

## In Pursuit of the Living God

## A Guide to Prayer

### Peter Enseleit

## In Pursuit of the Living God

## A Guide to Prayer

by Peter Enseleit

Published by Peter Enseleit at Smashwords

Copyright © 2012 Peter Enseleit

truebluejesus@gmail.com

**Smashwords** **Edition,** **License** **Notes**

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All Scriptures taken from

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™

Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide. 

Cover Design by Peter Enseleit

Dedication

For Aidan, Madeline and Zachary
**Table of Contents**

Preface

Tangled Up with the Living God

He Devises Ways

Trampling Down the High Places

The Mechanics of Prayer

Prepare for Prayer

Pursue God

Call Out to the Lord

God Speaks

Praise God

The Effects of Prayer

Summing Up

Bibliography

# Preface

In my experience, when I get discouraged about prayer I stop praying.  I think this is common to many Christians, yet this is the opposite of what the Bible says we should do.  Instead, it tells us to keep on praying and to pray more and more the worse things get.  In fact, it tells us that the less our prayers are answered, the more we should pray.  The Bible's answer to discouragement about anything is to pray.  For that matter, the Bible's answer to anything at all is to pray.  On every occasion when we would normally not pray, it tells us instead to pray.  Prayer in the Bible is the be-all and end-all to every situation and circumstance, whether it is immediately effective or not.  On the other hand, the be-all and end-all to me is to give up on prayer and instead to whine that God is not listening.  To me praying seems counter-intuitive.  I would rather find an excuse for God not answering my prayer than persist and actually hear his answer.  I would rather believe that God is sitting afar off and distant, uncaring and unmoved, than believe what the Bible says: that he really loves me personally, that he lives within me, that he hears my every word, that he answers my prayers and that he will never leave me nor forsake me.  My internal, unspoken attitude toward prayer is that prayer does not work and that it is boring, unrewarding and unimportant.  All of these attitudes I have learned, either from others, or by myself.  I need to unlearn them all and find out what prayer really is and how I should really pray.  I need to learn what God says about prayer rather than what I think about prayer.  I need to learn what the Bible teaches about prayer rather than what other people tell me about prayer. 

This book tries to do just that: to teach what the Bible says about prayer.  In its chapters I ask of prayer what, why, who, when, where and how.  The latter half or even two-thirds of the book, the 'how' section, can be read either as a normal book, or as a daily devotional.  It is divided into chapters, each grouped around a prayer theme, containing Bible references and commentary relating to that theme.  I developed the structure of the 'how' section using a simple method: I read through the Bible from start to finish, searching for references to prayer and noting them down as I went.  My search was based mainly around simple keywords such as 'pray', 'call', 'cry out', 'praise' and so on.  I also tried to record references to prayer concepts where the wording may not have literally been related directly to prayer or praying.  My search was large, though not exhaustive, yet still I ended up with a very large number of references to prayer.  Once I'd finished, I sorted the references and found that they naturally fell into groups of ideas.  These could often be sorted further into smaller groupings.  Using these sorted groupings of Biblical references to prayer, I created chapters, each with small sections addressing a particular theme.  From there I just added some of my own commentary and left it at that.  Even such a simple process has provided a revelation to me of the richness of teaching in the Bible on the topic of prayer.  My hope is that this richness will also be revealed to you as you read through this book. 

I'd like to thank my wife Cheryl for keeping my feet on the ground while my head was in the clouds writing this book.  Thanks also to all the people who read and reviewed drafts of this book and gave their honest criticisms of it, a task which has made it better than it otherwise would have been.  Special thanks to Pastor Peter Dixon and Trevor Kettlewell. 

#  Tangled Up with the Living God

What is prayer?  When I ask myself this question, I answer with more questions.  Of course, prayer is talking to God, but is that all?  Who is this God I pray to?  Is he alive?  Is he listening?  Does he talk back?  Does he want me to pray a certain way, maybe kneeling with my hands clasped together in front of me and speaking in King James English?  Is God friendly?  Is praying to him like having my own private personal assistant - will he do whatever I ask him to do?  Or is prayer like magic?  If I recite the Nicene Creed at breakfast, wear Hessian underpants all day long and then feed the poor at night, will my prayer automatically be answered?  Should I pray to angels?  Should I pray to the Virgin Mary?  How often should I pray - only when I am on the verge of being horribly disfigured in a tragic boating accident?  Should I just let my pastor pray on my behalf?  If I tell God my deepest, darkest and dirtiest secrets, will he still like me?  If I confess my undying love for God and give my heart completely to him, can I trust him not to break it? 

Well, prayer is indeed the act of talking to God, but there is more to it than just that.  To understand how much more, we need to answer some of the questions I've asked above as well as many others.  The answers are found in the pages of the Bible.  This book as a whole aims to reveal what the Bible says about prayer and how we should go about praying.  In this first chapter I'll try to explain what I think prayer is, based on what I think the Bible tells us about the subject. 

## The Living God

So once again, what is prayer?  Let's begin our definition by repeating what was stated above _:_ _prayer_ _is_ _talking_ _to_ _God._  I think, though, that we should immediately refine that definition to clarify who this God is we are talking to. 

In the Bible, God is often described as 'the living God'. 

But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal king.  Jeremiah 10:10

The adjective 'living', is used here to clearly distinguish the God of the Bible from other gods and idols.  The prophet Habakkuk says:

Of what value is an idol, since man has carved it?  Or an image that teaches lies?  For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.  Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!'  Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!'  Can it give guidance?  It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.  But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.  Habakkuk 2:18-20  
(See also Psalm 115:4-7). 

In the verse above, and many others like them, the Bible makes a distinction between the living God and lifeless idols.  God himself declares that not only are idols lifeless and worthless, but that indeed there are no gods at all besides him:

I am the LORD and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.  Isaiah 45:5 (See also Isaiah 43:10-11)

So, according to the Bible, there is only one true, living God.  Idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, or gods of river and stream, hearth and furnace are merely lifeless, man-made or man-imagined things.  They can't hear, they can't speak, they can't see and they can't give guidance.  They offer us a false hope and are a waste of our time and effort. 

On the other hand, the God of the Bible is really there and he's vividly and vibrantly alive.  He hears us (Acts 10:31), he speaks to us (Jer 33:3), (his voice is like rumbling thunder 2 Sam 22:14, John 12:29).  He sees our every move and even sees into the motives of our hearts (Psalm 139).  He has sent his Holy Spirit to give us guidance (John 14:26).  He does creative work (Gen 1, Acts 14:15), and indeed constantly holds the created world in place (Coll 1:17, Heb 1:3).  God also rests from his work (Gen 2: 1- 3).  He is active and involved in people's lives; he reasons with us (Isa 1:18-20); he rewards faithfulness (1 Sam 26:23, Heb 11:6); and he corrects rebellion (Job 36:8-10, Rev 3:19).  He is an emotional being, shown to have experienced feelings of abandonment (Jer 2:11-13), betrayal (Hos 2:13, 13.6), grief and regret (Gen 6:6), longing (Isa 30:18, Mt 23:37), jealousy for what is rightfully his (Zech 8:1-3, Jas 4:5), anger (Judges 2:12), compassion (Judges 2:17-18, 10:16), love (Isa 43:3-4), and delight (Deut 30:9-10).  These verses are just a few of the many in Scripture which give us an insight into the character of the living God who has revealed himself to people throughout history. 

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  Romans 1:20

So then, since God is the living God, _prayer_ _is_ _not_ _only_ _talking_ _to_ _God,_ _but_ _it_ _is_ _talking_ _to_ _the_ _only_ _true,_ _living_ _God._  We're not talking to a dead, wooden, unfeeling figment of our imagination.  We're talking to a real, but unseen, living being with a vibrant personality, in many ways very similar to ours. 

## The Promises of Prayer

If it is indeed true that we pray to the living God, who has an exciting, emotional and rational presence, then you would expect prayer with this living God to be something special: you would expect it to be a living, emotional and rationally engaging experience.  You would expect to be excited and immersed in your conversation with God and you would expect that he would also become immersed in his conversation with you.  You would expect prayer to be amazing.  Indeed the living God does claim that prayer with him is amazing. 

He claims that he will reveal amazing things to us when we call to him:

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.  Jeremiah 33:3

He claims to satisfy our deepest needs when we come to him:

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."  John 6:35

He claims to be a shield for us from the world and all of its troubles when we take refuge in him:

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless.  He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.  Psalm 18:30

And he claims to give us the fullest life possible when we remain in him:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.   
John 10:10

The living God claims that he is the most amazing thing there is - anywhere (Job 38:1-42:6) - and he wants us to love him with all of our might (Mark 12:29-31).  He wants us to know him so that we might experience eternal life through him:

For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  John 17:2-3. 

This living God wants you to know him.  He wants to have a living, vibrant relationship with you (Jer 31:20, Psalm 149:4).  He wants to live in fellowship with you (1 Cor 1:9, 1 John 1:2-3, 2 Cor 13:14).  He wants to be with you so badly that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for you, so that you could know him (John 3:16).  When you begin praying to the living God, you begin your journey to knowing him; you begin your journey of eternal life in relationship with him.  This relationship is one which will last for the rest of your existence, both now and after your physical body dies and you enter into heaven. 

Praying to God is not supposed to be like talking to some fusty, morose, prune-faced undertaker who only ever responds in grunts and somber drones.  Prayer is supposed to be a fulfilling, two-way relationship with all of the attendant experiences, emotions, joys, sorrows and rational understandings and misunderstandings that any relationship brings.  If that is indeed the case, then our definition of prayer can be further refined: _prayer_ _is_ _entering_ _into_ _an_ _eternal_ _living_ _relationship_ _with_ _the_ _only_ _true,_ _living_ _God._ 

So these are some of the promises of prayer: satisfaction, fullness of life, a place of refuge, close personal relationship with God, fellowship with him in his work and knowledge of God leading to eternal life (See 1 Cor 1:9, 1 John 1:3).  Loving and praying to the God who claims all of these things would surely be amazing.  Yet to many of us prayer is more like talking to a chocolate pudding than participating in an amazing relationship with a living being.  We talk to him, we cry out to him, we might even shout at him, but we get no response from him.  To those of us who can identify with this, the trite words I've written above seem fantastical and unrealistic.  We wish they were true, but they don't actually describe our own prayer lives or the prayer lives of anyone we know.  Prayer doesn't make us feel fulfilled.  We don't engage with God when we pray.  God doesn't talk back to us.  We don't hear voices, see visions or experience angelic visitations.  We find prayer dry, dreary and unrewarding.  So what is going on?  Why are the promises of prayer and the experience of prayer so far removed from one another? 

## The Secret Prayer Formula

Perhaps there is a secret formula to having a vibrant, living prayer life with the living God.  Perhaps there is some secret knowledge we need to learn before the promises of prayer can truly be ours.  Is there?  Is there some secret prayer formula which will magically give us the exciting prayer life we seek? 

No. 

However, the Bible teaches us that there is one thing we can do to guarantee a rich prayer life.  It's not really a secret, because the teaching is often repeated and plainly written.  It isn't really a formula, because praying to God is not like chanting some kind of magical incantation, where you say the right secret holy words and wave some sort of ritually anointed incense to automatically get the results you seek.  This teaching requires no secret knowledge or mystical experience.  It requires no sacred rituals or adherence to any form of ascetic lifestyle.  It is simple and revealed plainly for the entire world to read and it is available to all men, women and children.  This non-formulaic, non-secret 'Secret Prayer Formula', which leads us into a living, vibrant prayer life with the living God, is simply this: that **to** **have** **a** **living** **prayer** **life** **with** **God,** **you** **need** **to** **pursue** **him.** 

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.   
1 Chronicles 22:19

God has said that when we seek him, he will not fail to respond.  He backs up his word with a promise: you will not seek me in vain. 

I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.'  I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.   
Isaiah 45:19

He says through the prophet Jeremiah:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13. 

God loves you.  He sent his Son to die for you, but he can't make you love him.  You have to choose to do that all by yourself, by seeking him.  The love which God expects you to have for him is not a feeling that comes upon you when you are in the right mood, a feeling that comes and goes depending on life's circumstances.  Rather, it is a choice which you have to make and commit to.  It is a choice you have to act upon day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.  It is a choice to love God, to find out about him, to obey him and to seek him.  If you do this God will not fail to respond to you. 

So we add to our definition: _prayer_ _is_ _entering_ _into_ _an_ _eternal_ _living_ _relationship_ _with_ _the_ _only_ _true_ _living_ _God_ _and_ _it_ _is_ _a_ _relationship_ _which_ _we_ _have_ _to_ _pursue,_ _a_ _relationship_ _we_ _have_ _to_ _become_ _involved_ _in_ _through_ _a_ _purposeful_ _act_ _of_ _will_ _on_ _our_ _part._ 

## God is Not on Your Team

This is all starting to sound like we need to put effort into prayer, and relationships of any sort can be hard, even when things are going well.  A relationship with God, though, has one element which makes it different from human relationships.  In human relationships there usually has to be compromise of some sort from both parties if the relationship is to succeed, but in our relationship with God, he will not compromise.  He will not change to make the relationship work smoothly.  We have to do all of the compromising and we have to do all of the changing in the relationship.  If we do not, the relationship cannot succeed. 

God is clearly for us, he is not against us (Rom 8:31).  He has our best interests at heart (Jer 29:11) and wants to give us fullness of life in him (John 10:10).  He has gone out of his way to bring us back into relationship with him, sending his only son to die for us.  God has sought you at great cost, but it has not been at any cost.  If you don't respond to God's overtures of love, he will not compromise who he is to have you.  He will not change to please you.  This is demonstrated very clearly for us in the story of King David of Israel.  The Bible describes David as a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22); a man who was devoted to God and would do anything God asked him to do.  God was pleased with David's response toward him, and he blessed him with his presence as a result, but this did not mean that David had God wrapped around his little finger.  God did not show favoritism to David, rather he responded to David's faithfulness and obedience to him.  When David disobeyed God, God was quick to rebuke him and punish him, even though he was greatly esteemed by God.  God is for you, but he is not on your side.  He is not going to bend the rules and compromise for you, no matter how much he loves you and holds you in his favor. 

You see, we can't manipulate God.  Most of us pray as if God is a valuable player we choose for the football team we own.  We expect everyone on our team to be willing to subject themselves to the goals and objectives of our team.  We expect God to do whatever we ask him to do.  But God is not on our team, no matter how much we want him to be.  Rather, we are on his team, and we are supposed to do what he tells us to do.  We approach prayer as a puppet show where we are the puppet master trying to make our puppet (God) do what we want him to do and what we think is best.  When God doesn't dance under our direction, we feel disappointed, discouraged and sometimes we even get angry at him.  We question ourselves, "Do I lack faith?"  We begin to question the promises of Scripture, and as our prayers continue to go unanswered, we may even lose hope and stop praying altogether.  This is falling into the trap of thinking that God is there to do our will.  It isn't until we realize that we didn't choose God to be on our team, but rather that he chose us to be on his team, that we can begin to experience the fullness of the promises of prayer. 

When I pray I am supposed to be working towards fulfilling his team's goals, namely ushering in the Kingdom of God and proclaiming his offer of salvation to the entire world.  Prayer is not just about me.  It's not just about me being blessed by God, so that I have riches here on earth, or so that I am made spiritually acceptable to him.  It's not just about me being healed or made whole in God, so that my physical and spiritual weaknesses are taken away.  It's not just about me basking in the glorious presence of the Lord to the exclusion of all else.  Prayer is about glorifying God and furthering his Kingdom on earth and it's about caring for his people, whether they are saved or unsaved, everywhere on earth. 

When he was asked which was the most important of the commandments, Jesus replied:

" _The most important one", answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  Mark 12:29-31_

The most important teachings in the Bible, then, are firstly that we should focus our thoughts and attentions principally on God, and secondly on our fellow human beings. ' I' do not even rate a mention.  This might seem an odd thing to say since this chapter focuses on the fact that prayer involves a relationship with God; you would think a lot of 'me' would be involved.  Indeed prayer is entering into relationship with God and that relationship is what God has intended for us since the beginning of time.  Why?  Because God knows that we need that relationship with him to fulfill the plan he has had for us from the beginning.  When we enter into relationship with God, our deepest inner needs are met through that relationship.  If we remain in relationship with him, he will remain in us (John 15:4) and as we remain in him, our lives change.  This can be a long process, but over time, as we obey Christ, we bear fruit.  Instead of always thinking of ourselves first, we begin to put others before ourselves, sometimes even without realizing it.  Our continuing relationship with Christ is quietly working away at providing us with inner security, a rooted sense of peace and a hope which is subtly more powerful than almost anything we are faced with in life.  Our own needs are met in our relationship with God, and as a result we stop making our own needs the driving force of our lives.  Instead of being addicted to 'me' we slowly become addicted to God, and our thoughts and prayers turn to others, because as we hang out with God we become like him and we start to think like him.  God wants us all to come into full fellowship with him; to share in the work of pursuing his goals.  Those of us who have already accepted his offer of salvation have all that we need to join his team and start pursuing his team's goals.  He will continue to bless us and heal us and make us whole as we join in and work as part of his team under his direction, but our blessing, our healing and our wholeness are provided as we seek first his kingdom and his team's goals (Mt 6:33). 

So, our definition of what prayer is should be expanded to include the fact that God is the boss: _prayer_ _is_ _entering_ _into_ _an_ _eternal_ _living_ _relationship_ _with_ _the_ _only_ _true_ _living_ _God._ _ It_ _is_ _a_ _relationship_ _which_ _we_ _have_ _to_ _actively_ _pursue_ _and_ _it_ _is_ _a_ _relationship_ _which_ _we_ _do_ _not_ _control._ 

We are not the ones who call the shots in our prayer life with God; we are not in charge.  When we pray, we get involved with God.  Prayer is not a detached and disengaged exercise.  He wants us to seek him and to join his team, but on his terms.  He wants us to live by his rules and to work to his agenda and to do it in obedience to him.  This might be why some of us do not like to pray, because it can't proceed for long on our own terms. 

## Entanglement

There is one more thing I'd like to say about what prayer is.  To describe a wonderful prayer life with the living God, I have used words like _rich_ , _full_ , and _amazing_.  These words can conjure up the idea of prayer as always being positive, always giving us a buzz, and always leaving us on a high, but you and I both know that real prayer is not like that.  Rich, full and amazing are words which more accurately describe depth, rather than ecstasy, delight and joy alone.  All of us know from experience that real prayer involves both wonderful moments of worship, intimacy and joy as well as times of loneliness, desolation and confusion.  The Psalms reflect this richness of life in prayer very vividly.  I really believe that we need to acknowledge that a rich, fulfilling, vibrant prayer life is like life itself.  Its richness and fullness come from a mixture of the great high moments we enjoy as well as the depths of distress, doubt and despair we must endure.  The struggle to grow and endure in prayer is like being tangled up in a fishing net in the bad times and like being woven into a wonderful tapestry in the good. 

When I became a Christian, it was because I responded to an overwhelming feeling of ecstasy inspired in me by the Holy Spirit.  I just had to have that feeling again, so I asked Christ into my heart.  It is probably what God needed to do to save me, but in hindsight, it made my life as a Christian very hard.  I was only in it for the good feelings, so I kept chasing those good feelings and they always needed to be better than the last time, just like a drug.  But when the good feelings dried up, my faith also dried up.  When I finally realized that being a Christian meant following God and living the way Jesus did in spite of how good or bad I felt, I said to God "Wait a minute, this is not what I signed up for!"  I only wanted to bask in wonderful emotional experiences with God; to curl up in his arms and hide from the world.  My faith was all about myself, about my team.  When God started to prod me and show me that I needed to change, I resisted.  I fought against his efforts to change me and to make me more like himself.  I had my own ideas of what God should do for me and how the world should be.  Subconsciously my attitude was that God was there for me and only me, but I didn't want to be there for him.  He was my refuge, my hiding place from the world.  I wanted to be tangled up in the safety of his arms and run away from my fears.  I had to learn that, while God is indeed my refuge and my hiding place, he is not my hiding place so that I can withdraw from the world, but rather he is my hiding place so I can face the world with his protection and walk in the world in the ways he leads. 

