Thursday, August 27, 2015

Praying and Receiving Prayer

When most people think of prayer they simply think of it as presenting a case to God for His input and the most favorable outcome. For example, if we are praying for the sick, we usually pray for their healing; or if someone is in a terribly situation we usually pray for their peace and deliverance out of it. Of course, this is highly generalized but I hope you get my meaning. However, there is more involved in prayer. The reason I have titled this post, "Praying and Receiving Prayer," is because both the ones praying and those receiving prayer must be rightly positioned to pray and be listened to or to receive the result of the prayer that is sought. 

In addition prayer is not a one-way street. There are two components to prayer: 1) Making supplication (the ask), and 2) listening (the answer). I will explain what I mean. There are other components such as worship and adoration, however, my point here is not to teach how to pray but to share on the proper positioning to pray and to be prayed for.

I. Praying


Now there are many types of prayers to countless deities; I am only referring to prayer to the God of those who follow Jesus Christ. I am ill equipped to address any other type. In addition, this is the only type of appeal to any deities that in fact yields results because there is only One true God Who is, by the way, only accessible through Jesus Christ. And no, not all roads leads to God. But that's a discussion for another day perhaps.


Now that we have laid that foundation, let's discuss prayer. By prayer I mean addressing God for any reason whatsoever do address needs, to receive counsel, to receive empowerment, to be enabled with wisdom, knowledge, understanding. The list is endless. The fact is, we seek God for something we do not have, even to feel and sense His presence, experience His glory. It does not always have to be seeking the answer to needs, that is, seeking something from His hand. It could also be seeking His presence, that is, seeking His face. Perhaps if we sought His face more than His hand, we would not need to seek His hand as much. So, let's talk about some of the specifics of prayer. 


        How do we pray?


To God through Jesus Christ Who said: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life...no one comes to the Father but through me." Matt. 14:6. Prior to His return to heaven, Jesus told the disciples that He would ask the Father to send a Helper, Who is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He empowers, teaches, guides, protect, warns, and really anything to assist us to live abundant lives in Christ while accomplishing all that God has put before us individually and corporately. In other words, you must come to God as His child through the sacrificial and enabling blood Jesus Christ, Who died on the Cross of Calvary to make it possible. Our forefather Adam's sin in the garden permanently separated us from God, whereas, Jesus Christ, God on earth, died to once again make a Way, the Way back to God. See the Disciple's Prayer in Matthew 6:(8)9-13(15):


"8 'Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.Your will be doneOn earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation,But deliver us from the evil one.For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.'"
        When  should we pray?

At all times. Any time you want to need to worship, speak to, or appeal to the Lord. 
1 Thessalonians 5:(16)17-(18): "16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

        Where should we pray?


 Anywhere you want or need to speak to, worship, or appeal to God through Jesus Christ. He is everywhere you are. Matthew 28:19-20:
19 Go therefore[c] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Hebrews 13:5
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

        To Whom do we pray?


This is an easy one but just so we are all on the same pages. We pray to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, Who is the only Way to God. [See Model Prayer Jesus taught the disciples in Matthew 6:9-13 again.] 

                   Prayer involves Conversation - We must also listen 
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
If indeed we are praying to a living being, then there must be 2-way communication otherwise how will we ever be able to follow instructions; which way to turn, what to do, etc.? If you are a child of God you hear his voice. By "hearing His voice" I do not mean just audibly, although that is possible, we "hear" in the form of an impression, and the way it comes to me often is "as an established fact." I know that I know that I know, although I do not know how I know; I just know by the Holy Spirit. Some call it, an impression in our "knower."

                  Holy Spirit

The One God uses to communicate with us; Jesus receives from the Father and releases to the Holy Spirit Who then releases to us. Remember, Jesus is The Way. John 16:13: However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

        Why do we pray?


Another easy one. We cannot survive as Children of God on this earth without constant communication with Him. In John 15:5, Jesus said, "I an the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." That is both sobering and humbling, but above all it is the absolute truth. We are bankrupt in every way with the God and Jesus made the Way to the Father of fathers, Who is responsible for every good gift. James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

       
II. Receiving Prayer

When I say receiving prayer, I do not mean, the person is the one to whom we are prayer but the one on whose behalf we pray. The best way to set this up is based on an experience I have had which really is the reason for this post. I was shocked when I experienced it then God used it to teach me a lesson about prayer and its effectiveness. Sometimes we think the reason our prayers don't "work" is due to some deficiency on our part, whether of faith, or belief, or compassion, etc.  That may be the case at times but I have seen where a very impassioned-Spirit-led prayer seemed to fall flat when it was tested.


I remember an impassioned, Spirit-led prayer prayed with such expectation it was almost palpable. Then when the time came to see the result of the prayer, there was no indication that the prayer even went anywhere, which of course we know it went to the Lord. That is when I realized the following. You may pray a great prayer, God may hear it and be prepared to act, but then....


