you.
Listen, my friend, this is our seventh day. This is our last day of being together. I want to say to you as we close these seven days out, go back and listen to these days periodically. It's gonna be a refreshing for you. I want to also say, don't finish the seven days and the seven-day devotional and stop praying. We spent seven days learning about prayer. You have these this information. Share the information with somebody else, but you revisit it. Some of you, you're gonna need to revisit it, maybe once a month. Let me go back and listen to one of those audios or let me read one of those lessons so that it can strengthen me. Because all you're doing is just strengthening your foundation. The reason why is because God doesn't want prayer to be something you do, God wants prayer to be a lifestyle. Never forget, he didn't say he that visits the secret place, he that dwells in the secret place. And if you will dwell in the secret, you can do it. Listen, let me let me say this to you. You can do it. The enemy wants you to think that if I do that, let me tell you what happened to me. I would think if I did that, it was gonna rob me of this and rob me of that and rob me of that. And it's nothing but a trick and a lie of the enemy. But if you will begin to allow prayer to be a consistent, consistent way that you live, we're gonna see the strongest version of you that we've ever seen. I want to end on the day, and I want to say I want to thank you for taking seven days to allow us to relay or actually establish the foundational piece of prayer in your life. This is Bishop Eugene Taylor. I have been honored to be with you for these seven days, and I want you to know that you have been equipped to win. God bless you. I'll see you real soon. Continue to visit the website because you're gonna see more from Equipped to Win Win Resources. We're gonna be putting out things on regularly, every week, to strengthen you and allow you to walk in the victory that the Lord has for you. God bless you. It's been dynamic, and I will see you real soon.
Thank you for joining us today on Equip to Win. I pray this teaching has encouraged your heart and strengthened your walk with God. If today's message blessed you, be sure to download your free devotional at bishopegenetaylor.org. Learn how to build a stronger prayer life in seven days, and continue growing in your prayer life one day at a time. Until next time, keep seeking God, keep standing on his word, and keep walking in the victory that Christ has already provided. And always remember, you've been equipped to win. God bless you.