So I struggled with God.  My prayer life for a long time involved a struggle between what I wanted and what God wanted for me.  It still does, but the struggle seems to be diminishing little by little as I slowly learn that I can trust God.  He wants me to be a part of his great tapestry.  He wants my life to be an intricately woven set of threads so arranged that I form a part of the beautiful image that is his plan.  When I disobey him and rebel, kicking and screaming, I make a mess of the part of his tapestry where I fit.  When I relax and let him lead me, he can smooth out the wrinkles and untie the knots I have made in his tapestry and arrange me as I should be once again. 

Two examples from the Bible show us the different outcomes of how we choose to become entangled with God.  Firstly Israel, God's chosen people.  God entered into an eternal covenant with the people of Israel, a binding promise that he would be theirs and they would be his forever.  As a consequence any and every person who was born into the Israelite nation was expected to come under the terms of this covenant.  God would be theirs and would bless them if they gave themselves to him sincerely from the depths of their hearts and were obedient to him.  The intention of this covenant was to show all of the nations on earth how each of them should live.  Israel was to be the example nation for the whole world.  Her obedience and faithfulness to God was to bring her into abundance and blessing, but her disobedience and unfaithfulness was to bring her into God's discipline.  Unfortunately, the people of Israel as a whole usually weren't willing to live in obedience to God or to enter into an exclusive relationship with him.  God consistently reminded Israel of her covenant obligations to him, but she refused to pay attention.  Stubbornly she turned her back and stopped up her ears.  She made her heart as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets (Zech 7:11-12).  For almost the nation's entire history, Israel resisted God despite his attempts to draw her to himself (Isaiah 65:2-5).  Israel actively rejected relationship with God and received God's discipline.  But despite her rejection of God, she remained entangled with him.  His covenant promise meant that he would not ever leave her and she could not remove him from her life.  Israel's choice to resist God led her to be tangled up like a fish in a fishing net she could not escape from. 

Our second example is Jacob, a man who also struggled with God (Gen 32:7-31).  He was afraid of his impending meeting with his brother, Esau, because he had stolen Esau's birthright and was afraid Esau would be angry and attack him and his family in retaliation, even though God had promised that he would make Jacob prosper.  So when he was left alone the night before meeting Esau and he encountered God, Jacob wrestled with him and didn't want to let him go. " I am afraid and I don't want you to go.  I won't stop struggling until you bless me.  I want to be assured of your promise to me."  That's essentially what he was saying.  The outcome of Jacob's entanglement with God on this occasion is that Jacob was able to face his brother Esau, still trembling, but assured of God's presence with him and of God's blessing toward him.  Jacob wouldn't let go of God.  His choice to actively entangle himself with God made him stronger and he received God's blessing as a result. 

Living like Jacob, willingly tangled up with the living God, is the way God designed us to live.  He doesn't want us to be far removed from him and only to call out to him when we need him.  He wants us alongside him every moment of every day.  Leaning on him when we need him, trying to understand how he wants us to live, worshiping him, praising him, coming to him with our worries, expressing our frustration to him when life seems unfair, hiding behind him when we are afraid.  He wants us to be tangled up in his life with him just as he is tangled up in our lives with us. 

Entanglement with God in prayer means that prayer is not always straightforward and easy.  Prayer is not just duty and discipline, nor is it just a free-flowing, heart-warming relationship.  The definition of prayer we have created above means that prayer should also change who we are as people.  It means we live our lives of faith in relationship with a living being who expects us to become like him.  It means that we have to learn to turn to prayer when normally we would rely on our own strength, or our own wisdom.  That means we have to add one more thing to our definition of prayer: _prayer_ _is_ _entering_ _into_ _an_ _eternal_ _living_ _relationship_ _with_ _the_ _only_ _true_ _living_ _God._ _ It_ _is_ _a_ _relationship_ _which_ _we_ _have_ _to_ _actively_ _pursue_ _and_ _it_ _is_ _a_ _relationship_ _which_ _we_ _do_ _not_ _control._  And finally, _prayer_ _is_ _messy._ 

#  He Devises Ways

Why should we pray?  The book of Psalms is a wonderful storehouse of information on why people pray.  Prayer is an outlet for our troubles: we can cry out to God and unleash the turmoil of our heart (Psalm 142:2).  Prayer is a means of expressing joy: we can shout out in praise and thanks to God (Psalm 33:3).  Prayer heals us physically and emotionally (Psalm 30:2): God calls himself the God who heals us (Ex 15:26).  Prayer means we never have to feel that we are alone: there is always someone to talk to when no one else will listen (Psalm 25:16).  Prayer provides us with comfort and security (Psalm 23:4, Psalm 112:7-8).  Prayer fulfills emotional needs in our lives and for many people that is enough of a reason to pray. 

I can think of two more reasons to pray which are also very rational.  Firstly I believe we should pray because prayer builds for us the only single thing which survives death: our relationship with God.  Our investment in prayer isn't like the volatility of investment we see in the money markets, where worldly wealth can be made and destroyed in moments.  Rather, our investment in prayer does not lose value over time and, in fact, only ever gains in value: each time we pray we build upon our earlier efforts.  Every time we approach God in prayer and allow our prayers to lead us in obedience to him, we build a familiarity with him.  So that when we stand before him in heaven, rather than being told that he never knew us, as God says to the evildoers of Matthew 7:21-23, he will say "Welcome home, I know you well!  We've spent a lot of time praying and working together."  It is for this reason that I think prayer is one of those treasures in heaven Jesus talks about in Matthew 6:19-21:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Prayer is an investment with outstanding long-term returns. 

The second rational reason why I think we should pray is that God himself has spent a huge amount of effort putting the framework together to allow us pray in the first place.  He has worked tirelessly throughout history to open channels of communication between himself and us.  It is only reasonable, therefore, that we should make use of the resource of prayer.  Let me explain what I mean.  The ultimate purpose of prayer is to build and share an eternal relationship with God and to share in the fellowship of working toward common goals with him.  The Bible reveals this purpose, though the message is often bogged down in messy details. 

## In the Beginning

_Mankind_ _had_ _Unhindered_ _Access_ _to_ _God._ 

Let's begin at the beginning.  In Genesis, chapters two and three, we read about the story of Adam and Eve, and of God's dealings with them.  Put aside, for the moment, the story of mankind's fall into captivity to sin and let's look at this story from a fresh angle.  Let's look at the relationships that this story reveals to us.  We see that God, in creating man from the dust, establishes a relationship with man.  Despite this, God says that it is not good for the man to be alone.  So the first thing we discover is that, in addition to our relationship with God, we need relationships with other people.  The next thing God does is to create another person for Adam from one of his ribs - a woman: Eve.  In creating woman from man, God also establishes a relationship with the woman.  His relationship with man does not differ from his relationship with woman.  He speaks openly with both and has equal expectations of both of them.  Fairly simple expectations, by the way. 

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.  Genesis 2:16

That's all there is.  No other rules, no other conditions, no Bible, no Torah, no oral tradition, no nothing, just one commandment and otherwise total freedom before God.  God's original and ongoing expectations of people were based principally around his relationship with them, rather than around external rules and commandments.  People were not afraid of anything and did not hide anything from God or from each other. 

The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.   
Genesis 2:25

They were not ashamed, they felt no guilt, they had committed no offense, no sin, no wrongdoing.  They had no cause to conceal anything from God or from one another.  They were naked before each other and before God physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Nothing was hidden, neither from God nor from one another.  Because they were free from sin and guilt, they were unsullied and perfect in God's eyes.  There was nothing in them or their lives which could cause a barrier between them and God, so God was not hidden from them.  He spoke openly and freely with them and he enjoyed doing so. 

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"  He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."   
Genesis 3:8-10

Let's look at what these verses reveal about the relationship between mankind and God before mankind fell into sin.  Firstly, God spoke openly with Adam and Eve and he seems to have done so physically, face to face.  Adam heard God walking in the garden.  In other words, God was physically present.  God was not some far off, mystical, gray-bearded, trident-wielding overlord sitting on his heavenly throne and watching from afar.  He was personally present in the garden with Adam and Eve.  When he spoke to them he was actually visible there right before their eyes and audible to their ears. 

Secondly, God was looking for Adam.  The language used implies that God was accustomed to talking to Adam and Eve, that he did so regularly, and that when he walked in the garden, he expected to find Adam and Eve there to be able to talk to.  Even more importantly, God wanted to talk to Adam.  He called for him. " Hey where are you?  I want to talk to you." 

Thirdly, although God is all-knowing and all-seeing (Psalm 147:5, Psalm 139), and therefore would have known that Adam and Eve had eaten the lychee (what other fruit could it have been, I mean really!),  he still asks Adam himself to reveal what he has done. 

Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?  Genesis 3: 11

In doing so he maintains his relationship with Adam and Eve.  He is disappointed and angry with them, but the relationship between them remains intact.  Although you may know everything about someone, no relationship is involved between you unless you share of yourself with them and they share of themselves with you.  If there is no personal sharing of speech, experience and understanding, then any knowledge you have of them is a purely academic: you may know everything about them, but you don't know them.  God wants to know Adam and Eve, to have them share their personal thoughts and feelings with him, and God wants them to know him, so he reveals himself to them.  God wants the relationship between himself and people to flourish, even in spite of the sin which they introduced.  He wants to know who Adam and Eve are, to share himself with them and for them to share themselves with him, so he keeps the relationship alive in spite of their disobedience. 

## A Veil is Erected

_Sin_ _Enters_ _the_ _World_ _and_ _Mankind_ _Submits_ _to_ _its_ _Rule._ 

Have you ever noticed that God does not actually hide himself from mankind at this point?  Even though Adam and Eve have disobeyed his commandment, and even though he banishes them from the Garden of Eden, he still speaks to them.  He still talks with their son Cain in Genesis 4:6.  It is not until Cain chooses to surrender to sin and kill his brother that God banishes anyone from his presence. 

Today you are driving me from the land and I will be hidden from your presence.  Genesis 4:14

Our submission to sin damages our relationship with God; it is what separates us from him.  Since the decisions of Adam, Eve and Cain to submit to sin rather than mastering it (Gen 4:6-7), we have all followed the same path (Rom 3:23).  As a result, we have all been separated from God (Isa 59:2).  It's like a huge curtain has been erected between God and us, a curtain we can't see through or move through.  God has become invisible to us; we no longer see him physically face to face.  This is where prayer enters into the picture.  Although we can't generally see God, we can still talk to him through prayer.  Prayer is a lifeline which allows us to continue our relationship with God.  We can still share our thoughts, ideas, emotions and experiences with him, and he still shares himself with us as we pray. 

## A Plan

_For_ _the_ _Restoration_ _of_ _our_ _Relationship_ _with_ _God._ 

The entrance of sin into the world and man's submission to it, leading to separation from God and death, puts into motion a plan which God had formulated from the very beginning (Col 1:17-19, 2 Thess 2:13-14): the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to provide a means for people to be reconciled to God.  In the Old Testament we read of God's attempts to bring people back into relationship with him and the abysmal failure of man to respond.  Yet God continues to work at cutting a swathe through the spiritual ignorance in the world so he can re-introduce himself to people.  The stories of the Bible reveal this time and again. 

Abraham is a man who responds to God's call by faith (Gen 12:1).  Once he has been introduced to God, he aligns himself with him and remains faithful to him, even to the point of being willing to lay his own son's life down if that is what God wants.  Abraham epitomizes what faithfulness to God should be like.  Through many difficulties Abraham's faith and trust in God prevails.  His faithfulness allows God to begin a work in him, which will allow all people everywhere to be restored to him.  Abraham becomes the father of a nation who will be God's very own people, and that nation will reveal God to the world once again.  Its beginnings, however, are humble, because Abraham's descendants end up as slaves in Egypt, where we are introduced to the man Moses.  By the end of his life, Moses had enjoyed an intimacy with God which most of us will never understand.  Moses' job was to bring the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and begin their journey into the promised land of Canaan (Ex 3:10).  Along the way, he delivered God's covenant promise to the nation and introduced her to the requirements which were expected of her under this promise.  Israel was tasked to love God and obey him, to live in relationship with him and observe his commandments (Deut 6:1-19).  In response God would bless Israel, be her strength, her shield, her defender and her delight (Deut 28:1-14, Deut 30:9-10).  This was supposed to be a clear and direct demonstration of God's presence amidst the nations of the world.  If Israel had done as God had asked, the world would have witnessed God's blessing upon her, his abundant love for her, and this, in turn, was designed to turn the nations of the world to God (Ex 19:6, Isa 42:6, Isa 60:1-3).  Israel was rather bad at living up to her end of the promise though, and as a result, much of the rest of the Old Testament is taken up with God's attempts to set her on the right path again.  Moses' own generation did not see the promised land of their inheritance because of unbelief, unfaithfulness and rebelliousness against God (Num 14:26-35).  They would not come into relationship with him.  They didn't want to be different, instead preferring to be like all of the peoples around them.  They wanted to fit in, to be cool, to be like everyone else.  They didn't want to stand out like a sore thumb worshiping a God no one else had ever heard of and observing his strict legal and social requirements.  So Israel forgot God.  God, however, did not forget Israel.  God struggled to bring her back to him, not because she deserved it, but because he had made a covenant with her; he knew bigger things were at stake.  So after she finally enters the Promised Land, Israel spends a few hundred years swinging between periods of blessing and discipline from God.  She suffers through the period of the Judges, leaders who God provides to give the nation relief from the belligerent peoples surrounding her, until finally the nation cries out for a king.  Despite the fact that by asking for a human king, Israel is rejecting God as their king, God agrees to her request, and after one failed candidate (King Saul) we are introduced to David.  David proves to be a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), who attempts to bring Israel back to God, as did Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah and Jehoshaphat after him, but Israel and her sister Judah are stubborn and will still not return to God.  Throughout the period of the kings of Israel and Judah, God repeatedly speaks to his people through his prophets.  He sends his prophets to try to turn his people back to him, and they use language rich in relational terms to describe what God is experiencing in the nation's stubborn sin.  Words such as 'deserted', 'rejected', 'abandoned', 'prostituted', 'forgotten' are used repeatedly in the prophetic books to convey the turmoil God experiences in his efforts.  In the end, though, God's patience runs out and the people of Israel are sent into exile in Assyria (2 Kings 17:3-23) and then later Judah is sent into exile in Babylon (2 Kings 25:1-21).  Seventy years later Judah returns to the Promised Land, and this is where the Old Testament story ends.  Yet God refuses to give up on his covenant people entirely.  God's whole struggle with his chosen people muddies a clear view of their part in the plan which God has prepared for the world.  They have been used by God to reveal himself to the world and to prepare the world to receive his greatest gift - Jesus Christ. 

Christ is God's son, born as a human being, fully human and also fully God (Coll 1:15-20, John 1:1-18, John 17:5).  His life and actions reveal who God is, what his righteous will is, and what his eternal standards of excellence are.  In his life and then his death on the cross, he reveals how far God has been willing to go to bring us back into relationship with him.  As I've said above, our submission to sin, which has led to our slavery to sin, has separated us from God.  It destroys our relationship with him.  Christ's role is to take our sin onto himself and take it with him to the cross and then to the grave in his death.  Through his death on our behalf, our sin is paid for and removed, yet he, living in relationship with God by faith and being perfectly obedient to God's law and requirements, is unable to be held by death.  He ascends into heaven to his rightful place and in the process the separation between man and God is removed. 

## The Veil is Removed

_Unhindered_ _Access_ _to_ _God_ _is_ _Restored_

So the veil of separation is torn down. 

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  Mark 15:37-38

There is more significance in this verse than you may realize.  The curtain of the temple symbolizes the veil of separation between mankind and God.  Now that Christ has done his work, the veil is torn asunder, from top to bottom, just as the temple curtain was in the verse above from Mark.  There no longer remains any impediment to you and I having the relationship God intended us to have with him.  The only requirement is that we repent of our ways and accept Christ as our savior and the bearer of our sins.  The result is that the relationship between us and God is restored.  We no longer need a human priest to intercede with God on our behalf.  Jesus Christ became our high priest and sacrificed himself once for all (Heb 7:27).  We can now approach God through Christ, for Christ has cleared the way for us forever to speak with God face to face (Heb 4:15-16, Eph 3:12).  We speak to God face to face through Jesus Christ because Jesus is the exact representation of his being (Heb 1:3) who only does what he sees his Father doing.  So when we speak to God the Father through Jesus the Son, it is as if we speak to God directly and we see God's person directly in Christ.  Even more amazing than this is the fact that Christ leaves with us a deposit guaranteeing the saving work of Christ in us, the gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14).  Adam spoke with God physically face to face, yet external to himself, but now, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we have God living within us.  Paul writes that we are God's holy temple (2 Cor 6:16), our bodies contain God's spiritual presence.  We are imbued with God.  Our minds and our hearts have full intimate access to his love and his comfort. 

All of this was done so that God could restore his relationship with us.  The whole purpose of God's work in history in making Israel his people and sending his Son to die for us is summed in in a single, unlikely verse:

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die.  But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.  2 Samuel 14:14

God wants us to be reconciled to him; he doesn't want to be aloof, distant and mysterious.  He wants us to know who he is and to delight in him.  He has spent all of history making reconciliation with him possible, and now we live in the last age, the age in which God has restored our ability to be in full relationship with him.  Our means of attaining this goal is by accepting Christ as our substitute by faith.  He becomes our sin bearer and that cleanses us and makes us perfect in God's eyes.  Yes, perfect.  When he sees us, he sees no sin in us, no imperfection, no stain, no corruption, no guilt.  In effect he sees Christ in us wherever our sin once filled us.  Just as water soaks into the tiny gaps between sand particles in a glass container, so Christ removes the sin from our lives and replaces it with his own presence.  When God looks at us with Christ living within us, it is as if he looks at the glass container and sees no air pockets or empty spaces which are left unfinished or incomplete.  We are whole and complete in his sight.  Therefore, because in Christ we are complete and perfect, we can enter fully into his presence in perfect confidence (Eph 3:12, Heb 10:19-22).  When we are in Christ, we can speak to the Father face to face.  This is why there is such an emphasis in Scripture on knowing God and on him knowing you personally.  The relationship he has with you is with you, not with your priest, your minister, your pastor or your spiritual counselor.  It is with you and you alone, and you are responsible for how you react to God's love elicited for you in such an astounding manner.  It is up to you to respond to God's love and to continue to respond to it for the rest of your life.  He implores us to seek him, to search for him, to crave him.  He teaches us to persist and persevere in our search for him, to sell all we have in order to gain the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 13:44-45), to seek it as the richest of treasures.  He has met us where we are, now we need to grab hold of him and cling to him, to clutch him to our hearts and, as the King James version of the Bible says, to cleave unto him (Deut 11:22).  We need to cut ourselves into his trunk, to bind ourselves to him inseparably, just like a small tree is grafted onto proven reliable rootstock to merge into one organism and flourish.  This sort of intimate relationship happens little by little and it requires one ingredient which cannot be left out or substituted – time. 

I don't believe in the idea of quality time.  Life doesn't work that way.  Invariably when you set aside a period of time to spend with someone as quality time, the time is not as high in quality as you'd hoped it would be, especially if you are trying to spend quality time with kids.  That's because quality time is what happens some of the time, when you spend a large quantity of time with someone.  You can't turn quality time on and off, like a light switch.  It comes when it will and not always when you expect it to.  So you have to spend a long time with someone to catch those real 'quality moments' which you will remember for the rest of your life.  The point I'm making here is that you also have to spend a lot of time with God to get to know him.  There is no other way.  You can't take a short course in God. 

