GOING DEEPER WITH GOD

THE PURPOSE 

& PLACE OF PRAYER

Our purpose for prayer is not just about presenting our petitions, say a thank you, cry, pray for the sick. Yes we do all of that and more, but the purpose for prayer goes much deeper than that.

When God created Adam and Eve, He desired to have both fellowship and a relationship with mankind. Then very quickly sin entered in and God's fellowship and relationship with mankind was broken (Genesis chapter 2 & 3). Then in the fullness of time God sent His Son born of a woman, born under the law. Immanuel came which means "God with us". With the coming of Christ and His taking our place on the cross that lost relationship and fellowship was now restored to those who receive His gift of salvation.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him

 Then Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to indwell us, in these verses we will see why we count on His Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers:

1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:11 For what knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him (this is our spirit)? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints (you & me) according to the will of God.

God sent His Son, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit that we might have intimacy with God the Father. Jesus Himself said "He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him"! The purpose of prayer is to spend time with God, sit at our Savior's feet like Mary did. Yet, have we become a prayerless people, who throw out a rescue me prayer when in trouble, but can only pray on the run. Both corporate and individual prayer is essential in our lives. I recently read this from Leonard Ravenhill: "No man/woman is greater than his prayer life."

God has reached out to us through His Son, He has given us all we need to have more than a powerful prayer life, but to be able to sit in His presence and hear His voice.

Let me add something right here praying a quick prayer, praying for someone who has a need even right that moment, is exactly what we are called to do. Yet, we also have a responsibility to meet daily with our Father and this is where this lesson is going. We will get to the other in another lesson.

What does it mean "to seek God", for me it is to run after God with all we are. Not to seek something from Him, but to run to Him out of our love and adoration. Let's look at 3 scriptures:

Psalm 27:8 When You said, "Seek My face". My heart said to You, "Your face LORD, I will seek."

God didn't just say that to David, He said it to each one of His children. This is God drawing is near to Him. Calling us to come close to Him.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

Read that again, what does it say to you? To me it says "Don't put off until tomorrow before we seek God, tomorrow may be too late and He may not answer".

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him 

Wait a minute read that last part, who is He a rewarder to? "Those who diligently seek Him".

Our time of prayer is a commitment, not out of duty, but out of love, a willingness to set aside time to spend with God, with Jesus because we love Him and enjoy His presence. We can not have a powerful prayer life when we neglect our fellowship with God. 

In the New Testament it is recorded over and over again that Jesus went up to the mountain, just by Himself to spend time with the Father. I remember that in John 5:19 Jesus said He didn't do anything unless God showed Him. It is this time spend alone with the Father that He will speak a rhema word to us, that will give us direction. You mean God will speak to us today? Of course He will, we just have to listen for His voice. Remember His words will always line up with His Word. So to recognize His voice we must spend time in His Word, on this journey we will talk and study the importance of being in the Word.

John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, you shall go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to Your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

We are living in a microwave society, everyone just hustling through life, work, kids, housework, kid's activities, finding time for spouse, finding time for self. Just busy little beavers who can't seem to find time for more than a five minute prayer. And you know what there are many times I don't spend the time with God as I should, not because I'm busy, but my mind just wanders around with thoughts that don't mean a thing, and I hadn't even started to pray. Please tell me I'm not alone! But we will never have a powerful prayer life until we stop just trying to fit God into our schedule.

Most have heard and spoken of the prayer closet, but do we really understand what this means? Some create a room just for prayer, others sit in a particular chair, making a set time to meet with God. People who work or stay home moms with young children normally get up early. When I was first saved I would announce "I'm going to my room to spend my time in prayer and the word", would shut the door and pray "Lord keep them quiet"! But now it's just me and my cat, I have all the time to spend with God, and I confess I waste a lot of my time. But for each of us seasons in our lives change and even so we must not neglect our time alone with our Abba, Father.

These times we should hunger for, to sit and talk to our Father, stop and listen to Him. We must turn off every distraction, any disturbance that may take our focus off of Jesus. Turn off the television, turn your ringer off your phone, put away anything that might catch your attention. Remember last week Jehu told king Jehoshaphat that he had prepared his heart, this is how we do that, we make it a commitment to seek God, in our time of intimacy, we have removed every distraction, except His word. We are excited to spend this time with Him.

I have mentioned several times "Powerful Prayer Life", you see it is here that He draws us into His secret place that both changes us, anionts us, and empowers us.

Next week it is on: "His Presence In The Secret Place". Hope you join me.