THE PERSON UPON WHOSE BEHALF THE PRAYER WAS PRAYED MUST BE IN A POSITION WITH OPEN SPIRIT FOR GOD TO DO WHAT HE SEES FIT TO DO SO THAT THE PRAYER WOULD BEAR THE FRUIT IN AND THROUGH THE PERSON FOR THE GOOD OF ALL. 


That's it folks. You may pray your heart out but if the person is not open to God for His input, the prayer most likely would fall flat as the one I described above. You see the Holy Spirit will never violate a person's will. He must be allowed in to use the person. I was highly disappointed to see what I witnessed but then again there is nothing I could do about another person's unwillingness to let God truly use them. 


So we need to add to our prayers that the recipients of our prayers would allow Holy Spirit His way in their heart to do all that He wants to do. It all goes back to true submission. (Please see previous posts about Submission, Parts I & II).



I have seen situations where a person is completely unconscious but I could feel them pulling on the anointing while I prayed for them. One time I came up behind a person as his wife asked me to lay hands on him to pray and without knowing it, he was pulling on the anointing. These are people with hungry spirits. The Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matt. 5:3). 

So we must position ourselves as one who can be the recipients of what we ask in prayer either directly or because of the prayers of others.

In Summary:


1. When we pray we must pray, expecting, believing, and in faith that the One to Whom we are praying can and will deliver.

2. But, our position must be in Christ, as His disciple and follower because He is the only Way to the Father.

3. We must have a level of openness to God's Spirit for change to take place in us, or situations, or both. In other words, for the prayer to take effect requires a level of openness and humility.

4. Know who is praying for and with you. Do not open up to just everyone. This is not to say we are to be suspicious and paranoid but to be prudent and vigilant. The Lord told us, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16.

Please note that this post does not negate the sovereignty of God to do whatever He wants to. But throughout Scripture that we see that the unyielding never prospered in God while those who yielded, even after protest, did in fact prosper in the things of God. Remember, Saul who became Paul, King Manasseh who became a pagan king then a yielded one, of course Abraham, was an idol worshiper who met the true and living God and yielded and through whom we have the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Abraham the entire world has been blessed. 

And then there were those who were yielded but needed to mature into the people God could entrust with much power and influence. God processed them through trials and tribulations such as Joseph, King David, Moses, Peter, and many more. And of course, business people such as Barnabas and Lydia. And last but not least the women in the lineage of Jesus Christ who yielded to fulfill their destinies, such as Rahab, Tamar, Ruth, Mary (who faced the possibility of death by stoning). Yielding is not always easy. As a matter of fact, it rarely is when there is anything of value at stake. Yet the rewards of yielding to God so far outweigh the hardships that they are somewhat negligible. 

I leave you with this encouragement from Paul that as we live lives committed to prayer without ceasing that we persevere through our light afflictions. 2 Corinthians 4-17-18:
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Today's Encounter - The Temple of Living Stones

It's been a while since my last blog post but I am happy to be back blogging for those who are following these posts and hopefully encountering the living God as a result. That's the whole point of my life. Am I facilitating an encounter with God?

I had to blog today because as I sat at the piano to lead my mom and I into God's presence in worship inviting to be with us, we opened up ourselves to encountering Him and receiving revelation and impartation that has already transformed us. I  sense that as some point we are to start videotaping these sessions because they are so dynamic with times of spontaneous teachings. I believe as the situation in the world grows more tenuous, we need these times of encounter with our Father. Our time today was truly wonderful.

Today's Scriptures in answer to the question I asked the Lord today are:

1 Cor. 6:17-20                           Revelation 21:22-27           
Ephesians 2:19-22 (*21)           1 Peter 2:4-5
John 8:12                                  Luke 19:13

Our Prayers today:

Matthew 6: 9-15 (The Lord's Prayer)
Ephesians 6:10-20 (Encircling prayer)

Words from spontaneous worship:

1. From song "Open up our Eyes" - God is always fighting for us. The battle is the Lord's so that I am free to be me and you and free to be you. Really I am free to be the me I was created to be. He is always with us.

2. From the song "Sinking Deep" - We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. No longer is there a temple of brick and mortar that houses the presence of God but now His temple is made of living stones. The new  location for the Holy of Holies set apart for the Holy One is in us. We are as a people, the Church, His temple of living stones.

Hang on, you are about to be wowed,, not by my words but by what you and I have already read in the Word of God. The Word which is incredibly liberating yet awe inspiring.

As we worshiped The Lord was speaking over us being about free to be who He created us to be because as we follow and obey Him He has our backs, fighting our battles so that we may walk free, even carefree, especially in the spirit. (See Psalm 91, Philippians 4:6). We are not hindered by anything as long as we in in Him. That's a common theme you'll see in my writing. These posts are not intended those uninterested in following Christ. I have no gimmicks or deals for you. I can offer you an introduction to an incredible life in Christ but nothing of material worth. That being said, let's jump into this treasure trove of Scripture.