So back to the question this chapter asks, why should we pray?  As we have seen, God has spent a lot of time and energy trying to give us the chance to be reunited with him.  Our prayers are what leads us back into relationship with God.  The purpose of relationship with God is unity with God.  Jesus prays and asks his Father that we may be one with him just as he is one with his Father (John 17:20-23).  He also describes the goal of the relationship with God in terms of a marriage covenant (Rev 19:7-9): an eternal promise to be with one another exclusively and forever.  God wants to bind himself to us forever; his promise is that he will never leave nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).  Heaven then, will involve an eternally fulfilling, whole of life unity and relationship with God.  We pray because through prayer we begin that relationship.  We pray because we were created for that relationship.  We pray because an eternal relationship with God is the meaning of life. 

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  John 17:2-3. 

#  Trampling Down the High Places

It seems a stupid question, but, as Christians, who should we pray to?  For many people this does not have a straight forward answer.  People come to know Christ through any number of different life experiences.  Some come from other religions, some from no religion.  For many prayer to some form of god is an entrenched discipline, and for others it is a completely foreign experience.  To some there are a myriad of candidates for prayerful devotion, yet to others there is no concept of a spiritual realm and no one to whom prayer can be offered.  But, as Christians, who or what does the living God want us to pray to? 

Jesus told the Pharisees that the greatest commandment of all is this:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  Matthew 22:37

Personally, I think this is the most invisible teaching in the entire Bible.  I think there must be some sort of subliminal defense mechanism built into us sinful humans, which blocks this verse out of our consciousness.  No one seems to take any notice of it at all.  It is quite plain and simple to understand, yet it is hardly ever spoken of.  Indeed I think I have only heard it in a sermon once in my entire life.  Why?  Well, I think it is just too confronting.  It is too demanding, too passionate, too all consuming.  No one can really live like that, can they?  Such a notion makes all of us look bad.  None of us can live up to its ideals, it is an impossibility.  How can we devote every single part of ourselves to God?  What is left over for the real world, where we have to deal with violent fathers, stressed wives, depressed husbands, and all of the complexities of life?  This teaching is just stupid.  It isn't realistic.  It is nonsense, or so our in-built defense mechanisms seem to be telling us.  Why else would we all ignore it so unanimously?  We are happy to avoid murdering anyone; we will gladly forgo theft or hankering after our neighbor's donkey; we have no argument with being respectful to our parents.  These are all things within our grasp; things we can measure and understand.  Did I kill anyone today?  Nope.  Good, I obeyed that law fully!  I was nice to Dad today - bought him a new pair of slippers.  Didn't take George's tools from his open toolbox.  Yep, obeyed all the laws today - I'm a good man!  But "did I give myself absolutely, entirely and exclusively to God today?"  If we asked ourselves that everyday, then everyday we'd be failures.  Everyday we'd condemn ourselves as helpless sinners.  Everyday we'd be made to realize that we can't stand on our own two feet and be upright, self-justified, proud and independent people.  It exposes our nakedness and weakness and daily rubs our shame into our faces like filthy dung. 

Yet Jesus teaches that this is the single most important of all of the hundreds of commandments of the Old Testament.  It encapsulates all of the commandments which have anything to do with God.  If we keep this one commandment, we keep them all.  If we keep this principle, we always remain right with God.  This commandment also gives us absolutely crystal clear insight into the list of acceptable recipients of our prayers.  There can be only one recipient: God and God alone.  With hearts, minds and souls absolutely and completely devoted to him, there is no room to pray to anyone else.  Any other pretender to the throne of our hearts is instantly dismissed.  Any other prayer recipient falls fathoms below in worth.  It's spelled out clearly and concisely and can't really be misinterpreted.  Love God and God alone and have no one else on the throne of your heart.  Maybe that is why we ignore it: it can't be explained away like so many other Bible passages, so we'd better just pretend it isn't there. 

This verse reveals that God wants us to love him absolutely and completely.  When we grasp this we understand the Biblical references to God being a jealous God (Ex 34:14).  God wants us to love him absolutely because he loves us absolutely (Jer 31:3).  He wants our full devotion because he is fully committed to us.  So committed that he chose to send his son to die in our place, so that he could be with us.  He is jealous because he made us, we are his possession, we were made for him and he has given himself to us.  He broke his body on the cross for us.  He has given his life to have us, a very heavy price, so the bonds which tie him to us are strong indeed.  He will not suffer anyone or anything coming between himself and the object of his love - the people he gave his life for.  He is jealous for our relationship with him.  God's jealousy for us leaves no room for us to pray to anyone else.  If we do pray to anyone or anything else, his jealous anger is roused. " Hey!  What are you doing?  You are mine!  I made you who you are and I paid for you with my life!  Do not abandon me after the great sacrifice I have made!  Do not forsake me!  You are mine and will always be mine!"  We are to pray to the living God and to the living God alone. 

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.   
Exodus 20:4

Not only are we not to have any gods apart from the one true, living God, we are not to create images depicting anything from his created world to represent him or any other god for the purpose of worship or subservience to that image.  No likeness of anything in heaven, of anything on the earth or of anything under the waters of the oceans, seas lakes or rivers.  We are not to pray to any of these. 

As Christians, then, we should not pray to any god or gods from any other religion, whether it is an active religion or a dead one with no living adherents.  We also should not pray to any image of anything in God's creation.  These things are clear enough and quite straightforward.  However, that still leaves a lot of things that people throughout the world pray to.  What about living things?  What about animals, trees, fish, people?  What about inanimate created things?  What about rivers, mountains, the sky, the ocean, mother earth, the stars, the sun, the moon, nature itself?  These are not images of created things, they are created things.  What about spiritual things?  Angels, demons, ghosts, departed relatives, a deceased husband, wife, child, brother, sister, mother or father?  What about unknown things?  What about aliens, supernatural powers, cosmic waves, flying spaghetti monsters?  None of these are images of created things.  Can we pray to them? 

Ezekiel recounts an interesting episode which gives us insight into God's mind on this subject:

Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me.  Then the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces.  Should I let them enquire of me at all?  Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry.  Ezekiel 14:1-4

Idolatry is not only bowing down to physical man made creations such as statues or paintings.  This passage from Ezekiel highlights that anything at all that is set up in someone's heart in place of, beside or before the living God is an idol.  God is jealous for us because he made us to have an exclusive relationship with him, and he won't allow anyone or anything else to take his place, or share his place in our hearts.  We were made for him and only he completes us.  Without God in the highest and only place of devotion in our hearts we are incomplete as people. 

This principle of exclusive and complete devotion, which is taught to us through the laws of the Old Testament, is still in effect for us today, even though we are no longer under the law of the Old Testament (Mat 5:17-20).  Under this principle, we are still to have God and only God as the sole object of our deepest love, worship and devotion.  No other person or thing, living or dead, is to take God's place in our hearts or to share any part in the adoring attention which we must devote to God alone. 

This is the teaching we need to reference whenever we discuss the subject of whom we should and whom we should not pray to.  With it as our lodestone, it is abundantly evident that if we pray to anyone but the living God of Abraham, then our attentions inevitably become divided.  There is no alternative: we either direct all of our prayer to the living God alone, or we place someone or something else alongside him in our hearts.  We cannot pray to anyone or anything else and still maintain God as our sole object of devotion. 

Some people may argue, though, that by praying to say, angels, to one of the Saints or to Mary they are not placing them in the position of a god in their lives, they are merely using them as a channel to God, and as such they are not contravening the principle of exclusivity of devotion to God.  But the Bible teaches that Christ is the only way to God the Father, no one else can approach God on your behalf, no one else has been given the title of High Priest forever.  No one else can enter into the Most Holy place and speak to God on your behalf – only Jesus Christ. 

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

So there is no point in praying to Mary or the Saints or even to angels.  None of these has access to speak to the Father on our behalf.  Only Jesus Christ does.  And Jesus Christ is our God, the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3). 

Furthermore, the Saints do not seek our devotion.  Paul and Barnabas begged the people of Lystra not to worship them, saying:

We too are only men, human like you.  Acts 14:1-18

Nor do the angels want us to turn our worshipful attention to them.  An angel warned the apostle John not to worship him, but instead to worship God (Revelation 22:8-9). 

Throughout the stories of the Old Testament, God's people prayed to God.  Most of the time, though, they also had high places, where they worshiped and bowed down in prayer to other gods: the Baals and the Ashtoreths as well as others.  Our lives often reflect this historical situation.  Although we pray to God, is he the only one we pray to?  Do we use intermediaries such as Mary, a favorite Saint, God's blessed angels?  Are these your high places, through whom your devotions become divided, through whom you stir up God's jealousy?  Do you seek guidance from the signs of the Zodiac, through tea leaves, from Tarot cards or from Nostradamus?  When we do these things, we are behaving exactly as the Israelites did by having multiple places of worship.  They paid God scant regard, often only performing empty rituals to satisfy their society's mores, traditions and superstitions, but their hearts were really with the gods of the high places.  In them they found freedom from the perceived legalistic, empty religion of their nation.  In them they were allowed to be their 'real' selves, and throw off the shackles of inhibition.  When approaching the living God, they put on their Sunday best, stopped swearing and cursing, put on a pious face and did the right things at the temple for all to see.  They hushed their children, put out of their minds the fact that only yesterday they were gossiping hatefully about their neighbors, and put on a righteous façade, only to return to the ways of their hearts once their superstitious rituals were done.  Does this remind you of yourself?  Do you only feel really free to be your true self outside of what you see as the confined, legalistic, straight-laced boredom of the church community?  Is that why you seek out the high places and leave the stuffy God of the cathedrals at home in your wardrobe with your Sunday trousers?  Do the words of Isaiah below apply to you? 

The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."  Isaiah 29:13

Let's return to God and destroy the high places in our hearts.  Let us clear the throne of our hearts to receive him and him alone.  When we pray, let's pray to God alone and not have our attention divided. 

#  The Mechanics of Prayer

The mechanics of prayer are the aspects of prayer which involve us physically: what time of day to pray; where to pray; and how to position our bodies in prayer.  This chapter also includes a brief look at some of the types of prayer described in the Bible. 

## It's Time to Pray

Prayer time, five in the morning, three in the afternoon, all night long.  When is the right time to pray?  If you've been a Christian for any length of time you will probably be familiar with that little, niggling feeling of guilt you experience every time someone talks about their practice of getting up at five in the morning and praying for the first hour of the day.  If you ask around, you will almost certainly find that there are only a very small number of people who actually do this consistently.  The rest of us just feel guilty all of the time, because, even if, in some fit of madness, we do attempt to get up before the sun does, we invariably only do it for a few days or weeks, before falling back into our old patterns of sleep.  At the other end of the day, when we pray in the evening, we either start snoring just after _hallowed_ _be_ _thy_ _name_ or we stay awake far longer than we had intended.  Finding a chunk of time to set aside for prayer is difficult for most of us, sometimes because we are too busy, sometimes because we don't think prayer is important, sometimes because we just never get around to it.  But people have been busy since time began, and being busy has never been a good excuse not to pray.  When should we pray then?  When should we deliberately set aside some time for God?  What does the Bible say about this? 

If we list the times of day that people in the Bible pray, we can make a very interesting observation.  See below. 

**Before** **Daybreak:** Mark 1:35

**In** **the** **Morning:** Psalm 5:3, Psalm 88:13, Psalm 143:8

**6th** **Hour** **(Noon):** Acts 10:9

**9th** **Hour** **(about** **3pm):** Acts 3:1, Acts 10:30-33

**Nightfall:** Matt 14:23-25

**Midnight:** Acts 16:25

**All** **Night:** Luke 6:12, Luke 9:28-37

**Regularly** **Each** **Day:** Acts 1:14, Acts 10:2, Acts 16:13-18

**Regularly** **Multiple** **Times** **Each** **Day:** Psalm 55:17, Psalm 88:1,  
Dan 6:10-11

**Pray** **Continually:** 1 Chron 16:11, Psalm 34:1, Psalm 105:4, Luke 18:1, Rom 1:8-10, 1 Cor 1:4, Eph 5:19-20, Eph 6:18, Col 1:3, Col 4:12, Philippians 1:3-6, Philippians 4:4, 1 Thess 1:2, 1 Thess 2:13, 1 Thess 3:10-13, 1 Thess 5:16-18, 2 Thess 1:3, 2 Thess 2:13, Philemon 1:4-5, Hebrews 13:1

While, by no means exhaustive, this list still highlights the fact that by far the most referenced time of day or night to pray in the Bible, is neither first thing in the morning, nor last thing at night, but in fact all of the time, without ceasing.  Jesus himself demonstrates this: he gets up before daybreak and prays (Mark 1:35); he prays during the day, in the midst of a crowd (John 12:20-33); he prays with a small group of confidential friends over an evening meal (John 17:1-26); and he prays in the evening and late into the night, in fact until three o'clock in the morning (Matthew 14:23-25).  Jesus prayed at all times of the day and night, sometimes even all night long (Luke 6:12).  Jesus prays wherever and whenever he feels like it.  For him prayer comes as naturally as breathing. 

In the Bible, there is no particular time of the morning, day, evening or night which is especially mentioned as the most suitable for prayer.  There were certain times of the day which were widely acknowledged as times of prayer in the New Testament period.  About three in the afternoon is mentioned more than once in the Scriptures, along with morning prayer.  Midday is also mentioned as a prayer time.  Scripture doesn't say, however that these times of day are of any special covenant significance.  Instead it seems they were times of prayer which had become widely accepted in Jewish culture.  Indeed it is a good practice to set aside special times of day devoted to prayer as a form of spiritual discipline, as long as it supports and does not supplant the development of prayer as a way of life. 

Paul frequently exhorts us to pray constantly (e.g. 1 Thess 5:16-18), but what does he mean by constantly?  Many people stumble over this concept.  They interpret this verse in the very narrow sense that they must close their eyes, get on their knees and clasp their hands together for anything to count as an act of prayer.  This sort of interpretation can lead to some awkward real life situations.  For instance, I knew a man who crashed his car because he was praying with his eyes closed while he was driving.  The fact that this man also crashed into the pylons of a bridge while he was temporarily captaining a boat makes me wonder about his concentration skills, but you get the point.  Prayer is talking to God.  You don't need to close your eyes, clasp your hands, talk in Ye Olde Englysshe or wear Liederhosen to pray.  Prayer does not require an intense exchange of emotions with God every time you talk to him.  Just as with any relationship, sometimes your exchanges with God can be trivial.  I think what Paul is conveying when he urges us to pray constantly is that your life should be so infused with an awareness of God that prayer becomes habitual, something you turn to automatically in any and every situation. 

I have often felt that I have an unfair advantage in my workplace because when I am confronted with a problem which I can't solve, I ask God to help me.  So far I have always been able to find a solution to the problem after this sort of prayer.  Many of my workmates don't have this luxury because they don't believe in God, so they have to slog it out under their own efforts.  When we face trouble it is easy to remember to ask God for help, but we need to also try to think of him and pray to him when we are not in trouble.  Pray when you feel good.  Give thanks to God and praise him.  Pray when someone else you know is having trouble.  Pray when you are walking down the street and a friend pops into your thoughts.  Pray silently for the person you are talking to, even as they talk to you.  In short, pray in all circumstances.  Try to foster prayer as a habit in your life.  Use a memory aid, such as a ring or a bracelet or a piece of string, to remind yourself to think of God and to pray.  Keep practicing this until it becomes second nature to you.  Force yourself to keep an eye out for opportunities to pray and for things to pray for.  In your home life, your work, your sport, in all aspects of your life, start to say little prayers wherever you are, whoever you are with and however you feel.  After a while, you will find that you turn to prayer for situations where you had never thought to pray before.  Turning to God in prayer will hopefully become an automatic reflex.  Prayer will become interspersed with your day to day activities, conversations and relationships.  It becomes an ongoing internal dialogue between you and God.  So then, to pray constantly, as Paul exhorts us, is to have our hearts and minds transformed so that prayer becomes a habit for us, as natural as breathing. 

## A Regular Prayer Time

Prayer is something the Bible reveals we should be doing constantly, but it also reveals a strong theme of including prayer as a regular disciplined activity.  So getting up at five in the morning every day to pray is a good thing - if you can do it.  I can't.  But you don't have to get up at five every day to build a regular prayer discipline with God.  You can take whatever time you set aside, whatever best suits your life and your personality.  You might get up at six in the morning and pray for ten minutes on day one, spend some of your lunch time on day two in prayer, set aside time after dinner alone on day three for prayer, stop at a park on the way home from work on day four to pray, stay up late on day five and spend time in prayer, spend a while in the afternoon for prayer on day six, arrive at church early and spend a few minutes in prayer in the pews on day seven, then on day eight you watch a late movie and decide to stay up until three in the morning praying like Jesus did.  Regular set times of prayer are good, but some of us just aren't wired that way.  Do what fits you.  Jesus prayed sometimes early in the morning, sometimes in the evening, sometimes late into the night, as well as praying all through the day.  He caught time with God whenever he could and he made an effort to set apart time when he needed it to be refreshed or to get further instructions. 

If you add up the references to prayer in the Bible attributed to certain people, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with more references than King David and the apostle Paul.  King David prayed when he was on the run from his enemies and seemed to have spent a lot of time praying from within caves and camps in the wilderness, as well as praying during his eventual reign as King of Israel.  Paul also seems to have prayed on all occasions as Jesus did, and he urges us to do the same, but he also spent regular time in prayer.  Acts 3:1 describes how Paul was on the way to pray at _the_ _time_ _of_ _prayer_.  He is doing something similar in Acts 16:13-18 when he meets the slave girl who predicted the future via an evil spirit.  Daniel was also in the habit of praying regularly, three times a day from his upper room.  While these prayer times might be described as religious discipline, I don't think that such a notion conveys its real heart.  With Jesus, Paul, David and Daniel, prayer, even regular disciplined prayer, was an integral part of their relationship with God.  They prayed regularly because they wanted and needed to be in regular contact with God, their King, their comforter and their encourager.  They needed their fellowship with God recharged on regular occasions, and they needed to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, who called them to pray as well.  In your own prayer life, rather than seeking to create a religious rite of regular prayer, listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit within you.  He is the one who knows the rhythm of your life and he is the one who is able to direct your prayer efforts to their maximum potential.  Be led by the Spirit in your prayer commitments and hopefully you will find yourself spending more time in prayer than you had ever imagined - and you won't even notice that it is happening.  It won't be a chore, but rather a journey of discovery. 

If your life is too busy to put aside time for prayer, then your life is on the wrong track.  I know that this is an unsavory thing to hear and I know that people struggle everyday to put food on the table for their families.  I know people suffer under harsh conditions even in modern civilized western countries and that some of us have no option but to spend the better part of our waking hours in odious toil only to find a few scant hours of sleep when we can catch them, but there really is no reason on earth that even in these conditions we cannot set time aside for prayer.  As we've discussed, you don't have to be alone to pray, nor do you need to be in a solitary place, or even be in a peaceful state of mind.  You can pray while you are lugging muddy, wet bags of soil up mountainsides, you can pray while you are sewing cheap t-shirts in a hot smelly factory amidst the click-clacking of a hundred other sewing machines.  You can pray while molten ore is being poured from a huge crucible in a steel factory, and you can pray while the children you have the responsibility to care for are having their morning nap.  When you let your busy life, its worries and concerns overpower your choice to pray, then you can become like the seed that fell on rocky ground in Jesus parable from Mark 4:

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.   
Mark 4:18-20

When you do not pray you are unfruitful in your faith.  It's as simple as that.  All of the worries of life overwhelm you and you make them your excuse not to pray, when instead they should be the reason you pray more.  Christ taught that we should seek first the Kingdom of God and that all of our needs will be met when we do so.  We need to take this teaching on board.  Are you seeking first to follow Jesus?  Are you seeking first to push forward his Kingdom, to jump on the team Jesus train and power on through rain, hail or shine to get his purpose done? 

