On Prayer: Taking off the Training Wheels and Riding the Bike (Part 1)

Summary

The Wake-Up Call Podcast

Episode: On Prayer: Taking off the Training Wheels and Riding the Bike (Part 1)
Date: May 21, 2026
Host: John David Walt (with guest, his father, David Wallace, and supporting friends/family)
Podcast Theme: Daily spiritual encouragement with scripture, reflection, prayer, and practical questions for living in the love of Jesus.

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Episode Overview

This episode launches a multi-part reflection on prayer, titled “Taking off the Training Wheels and Riding the Bike.” Host J.D. Walt explores what it means to move beyond simplistic understandings of prayer toward a more profound, lived experience of interacting with God. The discussion is rooted in Paul’s closing words on prayer in Ephesians 6:18-20, with practical encouragements and memorable family participation, culminating in a shared hymn and a heartfelt focus on the power of prayer and letters.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Centrality of Prayer in Paul’s Parting Words

• Paul closes Ephesians by urging constant prayer: “He repeats a particular word no less than five times in a mere three verses. You saw it. The word is prayer.” (04:17)
• The podcast emphasizes not just the frequency, but the elevated meaning of prayer in Paul’s spiritual worldview.

2. Beyond Pleading: The True Nature of Prayer

• Walt challenges the common view of prayer as only pleading for help:

  “There is a way of praying that is merely pleading with God for help. And if this is the extent of our understanding, then when we hear someone tell us we should be praying more, we will hear it as a need to turn up the volume on our earnestness and pleading.” (03:11)

• He laments that “prayer” has become a cultural cliché, often dismissed after tragedies by the refrain ‘no more thoughts and prayers’ (04:01).

3. Prayer as Divine Exchange

• Unpacking the Greek: Paul used the word proseuchomai (προσεύχομαι), which literally means “to exchange.”

  “To interact with God by exchanging human wishes for divine ideas through an impartation of faith. How about that? We thought it said pray—to interact with God by exchanging human wishes for divine ideas through an impartation of faith.” (05:01)

4. Prayer as a Way of Being

• Walt’s summation:

  “Prayer is a supernaturally aligned way of hearing and seeing, becoming a divinely empowered way of being and moving with God in the world.” (06:01 & 06:21)

5. Historical Perspective: John Chrysostom’s Magnificent Quote

• Walt shares a rich historical reflection:

  “The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire… Prayer is an all efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mind which is never exhausted. A sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.” (07:00-08:15)

• Walt recommends printing out Chrysostom’s words to meditate on for “the next five years” (08:23).

6. Prayer Life Self-Assessment and the Role of Humility

• Journal prompts invite deeper reflection:
  • What are you learning about prayer these days?
  • Are you stuck, stale, or ready for the next level in prayer?

  “What if the next level is not up? What if it’s down? What if it means getting lower to the ground? What if it means trying to come back to a sense of beginner’s mind?” (10:13)

• On prayer and humility:

  “What if it means that your advancement in prayer will never exceed your humility before God and people?... Prayer, by definition, I think, means not to master, but to be mastered by.” (10:45)

7. The Transition from Theory to Family Practice

• Family joins for singing and further reflection.
• Walt reflects on his father’s faithful prayers for family:

  “Something I’ve noticed about you, dad, over the many years now is how you have prayed for your children and your grandchildren.” (14:06)

• David Wallace:

  “I have. I mean, that’s... they need prayer. And I’m the one to give it.” (14:21)

• Walt:

  “Prayer is the next level... You’re actually caring for them with the very resources of heaven, of God.” (14:48, 14:59)

• David:

  “It’s the most important level.” (14:55)

8. Singing: “Sweet Hour of Prayer”

• The family sings all three verses of the classic hymn (16:00–18:05), underlining the practice and spiritual legacy of prayer.

