After getting the initial inspiration to write this post I let it go for a while and perhaps lost some of the original thought behind why I wanted to write it to begin with. But I have been too busy and not necessarily with the things of God. At least not directly but as God uses everything in our lives to help us realize how much we need Him, the delay has really been a blessings of sorts as I got into a position where I need to get into the correct posture to again be in regular contact with God is saying and doing in the now. It's a place I have to be to be at peace, otherwise, I am just a discombobulated mess. Oh, I may not look like it but trust me, I am. I need Him like I need air to breathe.
So a little background. As a minister of the Gospel, I thought I could do a purely secular job that takes hours and hours of training and then more training. Pretty soon your mind is filled with the subject matters of the training and one could argue, rightfully so. I guess. But for me, it was taking me further and further away from my purpose which is to communicate with people about what the Lord is sharing through me in the unique way He shares through me. It does not appeal to everyone, of course, but for those who gain from it, I believe I have a responsibility to be consistent and not be so spent that you don't have time to hear the now Word to share on a daily or weekly basis but more sporadically. Uh uh! Not good. So let's use my recent story to get into the subject of this blog post with is the difference and importance of our Position and Posture for effective prayer.
Briefly, when I realized my plight I had to step back, repent, ask for forgiveness and just let God know how heartbroken and needy I was for Him and that close connection I cannot live without...at least not for long. With that heart posture to receive and to draw near again, He spoke some things to me in a very specific dream in a way that was strong but in the way I needed to "hear" it. So with that, let's jump into our subject at hand.
POSITION
So when I talk about position, I am referring to the basic position of being 'in Christ.' Without this part of the equation the second is impossible and the prayer is ineffective. We often hear people say our thoughts and prayer are with you or let's prayer for such and such; yet the person praying has no position in Christ. Without that, it's a futile exercise. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father but through me." John 14:6. He also said, "If you love me keep my commandments." John 14:15. What do I mean by being "in Christ?" I mean, you have given Him charge of your life. You and not living for your self but have invited Him to be your Lord; the One to Whom you are submitted. Read James 1; John 14; John 8 (the entire book of John). James 4:7 tells us to "Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you." But even in sharing this I am assuming a lot. To some it may seem like gibberish. What does it all mean. Well, there was a time when I had no idea what this all meant myself. Further, I really did not give much that that is had anything to do with my life. Until...
So let's talk more about the position. The initial position is that of an unbeliever realizing his inability to save him or herself and further the need for a savior. And not just a savior but Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the only One there ever was or ever will be. It takes something that is not valued in our society, that is humility, actually a realization of poverty. I don't simply mean poverty in terms of material goods but poverty in solving our own problem of mankind's destiny of certain destruction unless the Savior is allowed to step in and substitute what He the destruction He already suffered for all of us. Once we accept the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, our destruction is paid in full and we are saved. That word you hear all the time and just gloss over because it has lost it proper meaning.
Everyone seems to have an entitlement to heaven but that's not what the Bible teaches. And if you don't follow the Bible's instructions to secure heaven, how can we even assume that just because we think we are entitled that somehow God is obligated to follow our construct of how He ought to run His universe. That is a man-made construct of how the world now and in the hereafter works. But woe to those who have it wrong. Yes, God is loving! Actually, God is Love. But He is also holy, merciful, gracious, kind, and patient. But it's His Way or no way. And His Way is Jesus!
Of course, I cannot lay out all of what it means to be in Jesus and actually, I would rather not try. Once you have determined that you can't secure your own eternal position with God, ask Jesus to help you and as you draw near to Him, He will make Himself known to you. It's a very simple transaction. It all comes from our admission that we are wrecks by His standards and need Him to save us from ourselves and what is to come. And truthfully, the love for Him was not immediate in my case. I am sure it is for some. But even in that I had to ask His help in knowing how to love Him. I did not know how and I a still learning. The first part of loving Him is offering Him yourself. He knows what to do after that as you yield more and more of yourself to Him.
I don't know who you are, but someone is being walked through salvation because I had no intention of writing this blog in this way.
So that is our position or positioning in prayer. We need to be "in Jesus." That is not something you are born into or baptized into as a baby. It is a decision you make as an adult to be a following of Jesus Christ. Following Him in water baptism as a reasoning individual child, teen, young or mature adult. But it is an volitional act after realizing our need for Him. This is often, but not always, followed by baptism by Jesus Himself in fire and the Holy Spirit. The order of things can go in any direction after that initial decision to follow Christ. Just come to Him, you will not regret it!
The position comes by way of the gift of Christ's death on the Cross for our sins to put us back into right relationship with Father God. Without a position in Christ the Ultimate Victor, we cannot get into posture to receive victory in every area of our lives and the lives.
Now lets look at the second part of living a life of answered prayer and
The book of John is a great place to get a good handle of our position in Christ. His 3 letters are also good reads on the character and love of God and the Person of Jesus Christ and so much more.