If you don't have time to pray, then you need to change your life.  As I have said before, prayer is the one thing in your life which does not stop when you die.  Your relationship with God, which you develop through prayer, continues on into eternity.  As such we should value it above everything else we do in life.  You really do need to take a long hard look at your life and consider these words.  Are you investing your time in things that will last forever?  Or do you spend your time on things that perish within two or three years?  Are you always chasing the latest fad, or trying to keep up with the Joneses?  Don't bother, invest in the future.  Invest in your future.  Pray.  Start by praying whenever you get a moment.  Work towards setting aside regular prayer time which fits into your lifestyle, your body clock, and your commitments, but make God one of those commitments.  You might have to rearrange your life to get this working right.  You might have to suffer the indignity of trying to get up early, and shock, horror, even forgo sleep in order to pray! 

If you are going to set aside healthy chunks of time to pray, don't just enter those times devoid of anything to say.  Spend a lot of time nattering with God about trivial things, spend time praying for people and places, spend time asking for help.  Use this book and many others to help you to fill the time with things to pray about.  Make lists!  Go into your prayer time with a big long list of things to pray for and keep adding to your list.  You may never get through all of the things on your list, but that's OK, just keep on praying.  If you are the journaling type, use a prayer journal.  Keep a record of what you have prayed for and what has happened or what God has said to you in response.  Use any sort of cues, prompts, aids or helps that you can find to make your prayer life enjoyable, varied and effective.  Create a year-long set of prayer themes, colors, places, groups of people, etc.  Pray through the Bible as you read it.  Pray for every country in the world over a period of three years.  Pray for every language group in the world.  Basically, do anything you can to enliven your prayer life and make yourself want to pray.  Rather than prayer being a boring duty, make it an interesting joyful experience.  Ponder the Scriptures and try to understand them as you pray.  Read widely to learn how people through history have experienced prayer.  Get involved in prayer groups, encourage prayer in your family or in your home group.  Become a prayer ambassador.  If you want wonderful prayer experiences, participate in some of the amazing things that are happening through prayer throughout the world.  You might have to travel to other parts of the country or other parts of the world to experience this, but do it if you can.  Purposefully spend time cultivating your prayer life and it will reward you with joy and the fullness of life which Christ has promised will be ours when we give our hearts to him. 

## Arms Akimbo? 

What aspect should we assume when we pray?  Should we kneel?  Should we stand?  The Bible doesn't talk very much about how we should position our bodies for prayer.  It doesn't proscribe that we must kneel or that we must bow our heads and close our eyes.  In its pages we see examples of people praying in a lot of different physical positions. 

**Kneeling:** Daniel regularly prayed while on his knees (Dan 6:10, see also 2 Chron 7:3). 

**Bowed** **Down** **with** **Face** **to** **the** **Ground:** King Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground when he prayed to God  
(2 Chron 20:18, See also 2 Chron 7:3). 

**Falling** **Down:** In the same verse as above, the people of Jerusalem and Judah fell down to worship the Lord (2 Chron 20:18). 

**Bent** **Down** **with** **Face** **Between** **Knees:** Elijah used this unusual position when he prayed for rain to come upon the land (1 Kings 18:41-43). 

**Lying** **Down** **in** **Bed:** David thought of God while he was lying in his bed.  If I was thinking about God, I would be talking to him from time to time as well. ( Psalm 63:6). 

**Sick** **and** **Close** **to** **Death:** King Hezekiah cried and prayed to God while he was very sick, close to death in fact.  Presumably he was lying on his bed as he did so (2 Kings 20:1-6). 

**Lying** **Face** **Down** **on** **the** **Ground:** After the people of Israel, led by Nehemiah, had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, they all bowed down and worshiped God with their faces to the ground (Neh 8:6).  Jesus also prayed like this when he pleaded with God to take the forthcoming ordeal of his death away from him (Matt 26:39). 

**Dancing:** You might think dancing would be an unlikely way to pray, but it is encouraged repeatedly in scripture as part of our worshipful devotion to our Father.  The Psalms urge us to sing and dance in praise and worship of God (Psalm 149:3, Psalm 150:4, See also 2 Sam 6:14). 

**Reclining** **or** **Sitting:** In first century Judah people ate either sitting on the ground, on simple stools or benches, or if they were wealthier, they reclined on low lounges.  When Jesus gave thanks for meals, he was probably in one of these positions.  Both Mark 14:3 and 14:18 mention that Jesus was reclining at the table when the woman poured perfume on his head, and while he had his evening meal.  Just a few lines later, in verse 22 of Mark 14 we read that he gave thanks to God for their meal while they were eating, presumably while still reclining.  It doesn't mention especially whether he stood up to pray.  Not every house he entered would have had the same sort of furniture, so at times he may have been sitting on the floor when he gave thanks.  Jonah prayed while he was sitting near the city of Nineveh (Jonah 4:5-11). 

**Standing:** Ezra stood above the people of Israel as he praised God (Neh 8:5-6).  Jesus taught people to forgive others when they stand praying (Mark 11:25). 

**Standing,** **Hands** **Lifted** **Up:** In the same verses as above from Nehemiah, the people of Israel lifted their hands and said "Amen!  Amen!" ( Neh 8:5-6). 

**While** **Hanging** **on** **a** **Cross:** Jesus prayed to his father while he was hanging, crucified on the cross. ( Matt 27:45-50). 

**While** **Being** **Stoned** **to** **Death:** Stephen prayed even as he was being stoned to death, so in a position of absolute discomfort, probably huddled in a ball, trying to protect himself (Acts 7:59). 

**While** **Being** **Digested** **by** **Stomach** **Acid:** Jonah prayed while entombed in the belly of a fish, presumably being eaten alive by its stomach acids at the time (Jonah 2:1). 

What position we take up when we pray is really up to us and the circumstances we find ourselves in.  When our prayer is desperate, kneeling, bowing down or laying on the ground face down are all positions which can be an aid to humility and concentration.  Generally though, we can pray wherever we are in whatever bodily position we are in at the time.  Choosing to kneel or to stand, walking in circles or lying on your back in a field, make no difference to how effectively God hears us.  When he listens, he listens to the words of our hearts and he knows them before they even form on our tongues (Psalm 139:4).  Personally, I find it easier to pray intensely while I am walking.  Walking seems to make my brain cells more fluid and my prayers start to bubble out of me.  I also find that while I am walking I can get really fervent in my entreaties, but I do tend to get a bit vocal, so I try to find a quiet place, so passers-by don't look at me strangely and murmur to each other about the state of the mental health system.  I enjoy cycling, so I often go out for rides early in the morning before my family has woken up.  I usually pray during these rides, although if I am pushing myself too hard, I find I can't pray because I am concentrating too much on my exertions.  So when I want to pray on the bike, I ride at a more leisurely pace.  Try different physical positions when you pray.  You might find you like kneeling with a baseball in one hand for one type of prayer and standing on your head for another.  The thing to remember is that we should be praying on all occasions and that will invariably mean that we will pray in many different postures and attitudes.  For a dedicated, regular prayer time, you might find sitting in a comfy chair is the best way for you to attune to God, or kneeling on a hard wooden floor as the famous intercessor Edward Payson did, even wearing grooves in the wood beside his bed from the constant kneeling in prayer he did over many years.  If you are athletic, pray while you go for your regular run or while you are rowing, or even while you swim.  But whatever you do and wherever you are, remember to pray on all occasions. 

_Read_ _also:_ Ezra 9:5, Neh 6, Acts 8:27, Acts 20:36, Acts 21:5, Acts 22:17

## A Place to Pray

When we pray, where should we pray?  Must we adjourn to the closest prayer room or to a broom cupboard if no prayer room is available?  Should we only pray while we are in a consecrated church building?  Should we only pray when no one can hear us?  Should we pray when flying on an aeroplane, riding on an autobus, driving in an automobile, or while remote-controlling an autobot?  The answer is simple.  We should pray wherever we are, whatever place we find ourselves in. 

### Pray in Solitude

Jesus declared that when we pray, we should not make a show of our prayers.  Instead we should go into a private room and pray in secret, so that our Father might reward us for what we have done in secret (Matt 6:6).  Jesus was highlighting a failing of the Pharisees of his day, who made a show of their piety to distinguish themselves from less 'righteous' folk.  Of course, this sort of showing off is hollow.  God knows the thoughts of our hearts and he distinguishes the prayers uttered in humility, obscurity and sincerity from those uttered in order to seek personal glory.  The heart of a prayer relationship with God involves an intimate exchange, one on one with no others involved.  Solitary prayer allows us to be ourselves with God and to speak freely with him.  We don't have to impress anyone when we pray to God; he doesn't care how we look or whether we speak with big, fancy words or monosyllabic grunts.  He listens to the thoughts of our hearts when we pray.  Sometimes we find it impossible to put the thoughts and feelings of our hearts into words.  The Holy Spirit knows what we are trying to say, however, and he expresses it to God on our behalf with groans which words cannot express (Rom 8:26).  Solitary, intimate prayer is the power house of a mature spiritual life.  If we are right with God in secret, it will overflow into our public lives.  The same is true the other way around as well.  If our private prayer life is lacking or non-existent, our public lives will reflect it.  That is why anyone who wants to go into ministry for God must have his private prayer life in order.  God has a way of letting us know when we haven't spent time in prayer with him before going out into our leadership roles: things somehow just never work the way we planned them.  In fact, they often end up in chaos, because we are trying to do things in our own power rather than relying on the power of God.  If we don't put in the difficult work of private personal prayer, our work for God is built on faulty foundations.  We need to pray in solitude so that we can learn what God has to say to us and what he wants us to do personally.  The state of our relationship with God is our own responsibility; we can't blame anyone else if it is in bad shape.  We need to spend time in solitude developing that relationship. 

_Some_ _solitary_ _places_ _people_ _go_ _to_ _for_ _prayer_ _in_ _the_ _Bible:_

On a rooftop (Acts 10:9), in a room by yourself (Matt 6:6), on a mountainside (Matt 14:23, Matt 17:1-9), on top of a mountain (1 Kings 18:41-42), in a cave (1 Kings 19:7-14), a quiet, solitary place (Mark 1:35), an upstairs room (Dan 6:10), on a beach (Acts 21:6), lonely places (Luke 5:16), praying silently in the midst of people in the temple of God (1 Sam 1:1-18). 

As the last verse in the list above reveals, we can pray solitary prayers even in the midst of thronging crowds of people as we go about our daily lives, praying without ceasing.  But crowds of people introduce us to another place we can pray. 

_Read_ _also:_ Matt 6:5-6, Matt 14:13, Mk 6:46, Luke 6:12, Acts 9:40

### Pray in Assembly

Jesus' exhortation for us to pray in secret does not mean, however, that we should never pray in public.  Jesus prayed in public on a number of occasions, and there is a place for public prayer, both in an assembly of believers and within other gatherings of people.  The principle Jesus wants us to remember when we do pray in public, is that we should have our hearts right before him when we do.  We should not pray to seek our own fame or glory, but instead we should pray sincerely from our hearts and in humility, in order to lead others into a time of communion with God.  Our hearts should be attentive to his word as we pray, so that we can allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in the words we speak (Luke 21:14-15). 

Many of the pivotal moments in Scripture follow times of public prayer and worship (Acts 4:24-31, Joel 1:14).  The early church devoted themselves to fellowship and prayer as well as the breaking of bread and teaching (Acts 2:42).  As a result, they saw phenomenal growth in numbers and in faith (Acts 16:5).  Group prayer prompted miracles (Acts 12:1-17), and was effective in helping to discern who God wanted to send out on missionary journeys (Acts 13:2).  Earlier, under the prophet Samuel, the people of Israel gathered together and sought God in fasting and confession, leading to renewed national devotion to him  
(1 Sam 7:2-6).  In fact, Jesus teaches that whenever two or three are gathered together in his name he will be with them (Matt 18:20).  He expects us to pray in community with other believers, in groups of two or three and in groups of hundreds or thousands, as long as we approach prayer in humility and sincerity. 

_Examples_ _from_ _Scripture_ _of_ _people_ _praying_ _in_ _gatherings:_

Praying in a gathering of people (Acts 12:12), in a storm at sea (Acts 27:29), commissioning prayer with the laying on of hands in a group of believers (Acts 6:1-6), formal prayer for the inauguration of a building project (Ezra 3:10-11), at meals (Matt 14:19), at informal gatherings (Matt 11:25), national prayer (Neh 9:5-38), formal prayer of repentance (Jonah 3:5-10, Neh 9:1-4), formal mourning (Esther 4:1), public praise (1 Chron 29:10-13). 

_Read_ _also:_ Ezra 10:1, Neh 8:1-6, Acts 2:42-47

So prayer is conducted in deeply personal and private places, as well as in formal and very public situations.  Wherever we pray though, we should retain our sincerity and honesty of intent before God.  All prayer is directed to him, no matter where it is prayed, and he hears our prayers whether we are alone, shielded deep in the heart of a great forest, or exposed for large crowds to see and hear.  So, keep him at the forefront of your thoughts and always seek to glorify him when you pray. 

## Types of Prayer

It's easy to forget that the first characters in the Bible had no guidance at all in their encounters with God.  Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Aaron and others all experienced God with no Bible, no Ten Commandments, no teaching from Jesus, no culture of faith such as that experienced by Jews and Christians, no established churches, no small groups, no Bible studies, no one to teach them about God, except God himself.  They had no church traditions, no rabbinical traditions, no sacraments, no communion wine, no Passover festival, no Christmas, no Easter, no prayer diaries, no daily devotionals, no quiet times, no worship music, no church services, no community of believers.  For them it was just themselves with God, and that's all there was.  They didn't have to belong to any particular church denomination.  They had no prayer book to guide them in orderly conduct before God.  They had no commandments to follow, no rules on how to behave before him, no rules on how to behave in a group of believers before God.  Their experience of God was "Here is God and here am I. What now?"  Everything that took place between themselves and God was relational.  In other words, their experience of God was solely in the form of a relationship based on God's revelation of himself to them.  And these men and women are held up for us in the Bible as the foremost examples of faith and righteousness.  Figureheads, whom we are encouraged to imitate in our own encounters with God.  They are continually referred to with respect and reverence in Scripture as holy men and women, not because of their adherence to the Law, or because of their goodness, or their exceptional abilities, all of them had foibles which most of us would be repelled by in our modern world.  But they had faith in their unseen, but richly experienced God.  They experienced him personally and powerfully and the basis of their faith was their relationship with him.  A relationship, which, then as now, is based on God reaching out to us and revealing himself to us.  He reached out his hand and touched them as he reaches out and touches us.  They responded by believing what he had to say and who he claimed to be.  Their encounter with him shaped their lives from that point onward.  None of them were instantly perfect.  All of them sinned against God, but God dwelt richly with them through a personal encounter which was built upon for the rest of their lives.  Prayer for these people was a personal, consuming experience.  It should be so for us as well. 

### Formal Prayer

There are occasions when we might be called to pray in a formal setting, perhaps at a wedding, or a funeral, or at the inaugural run of a newly built billy-cart.  On these occasions it is sometimes wisest to write down your prayer beforehand and maybe even practice it, but the secret to formal prayer is just to be yourself.  If you speak very formally most of the time, don't try to be cool and casual all of a sudden.  If you are very informal and relational in the way you normally speak, be the same in your prepared prayer.  Don't worry about what others think about your choice of words, or your ability (or inability) to speak in front of people.  Just be true to your own style and remember that you are there to please God and not the crowd.  Remember also that you are leading the people around you in prayer as well, so when you are sincere in your approach they will themselves be prompted to be sincere with God.  Ask God to help you formulate your prayer before hand, even prayerfully trying different wording and content until you feel happy with the outcome.  Even though he has heard you recite the prayer to him in your practice readings, it will still be fresh to him when you read it on the occasion for which it was written. 

### Instructional Prayer

When we pray in group situations, we invariably influence those we pray with.  Those who have less experience at opening up in prayer in a group learn from the way we pray, the words we use and the actions we display.  They notice it when our prayers are answered - or not answered.  They discern the motives of our hearts from the content of our prayers: are they focused on ourselves or do they reveal a sincere love and concern for those we pray for.  Do our words and actions glorify Christ or are they just for show, to glorify ourselves.  When our prayers are heartfelt, sincere and seeking to glorify Christ, we teach and encourage each other to pray more.  Even those who have prayed in public for a long time learn new aspects of prayer when they pray with others.  This is a form of discipleship in how to pray which Jesus also undertook during his ministry.  His disciples were present with him for almost three years during his public ministry, watching and listening to his prayers the whole time and learning from them.  Jesus also taught his disciples to pray by teaching them the Lord's Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  Matthew 6:9-13

We need to keep the instructional aspect of public prayer in our minds when we pray, so that our words and actions always glorify Christ and so that they build the faith of those we pray with. 

### Commissioning Prayer

Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."  This proposal pleased the whole group.  They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.  They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.  Acts 6:3-6

Prayer is often used in the Scriptures to set people apart for service in a particular role before God.  Commissioning prayer serves at least a few purposes: it allows a group of believers to bear witness to the fact that the person being commissioned has been assigned the role they are being commissioned for - everyone afterwards knows their role and its responsibilities.  The people being commissioned are also being presented to God for the role - the heavens are made aware of the role these people are now assigned to and the responsibilities it entails.  Public commissioning and presentation before God also allows him to provide them with all of the spiritual wherewithal to perform their roles to his satisfaction.  He blesses and anoints them for their tasks and posts notice on the heavenly bulletin boards that these people have been assigned these roles and they need to be supported in these roles.  How?  Not sure.  I assume there is heavenly stuff going on though.  For instance, he makes sure they receive a heavenly supply of onions and celery to keep up their nourishment. 

In the verse above, notice that the people chosen were to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  In spite of the onion remark above, commissioning prayer should not be undertaken lightly.  It denotes the assigning of a responsibility which those prayed for must consider and fulfill with all solemnity, though they are allowed to laugh from time to time, and possibly even join in with mild forms of dancing and hip swaying - but never to Country and Western music, mind you.  Commissioning prayer has been important to the Christian faith since its very inception, and indeed to God's people well before the time of Jesus.  The recognition and responsibility it infers spans both the physical and the spiritual worlds we live in as newly born believers in Jesus Christ. 

Moses said to the LORD, "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd." 

So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him.  Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence.  Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him.  He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by enquiring of the Urim before the LORD.  At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in." 

Moses did as the LORD commanded him.  He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly.  Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.  Numbers 27:15-23

Joshua was commissioned by Moses to be the next leader of God's people, and as a result was filled with the spirit of wisdom (Deut 34:9).  This commissioning entailed imparting to Joshua some of the authority which Moses had been given by God, so that the assembly of God's people would obey his leadership.  This is why God instructed Moses to commission Joshua in the presence of the entire assembly: so that everyone would know Joshua was now the man.  Joshua was commissioned to enquire of the Lord and lead his people accordingly.  The story of Joshua's commissioning includes all of the elements important to commissioning prayer in any age:

  * It assigns responsibility. 

  * It supplies gifts given to carry out that responsibility  
(1 Tim 4:14). 

  * It transfers authority. 

  * It is done in the presence of God's assembled people, so that all are made aware of the the role given and all will recognize the authority and responsibility given. 

  * It is often initiated by God's anointed leadership - Moses asked the Lord to provide his people with a leader since he was being "gathered to be with his people" - but can also be initiated by God himself - Samuel was tasked by God to anoint Saul and then David as the first Kings of Israel (1 Sam 16:1), and Paul and Barnabas were set apart by the Holy Spirit for the work he had prepared for them to do (Acts 13:2-3). 