9. Letters as Prayers

• The community’s support is tangible—over 200 letters and cards arrive for David Wallace.
• Walt:

  “You know what a letter is? It’s like a prayer in the mail.” (20:47)

• David:

  “That’s what it is. That’s a good way to put it, I think.” (20:53)

• Walt encourages using letter writing as an extension of prayer:

  “You could actually take the letter into your prayer and just start writing while you're praying. And it's amazing how God will speak and join into that.” (20:57)

10. The Assurance of God’s Grace in Prayer

• David Wallace:

  “Whenever you pray, God is with you and God is helping you, and you don’t have to worry about saying a word wrong. God corrects your mistakes...he edits our prayers as needed. We don't have to edit them ourselves.” (21:10-21:33)

• Walt concludes, “And he just perks up. Well, guys, that's good for today...” (21:38)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Prayer’s True Meaning (Walt, 05:01):
  "To interact with God by exchanging human wishes for divine ideas through an impartation of faith."
• On Being Mastered by Prayer (Walt, 10:45):
  "Prayer, by definition, I think, means not to master, but to be mastered by."
• On the Power of Letters (Walt, 20:47):
  "You know what a letter is? It’s like a prayer in the mail."
• On God’s Editing (David Wallace, 21:26):
  "God corrects your mistakes...he edits our prayers as needed."

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Reflection & Scripture Reading: 00:06 – 02:45
• Exploring Prayer’s Meaning (Greek Roots and Paul’s Intent): 02:48 – 06:01
• Chrysostom Quote & Reflection: 06:21 – 08:22
• Journal Prompts on Prayer: 09:59 – 11:22
• Transition to Singing & Family Conversation on Prayer: 12:41 – 14:59
• Singing "Sweet Hour of Prayer": 16:00 – 18:05
• Acknowledging Letters from the Community: 18:09 – 20:00
• Letters as Prayers Discussion: 20:46 – 21:10
• God Edits Our Prayers: 21:10 – 21:33
• Closing Thanks and Sign-Off: 21:38 – end

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Conclusion

In this episode, J.D. Walt and his family invite listeners to reconsider what it means to pray, moving from a transactional or rote practice toward one of honest, humble, and open-hearted encounter with God. The conversation is marked by warmth, scriptural depth, musical worship, and the powerful analogy of both prayer and letter-writing as ways of carrying one another to God. The focus: prayer is neither cliché nor performance, but a lifelong journey of learning to be with God, open to being mastered, not mastering.

Next Episode: The exploration of prayer continues in Part 2.

Transcript

[A]

Wake up sleeper.

[B]

It is Thursday, May 21st in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt and this is your wake up call. Are you ready to dive straight in today? I am. That's coming for, for singing. It's going to be a good morning.

[A]

So wake up sleeper.

[B]

Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, we finished Ephesians yesterday and I've

[A]

got a two or three post script

[B]

PS days here for us. Just feel like there's more to be said about a couple of things. And so today's entry is entitled On Prayer Taking off the Training Wheels and Riding the Bike, Part one.

[A]

And that means there's at least going

[B]

to be a part two, maybe a part three. But let's, let's read our text. I'm reprising Ephesians 6, verses 18 through 20. I'm just. There's just so much there. So hear now the word of the Lord and pray in the Spirit on with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly

[A]

as I should

[B]

the word of the Lord. Now consider this. It is very interesting how Paul ends this letter to the church. He repeats a particular word no less than five times in a mere three verses. You saw it. The word is prayer. One of the great mistakes we can make is to assume we understand and really grasp what prayer is. But do we really sure we get it at a functional level. It is pleading with God for help. And this is what it looks like from the outside. There is a way of praying that is merely pleading with God for help. And if this is the extent of our understanding, then when we hear someone tell us we should be praying more, we will hear it as a need to turn up the volume on our earnestness and pleading. We all know what it feels like to try harder in this way, only to run out of gas until someone gets in our face again and we repeat the process. Sadly, the word prayer has been bandied about so Much in the culture that it has become a cliche. So much so that nowadays, in the wake of terrible tragedies, the unbelieving world will shout at what they perceive to be the church. These words, no more thoughts and prayers. But clearly Paul means more than this when he deploys the term prayer. So for starters, Paul doesn't speak English. He never actually uttered the word prayer. He is writing in the Greek language. He chooses the term or some form of it. Prashu komahi. Say that with me. Prashu komahi. It literally means to exchange. It means something like to interact with God by exchanging human wishes for divine ideas through an impartation of faith. How about that? We thought it said pray to interact with God by exchanging human wishes for divine ideas through an impartation of faith. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

[A]

As I read it, the Bible reveals

[B]

prayer as a supernaturally aligned way of hearing and seeing, becoming a divinely empowered way of being and moving with God in the world.