POSTURE
Let's look further at James 5:13-16
Romans 8:1-4 sums it up best:
I love how this Scripture is laid out. Firs the problem, then the solution. But lest we think God heeds just anyone's prayer, we see in verse 16 that in order for your prayer to avail much, you must be righteous, that is in "right standing" with God. This is another way of saying, yes, you guessed it, "in Christ." Wiping the slate clean by confession our faults to God and to one another as He leads. The blood of Jesus covers all of our confessed since so that we are stained no more. Even if you are happy, the Word tells you to worship God. If you are suffering, pray. If you are sick, get the elders to pray in faith and anoint with oil. I also love how God lets us know that Elijah was just a person like us. He had no special powers, but he prayed in faith and God moved.
Faith
The next posture we must discuss is that if faith. What is faith and how do we get it?
What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that
How do you get faith?
As we hear God speak, listen and obey, it builds our faith to believe even more and more and more and more. You get the picture. But disobedience, doubt, and unbelief causes our faith to wane. These three postures causes double-mindedness and instability in a person.
James 1:5-8 tells us:
So a little background. As a minister of the Gospel, I thought I could do a purely secular job that takes hours and hours of training and then more training. Pretty soon your mind is filled with the subject matters of the training and one could argue, rightfully so. I guess. But for me, it was taking me further and further away from my purpose which is to communicate with people about what the Lord is sharing through me in the unique way He shares through me. It does not appeal to everyone, of course, but for those who gain from it, I believe I have a responsibility to be consistent and not be so spent that you don't have time to hear the now Word to share on a daily or weekly basis but more sporadically. Uh uh! Not good. So let's use my recent story to get into the subject of this blog post with is the difference and importance of our Position and Posture for effective prayer.
Briefly, when I realized my plight I had to step back, repent, ask for forgiveness and just let God know how heartbroken and needy I was for Him and that close connection I cannot live without...at least not for long. With that heart posture to receive and to draw near again, He spoke some things to me in a very specific dream in a way that was strong but in the way I needed to "hear" it. So with that, let's jump into our subject at hand.
POSITION
So when I talk about position, I am referring to the basic position of being 'in Christ.' Without this part of the equation the second is impossible and the prayer is ineffective. We often hear people say our thoughts and prayer are with you or let's prayer for such and such; yet the person praying has no position in Christ. Without that, it's a futile exercise. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father but through me." John 14:6. He also said, "If you love me keep my commandments." John 14:15. What do I mean by being "in Christ?" I mean, you have given Him charge of your life. You and not living for your self but have invited Him to be your Lord; the One to Whom you are submitted. Read James 1; John 14; John 8 (the entire book of John). James 4:7 tells us to "Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you." But even in sharing this I am assuming a lot. To some it may seem like gibberish. What does it all mean. Well, there was a time when I had no idea what this all meant myself. Further, I really did not give much that that is had anything to do with my life. Until...
So let's talk more about the position. The initial position is that of an unbeliever realizing his inability to save him or herself and further the need for a savior. And not just a savior but Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the only One there ever was or ever will be. It takes something that is not valued in our society, that is humility, actually a realization of poverty. I don't simply mean poverty in terms of material goods but poverty in solving our own problem of mankind's destiny of certain destruction unless the Savior is allowed to step in and substitute what He the destruction He already suffered for all of us. Once we accept the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, our destruction is paid in full and we are saved. That word you hear all the time and just gloss over because it has lost it proper meaning.
Everyone seems to have an entitlement to heaven but that's not what the Bible teaches. And if you don't follow the Bible's instructions to secure heaven, how can we even assume that just because we think we are entitled that somehow God is obligated to follow our construct of how He ought to run His universe. That is a man-made construct of how the world now and in the hereafter works. But woe to those who have it wrong. Yes, God is loving! Actually, God is Love. But He is also holy, merciful, gracious, kind, and patient. But it's His Way or no way. And His Way is Jesus!
Of course, I cannot lay out all of what it means to be in Jesus and actually, I would rather not try. Once you have determined that you can't secure your own eternal position with God, ask Jesus to help you and as you draw near to Him, He will make Himself known to you. It's a very simple transaction. It all comes from our admission that we are wrecks by His standards and need Him to save us from ourselves and what is to come. And truthfully, the love for Him was not immediate in my case. I am sure it is for some. But even in that I had to ask His help in knowing how to love Him. I did not know how and I a still learning. The first part of loving Him is offering Him yourself. He knows what to do after that as you yield more and more of yourself to Him.
I don't know who you are, but someone is being walked through salvation because I had no intention of writing this blog in this way.
So that is our position or positioning in prayer. We need to be "in Jesus." That is not something you are born into or baptized into as a baby. It is a decision you make as an adult to be a following of Jesus Christ. Following Him in water baptism as a reasoning individual child, teen, young or mature adult. But it is an volitional act after realizing our need for Him. This is often, but not always, followed by baptism by Jesus Himself in fire and the Holy Spirit. The order of things can go in any direction after that initial decision to follow Christ. Just come to Him, you will not regret it!
