Mike Signorelli - How Do I Pray Powerful Prayers
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Summary:
Pastor Mike explains that the key to powerful, effective prayer isn’t just words but five foundational principles: praying from a proper relationship with God as a forgiven child (no condemnation), from proper desire aligned with loving God first, from pure motives that glorify Him rather than self, from the authority Jesus gave believers especially when advancing the kingdom, and from God’s irrevocable promises found in Scripture. He stresses that these principles transform prayer into a bold, faith-filled conversation that releases God’s power, rather than religious repetition. In the end, it’s not about what to say, but how to approach God—rooted in relationship, His will, and His Word.
Introduction: Why This Teaching Matters
One of the most common questions I receive is, «Pastor Mike, what is the proper way to pray?» They see me praying for people, and miracles occur—wonders, signs—it’s this incredible experience. You guys can watch footage of me going all around the world praying for people, and not everybody’s healed, and not every single time is incredibly accurate, but I’m stepping out, taking a risk. Over the years, I’ve developed a private prayer life and a public demonstration of God’s power.
In this teaching, I want to give you the five principles of correct praying. I believe that this might be one of the most important videos you watch. So make sure you stick around all the way until the end. You might be shocked to discover that there’s something you’re doing wrong, maybe something you can do better, because there are five principles to prayer. Let’s just jump right in. I don’t want to waste any more of your time.
Principle 1: Pray from a Proper Relationship
Number one: make sure that you’re praying from a proper relationship. Romans 3:24 says, «Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous.» In other words, He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty of our sins. You’ve got to understand that relationship is the conduit for the power of prayer. There is something different when I’m walking through a crowd of people; when I hear my daughter Bella or Everly’s voice, it’s different from when I hear the voices of all the other children. When they’re my children, I respond. I know just like a mother knows the cry of her baby versus those of other babies.
As a father, I know the petition; I know the voice of my own children. So when you pray from relationship, you need to ditch these condemnations: «Woe is me! Oh Lord, I don’t know if You really love me. I don’t know if You really care.» He cared so much that He died for you. His blood was sufficient so that you can come boldly before the throne of grace. Come on, I’m trying to help you. You can say, «God, here I am again.» I’m praying from a place of relationship. I keep being reminded of that scripture: «Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.» You have to understand that praying from a proper relationship is important. God has freed you from sin through Jesus. Pray like it.
Principle 2: Pray from Proper Desire
All right, here’s the next one.
Number two: pray from proper desire. Not every desire that you have is in alignment with God’s will. Oftentimes, we’re praying outside of a godly desire. Matthew 22:37–40 says, «Jesus said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, '» which is the first commandment.
When you start by saying, «God, I love You with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, » you are recalibrating and fixing your desire on that love. You’re saying, «I love You, Lord, more than I love material possessions, more than I love achievement, and feeding my ego, » and when you fulfill the first commandment of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind, you’ll begin to pray from that place, and you’re praying from a proper desire. God loves you too much to give you something outside of His desire, even if it’s your current desire. He loves you too much.
A no from God is for your protection and preservation. When you’re praying, «God, why didn’t You give me that thing?» If you don’t know Matthew 22:37–40, you might not understand. The most loving thing He did was not give it to you because He wants your desire to align with His desire. If you want 100% of your prayers to be fulfilled, pray in alignment with God’s desires. That was free. Come on, hit the thumbs up if this video is helping you already.
Principle 3: Pray from Proper Motive
All right, number three: pray from a proper motive. We all have motives, and sometimes we lie to ourselves. Come on, I love you too much not to say the truth to you right now. We are self-deceptive and act like our motives are right, but if we come on, faithful are the wounds of a friend, I’m going to offend you all the way to your next level right now. I’m going to cut you a little bit, but this is surgery; this is not just a knife. You’ve got to check your motive. Some of you want to achieve certain things, not to make Christ’s name known, but to make your name known. Some of you don’t want money so that you can give more; it’s so that you can get more. Some of you, your motives aren’t right, and I’ve seen a lot of people self-deceive.
1 Corinthians 4:5 says that «when Jesus comes again, He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time, each will receive their praise from God.» God wants to know that what He sees is in alignment with what is holy and acceptable before Him. Sometimes, you’ve got to go before God and say, «You know what, God? I’m just going to keep it 100.» Some of you might be upset about the way I’m talking right now, but you’ve been praying religious prayers with the wrong motives. Pray unreligious prayers with the right motives. Like, «God, I just need to be real with You. God, I need to tell You straight up there’s something in me that wants financial gain, and I’m not becoming more generous. God, I’m just going to keep it 100, and I’m going to be transparent with You, God. I have the wrong motive. I don’t want Your name to be great; I want my name to be great.»
