I believe the Lord is saying, ‘You know some things, BUT you must pray!’ Prayer is awareness! The spirit of prayer will be the corrective lenses thru which God’s view of the word is opened up to you. Prayer changes our posture from haughty to humble, from sinner to saint! Prayer unlocks the Mystery of Christ to you, within you and through you! Prayer will be the defining mark of what you have come to know and what you truly believe. Recently, I heard the question asked this way, ‘How is it that you believe in a supernatural God, but don’t believe in the supernatural?’ Prayer is the key to the mystery that changes your thinking to recognize Jesus is at the spiritual place of God’s right hand of power pleading for you! Don’t tell Him He’s changed and no longer moving in supernatural power. He is there interceding for you to grasp the concept of an open heaven so you might boldly come asking to receive His grace and power (Heb 4:16). I tell you truth, it is easier to listen to other preachers, read enlightening books, listen to spiritual music, and even read the Bible, but harder still to pray. Don’t misinterpret what I am saying, those things are good and necessary, but without the spirit of prayer, your life will be rather one dimensional missing the dynamic that can transform what you know in your head to what gets ahold of your heart! Psalm 40 is a psalm of powerful awareness in which David’s ears are opened in corrective fashion to realize the resources afforded him by the King of heaven. What do you have need of today? You must in faith believe “God IS, AND HE IS A REWARDER OF THOSE WHO SEEK HIM”. What is it that you seek? You will accomplish it in the place of prayer.
Tag: people
The Work of God in Prayer
Recently in prayer, I began to understand the source of my frustration with others. In my discovery, I realized how I had waited on men and not waited on God. I had waited on men to be my help; I had waited for men to have the answer. I was waiting on men for my next move. It was hindering my progress slowing me down and making me angry. I saw my failure to wait on God was causing me to miss His move and with it, His great provision. Bottom line, it was the fear of man and not the fear of God. I began seeing where the fear of man ensnared me and left me without a Godly mandate to move forward. That fear of men kept me from confronting my problems and issues with others. It left me without a voice that could speak as God to inspire true leadership that moves to victory. I did a lot of preaching at the problem, but was distant from confronting it head on with real solutions born out of relationship. The people were not my problem, but failure to wait on God was. Could it be God is calling you to a ‘relationship of waiting on Him’? In your frustations, your failure to wait is a failure to get a word from Him to speak directly with divine wisdom into the lives of others. You like me need to see the work of God in prayer. It is a work that reveals willingness to wait on God bringing rest from other men’s agendas. In prayer, the Spirit of God will cause you to find a ‘fresh wind’ to fill your sails and propel you forward to victory.
A Heart to Heal
Galatians 6:1 says, “you who are spiritual, restore….” I believe the word is conveying the idea that we should as the body of Christ, seek to restore others to God because we are people who identify with the Spirit of God and see ourselves as His instruments. Seeing yourself as His instrument will have you focused on people and less preoccupied with things. Jesus did not come to serve things but the interests of others. All too often when we are in a position to restore others, we fail to hear them in a way to be of any useful benefit. In a recent conversation with a friend of mine, each of us were sharing some things that bothered us. It seemed as though we were each caught up sharing about our individual problems without really listening to the other. Though unaware of it at the time, we were almost trying to out-best the other’s problems with neither finding a place for healing. If I had realized at the time that God desires for me to restore my brother, things may have turned out different. The word says, ‘you who are spiritual restore’. We all have hurts and things we could share, but are we listening to be an effective instrument of the Master restoring others to His love? I believe He is saying to spiritual men and women, ‘have a heart to heal to breach’, here you will find a greater place of recovery for youself as you allow your focus to change from things to people and from self concerns to the needs of others. The Father’s heart is a heart to heal. The call to restore is uncommonly His, with no thought for self, only a desire to ransom many–bringing them and ourselves to a place of great recovery.