[A]

Can I say that again?

[B]

Prayer is a supernaturally aligned way of hearing and seeing, becoming a divinely empowered way of being and moving with God in the world. Writing in the third century, John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople and one of the great fathers of the Church, offered these words about prayer, reflecting his own grasp of the concept of prayer from his reading of the Bible. The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire. It had bridled the rage of lions, hushed the anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the the sun in its course and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. Prayer is an all efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mind which is never exhausted. A sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.

[C]

Prayer.

[B]

Wow, thank you, John Chrysostom. That's remarkable. Third century right there. Or maybe it was fourth century. I don't know. I got the words right. I just would love it if you'd print that off today and just kind of sit with it for the next five years. Just read that every day alongside the word of God. That's a wake up call in and of itself. Well, let's pray. God our Father, how we thank you for your son Jesus and Lord Jesus. We come to you now as did your first disciples, and we join Their prayerful pleading with our own personal request, Lord, teach us to pray. Take off our training wheels and teach us to ride the bicycle with you, praying in your name, Jesus. Amen. Couple of few journal prompts today. So what are you learning about prayer these days? Are you stuck in your prayer life?

[A]

Is your prayer life gone stale?

[B]

Are you ready for the next level? And what if. What if the next level is not up? What if it's down? What if it means getting lower to the ground? What if it means trying to come back to a sense of beginner's mind? Like, maybe I really don't know anything about prayer? That's kind of where I am. Sometimes you've got to let go of what you think you know in order to be taught something you could have never figured out. Here's the next question. What if it means that your advancement in prayer will never exceed your humility before God and people? I don't know, gang. Beware of people who want to put on the moniker or actually claim the title or even try to become a master in prayer. Prayer, by definition, I think, means not to master, but to be mastered by. Well, there's a lot there, and I'm just going to take the next couple of days to dive into it a little bit as we close out this letter. It's interesting that when Paul's kind of closing out, when, you know, what you say at the end really carries a lot away what you say at the beginning. You know, he's like, out of his glorious. He's given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, and then he unfolds all those blessings. And now he's. He's telling us how to actually begin to translate those blessings into on earth as it is in heaven. And that is the place of prayer, but not just in the simple way. I think it can always be a simple way, but the understanding, the simplistic way that we can tend to just approach prayer. I don't know. We'll see. Well, let's hand it over. Dad's coming in, and we're about to sing with you this morning. And looking forward to that. Got a surprise to share with you.

[A]

All right, everybody, look who's back. And our favorite. Let's see if you can name this tune of what we're going to sing today.

[B]

I'm going to whistle it.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

I love any chance I get to whistle. I hear some of you saying I can name that tune in five notes.

[B]

What is it, dad?

[D]

Sweet hour of prayer.

[C]

Sweet hour of Prayer.

[A]

Tell them what's Our page number.

[D]

444.

[A]

4 0.

[B]

In our

[D]

great Redeemer's praise Great Redeemer's

[A]

praise If you don't have a copy, you need to get one. There's links today in all the notes. First three verses, we're going to sing them all. And you know, I've been talking about prayer today on the wake up call and just about how you never graduate from the school of prayer.

[D]

No, it's an everyday thing.

[A]

And you know, something I've noticed about you, dad, over the many years now is how you have prayed for your children and your grandchildren.

[D]

I have. I mean, that's. They need prayer. Prayer. And. And I'm the one to give it.

[A]

That's, you know, I. I just kind of have this sense that that's really at the core of what family is.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Is. It's that level of, you know, there's taking care of a person's needs, their physical needs and.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

There's giving the money they need and all that kind of thing. But prayer is the next level.