  * It is carried out with prayer and the laying on of hands of the incumbent leadership or of those anointed to do so  
(1 Sam 16:13). 

The person being commissioned has qualifications which the Lord knows will make him suitable for the role, if he carries out his role the way God desires.  Joshua was a "man in whom is the spirit" and the men chosen in Acts 6 were "full of faith and the Holy Spirit". 

Seek the guidance and approval of God when you appoint people to tasks in his Kingdom work.  Include him in the decision making process and allow him to impart his blessing, authority and gifting on the ones he chooses, so that they can carry out their responsibilities with his approval and his heavenly provisioning. 

_Read_ _also:_ Num 27:18-23, Deut 34:9, Acts 6:6, Acts 13:1-3, Eph 1:3,

### Praise and Worship

Praise and Worship as a form of prayer, are so important that they have their own chapter later on in this book.  I will leave further discussion on the topic until then. ( Skip forward if you are the impatient type). 

### Fasting

Fasting, in its simplest definition, involves not eating for a period of time, but it can include abstaining from other things as well.  It is a means of focusing your mind and your thoughts on God.  It usually accompanies prayer and indicates to God that you are so serious about this prayer that you have dedicated yourself to it, even above eating.  Unfortunately fasting is not actually fast, and we are taught by Jesus to keep the travails of fasting to ourselves, outwardly showing no signs of our inward devotion (Matt 6:16-18).  This can make fasting a difficult experience, especially when you start to daydream about Chicken Schnitzel and roast potatoes with leafy green salad dolloped with whole egg mayonnaise.  Many a fast has been undone through the imagining of such hearty comestibles. 

Some in Isaiah's day had taken to fasting as a form of manipulating God into action, but this is not the sort of fasting God is pleased with:

' _Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' " Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.  You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.  Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves?  Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?  Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? " Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Isaiah 58:3-7_

The type of fasting God is pleased with involves upholding righteousness and actively showing love to our neighbors, rather than behaving self-righteously or simply following religious ritual.  Fasting often accompanies mourning, weeping and wailing in the Bible as a demonstration of grief, acknowledgement of sin and repentance, or of desperation for your message to be heard by God (Neh 9:1, Esther 4:3).  It is a means of showing God that you are dead-set serious about something, but it is not a magical device for making God speak or act a certain way.  It is not intended to be used to manipulate God, because manipulation speaks of control, and we can't control God.  Having said that, God does listen to our prayers when we fast.  He is aware of the desire we have to shape our lives in imitation of him when we set aside our own needs and seek to fill the needs of others in our fasting.  This sort of self-sacrificing behavior is an imitation of the sacrifice Jesus made for us when he came to live among us.  So when we choose to fast and live in humility and obedience to care for those around us, God is pleased. 

Fasting also helps you to approach God in a concentrated effort of prayer by putting aside some of the distractions we face each day (although I personally would not call food a distraction, but instead the main event!).  It can aid us in getting our thoughts together and beaming them off to our Father, and it can help us to become attuned to his voice in reply. 

Fasting in Scripture sometimes precedes very great events.  Moses fasted for forty days and nights before receiving the Law and Commandments from God on Mount Sinai, a feat which he had to repeat almost immediately after he came down off the mountain, only to find the Israelites worshiping an image of a golden calf.  This caused him so much anger that he smashed the original stone tablets God had given him and he had to go back and get another set! ( Deut 9:7-21) Moses' fasting on the second occasion involved praying and seeking the forgiveness of the Israelite people after they had sinned so grievously, and his prayers and fasting were heard by God so that he relented from destroying them.  Jesus also fasted for forty days and nights after he was baptized by John the Baptist, but before he started his ministry (Matt 4:1-2), the ministry which was to prove potent enough to change the world.  Fasting as a form of devotion to God is a powerful force for growth in us and it is a place we should visit if we want to allow God to use us to fulfill his Kingdom's purposes

_A_ _Special_ _Note:_

When considering fasting for any length of time, it is advisable to consult your doctor if you are unsure of your suitability for the undertaking.  It is not advisable to fast in such a way that you do not drink water at regular intervals.  Excluding wine or juice or other forms of drink is fine as long as you continue to drink regularly throughout the duration of your fast, because water is essential to staying healthy.  People can go without food for days, but if we go without water the physical processes which our bodies must perform to stay functioning properly, quickly deteriorate.  Multiple short-lived fasts may be more suitable if you have any health concerns which would exclude a single multi-day fast.  God knows the motives of your heart and many short fasts with a righteous heart attitude will attract his attention just as well as a single three day long effort. 

_Read_ _also:_ Ezra 8:23, Ezra 10:5, Neh 1:4, Neh 9:1, Isa 58:1-14, Jer 36:8-9, Dan 9:3, Joel 1:14, Joel 2:12-14, Jonah 3:5, Acts 13:2-3,

### Intercession

To intercede is to get in there and struggle with and for people in prayer, to speak on their behalf, to plead for them as a mediator before God.  Our place of privilege before the throne of the living God gives us access to seek the Lord on behalf of those around us, including our fellow believers (1 John 5:14).  Paul reveals that he often prays for the people he has met and discipled (Col 1:3, 2 Thess 1:11), and he also asks them to pray for him (Rom 15:30, Col 4:3, 1 Thess 5:25, 2 Thess 3:1).  Jesus prayed for us as believers, that we may be protected, sanctified and united in Christ. ( John 17:9).  He is our model in intercession because through his death and resurrection he is now able to stand before God and intercede for us continually (Heb 7:25).  Samuel calls it a sin for him not to pray for God's people:

As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you.  1 Samuel 12:23

Jesus taught us also that we should pray even for those who seek to do us harm (Matt 5:44, Luke 6:28).  God himself asks us to pray for others: Job prayed for his friends at God's own behest (Job 42:8).  He wants us to intercede in prayer for others because he listens to the intercessions of his people.  Abraham prayed for Abimelech and he was forgiven (Gen 20:1-18).  Samuel interceded for the whole nation of Israel when they repented and turned to God (1 Sam 7:3-6). 

So what do we pray for when we intercede in prayer for others?  Paul guides us in some of the things we can pray for each other in Ephesians chapter 3:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:14-19

We bring the needs of people before God as we become aware of them and more generally we are encouraged to pray continually to build each other up in faith, love and maturity in Christ.  We are told to pray for each other for healing (Jas 5:15-16), and for boldness to speak God's word (Eph 6:19-20), in fact for all kinds of prayers and requests (Eph 6:18): that we be active in sharing our faith; that we thank God for each other; that we gain insight and understanding of God, his love for us, his purposes and his blessings; that we may live peaceful and quiet lives worthy of the Lord and that we may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work; and that we be strengthened so that we have great endurance and patience.  When finally we run out of things to pray for, the Holy Spirit within us takes over and keeps the prayers going (Rom 8:25-27), so let him guide you in your intercessions because _"_ _he_ _intercedes_ _for_ _the_ _saints_ _in_ _accordance_ _with_ _God_ _'_ _s_ _will_ _"_ _(Romans_ _8:27)._ 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 18:20-33, Gen 20:17, Gen 25:21-22, Num 14:13-20, Num 16:22, Num 16:42-50, Num 21:7, Deut 19:26-29, Luke 23:39, Acts 8:24, Rom 10:1, Rom 15:30-31, Eph 1:17-19, Philippians 1:9-11, Col 1:9-11, Col 4:12, 2 Thess 1:11-12, 1 Tim 2:1-3, Philemon 1:4-6, Heb 7:25, 1 John 5:16

### Meditation

It has only recently occurred to me how vitally important Christian meditation is to our faith.  The Bible is full of passages encouraging us to meditate and it teaches us about what the Bible's definition of meditation is, as well as how we should meditate.  The importance of meditation to the Christian faith is demonstrated by the fact that there are at least three books in the Bible devoted almost entirely to the subject: Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, as well as portions of the Psalms, such as Psalm 139 and Psalm 119. 

#### What is Christian Meditation? 

When you think of meditation you probably immediately think of some form of eastern meditation, where participants are directed to still themselves within, often chanting a series of words or phrases repeatedly to ultimately gain greater focus, self-awareness or inner peace.  Christian meditation is not like eastern meditation:

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.   
Matthew 6:7

Christian meditation does not center on ourselves, rather it seeks to get us to think about God, who he is and how he interacts with the world we live in.  Its aim is to give us wisdom, insight and understanding, but more than that, its aim is to produce change within us and action in response to our musings.  Indeed rather than producing inner peace, both Job and the author of Ecclesiastes record increased turmoil after lengthy pondering of God's ways. 

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.  Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.   
Job 42:5-6

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.  Ecclesiastes 1:18

#### What Happens When you DO NOT Meditate

The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil...You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.'  You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.  Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me, and have neither remembered me nor pondered this in your hearts?  Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?  Isaiah 57:1-11

The passage above shows that if we do not have our minds centered on God, pondering him and his ways, we quickly forget about him, and we lose our understanding of the Godly order of things.  We allow ourselves to drift away from observing his teachings, just as Israel did repeatedly throughout her history.  We become like everyone else around us rather than having our lives reflect the life of Jesus, who stood out from the crowd as someone who was different. 

Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me.  Jeremiah 2:19

God encourages us to think about what it is like when we forget him, so that we do not forget him any longer.  He wants us to be thinking people, to learn from the world around us, the people around us, from our own life experiences, from his saving work, from history and from Scripture.  He wants us to be in control of our thoughts so that they can be trained to focus on him and his ways

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  2 Corinthians 10:5

_Read_ _also:_ Rom 13:14, Philippians 4:8

#### How to Meditate

When prompted, most of us would describe Christian meditation as meditating on the Bible.  While this is true, meditation as taught in the Bible itself is far more wide ranging and inclusive than this.  The verses below indicate just how much more variety there is in Christian pondering.  They teach us how we should seek to fill our thoughts with the things of God.  Think about them as you read them. 

##### Meditate on God's Word

Oh, how I love your law!  I meditate on it all day long.   
Psalm 119:97

Here is the aspect of Christian meditation we are all aware of.  Psalm 119 is probably the most well known piece of Scripture urging us to meditate on God's word, but Joshua 1:8 gets to the heart of the matter more succinctly:

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.   
Joshua 1:8

This verse states clearly that the purpose of meditating on God's word is to produce action - ' _be_ _careful_ _to_ _do_ _everything_ _written_ _in_ _it_ _'_.  Pondering should lead to performance and considering should have consequences. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 1:2, Psalm 19:14, Psalm 119:15, 23, 27, 95

##### Consider What God has Said to You

...consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you...  
Daniel 10:11

This aspect of meditation urges us to think about what God says to us.  Deuteronomy 4:9-10 tells us to remember God's words to us and not to forget them.  While this is similar to the idea of meditating on God's word above, it includes more directly those words which God speaks to us personally and intimately.  I'm sure most of you have experienced the jolt of illumination which seems to be for you alone during a sermon, or while reading the Bible.  These are the times when the Holy Spirit within us is giving personal guidance for us on our journey with God.  We are urged to ponder these times, remember them and act in obedience to them. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 4:9-15, Mark 4:24

##### Ponder what God has Done

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.  Psalm 111:2

Give thought to the wonderful things God has done: the way he has involved himself in the lives of people in the Bible; the stories of his presence in the lives of people you know or read about.  Open your eyes to the wider influence God has had on all of life. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 64:9, Psalm 77:12, Psalm 143:5, Psalm 145:5,  
Eccl 7:13, Isa 41:20,, Haggai 2:15

##### Consider his Creation

Consider how the lilies grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  Luke 12:27

Jesus often refers to God's creation as something to think about and learn from: consider the lilies; consider the ravens; ' _open_ _your_ _eyes_ _and_ _look_ _at_ _the_ _fields'_ (John 4:34); learn from the fig tree (Matt 24:32); ' _wherever_ _there_ _is_ _a_ _carcass,_ _there_ _the_ _vultures_ _will_ _gather'_ (Matt 24:28) and so on and so forth.  Jesus pondered about his Father in everything he saw, because he knew that he was the creator of it all; God's creation was a source of inspiration and enlightenment for him.  He also urges us to do the same.  Learn from the world around you, Jesus tells us, open your eyes and see God in everything he has made. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 8:3, Proverbs 6:6, Matt 24:26-33, Luke 12:24

##### Meditate on God's Influence in Your Life

_Consider_ _how_ _God_ _has_ _Treated_ _You_

But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.   
1 Samuel 12:24

Above we are told to consider what God has said to us, and here we are told to consider what God has done for us.  The aim of this contemplation, as with other aspects of meditation, is to produce action - to fear the Lord and serve him.  The Bible isn't afraid to address the less politically correct aspect of God, as we read in Romans 11:22: _Consider_ _therefore_ _the_ _kindness_ _and_ _sternness_ _of_ _God._  It expects us to think about all that God does, the things we agree with as well as the things we don't agree with, as a motivator to obedience. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 2:7, Psalm 107:43, Eccl 7:14, Jer 2:31, Rom 11:22

##### Meditate on Your Life Situation

_Why_ _am_ _I_ _here,_ _how_ _did_ _I_ _get_ _here,_ _how_ _have_ _I_ _behaved?_ 

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways."  Haggai 1:5

I don't know about you, but I usually only think about my own ways when God prompts me to.  I don't like entertaining the thought that I might be wrong about something, or that my way of life might need to change to please God.  Yet God encourages us to think about how we live, what we think about and how we act, and to compare that with what he expects of us.  Where the two do not align, he wants us to change to be like him. 

_Read_ _also:_ Judges 19:30, Psalm 4:4, Psalm 37:37, Isa 47:7, Jer 2:19, Jer 2:23, Lam 3:40,

##### Learn from Previous Ages and Generations

Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past.  Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.  Deuteronomy 32:7

This aspect of meditation is just plain old common sense.  As the philosopher George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Here God urges us to learn from the experiences of those who have gone before us, both to keep from making the same mistakes they did and to follow the examples of those who walked steadfastly with the Lord. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 4:32-38, Psalm 143:5, Heb 10:24

##### Meditate for Encouragement

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  Hebrews 12:3

Meditation is not only an action which prevents us from setting foot on the wrong path; it also provides personal encouragement in our faith.  The Bible tells us to set our minds on things above (Col 3:2) so that we can overcome discouragement and persevere through trials, because God knows that a short-sighted view can deter us from doing the things God has planned for us. 

_Read_ _also:_ Luke 2:19, Luke 12:24, 27-28, Gal 3:6,

##### Take the Time to Consider God

Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God's wonders.  Job 37:14

Here Elihu tells Job to listen, stop and consider God's amazing works.  I think this is wonderful advice, and it revisits a theme which is echoed often in our dealings with the living God: make a deliberate choice.  Choose to stop and meditate on God.  Make a willful decision to do so, rather than waiting for testing times to prompt hard thought. 

#### Results of Meditation

Meditation produces results.  It is not intended to be just a mental exercise, but is intended to produce change in us, particularly change which aligns us with God and his desire for our lives.  Meditation produces:

##### Wisdom

Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people.  He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.  Ecclesiastes 12:9

##### Insight

I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes."  Psalm 119:99 (See also 2 Timothy 2:7)

##### A Renewed Mind

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2

##### Action

In all of the verses above, God urges his people to think, consider, and ponder, so that through their contemplation they can come to realize that to follow the Lord is the wise thing to do.  He wants his people to meditate in order to produce action through obedience and faithfulness and to produce encouragement so that we keep moving forward in the Lord.  He also wants his people to meditate to produce the fruits of repentance, a changed heart and minds which are being transformed into Christ's likeness. 

Meditation will not always provide us with all of the answers to the big, imponderable questions we have about God, about life, about suffering, and so on.  Sometimes it may even increase our frustration at the lack of understanding we have, as was the case with both Job and the author of Ecclesiastes. 

"Meaningless!  Meaningless!"  says the Teacher. " Utterly meaningless!  Everything is meaningless."  Ecclesiastes 1:2

However, as you can see from the verses listed in this section, we are encouraged to meditate long and often, so that we learn to delight in God's word, so that we learn to remain obedient to him, so that we gain understanding of God's ways, so that we grow in our faith, so that we act on the words God speaks to us, so that we change our hearts and minds in accordance with his teaching, and so that we become more like Jesus Christ in our thoughts and attitudes.  The key to Christian meditation is that thinking upon the things of God should lead to change in our hearts, our minds and our behavior, and to action in accordance with his teaching. 

### Miracles

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.   
1 Corinthians 4:20

The early church saw miracles performed amongst them.  Both Peter (Acts 9:40) and Paul (Acts 20:7-12) raised people from the dead.  Philip (Acts 8:4-13), Stephen (Acts 6:8) and again Paul (Acts 19:11-12) did amazing miracles, such as healing cripples and the sick and driving out evil spirits.  The verse above from 1 Corinthians tells us that God's kingdom is a matter of his power, not just of talk.  Paul tells us that his preaching did not consist only of well put together words, but that at its heart was a work involving the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:4).  Miracles were instrumental in the growth of the church of the first believers.  When Philip performed miracles (Acts 8:6), the crowds saw them and took notice of him and his words as a result.  Miracles were, for the early church, an adjunct to the preaching of the gospel.  They were part and parcel of the evangelistic effort.  The believers performed miracles and then, having gotten the attention of the people, they preached the word to them.  Many believed because they heard the word, but also because they saw the power behind it.  Jesus did miracles left, right and center, even saying that the miracles he did in his father's name spoke for him (John 10:25).  When people failed to believe in him he told them at least to believe in the miracles he'd performed to show that God lived in him and he in God (John 10:37-38, John 14:11).  He warned those who did not believe and repent in spite of the miracles performed amongst them, that their fate was a grim one (Luke 10:13-14); the miracles served as a form of judgment for them - "you've seen all of these miracles and heard me speak and yet you still don't believe" (John 15:22-24).  Before he went to the cross, Jesus told his disciples:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  John 14:12

Jesus is our role model, and whatever he did we are supposed to do.  The early church knew this, so they unquestioningly followed Christ's example and performed miracles by faith, as well as praying, teaching, living in fellowship and caring for the needy.  If Jesus did miracles to show the love of God for the world, we also should be doing miracles as God enables us.  We should follow the model of the early church and lead out our evangelistic efforts by healing the sick and giving cripples back their ability to walk.  We are supposed to live by faith, not by doubt. 

How do we accomplish this?  Well, remember that you need no special powers yourself.  It is God working through you who does these miracles.  What you and I need is to have faith and to live in obedience to the leading of his Holy Spirit.  We also need the guts to give it a try.  We need to be bold enough to take God at his word and pray for sick people.  We need to persevere in our prayers, reminding God that he said we would do what Jesus did.  1 Corinthians 12:7-11 indicates that some believers are especially gifted to heal through the Holy Spirit, and some to display miraculous powers through that same Spirit.  You may be one of those gifted this way.  If God has given you these gifts, you should be nurturing and using them to build his kingdom.  How do you know whether you have this gifting from God or not if you don't attempt to pray for the sick in obedience to the Holy Spirit?  You may feel that you need to tread gingerly at first, and that's fair enough, but don't be afraid to try.  We learn by making mistakes, but don't be discouraged by them.  Learn from them and keep going and growing in the Lord. 

Remember, miracles are always intended to glorify God.  Miraculous powers are not something we should seek in order to glorify ourselves.  Simon the Sorcerer learned this lesson all too clearly when he asked Paul how he could have the power to make people receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-24).  The power to perform miracles is not ours; it is God who does these miracles, not us.  Even Jesus said _"_ _..I_ _do_ _nothing_ _on_ _my_ _own.._ _"_ (John 8:28).  He did not use any power that might have been inherent in himself to do miracles (Philippians 2:6-7).  His miraculous works came about from the power of the Father working through him (Luke 5:17, John 14:11). 