As that word came from the Lord about being the "temple of the Holy Spirit," no longer one of brick and mortar but of living stones. I had to ask the Lord, "Are there many temples, or one temple made up of many living stones. This was a real question. We set out to get the answer using His Word. The best place to find what He means when He speaks.

He answered our question and so much more:

1. 1 Corinthians 6:17-20 - Glorify God in Body and Spirit
 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body[c] and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Verse 17 stopped us in our tracks, just about knocked the breath out of us. A person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. That is so hard to comprehend. No wonder sexual immorality for the believer is such a travesty, it's actually rather sickening based on this verse. Even though we know the Holy Spirit in the measure in which we have Him now is but a deposit of what is to come, when Jesus asked the Father to send us Holy Spirit, He was giving us as much as we could handle in our mortality, yet He knew to what degree we needed Him in order to be empowered to do all that He said we would do including having victory over sin. At that joining [when we genuinely come to Christ], our bodies and our human spirits become God's.


2.  Revelation 21:22-27 - The New Jerusalem
 22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it,[j] for the glory[k] of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved[l] shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.[m] 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.[n] 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes[o] an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

In the City in which God will once again live with man, the New Jerusalem, there will not be a temple because Father God and the Lord Jesus Christ, will comprise the Temple. It's a sobering and awesome thought that we now occupy a position only the Father and the Son will when they come back to earth to reign. Friend, what does that say about who we are, and whose we, and how we ought to be occupying ourselves now? Does that not give new meaning to "Occupy [do business] until I return." (Luke 19:13: Parable of the Master who Left His servants in charge) There will also be no need for any other light such as the sun or moon. This also communicates to me that the veil that currently separates the natural from the supernatural realm will be no more since God, Whom we can now know only the Spirit because He is Spirit, wiill actually be the Light in the City.


3. Ephesians 2:19-22 (*21) - Christ the Cornerstone
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Paul tells us here,  in answer to the question of whether we are individual temples or together make up one temple, that we are fitted together as one temple where God dwells---in the Spirit. Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone of the whole building (singular). This is another way of telling us what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 12 about being different parts but of one body. One injured part affects the entire body. Friend, this is another way of saying, "we absolutely need each other." This is coming from someone who is naturally a loner. That's naturally. In my God-ordained identify I am both people- and task-oriented. One could say extroverted introvert or the other way around. I need to be alone and with people to be my best me.


4. 1 Peter 2:4-5 - Jesus the Chosen Cornerstone and we His Living Stones
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”[b]Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,[c]
“The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,”[d]and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”[e]They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
This is where the apostle Peter refers to the people of God as living stones following God's chosen Living Stone. Jesus Christ. Interesting that believers see Jesus as "precious" but to those who are disobedient, He is a "stumbling block and a rock of offense." You know the type. The ones who get so offended when you alert them of God's s standards asking "who are you to judge me?" when the Word of God is what judges them. These are people, whom I might add, we once were. We were disobedient, and often, defiantly so. How do we respond to these people? In love, yet unless you are lead by Holy Spirit, do not no try to correct them. They still know best and there is too much pride, and often pain, blocking the way forward. But never ever stop praying for them. Again, before we came to Christ, we were all once disobedient and defiant. Only the grace of God operating in our lives caused us to change and seek Him Who alone can save us from ourselves and that which is to come
5. John 8:12 - Follow the Light to Walk in Light
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
It's interesting to note that this was when He exonerated the woman caught in adultery, challenging her accusers by telling them, "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." Of course, there were none then, and angry mob that was ready to stone this woman to death, dissipated. I believe Jesus had just proven that all who follow self, or others, are walking in darkness and are therefore, all sinners. Only those who follow Him walk in the light and therefore walk free. This is the same chapter where He tells His disciples, "If you abide in my word [are obedient to my Word], you are indeed my disciples in deed [you will do what I do], and you shall know the truth [no longer deceived by the evil on into sin] and the truth shall make you free [outside of Me there is no freedom].

Matthew 5:14-16 - Believers are Salt and Light
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Summing it all up, first, we who belong to Christ are joined in one spirit with Him; therefore, sexual immorality is egregious and brings great harm. We are not our own;, our bodies and our spirits are God's. Second, when the Lord returns and sets up the New Jerusalem, there will be no temple building because the Father and Jesus will be the Temple. There will be no need for the sun and the moon because the Son will be the Light in the City. Third, we as the saints of God, have been built and fitted together, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone, as the temple of God. Fourth, we are living stones being built up as a spiritual house in Christ. And fifth, we who follow Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, will never walk in darkness. He was the Light sent into this world and He still is. But we, His followers, are the be the lights to shine His light in this world.

Bottom line:
To put it into one full sentence, the theme of what I believe the Lord is telling us today, we are to occupy until He returns to once again to take His rightful place in this world. That means, we are the living stones that form His temple until He returns to be the Temple; we are His lights in this world until He returns to be the Light in that great City the New Jerusalem.

Take your positions, saints. It's never been more important. We are the generation upon  whom the end of the age has come. We must be found in position upon His return, but that is only possible if we stick together in the bond of His love.