[D]

Yeah, it's the most important level.

[A]

It's the most important level because you're actually caring for them with the very resources of heaven, of God.

[D]

That's right.

[A]

And just saying their names from a

[D]

heart of love right to God.

[A]

We don't.

[D]

In our prayers.

[A]

That's right.

[D]

How's that.

[A]

How's that work?

[D]

It just works.

[A]

It just works. We don't know how it works.

[C]

But.

[D]

But who else are you going to pray to? I mean, there's only one God and we know that God answers prayers.

[A]

You know it.

[D]

And so if I want my children to be blessed, I pray for them to God in prayers. And here's a good one.

[A]

Sweet hour of prayer all right, you ready?

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer that builds me from a world of care and bids me at my my Father's throne Make all my WS and wishes known in seasons of distress and grief My soul has often found relief and of escape the tempter snare by thy reproach of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer the joy I feel the bliss I share of those whose anxious spirits burn with strong desires for thy return with such tidings Unto the place where God my Savior shows his face and gladly take my station there and wait for the Sweet hour of prayer Last verse. Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Thy wings shall my plantation bear to him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless and since he bids Me seek his face, believe his word and trust his grace I'll cast on him my every care and wait for the sweet hour of pray Excuse me.

[D]

It stays.

[A]

Well, I got something to show y'. All.

[D]

I. You know, I. My sight is getting worse.

[B]

Getting.

[A]

Your sight's getting worse?

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, that's the sign that I'm not reading these hymns. You're doing good. Look here, guys, a few days ago, I said, anybody want to write Dad a note? Because you're always telling me how much you appreciate Dad.

[B]

Y', all, look at this.

[A]

There's over 200 letters and cards that have come to you, Dad.

[D]

I know it. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

[A]

What do you say about all that?

[D]

Well, I say thank you. And just, you know, we're all in this together.

[A]

Look at all this, y'. All. Hundreds. Hundreds. And they're not just little sentimental.

[C]

No greeting cards.

[D]

They've got a message.

[A]

People are writing long letters in here. Look at all this.

[D]

It's. It's hard to believe that y' all are so faithful.

[A]

Look at this, y'.

[D]

All.

[A]

And then on this side, we've got a bunch of that we've not even opened.

[D]

Yeah, I know. It. It's just remarkable.

[A]

And, I mean, and there was one. There was one man, dad, from Lubbock, Texas, who drew a picture of me and you. And it looks a lot better of you than it does of me. But we just want to say thank you because dad will read those over and over again.

[D]

Oh, yeah, It's. It's just more than we ever expected.

[A]

And it's a blessing. And, you know, it's kind of fitting. It's kind of fitting as we come to the end of this Ephesians letter that all these friends have written you letters.

[D]

I know letters matter. I know it. And, you know, just remember to. If you have an aunt or an uncle that's in distress or having a hard time in life, write them a note. And believe me, they will get that note and they'll read it, and it will change them. It will change them. And it's. It's for you, really. No big deal. For you. I mean, it'll make you feel better.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

You know what a letter is? It's like a prayer in the mail.

[D]

That's right.

[A]

Isn't that what it is?

[D]

It is. That's what it is. That's. That's a good way to put it, I think.

[A]

You know, we talk about the sweet hour of prayer. You could actually take the letter into your prayer and just start writing while you're praying. And it's amazing how God will speak and join into that.

[D]

I know. You know, whenever you pray, God is with you and God is helping you, and you don't have to worry about saying a word wrong.

[A]

That's right.

[D]

Because God corrects your mistakes.

[A]

That's right. He edits our prayers.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

As needed. We don't have to edit them ourselves.

[D]

No, you just have to just say, dear God, and then go on.

[A]

And he just perks up. Well, guys, that's good for today. And, dad, thanks for. Thank all of you for all those cards and letters.

[B]

What a blessing. Yeah, that's true.

[A]

So for the awakening, I'm j.d. wall.

[D]

I'm david wallace.

[B]

Walk and we'll see you on the field today.