Miracles are encouraging to our faith.  They confirm what we believe in and strengthen us to stretch further in trusting God.  They bolster our determination and remind us of God's presence during times of hardship and difficulty.  They provide us with exciting, confidence-building stories and build our fellowship with one another through our shared experience of them.  Yet they are not a replacement for faith in the unseen, living God.  Nor are they always the answer to all of our needs or desires.  Consider the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt.  They wandered in the desert for forty years, and every single day of that forty years, God was present with them visibly and audibly: as a pillar of fire at night and as a pillar of cloud during the day (Ex 13:21-22).  Yet the people of Israel still grumbled and complained.  They still wanted to go back and be like the people around them rather than change their ways and live the way God had intended for them.  They got used to the amazing miracles God performed in their midst every day, so that they forgot how amazing they were, and they eventually disdained them (Num 11:1-6). 

Sometimes miracles are, in fact, fairly mundane, strange as it might seem to say.  Not long ago, my daughter had a very sore leg.  She had been limping on it for a few days and crying because of the pain she was in.  It was so uncomfortable for her that we were going to let her have the day off school.  We had arranged appointments with the Doctor and Physiotherapist, but we decided that we should pray for healing before we went to either.  So the family gathered around her and laid hands on her to pray.  We had a bit of a laugh, explaining to God that she may not really want to be healed, because that would mean she couldn't have a day off school, but a few minutes later she told me very matter-of- factly "It doesn't hurt any more, Dad!",  and proceeded to demonstrate the fact by jumping and bounding about doing cart-wheels and gymnastic movements all over the lounge room - activities which she was completely unable to do only fifteen minutes earlier.  Hmm, so that was that.  We gathered again and praised God for healing her and went about our business.  The pain came back that evening, but we kept praying and it went away completely not long after that and did not come back.  After the visit to the Doctor and the Physiotherapist, and even after x-rays of her legs, no problems were found and the problem was attributed to the normal pains of a growing body.  For the healing, we saw no fireworks and didn't hear angels singing, or any hooting or hollering.  There was no fanfare, or gasps of amazement and no zooming in of cameras or close-ups of an intense emotional moment.  God just healed her silently and quickly.  It was all so ho-hum and routine for the kids, which is great really, because for them it will become a normal thing for God to heal and do crazy, miraculous stuff.  Yet God healed her.  It is quite understandable that such a mundane event makes you want to explain it away: she must have been putting it on so she could get a day off school; or perhaps the pain would have gone away even if we had not prayed.  Yet she wasn't pretending.  I saw genuine tears, and yes, maybe the pain would have gone away, but it went away immediately after we prayed for it to go away. 

That can be the problem with miracles: sometimes they can be just too plain and simple.  We want a big event, with tears of joy and shouts of hallelujah.  We want to be blown off our feet every time, yet God is in control of the whole universe; healing is easy for him.  Sometimes he does a big song and dance act for us, sometimes he just heals quietly in the back room. 

So don't grow weary and accustomed to God's miraculous work as Israel did, even though it becomes a normal part of your day to day life of living and walking in faith.  Keep your heart pure so that you look at his ways with a fresh sense of wonder each time you see or hear of his amazing, miraculous action in the world. 

#### Jesus and Miracles

Interestingly, while Jesus performed many miracles and many of these are recorded in the Bible, there are very few verses in the New Testament which state that Jesus prayed immediately before or while he was doing these miracles.  Two references to Jesus praying before a miracle are both instances of multiplying produce for a large crowd: the feeding of the five thousand, (Jn 6:1-13, Mt 14:13-21), and the feeding of the four thousand, (Mk 8:1-9, Mt 15:29-38).  In these instances though, the Bible says that Jesus merely gives thanks to God for the bread and fish, he doesn't specifically pray that God would multiply them.  Jesus' faith is what does the multiplying.  He prayed for little children who were brought to him, but this situation seems to have been more of a personal blessing than one of healing or driving out evil spirits:

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.  But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.  Matthew 19:13-15

The only verses I can find in which Jesus mentions prayer specifically in relation to any sort of miracle, is after some of his disciples had tried to drive an evil spirit out of a boy and had failed.  Jesus says to them,

This kind can come out only by prayer Mark 9:14-29. 

Even though he told them this, he himself is not recorded as having prayed, at least not out aloud, when he drove the evil spirit out of the boy.  Rather he rebuked it and commanded it to leave the boy:

...he rebuked the evil spirit. " You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."  The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out.   
Mark 9:25-26

Of course, Jesus prayed regularly and consistently (Luke 5:16, Mark 1:35).  Jesus' life was imbued with prayer.  His prayer life had enabled him to develop his relationship with his Father so much that he could trust God enough to submit himself completely to God's will, essentially dying completely to himself and remaining in God every moment of his life (John 8:27-29).  So when the boy with the evil spirit, merely entered the presence of Jesus...

When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.  He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  Mark 9:20

The evil spirit recognized the presence of the living God dwelling in Jesus, and Jesus' faith and authority, which come from this indwelling of God, were what enabled him to drive the demon out.  These verses and the miracles of Christ, teach us that prayer needs to be a central and consistent part of our lives and not just used when we need it.  We need to treat prayer like the homework we do night after night throughout the year before the big exam at the end of the year.  When we are in a situation where God directs us to perform a miracle, we need to have already done the hard yards of prayer, away in solitary places.  We need to have already been obedient to God faithfully and consistently.  We need to have already been consistently indwelt moment by moment with the Holy Spirit and we need to already have had faith that not only God, but God living in you, and working through your voice and your hands can do that miracle, just as Jesus did. 

#### People who are not Jesus and Miracles

Sometimes miracles performed by people other than Jesus were accompanied by prayer and sometimes not.  Moses mostly did not pray for miracles.  God directed him to do something amazing and he just obeyed (Ex 17:1-7).  Elijah prayed that God would send down fire from heaven to light the sacrifice he had prepared and doused liberally with water, to prove to the priests of Baal and Asherah that his was the true living God (1 Kings 18:18-39).  Hezekiah was shown a miraculous sign, although no direct prayer request was made for one.  The request was more just asking for a sign, and asked through a prophet, at that (2 Kings 20:4-11).  The disciples of Jesus are sometimes recorded as praying before a miracle, sometimes not.  Peter prayed before raising Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:40).  After first praying, Paul laid his hands on a man with fever and dysentery and healed him (Acts 28:8-9), yet Paul merely looked at another man, saw that he had faith to be healed, and healed him by calling out to him and telling him to stand up (Acts 14:9-10).  Miracles occurred through people touching Paul's hankies (Acts 19:11).  Hopefully they were clean hankies!  Without any recorded prayer beforehand, Paul commanded an evil spirit to leave a girl in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 16:18).  And believers praying together seem to have been instrumental in the miraculous release of Peter from his prison cell (Acts 12:1-17).  So prayer is important in performing miracles in two ways: firstly, prayer sometimes precedes the occurrence of miraculous things and is required for those miraculous things to happen; and secondly, for miracles to be worked through you, you need to be in a place with God which will allow him to work miracles through you.  In other words, you need to be constantly soaking yourself in prayer and living with the presence of God within you, so that he can say to you at any moment, "Hey, pray for that sickly looking man over there!"  and when you do pray he will be sickly no more. 

_Read_ _also:_ Ex 3:1-6, Ex 4:1-9, Ex Chs 7-11, Ex 14:21-29, Ex 17:1-6, Num 14:11, Num 16:28-34, Num 17:1-11, Num 20:1-13, Num 22:21-35, Deut 6:20-25, Deut 7:17-19, Deut 13:1, Deut 31:15, Acts 3:24-31

_Raising_ _the_ _Dead:_ Acts 9:40 _Healing:_ Jer 17:14, Matt 10:8, Matt 20:29-34, Mk 1:30-34, 40, Acts 14:9, Acts 19:11, Acts 28:8

_Driving_ _out_ _Demons:_ Matt 10:1, Matt 17:15-21, Mk 1:39, Mk 4:23-28, Mk 9:17-29, Acts 16:18

#  Prepare for Prayer

Of course, you don't actually need to do anything to prepare yourself before you pray, you just pray.  You can pray anything you want to, at any time without having to undergo any pre-prayer warm-ups, brushing your teeth or combing your hair.  You don't have to put your make-up on, wear your Sunday best or gather your thoughts.  You don't have to prepare the right words, put on your lucky socks or turn around three times then hop on one leg.  Prayer is quite possibly the single most easily accomplished action in existence.  You don't have to open your mouth or assume the 'prayer position' or even think a certain way.  You just lift your heart to God and communicate with him, whether in thought or feeling or in groans which words cannot express (Rom 8:26). 

However, the Bible contains a lot of references which can help us to make our prayers more effective and more focused.  References which can keep us from falling into some of the traps which can sideline our prayer life or take the edge off our relationship with God.  Put simply, the Bible teaches that for us to be really effective in our prayer life, we need to get our whole life sorted out, so that we are living our lives everyday in such a way that we can call out to God at any time of the day or night and be right with him then and there, without having to go through any elaborate purification rites or guilt-cleansing pre-prayer procedures.  Here are some of the tips the Bible lays out for us. 

## Give Careful Thought to Your Ways

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways" Haggai 1:5

Prayer and the Christian walk require you to reflect upon your life, both so that you can identify what God might be saying to you through his wider actions in your life, and so that you can discern how you might need to change your life to bring it into alignment with the way God wants you to live.  It is a mistake to think that we can continue living the way we always have, even as devout believers, without ever considering the consequences of our lifestyles.  God always wants us to grow more into his image, and this, by definition, requires us to change.  Meditation on God's word and his action in our lives and the lives of those around us, enables us to figure out what we need to do and how we need to respond to God in order to move more deeply into his desired plan for us.  When we pray in faith, our prayers will be answered, but not always the way we expect.  Often God will require us to listen and respond to the answers he gives to our prayers.  God wants us to be thinking people.  He wants us to learn from the way he deals with us, to learn from our mistakes, to learn from our success and obedience.  When we reflect and discern that God's hand has been with us in obedience we should be encouraged to continue in his way.  When we consider and realize we've been living in rebellion, disobedience, or even unconsciously omitting to act when we should have acted for God, we need to learn from this.  Seek God's forgiveness quickly, accept his grace, put your mistakes behind you and move on, contemplating how we can avoid past mistakes in our future work for God.  When we have this attitude, God is able to slowly, but constantly transform us into the people he wants us to be.  When we consider our ways and learn from our lives and the lives of those around us, we become sharpened weapons, ready for spiritual warfare.  Each time we have our blades blunted from a badly aimed stroke, we change our grip, transfer our weight to the other foot, and determine not to use that stroke in that way again. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 39:1

## Put Yourself Right with God

David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.  Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.  2 Samuel 24:25

Sometimes - not always, but sometimes - we have sin in our lives which needs to be dealt with before God will respond to our prayers.  Personal sin is not always the reason that God does not seem to be answering us though. 

Daniel went into prayerful mourning, but his prayers were not answered for three weeks because the angel who was sent to give God's response to Daniel was stopped from transmitting it (Dan 10:12-13).  Daniel had no sin in his life to cause this - it just happened.  We don't know why. 

Jesus sweated blood while asking his Father to take away the trial he was about to face, but God did not answer his prayer in the positive - "No I won't take this from you, you have to do this thing" (Luke 22:44).  The Father knew he had to go through with death on the cross to fulfill his greater plan.  Jesus' request was not refused because he had sin in his life, but because it did not fit in with God's plan. 

Paul asked God to take away the 'thorn in his side' but God said "No, _my_ _grace_ _is_ _sufficient_ _for_ _you_ " (2 Cor 12:8-9).  God did not refuse Paul because he had sin in his life, but because God had a greater plan for him. 

Moses pleaded with God not to call him to do the work he had in mind (Ex 3:7-4:17). " But God I can't speak, but God...but God...but God...!"  God refused his requests to choose someone else because it was God's plan to use Moses. 

So sometimes our prayers are not answered, or are answered differently to what we ask for because God has other plans afoot, and sometimes our prayers seem to go unanswered because there are things going on in the spiritual realm which we know nothing about.  Do not immediately assume that unanswered prayer is due to sin in your life.  Ask God why he is not answering you.  If it because of sin, he will make it clear to you because he wants you to be reconciled with him.  Take time apart, think, mediate, and ponder on your life and your relationship with God.  Is there anything you can think of which could be causing God to withhold his answers to you?  It may be that you have no impediment to your relationship at all, but God is working out some plan of his in your life.  It may be that something else is happening in the spiritual realm which is interfering with God's response to you.  Confide in a trusted prayer partner or someone who you trust to pray for you, to try to discern if there is anything you need to do to get right with God.  Often it is hard to see our own sin, so sharing your difficulty with others can be a way of shining light on your situation from a fresh angle.  If something is revealed to you, deal with it quickly and humbly.  Put yourself right with God so that your prayers are answered once again.  If you have no sin which needs to be dealt with, be encouraged by the promises of God that you are precious in his sight and that he will never leave you.  Though you seem to be living in a world of spiritual isolation, build yourself up with the knowledge that God is still with you.  Nothing can restore your confidence more than the simple act of faith of believing that God is present with you, even though it feels like he is a thousand miles away.  In truth, he lives within you and you live within him.  Your feelings of isolation should not be your guide, rather exercise your faith in God's promise of intimacy with you (Heb 13:5).  Praise, worship, give thanks, and rejoice in the certainty of your salvation, and quietly and deliberately choose to seek God.  He will not long stay distant from you. 

_Read_ _also:_ 2 Sam 21:14, Psalm 41:4

## Ask for Forgiveness

Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.  Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar.  Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.  Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations.  Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'  Joel 2:16-17

We've probably all heard the advice that we should keep short accounts with God.  This means that even if we haven't done anything sinful which we are consciously aware of, we should be asking God to forgive us of any sins we might have done each day.  Indeed, we should deal with any sins as soon as we become aware of them.  We are forgiven and healed through faith, so through faith we should approach God knowing that he will forgive us if we sincerely seek his forgiveness.  We need to be honest about our repentance as well.  Repentance means to change our minds, to turn away from the direction were were taking and to move the way God wants us to instead.  Sincere repentance is what is required, not just lip service.  And asking for forgiveness is not something which only new Christians have to practice.  We are all sinners and we all fail to live up to God's ideals, no matter how many years we have obeyed Christ. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 51:1-12, 17, Acts 7:59-60, Acts 8:22

### ...Confess Your Sins

Seeking forgiveness needs to begin with admitting our sin and confessing known sin to God.  If we pretend we have not sinned, our sins remain over us like a coating of soot.  Confession is the beginning of the cleansing.  It can be hard to come to the point of confession though.  It is very humbling and can be a shame-filled time when we face the God who died to save us from our sins and admit that we still need to confess our failings: we are still not strong enough to resist sin without God's constant help.  And indeed we should never get to the point where we attempt to resist sin without the help of God.  Jesus never stopped relying on God to help him overcome sin and temptation, so there is no reason for us to try to be strong and cope all by ourselves.  God does not want us to be big, strong, beefy independent men or powerful, self-sufficient women.  He wants us to grow in dependence on him for our spiritual strength and maturity.  Ironic in our world, that is.  In our world strength equals independence and the ability to cope without help.  In God's world strength equals dependence on God and the requirement to lean on God in everything. 

So throw out your pride, find a quiet place, get on your knees and say "I'm sorry - I've done wrong".  Cleansing forgiveness will flow freely from God and your shame will be taken away and burned up.  Your righteousness will be restored.  Not a righteousness which comes from your own strength or ability, but a righteousness which God has credited you with (Philippians 3:9).  If God says you are righteous just because you believe it when he says you are, then you are righteous.  Who is going to argue with God? 

_Read_ _also:_ Ezra 9:5-15, Ezra 10:1, Neh 9:2-10:39, Psalm 38:18, Jer 3:13, Dan 9:20, Acts 8:22, 11, Jas 5:16, 1 John 1:9

## For Married Men: Treat Your Wife Right

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.  1 Peter 3:7

Obviously God is concerned about the way we treat the people around us.  This is the essence of the new command which Jesus gave us (Jn 13:34).  Its sad then, that it is often those we spend the most time with, who we treat the worst.  God has his eye on us, though.  He is watching how we treat our wives or husbands, our children, our mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters and friends, our employees and our bosses.  Let's not get diverted here by the 'weaker partner' bit of the verse above and the gender equality issues raised in the surrounding passage.  That is the subject of another book.  Instead let's focus on the core of the passage: that husbands in particular should be considerate of their wives and treat them with respect.  Failure to do so seems to be a stumbling block to an effective prayer life.  Certainly your prayer life can be hindered if you have a difficult home life.  It would certainly cause difficulty in any shared prayer time between husband and wife or husband, wife and children.  And we know God has consistently shown himself to be displeased when anyone does not follow the rule of love towards his neighbor, in this case his wife. 

Men, and in particular husbands, take note!  Your relationship with the women in your life must reflect the fact that they are heirs with you of eternal life.  Both on a practical level and on a spiritual level, show constant love, consideration and respect, and keep in mind the equal dispensation, to both men and women, of both the gift of life and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Hopefully this will rid your life of any hindrance to your prayers in this regard. 

## Fear the Lord

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  1 John 4:18

Perfect love drives out fear.  God is perfect love, so when we accept his salvation and enter into relationship with him, we enter into his security, assurance and rest, and we gain a sense of confidence, boldness and fearlessness when in his presence.  The more intimate we get in our relationship with him, the less fear we have towards him.  The Holy Spirit living within us does not enslave us to fear, but sets us free from fear (Rom 8:15).  By faith God has saved us so we can serve him without fear (Luke 1:68-75).  We serve without fear of punishment; we approach God without fear of having our sins exposed because they have been forgiven and removed (John 3:16-21).  In faith we no longer fear death (Heb 2:14-15).  In faith we may approach God with confidence (Eph 3:12).  Yet the sad truth is that familiarity with God can indeed often breed contempt of him, as the nation of Israel showed time and again throughout her history.  Even with God visibly and palpably in their presence every day and night for forty years in the deserts of Sinai, they still grew weary of God and wanted to be like the people around them, who had no such intimacy with him.  We are no different.  The more secure and confident we feel in approaching God, the more we can be tempted to devalue him in our hearts.  Over time we can forget how privileged we are and how mighty he is. " I'm in a good place here, everything is sailing along smoothly.  I'm right with God.  What can I do next?"  We wander off and go our own way.  We forget to stay close to him.  We forget to be obedient.  We forget to love him. 

Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?   
Isaiah 57:11

We need to put something in place in our lives to keep the wonder of God fresh in our eyes.  Something which keeps us on our toes and makes us stand up straight and give attention to our Lord.  The Bible tells us this thing is the fear of God (Eccl 12:13).  The strange thing about this whole idea, though, is that whenever the Bible mentions the fear of God, it does so in a manner indicating that we need to _choose_ to have a fear of God (Prov 1:22-33).  Rather than a passive fear of God, it needs to be an active fear.  Rather than a fear received, it needs to be a fear pursued.  It does not say we will automatically have the fear of God, unless perhaps we have seen a vision of him and gotten a good dose of knee-knocking, collapsible jelly-legs, which reminds us of the encounter each time we approach God anew.  Even then, it is probable that the encounter will fade from our memory over time as it did with Israel during her Exodus from Egypt.  No, the Bible tells us that we need to live our lives based on a healthy fear of God which we have to initiate on purpose.  We have to choose to fear God (1 Pe 2:17).  We are not to fear the things which the world fears (1 Pe 3:14): we should not fear disgrace or shame (Isa 54:4), the reproach or insults of men (Isa 51:7), and generally we should not walk in fear (Isa 41:10), but we are supposed to fear God. 