And I don’t know why I want that. Search my heart, God. I don’t know. See how even when you get honest with God and just strip down and say, «God, this is what it really is, » you are closer to breakthrough by being real than you are by being self-deceptive. For me, I’ve gone before God and said, «I don’t know why, but I care so much about the car that I drive, and I wish that I didn’t.» Then the Lord would say, «Mike, actually you care about other people’s perception of what car you drive.» I’d say, «Okay, Lord, I’m not getting a new car; that’s a selfish desire.»
But can you imagine if my motive was for the approval of people? Then I’m like, «God, I’m mad at You. You didn’t make a way for me to get a new car.» God’s like, «Why would I ever bless your wrong motive? Why would I ever make you look good if you’re not even concerned with lifting My name up?» Ooh. Some of these rebukes are just secondhand rebukes that the Lord gave to me already, and I’m trying to help somebody out.
Principle 4: Pray from Proper Authority
Let’s look at number four. Is this helping you? Drop a comment. Let me know what you’re learning right now. There’s such a beautiful community unfolding in the comments section, and you guys are helping each other so much. So whatever is speaking to you, drop it down in the comments section below.
Here’s number four: pray from proper authority. Pray from proper authority. This is what Jesus said: «Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.» This is Luke 10:19. So follow the language: «Behold, I give you authority.» Let’s start with «behold.» Behold means open your eyes to it. You have to be willing to see it. See that I’ve given you authority. What’s next? Given authority. That means you can’t earn it; you can’t get more authority; you have to receive authority.
Jesus has given you authority. You have to access it. And what is it authority over? The power of the enemy. «Nothing shall by any means hurt you.» But let’s put it in proper context. Luke 10:19 is, while you are preaching the gospel, while you are telling the world about Jesus. Some people want nothing to hurt them while they’re selfishly building their home but not building the kingdom. You want nothing to hurt you. You want power over the enemy so that you can selfishly prosper. Luke 10:19 says, «As you are doing the will of the Father, as you are establishing the kingdom, I will give you authority to do supernatural things.»
There’s a lot of selfishness that sometimes creeps into Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement. The «no weapon formed against me shall prosper» mantra? Well, guess what? All the apostles died, with the exception of one of them, horrible deaths. How is Luke 10:19 not applicable to them? Well, I’ll tell you: when God’s perfect will and His desire were being worked out, sometimes you’re going to be released from prison, and there’s going to be angelic intervention. We see that in scripture. Sometimes, God’s going to remove you, like they were trying to throw Jesus off a cliff. It wasn’t Jesus’s time. Jesus was not able to be killed at that particular time by that group of people.
In the end, it was Jesus giving His life up; it was Stephen saying, «You’re stoning me, but the heavens are open, and I see a vision.» Only the perfect will of God can happen over your life when you are doing what God called you to do. You have to pray from a place of authority, understanding that Luke 10:19 is connected to doing God’s will and not our own. So protection and provision are all connected to God’s vision. Pray from a place of authority.
Principle 5: Pray from Proper Promises
Here’s the next one, number five. Make sure you stick around for the entire duration of this teaching because this is going to help you. I’m saving the best for last: prayer from proper promises. You’ve got to understand that the promises of God are irrevocable. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, «For all the promises of God find their yes in Him.» That is why it is through Him that we utter our amen to God for His glory. All the promises of God find their yes in Him, and we can actually utter amen because it gives God glory to have integrity to what He already said.
When you understand the promises of God, when you pray the promises of God, you are actually entering into a legal exchange. You’re saying, «God, You cannot lie. Your word is law. Whatever You said will happen.» I want to remind you that You promised to renew my youth like the eagles. You promised that if I obey my mother and father and honor them, I will live a long life. You promised.
I’ve heard countless stories of people putting the promises of God on repeat, even people with chronic illnesses and degenerative diseases putting the promises of God on repeat auditorily, like in different videos. They experience regeneration, supernatural healing, and things begin to take place. You have to learn how to pray the promises of God. That’s more powerful than just making up your own words. That’s more powerful than your own prayers and petitions. It’s reminding God, " God, this is what You said. I believe it, and I’m going to continue to pray Your promises until I see it.» Those are the five principles of prayer. What I didn’t do in this video is tell you what to say, but I taught you how to pray.