The position comes by way of the gift of Christ's death on the Cross for our sins to put us back into right relationship with Father God. Without a position in Christ the Ultimate Victor, we cannot get into posture to receive victory in every area of our lives and the lives.
Now lets look at the second part of living a life of answered prayer and
The book of John is a great place to get a good handle of our position in Christ. His 3 letters are also good reads on the character and love of God and the Person of Jesus Christ and so much more.
POSTURE
Humility
When we talk about posture we are really talking about how we by our will take the posture necessary to receive from God. There a certain constants in our posture for receiving the answer to our prayers. Some are not surprising, humility being an obvious one. We have to humble ourselves to receive from God. The Bible says "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6. Proverbs 3:34 puts it even stronger, "Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble." Humble people get God's attention, nearness, and favor. In other words, the puffed up persons is not a friend of God's. And even if the person appears to have an be "all that," it does not mean that God is with him. Word to the wise. some people are very charismatic. Charisma and godliness are not synonymous. Likewise, charisma and intimacy with God are not synonymous. You shall know them by their fruit.
Let's look further at James 5:13-16
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit."Think of humility, in addition to what is above, as not only knowing who you are but also knowing who you are not. Once you come into Christ the old person has "passed away."
Romans 8:1-4 sums it up best:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.So there is no guilt or shame involved in humility. Humility is knowing our position in God is that He is boss. We take the low road with Him in terms of positioning yet we are His sons and daughters. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the protocol of the Kingdom. God is our Daddy, Jesus His only begotten Son and First born Son, and those who are in Jesus Christ are sons and daughters begotten through Jesus Christ. We are one big Family but our Father is God of all and our Big Brother is the One He has made King of kings.
Righteousness
I love how this Scripture is laid out. Firs the problem, then the solution. But lest we think God heeds just anyone's prayer, we see in verse 16 that in order for your prayer to avail much, you must be righteous, that is in "right standing" with God. This is another way of saying, yes, you guessed it, "in Christ." Wiping the slate clean by confession our faults to God and to one another as He leads. The blood of Jesus covers all of our confessed since so that we are stained no more. Even if you are happy, the Word tells you to worship God. If you are suffering, pray. If you are sick, get the elders to pray in faith and anoint with oil. I also love how God lets us know that Elijah was just a person like us. He had no special powers, but he prayed in faith and God moved.
Faith
The next posture we must discuss is that if faith. What is faith and how do we get it?
What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
How do you get faith?
"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."The thing about the Bible, the written Word of God, and the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, is that they speak, sometimes audibly. Certainly if you read the Bible aloud you hear Him audibly. However, Jesus usually speaks to us in our spirits through the Holy Spirit. Some ways to describe how God speaks to us is an impression, a leading that is consistent with the written Word of God. God never speak against His own Word. When the Holy Spirit speaks to me it comes more like "an established fact" that I never learned. You just know it and it turns out to be right. But we are not always so sure it's God speaking. Often the voice in your head when the Lord speaks sounds like your own but it's Him. May come as a thought, again, that is consistent with His written Word or the spirit of His Word.
As we hear God speak, listen and obey, it builds our faith to believe even more and more and more and more. You get the picture. But disobedience, doubt, and unbelief causes our faith to wane. These three postures causes double-mindedness and instability in a person.
James 1:5-8 tells us:
" 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Here the Lord is specifically addressing a prayer for wisdom which he will always answer but only if the person prays in faith without doubt and disbelief. It's as if when we pray God wants us to expect that He will answer. That is another component of faith. Expectancy is key. That is, hope that it will be given, that the prayer prayed will indeed be answered. Now once the prayer has been answered, you must not sit on it unless He is directing you to. You must act on the "answer." Obedience is key if the answered prayer is to bear any fruit. If its revelation, act on that revelation whether a discovery or a warning. Faith without works is dead. Faith leads to action. Okay enough said. You get the point.
So there you have it. In order to live a life of consistently answered prayer, we must first be positioned in Christ. Secondly we must take a posture to receive such as humility, righteousness (process of keeping a clean record with the Lord through Christ), and faith, believe with expectancy.
Prayer
I pray this has helped someone. Please offer your comments and questions. Would love to hear from you, wherever you are in the world. In the meantime, may God bless and protect you as you pray from a position in Christ with a posture of humility, righteousness, and faith.
Bible Reading Challenge:
The book of James (the brother of Jesus) is a great book to get insight into the posture of answered prayer.Better yet, let's you and I read the entire Bible again. Start with the book of John, rest of the 4 Gospels then the rest of the New Testament. Then the Old Testament, reading a Psalm and a Proverb every day. We will be built up in our most holy faith and be better equipped to help those around us who are struggling for various reasons. When you cup is running over you can bless others out of your overflow.
Blessings and Joy until next time!
Blessings and Joy until next time!