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: Should you not fear me?"  declares the LORD. " Should you not tremble in my presence?  I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.  The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.  Jeremiah 5:21-22

Even though the verse above is from the Old Testament, the message has not changed in the New.  Jesus also tells us to fear God (Mat 10:28), and it is repeated in the writings of both Paul and Peter (Philippians 2:12, 1 Pe 1:17).  We must not become complacent toward God.  We must not take our freedom from fear in his presence for granted.  Our privileged standing before him remains with us always, because our relationship with him remains always, and since we know him well, we also know that he is love.  We are not slaves to fear any longer, but now we must freely choose to fear God.  This fear of God is not a fear of punishment, or of death, but a natural fear of who he is.  As he said, "I made the heavens, I made the seas.  I'm a big guy and I do powerful stuff.  You are little amoebae and a careless swipe of my hand could demolish you, so don't be cocky around me and don't get a fat head just 'cos you can approach me personally and directly.  Don't forget who I am.  Don't be afraid to come and talk to me about whatever you want to.  Continue to approach me in confidence.  Confide in me in every matter and I will hear you, but fear me so that you do not stop following me, and fear me so that you do not forget me, and fear me so that you remain humble before me, even in the place of absolute security which you are in with me". 

_So_ _then,_ _what_ _does_ _it_ _mean_ _to_ _fear_ _God?_ 

I respect many people in my life.  I am in awe of some people's talents, abilities and achievements.  I esteem a very few people.  I revere even less.  I will act in obedience to none of them based solely on my high estimation of them. 

We often hear that to fear God means we must be in awe of him and revere him.  We must respect his power and absolute authority and live in acknowledgement of our humble position in relation to him.  While this is all well and good, when it all comes down to it, such an attitude won't make me obey God when I disagree with him.  This definition is really just a nice way of saying 'I will respect God and do what he tells me as long as I agree with it'.  What this reveals is not that we fear God, but rather the opposite: we have so little fear of him that we consider ourselves wiser than him.  We think we know when we should obey him and when we can get away with ignoring him.  We in fact have no fear of God.  What the Bible means when it says that we should fear God, is that we should have a mind-wrenching, wild-eyed, knee-trembling, wet-yourself sort of terror of wandering outside of the boundaries of his love towards us.  It means we need to know God's boundaries for us and to stay within them.  While we are within them, we have nothing to fear from God and we enjoy an intimate, nurturing relationship with him.  But, as soon as we cross any of those boundaries, God will come after us with jealous, snarling, fiery-eyed, fierce abandon to save us from ourselves.  He promises to discipline those he loves (Prov 3:11-12), and none of us are above that discipline when we step out of line.  We are to fear God so that we do not step out of line, because when we step out of line we endanger our lives. 

We all know that God loves us with an undying, ferocious love.  He has given his life so that we can be saved from death and spend eternity with him.  We can be absolutely confident that we can stand before God knowing that he has promised to save us from death if we have accepted his offer of life through faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ.  So, we can draw near to him and enjoy his protection, comfort and his embrace.  He has become our refuge, our shield, our defender, our comforter, our Father, our friend, our God.  We can enjoy extremely deep intimacy with him, sharing our fears, our joys, and our deepest concerns.  We can come into his rest (Heb 4:3) and let him lead us beside still waters (Psalm 23:1-3).  We can live safely wrapped up in the security, confidence and love of the Lamb of God. 

Indeed many Christians will only ever know Jesus, the Lamb of God.  Their lives will be led living and moving in him; living in obedience to his commands and to the leading of the Holy Spirit within them.  To them any thought of Jesus being anything but the loving, gentle caring, patient God they know is beyond understanding.  Some of us, however, are what the Bible calls foolish and what I call just plain stupid (I count myself amongst these latter).  I am stupid because I have taken an extremely long time to learn that I can live my life always in the comforting arms of Jesus, always responding to his voice in willing and trusting obedience.  I am stupid, because it has taken me so long to learn that instead of living constantly in the rest of God, I have consistently and foolishly lived in some level of rebellion toward God.  Often this rebellion was caused by fear, mistrust or a misunderstanding of God and his love for me.  As a consequence I have come to know Christ, the Lion of Judah.  I have experienced his roar.  I have had my skin ripped with his claws (metaphorically, of course), not to harm or injure me, but to bring me to my senses: to minimize the damage I do to myself through disobedience.  I have been so senseless to his love and his pleading voice, calling me to himself, that he has had to speak with harsh actions, rather than soothing words, to get my attention and make me see that he has only good in mind for me when he tells me to obey him.  I don't want to experience that side of him again, so though I am still senseless at times, I am learning to fear him enough not to get myself into a position where he will roar at me.  In other words, I am slowly becoming more obedient. 

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."   
Hebrews 12:5-6

I suspect that some of my readers will be reading these words with carefully restrained disdain.  I know that the fashion is to portray God as being love, love, love and that this translates to kindness, cuteness and tolerance for everything and everyone, no matter how they live.  But this is 'Beatles Theology': "He loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!"  So he does, but God is not a 'free love' 1970s hippie.  God is a SCARY dude, even despite the fact that we can get right up close to him and see his nostril hairs!  Even his messengers, the angels, are scary when they visit you.  Encounters with God reveal our vulnerabilities absolutely because, all of a sudden, our world view gets referenced to the absolute God.  Absolute power, absolute knowledge, absolute love, absolute justice, absolute purity.  Beside this absolute God, we see ourselves revealed in absolute truth.  And we cringe. 

Isaiah famously says upon his initial encounter with God:

Woe to me!... " I am ruined!  Isaiah 6:5

Not what you would expect really.  Woe to me for I have seen God!  I am ruined because I have seen the King!  Huh?  Later in Isaiah we are told what sort of attitudes we should have in order to be acceptable to God:

This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.  Isaiah 66:2

This passage from Isaiah does not say that we should simply respect God, be in awe of him, revere him, be amazed by him and hold him in the highest regard.  No, it says we should tremble before him! 

God's salvation once given is never revoked, as long as we remain in him and remain obedient to him.  So we can be supremely confident that we are saved through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection.  We do not need to fear for our lives before God, rather we should rejoice and give thanks for our eternal security of life.  Yet, standing before the almighty God, we come to realize that he literally holds our lives in his hands.  At his command our days on earth can end in an instant.  He provides every breath we breathe (Acts 17:25).  He holds us together as he holds the universe together (Col 1:17).  He is the righteous judge, the just King, the loving Father, our dear friend, but, above all, he is the one and only living God.  Fear this living God on purpose.  Decide to fear God.  Consciously make a commitment to fear God day in and day out.  Fear being disobedient to God.  Fear the thought of forgetting God.  Be afraid of not praying.  Be afraid of not sharing everything with him in prayer.  Be afraid of not including him in everything you do in your life.  Enjoy the peace and freedom from fear which comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit as it drives fear from you, and choose to fear God so that this peace prevails forever. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 5:29, Deut 6:13, Psalm 33:8, 18, Psalm 34:9-14, Psalm 111:10, Prov 8:13, Eccl 12:13, Isa 50:10, Jer 5:22, Zeph 3:7, Hag 1:12,  
Heb 12:28

## Submit to God

Submit yourselves, then, to God.  James 4: 7-10

Submission.  Not a popular subject.  We all have an innate resistance to submitting ourselves to anyone else.  There is almost always a negative connotation attached to the thought: submission to another involves debasement, humiliation, vulnerability, gullibility, weakness.  With these ideas buzzing around in our heads, it's no wonder we have trouble submitting to God.  Perhaps we should look at submission from another angle, a more altruistic angle, to provide us with some motivation.  Consider an organization like Médecins Sans Frontières, a group of people devoted to providing medical care to people all over the world.  Those involved in the organization submit to the auspices and organizational structure of that organization.  While not perfect, it achieves remarkable results through the dedicated doctors and nurses and other health workers submitting themselves to the requirements of laboring in such an endeavor, including working in extremely dangerous locations with minimal resources.  Submission to a greater cause like this can be an heroic act, an act which draws praise and plaudits.  Certainly submission to God is heroic, since it goes against the grain of our own rebellious natures, and it often goes against the accepted practice of the society we live in, even modern, western society.  But submission to God and to his leadership through his Holy Spirit makes us a part of a much larger organization: the Kingdom of God.  In God's Kingdom we are mobilized to work toward accomplishing the goals of the living God, the glorification of his name, the expression of his love toward all people through acts of kindness, mercy and grace and the salvation of all of humanity.  Submission to God's cause allows God to use us to these ends.  Failing to submit to God's guidance hinders this end.  Submission to God should not be a struggle with our egos, or our fears of being taken advantage of or abused.  When such things happen they do not come from God.  Submission to God involves committing ourselves to the cause of God and making ourselves available to be used for the fulfillment of his eternal, merciful and just plan for his world. 

_Read_ _also:_ 1 Tim 2:18

## Humble Yourself Before God

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  1 Peter 5:6

Submission goes hand in hand with humility.  I often struggle with humility, being a fairly egotistical person.  I sometimes find myself loudly proclaiming to God (in private with one else around) that I am humbling myself before him and want to praise him, etc, etc - translated "Look at me!  I'm pretty good aren't I God?"  which is really the opposite of humility.  Humility does not mean you should be self-deprecating and always putting yourself down or calling yourself an unworthy insect.  You are a very worthy child of God, he himself died for you after all.  Being humble, though, does mean you should consider your ways, your thoughts and your deeds and put them into true perspective.  If you are not living up to the requirements of God, don't kid yourself.  Judge yourself honestly as Paul describes (Rom 12:3) so that you can work with God to improve where you need to improve.  Don't compare yourself with others.  I know this is a difficult thing to do, but it isn't helpful.  Get right with God, obey him and be led by the Spirit to do what he wants you to do in your life, but don't compare yourself to Reginald over there, or Beatrice over here.  They have different gifts and abilities and God has different expectations of them.  We are each accountable to God individually.  Some of us will be praised and lifted high in his eyes for seemingly small acts of obedience where others of us might feel like we have to dig a ditch across the Appalachian Mountains before God approves of our efforts.  But God does not show favoritism.  He gifts us and expects us to bear fruit according to our gifts and abilities.  Remember bearing fruit in Christ does not always mean we need to do more things or work harder at tangible, measurable activities.  What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5.22) All touchy, feely things rather than get your hands dirty things.  This fruit has to do with our character rather than what we do.  When our character is transformed by the Holy Spirit like this, whatever we do, we do in the attitude and character of Christ and we are pleasing to Christ.  And that is what counts. 

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossians 3:17

Humility is not hard to understand or achieve when you figure out what it really means.  It means getting a right perspective of yourself when you compare yourself to God.  You don't have to put yourself down at all.  When you compare yourself to him you are laid low even if you are the most gifted, talented, muscular, attractive, intelligent, egotistical person on earth.  No matter how wonderful you think you are.  You are not really that wonderful after all.  Compared to him, you are like a blade of grass that is here today and gone tomorrow (1 Pe 1:23-25).  Compared to him you are a weakling and a dummy.  Compared to him you are sinful and impure.  Compared to him you are powerless and impotent.  Compared to him you have no fame and no glory whatsoever.  Stand tall, get to know God, and even though you stand on your tiptoes, you are nothing in comparison.  Humility means standing tall, pulling yourself up to your full height, boasting in all of your gifts and abilities, taking a healthy, honest approach to yourself and being punched in your pot-belly and winded by the sheer overwhelming fantasticness of the living God. 

"Oh mercy me!" ( or some other suitably expressive epithet) you might choose to utter to yourself, mouth hanging slack-jawed and slobbering, "I'm a speck of dust which has fallen off a dust mite, compared to God!" 

Ah yes, the old speck of dust from a dust mite epithet.  That's you and me.  Humble yourself before the living God.  Be everything God made you to be, but remember that even at your best, you are a worm-casting in comparison to Him, so live accordingly and honor him in everything you do. 

_Read_ _also:_ Ezra 8:21

## Seek First the Kingdom of God

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Matthew 6:33

Jesus' words here keep drawing us back to the basics.  Whatever you do, do it for God's Kingdom.  They are hard words, just as most of Jesus' teaching is hard.  I really don't think most of us live by these words.  I mean, do you?  Is your primary goal in life to advance the Kingdom of God?  Do you wake up in the morning and start planning how you can serve God today to bring in his Kingdom on earth?  Do you spend your evenings talking with like-minded people about your strategy to obey God and to show how much he loves the people in your community?  What is your primary goal in life?  Drop it.  Seek first the Kingdom of God. 

What has this got to do with prayer?  Think of all of the retired folk you see traveling around the countryside in their motor homes and caravans.  In Australia we call them "Gray Nomads".  Have you ever noticed that many of them advertize their CB radio frequency on their vans?  Take the time to tune in one day and you will find yourself in a world you did not know existed.  Hordes of gray and pink-haired retirees chattering on the airwaves about the best place on route forty five to make the next pee stop.  You've tuned into the communications of a group of people with a common purpose - to spend their waning years in the pursuit of somnolent adventure.  When we set our lives on the pursuit of the Kingdom of God, we similarly align ourselves with a group of people who have a common purpose, but more importantly, we align ourselves with the God who is co-coordinating this purpose.  His thoughts are on his goal, his resources are deployed to fulfill his purpose, and his attention is given to his plan.  When we we seek first his Kingdom, we tune into his frequency, we tune into the chatter which God is broadcasting personally our way to guide us so that we can be effective in completing his purpose.  We enter into his flow of thought, like a row boat casting off into the river of his purpose, being drawn along with the current and remaining in tune with his will.  When we pray in this place, we enter into his plans and he opens them up to us so that we can be a part of completing them with him.  We are reminded that God is not our servant, but rather we are his servants.  When we push our row boat out into the flowing waters of his purpose, and we make ourselves available to serve him, our prayers focus on how we can be of service to him rather than what he should be doing or us.  We seek what he seeks, and he sees that and weaves us more tightly into the tapestry of his will.  So, to paraphrase Matthew 6:33, seek first his Kingdom and this shiny red speedboat with twin 300 horsepower outboard motors a will be given to you as well. 

## Seek the Favor of the Lord

Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.   
Daniel 9:13

The perennial theme of seeking after the Lord is refined here to call us to seek, in particular, the favor of the Lord.  A child who does not resist instruction, but rather relishes it and even enjoys it, is easier to teach, learns willingly and at the end of the day, gives the teacher a boost of encouragement rather than draining her.  When we respond to God in this way, he is similarly encouraged.  We are easier to teach, we are easier to lead, we can be relied on to do what he asks of us and so he uses us to accomplish his ends.  So set your heart to aim to please God.  Come to him in prayer and pro-actively ask him - "Lord what do you want me to do for you?  I will do whatever you ask me.  How can I be pleasing to you?  What do you want me to change in my life?  Let me be your willing servant.  Make me humble and teachable.  I seek your favor." 

_Read_ _also:_ 2 Chron 33:10-13, Psalm 30:4-5, Prov 12:2,

## Seek Good, Not Evil

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.  Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.  Amos 5:14

More seeking - this time we are told to seek good and not evil.  Seek, seek, seek.  Seek the Kingdom of God.  Seek God's favor.  Seek good not evil.  There seems to be a pattern emerging...

## Fix Your Eyes and Your Thoughts on Jesus

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:2

There are many things which can make us lose hope in God's work on earth, but if you think about it, they often involve our observation of how God's people or his church muck things up.  We are all imperfect and can all do things which we later regret.  When we focus on the problems we see in the church or on the failings of a mature Christian who should know better, we can fall into a sense of despondency. 

When I was young, some friends and I went hiking.  We followed a path which led up from an old gold mining area into the surrounding hills.  We had a map and compass and all of the right gear for a multi-day walk.  We had planned our route based on what looked like the easiest way over the saddles of some hills and down to the creek in the next valley and then beyond.  We made our way up and over the saddle without too much difficulty and descended into an area which was bounded by cliffs to our left and which sloped down into a basin and then up towards a second saddle in front of us.  A sea of foliage spread out below us and the going looked to be fairly easy.  But soon we found ourselves ensnared in thick, tangled scrub which took us hours to grunt and push and hack our way through.  The day was wearing on as we realized that we would be stuck here for the night if we didn't find another way through.  We had moved closer to the cliffs on our left and as we looked around and discussed our options, the cliffs seemed to be the only way we could quickly break free of our predicament.  So we made our way over to them and looked for a route we could use to climb up, suited to our meager climbing skills.  We managed to find a route and sent the first of our party up with a rope.  He made it up and lowered the rope, which we used to tie to our packs so they could be hauled up one by one.  Once we all made it to the top of the cliff, we found ourselves once again looking down upon a sea of green foliage, beautiful and benign, giving no clue as to its tortuous and tangled contents.  From there we made our way easily to our first night's camping spot, but we had learned our lesson.  Stick to the ridge tops. 

When we get bogged down in the minutiae of life in Christ with all of its disappointments, stumbling blocks and detours, it is like being trapped in dense scrub.  Everything seems to move more slowly and every step takes an age.  Every corner reveals only more, dense undergrowth.  If we focus on the failings of others, or on the shortcomings of our church, we bog ourselves in mood deadeners.  Everything becomes too hard and we see no way in the world that God could do anything to change the situation.  Our faith fails us.  That's why Paul encourages us to set our eyes and our hearts on Jesus.  He is standing on the ridge above us and can see how stuck we have become.  Setting our eyes on him and having faith that his power can overcome the present situation while also weaning our thoughts off the depressing state of things as they are, is like climbing the cliffs out of the tangled maze.  Once we see things from his vantage point, hope starts to reassert itself in us and the possibilities and potentials of otherwise hopeless situations restore our vision of what can be done in union with Jesus Christ.  So look up from the tangled scrub of your situation, climb up onto the ridge and come into God's rest (Psalm 91:1). 

_Read_ _also:_ Heb 3:1

## Keep a Clear Mind and Live a Self-Controlled Life

The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.  1 Peter 4:7

Ironically self-control for the Christian is accomplished by submitting to the direction of the Holy Spirit rather than by having any form of inherent personal strength of character.  Galatians 5:22 lists self-control as one aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit living within us, whereas Paul, in Romans chapter 7 bemoans the fact, that despite his personal strength, he cannot accomplish mastery over sin by himself.  I'm sure you've come across people who look down on you because you admit that you are not able to always act or think the way you are supposed to, but what people like this fail to realize is that everyone eventually reaches the limit of their own abilities.  Only humble submission to the guidance of the Holy Spirit living in you enables you to develop the sort of self-control which surmounts these personal limitations.  Being a Christian involves facing up to your own frailties, admitting them, and letting God make you into more of a person than you could ever be in your own strength. 

I work in an environment where much of the time the office is very quiet.  For me this can be unnerving.  I like to work and study with noise around me most of the time.  Music is best for me, I don't know why, but it seems to recede into the background of my thoughts and energize them without interfering with my thought processes, (all except classical music, trad jazz and country and western, all of which make me feel very edgy, like fingernails screeching across a blackboard).  Some people, though, cannot work or concentrate with noise of any kind interfering with their thoughts.  Both silence and music give me a clear mind, but for others only silence gives them clarity.  Clarity of mind does not come only from noise or the absence of it, however.  If our lives are inundated with being busy and stresses beyond our control, it can be very hard to have any clarity at all.  The topic above on setting our eyes and our thoughts on Jesus introduces an invaluable aid in keeping our minds clear.  When we are constantly focused on our savior and on his Kingdom, it helps us to put things into perspective.  When he reigns in our thoughts, our stresses remain, but they somehow fall into order, with the certain knowledge that if we lay our troubles before him, Jesus can sort things out where we cannot.  Focusing on our Lord and on the hope we long for in our future helps us to remember Jesus' words:

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?   
Matthew 6:27

Therefore resolve to cast all of your cares upon him (1 Pe 5:7), so that your mind can remain focused and clear and so that you can pray. 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 4:6-7

## Be Sincere

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Matthew 15:8

I know that ritual is important for people.  It gives us a sense of security, a sense of a formal beginning, as in for example a wedding, or of closure as in a funeral ceremony, but ritual simply for the sake of ritual is harmful to people when it inhibits their relationship with God.  People usually forget why they start rituals and so, rather than drawing people closer to God, the rituals end up causing them to forget about God altogether.  Eventually sincerity of faith disappears where ritual is unbending.  Perhaps sincere faith surfaces occasionally when something dramatic happens in an individual's life, but generally, in my opinion, an over-reliance on ritual or liturgy is like a slow rot that enters the bones of a person's faith and transforms it into a spongy, smelly, hollow mess.  This is because people begin to think that the ritual is all they have to do in order to be pleasing to God, they see their faith as no more than a set of rigid procedures. 

Faith thrives instead on hearing the word of God, hearing and being a part of stories of encouragement, being part of a living worship experience, participating in and seeing faith in action, and going through the growing pains of faith, which requires us to adapt and change in imitation of Christ.  Ritual can still have a place in our faith, but it must be flexible enough to be subservient to our living relationship with Jesus and it must be capable of allowing the Holy Spirit to direct it as he sees fit. 

People bemoan the fact that there are so many denominations in existence now.  Why can't we all just agree and be one unified church?  I have come to the opposite opinion.  Look at history.  In the last four or five hundred years of the western church, a plethora of denominations have arisen.  Initially as a consequence of corruption in the Catholic Church, and later in reaction to perceived inaction or inability of new denominations to act or to remain faithful to the teachings of Scripture.  The Methodist movement began because John Wesley was compelled to preach to the lost even though the Anglican Church, in which he was an ordained minister, refused to sanction his actions.  Even before the Protestant movement, a multitude of different forms of faith expression arose within the Catholic Church itself.  God loves variety, his creation is testament to that.  And when his people will not sincerely follow him, he moves of his own volition and people who are in tune with him follow.  Often new movements of God have arisen because people involved in the previous movement have lost touch with God.  Their sincerity of faith has been swallowed by hollow ritual.  Insincerity of faith springing from the empty observance of liturgical ceremony leads people to lose their belief in God's ability to do anything.  Human strength alone is prevailed upon to work out God's purposes and in human strength we fail.  The outcome: God becomes dead to us.  Well, maybe not dead, but we don't notice him doing anything exciting in this place any more. 

Faith in Jesus Christ leads to a real, living, changing relationship with the living God.  Relationship with God is dynamic and difficult.  The Bible tells us that God does not change, so all of the adaptation and compromise which is needed for the relationship with him to work falls upon our shoulders.  It is we who must change to keep the relationship alive.  It is not easy to lose sincerity in such a relationship, which stretches you so much that at times you want out of it.  Stay sincere in your relationship with God.  Don't succumb to pressure to compartmentalize your relationship with him into a confined set of mindless rituals.  As revealed in Isaiah chapter 58, stagnation happened to Israel, because she forgot God and lapsed into a form of worship which was only empty ritual.  It happened to them.  It happens to us.  Don't let it happen to you. 

_Read_ _also:_ Isa 58, Mk 12:40, Luke 20:47

## Ask with Right Motives

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.   
James 4:3

This verse is linked to the previous item on sincerity.  This time we touch on sincerity of motive.  Why are you asking God for that thing you are asking him for?  What are your motives in asking for it?  Is it really just something you want for yourself?  Is your request based on obedience, humility, a desire to please God?  Are you asking in a sincere desire to honor him, to seek first his Kingdom?  Or do you just want to be healthy, happy and rich? 

Sure God wants you to be healthy, happy and rich.  Let's look at the supporting verses:

Healthy:

To keep him from becoming conceited, Paul was deliberately given a thorn in his flesh (not a literal thorn) to "torment him" (2 Cor 12:7).  A healthy form of torment, of course.  God allowed Job to become sick and covered in suppurating, pustulating sores to the point that he ended up sitting in ashes scraping them with broken shards of pottery (Job 2:7-8).  This was allowed so that Satan could be shown that Job was a righteous man.  God sent Jesus to die an agonizing and slow death by having eight inch long iron nails hammered through his hands and feet to suspend him from a wooden cross.  These people were men esteemed by God.  Their lives were not at all times healthy. 

Paul encourages us to train ourselves to be godly, saying that physical training has some value, but

...godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  1 Timothy 4:8

His point is valid for us.  Our present health is less important than our eternal health and God knows this.  Prayer enables us to build our eternal health reserves, establishing a relationship with God which never ends. 

Happy:

Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.  Luke 6:22

But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.  1 Peter 2:20-21

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  James 1:2-4

Happy, happy joy, joy!  Hmm... Following Jesus is not easy.  He endured the shame and pain of crucifixion "for the joy set before him" (Heb 12:2).  He was shown the happiness he would receive once he was obedient to God's plan for him.  The immediate outcome was not joy, but hardship, frustration, misunderstanding, misery and suffering as he lived out his life here on earth.  He went through all of this and we are told that we too must go through all of this while we live on earth.  Yet like Jesus, there is the prospect of joy everlasting set before us to give us hope amidst our hardships. 

Rich:

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.  Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.  Luke 6:20-25

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions and give to the poor.  Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  Luke 12:32-33

Paul tells us that we have every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3) and proclaims that the wisdom and knowledge of God are riches of great depth. ( Rom 11:33).  It seems that, as with health and happiness, we should be thinking long term about our riches.  Very long term.  Jesus tells us to sell what we have and give to the poor and instead of seeking physical comforts here on earth, to seek treasure which will last for all eternity. 

Perhaps we need to test our own motives to make sure we pray with motives that are acceptable to God.  So then, what are right motives? 

Christ died for you.  He rescued you from sin and death for a price - his death and resurrection.  Have you given your life to him?  Have you accepted his offer of salvation?  If so, you are saved, but you are also now his servant - you owe him your life.  As his servant, your motive when praying should be to serve him for the rest of your life in gratitude.  We easily, and perhaps conveniently, forget that we are actually servants of Christ now, since technically, he bought our eternal lives with his death. 

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.   
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

So now we belong to Christ.  Our lives are forfeit in regard to living for ourselves any longer.  We now live for him and for his ends.  We now serve Jesus.  When you pray, pray in obedience.  When you ask, ask so that you glorify Christ, your master. 

## Live in Obedience to God

_And_ _Honor_ _Him_ _with_ _the_ _Whole_ _of_ _Your_ _Life_

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.  Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.  Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.  Away with the noise of your songs!  I will not listen to the music of your harps.  But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!  Amos 5:21-24

God won't put up with empty worship, dutiful, dry prayers lacking in faith, or a life lived in hypocrisy.  You gotta walk the walk with God.  You can't pretend he isn't watching and listening.  Not doing good things is just as bad as doing bad things.  Not praying is just as bad as deliberately turning away from him: he gets jealous for your attention either way.  If God was not real, it would be OK to offer him empty worship and monotonous prayers, but he is real.  If God was not real, there would be no one to protest at our aversion to being in relationship with him.  But as it is, he gets rather upset when we ignore him and he makes a fuss.  Don't be the cause of a ruckus with God: pray sincerely, listen attentively, obey immediately and love him with all that you are. 

## Don't be Complacent about God

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, 'The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.'   
Zephaniah 1:12

The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.  I'm afraid it can be easy to think this.  God is after all, invisible, and for most of us, he remains silent - we never hear his voice audibly.  When we speak to him, we can't see his face and respond to his facial cues as we are used to doing when we talk to other people.  We can't see his tears, nor his frown, or his smile.  Most of us don't hear his words fill the air around us, or smell his breath on our faces.  We don't see his head lift in laughter or his shoulders slump when we disappoint him.  With God we have to have faith in him all of the time, and honestly, sometimes we just forget to.  Bad things happen in life and it can seem that God is either not really there or that he doesn't really care.  He seems powerless and feeble rather than Lord of all.  When we see bad things happening and hear of worse things still, it is easy to fall into believing that if God is there, he is too busy to do anything, or he is not interested in doing anything, or he is not able to do anything.  The same old scheme of things follows: we forget God, we drift away from him and we start to do our own thing.  We see no horrific consequences of living a life doing selfish and hurtful things.  We become certain that God will not act if we edge a little into the same territory.  And for many years we may indeed see no consequence to our actions, even perhaps prospering in them.  But God is not mocked.  He does act.  He will discipline those that he loves, and when he does, it won't be pretty.  So what should we do to avoid being complacent about God?  The advice from the Bible is simple: fear God, love him with all that you are and seek him always, but if that doesn't cut it for you then try this.  Rather than turning away from him in disappointment and despair, bring your case before him.  Make a stand against what you see as his inaction.  Call him to account for what he does and what he leaves undone.  Face him head on and insist that he respond to you.  If you get no response, go at him harder.  Pursue him like a wild beast chasing its next meal.  Don't let him get away with what you perceive is his apathy toward injustice, violence and greed.  That'll rouse him, you just try it and see (Job 40:1-8). 

## Listen and Respond to God When He Talks to You

' _When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.  Zechariah 7:13_

You want God to listen to you?  Then you listen to him and do what he tells you.  Nuff said. 

## Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2

God wants us to be thinking people.  Consider this (Heb 13:7, Jas 3:5,  
Rev 2:5), ponder over that (Psalm 107:43, Luke 2:19), give thought to your ways (Haggai 1:5, 7, Prov 4:26), meditate on God's word (Josh 1:8, Psalm 77:12, Psalm 119:99).  King Solomon is renowned as a thinker, he wrote many of the proverbs in the book of the same name as well as a treatise on the meaning of life - the book of Ecclesiastes.  Jesus was a thinker, he told us to consider the birds of the air (Luke 12:24) and to take note of the signs around us (Matt 16:2-3).  Paul also was a very learned man in regard to the Jewish Law (Gal 1:14, Philippians 3:4-6).  Yet all of these men realized that at some point, our reasoning, rational minds can't fully understand the reality of heaven and the Kingdom of God which we now live in.  Some things are just beyond human comprehension.  In fact the book of Ecclesiastes pretty much comes to the same conclusion.  Just forget about it and get on with enjoying life, it tells us (Eccl 9:7-10).  In order for us to come to grips with this other-worldly reality, which God lives in and which he has now brought us into through new life in the Spirit (John 3:5-8, 1 Pe 1:23, 2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15), we need to allow him to modify our world view.  We need to come to understand our own place in the new order of things (Rom 8:15-17) and we need be taught the new reality of the Kingdom of God amongst us here and now (Matt 13:11, Luke 17:20, 1 Cor 4:20, Heb 12:28).  Paul urges us to set our minds on things above (Col 3:2) and to let our minds be governed by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:5-7).  Up above is where we will be spending the rest of eternity, so we might as well get used to dwelling on it now.  I have very little idea about what it's like up above, so I need someone to hold my hand and show me how to understand what I should be setting my mind on, so I don't end up just staring at the clouds and trying to count all of the miniature-sized spiders floating around on wisps of spider web in the upper atmosphere.  When we leave our thoughts anchored in the human realm, problems seem insurmountable.  When we let our minds be controlled by our bodies, we fall into temptation and sin takes its hold on us.  But, with minds set on 'God stuff' and with thoughts directed towards glorifying God, our hope in the promised future rises within us, and faith becomes something we can conceive of as attainable.  Head in the clouds, you mutter?  Perhaps so, but that's how the Bible tells us to live:

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.   
Colossians 3:2

_Read_ _also:_ Prov 3:5, Rom 8:5-7, 1 Cor 2:16, 2 Cor 4:4, 2 Cor 10:5 Eph 4:23, Philippians 2:5, Heb 3:1, Heb 10:16

## And Finally...

The gist of this chapter is that prayer is really a whole of life experience.  It can't be separated from listening to God and doing what he says.  It can't be set apart from reading the Bible and letting it change your life as you obey its teachings.  You can't go to church twice a year, Christmas and Easter, and slip back into an ungodly lifestyle in between and then expect God to be pleased with your way of life.  You can't expect God to take you seriously if you don't take him seriously.  Thankfully he treats us with patience, love and grace, hearing our prayers whatever state we are in with him, but to really know the fruits of powerful prayer, you gotta get alongside God and chip away at the coal face just as he is doing.  So suck in your tummy, tighten your belt, roll up your sleeves and go prepare yourself for prayer. 

#  Pursue God

The main premise of this chapter is that we should seek God.  Actually, pursuing God is the term I prefer because it gives a stronger, more deliberate sense to the idea.  God seems to be forever present and busily doing this, that or the other in the stories of the Bible.  His presence is pervasive and intimate, rather than erratic and aloof.  We get the impression that he is here among us, busily doing his stuff, and constantly calling us to come alongside and help him in his work.  We also learn that people hardly ever immediately respond to God's overtures towards them.  We just amble along in our own little worlds, oblivious to God and to his pleas for us to join him.  If we do respond to him at all, it is only usually with an initial burst of enthusiasm, which may last a few years before we are bogged down again with the troubles of life and once again we forget God, only bringing him to mind on Sundays when we either go to church or feel guilty that we don't. 

When we are children, it is drummed into us that we need to brush our teeth regularly or we will lose them.  I had this teaching reinforced as I witnessed my father's teeth go through a cycle of slow decay, such that they turned brown and visibly rotted in his mouth because he did not care for his teeth.  His generation had not had the importance of oral care drilled into their craniums as ours have.  In the end he had to get his rotting molars and crumbling incisors removed and replaced with false teeth. 

We readily take to brushing and flossing to preserve our teeth, knowing that to neglect them means they will rot.  We exert ourselves to maintain our looks and health.  We strive for social acceptance and a place in society.  We are taught to follow our dreams, letting nothing stand in their way, yet we do not strive to build or even maintain a relationship with God.  When it comes to our relationship with our eternal savior, we expect everything to just fall magically into place with no effort on our part.  Experience in life teaches us that very little comes to us without some effort.  The words of Scripture reinforce this in regard to intimacy with Jesus.  We have to seek him if we want to be close to him.  We have to put effort in if we want prayer to be exciting.  We have to push through our lethargy to build a disciplined prayer life.  In regard to prayer, we reap what we sow. 

Unfortunately, however, one of the recurrent themes in mankind's relationship with God is that we constantly forget him.  I guess it's similar to the way the temperature of water reacts to its surrounding environment.  In our sinful state, we become like the world around us: cold towards God, just the same way as the temperature of water settles to the surrounding ambient temperature.  This is what naturally happens if we just let things be, without making an effort to heat up our relationship with God.  God knows this, so he keeps on telling us to get off our backsides and seek him.  A vibrant, living prayer life with God involves our constant efforts to pursue God.  That is, we should make a conscious decision to deliberately seek God, no matter how we feel, no matter what our circumstances are and no matter whether we think he is responding to us or not.  We have to make a commitment to pursue God, in the same way that Jesus set his face like flint towards the cross (Isa 50:6-8, Luke 9:51) If God never responds, we must pursue him nonetheless, if people laugh at us, we must pursue him nonetheless, if our lives begin to fall apart around us, we must pursue him nonetheless. 

Job's experience is a stellar example of this sort of tenacious commitment.  He went through utter horror in the Bible story of his life, yet he did not curse God.  He had set his heart to honor God.  We need to learn from Jesus and from Job to set our hearts like hardened steel to pursue God, and when we find him, to keep pursuing him, because none of us can stay close to God without putting some effort in. 

Be encouraged with the words of Jeremiah:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13

When we set out to seek him, we will find him.  There is no doubt of that (Isaiah 45:19). 

## Remember God

When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.  Jonah 2:7

Like Jonah, most of don't remember God until we find ourselves being digested by the stomach acid of a giant guppy.  The world is a busy place.  There are lots of things going on, colors, sights, smells, tastes, sounds - all too good to miss.  We want to experience some of these exciting things, to go to exotic places and to see amazing sights which we hope will enrich our lives.  Like the neon lights glowing and flashing in the heart of Hong Kong's shopping district, there are just too many things drawing our attention for us to ignore them.  Those neon lights, when they were first introduced to America, caused people to stop and stare at the "liquid fire" they contained.  They were initially mesmerized by its effects.  We too are mesmerized by all of the places, things and people of our world.  While there's nothing wrong with enjoying the rich relationships and experiences which the world offers, if they draw us away from God and cause us to forget to apply ourselves to our relationship with him, then we land ourselves in trouble.  The world seems to offer more than enough entertainment and variety to satisfy our every need, but it can't give us the type of fellowship and security that we get from a living relationship with God.  Eventually we discover ourselves mucking out pig pens and wishing we were home.  When we get to that point, God takes first place in our thoughts once again.  We shouldn't let it get to this point though.  Remember God every day and offer your homage to him.  Dedicate yourself to always spending time with him and you will find that you can still enjoy the world he has created for you, but with the twin satisfactions of a heart resting in the peace of Jesus Christ and a life lived in the excitement of his working in you.  Enjoy the marvels of the world with him as your constant companion. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 6:12, Deut 9:17-18, Isa 1:10, Isa 17:10, Jer 1:6, Jer 2:13, 32, Jer 3:6, Jer 5:11, 19 -21, Jer 18:15

## Acknowledge the Lord

Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him.  As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.  Hosea 6:3

The verse above from Hosea follows on from a section of Scripture encouraging God's people to return to the Lord after a period of disobedience and its associated corrective punishment.  The first step in returning is to acknowledge that God is indeed God.  When we acknowledge God, we acknowledge that our own plans, thoughts and ideas often differ from his and that the two are sometimes in conflict.  When we acknowledge God, we acknowledge that we are indebted to him.  Indebted for our lives, indebted for our possessions, indebted for our relationships.  When we acknowledge God, we acknowledge that we ourselves are not God, and we acknowledge that he is greater than we are and so is deserving of our acknowledgement and our consideration.  We admit that he is bigger than us, more powerful than us, more righteous than us.  He is right when we are often wrong.  Acknowledgement of God should set us on a path to reconciliation with him.  It should set us on a path of putting ourselves right with him and staying right with him. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 4:39

## Seek God (A "Constantly" Thing)

No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.  Isaiah 64:7

The verse above from Isaiah smacks of hopelessness.  Once God has hidden his face from us, what is there we can do?  We are lost.  Only when God does remove himself from us do we realize just how much we need him and just how much a part of our lives he really is.  Taking the verse above, and the situation it describes as a starting point, how would we influence God to turn his face back to us?  Should we just succumb to the dark feelings of emptiness which come as a result of living without him?  Should we forlornly stumble through the long days and interminable nights waiting for God to change his mind?  Should we adapt to life without God as best we can and just get on with it?  Some do, but their lives are empty in comparison with having the presence of the Lord with them. 

There is really only one solution to the situation which leads to a satisfactory outcome.  We have to get up off our behinds and go find God again.  If being in his presence is so important to us that we go chasing after him despite having been left in the dark by him, that in itself reveals something about us.  And although God might have hidden his face from us, he still sees us and knows the motives of our hearts.  When we make a choice like seeking the Lord in spite of feeling that he is a thousand miles away from us, a choice which arises from our hearts, it betrays a deep desire within us to be with him.  This is pleasing to God:

"Hey, he actually wants to be with me!"  says God, "I don't have to go hounding him to come closer to me, to do what I ask of him, to make me the most important thing in his life!  I don't have to keep telling him 'Do this, don't do that!'  He's starting to take in what I've been trying to teach him.  I can do something with this man.  I WILL do something with this man!" 

Do you see what I'm trying to say?  Seeking God requires a certain level of spiritual maturity.  I'm not saying you have to be a mature Christian before you can seek God.  No, what I'm saying is that when you seek God, you grow in maturity.  And you need to grow into that maturity to be able to seek God (yes, it's one of those infinite loop things).  We often grow when faced with things we can't cope with.  We grow because we are forced to find a way to cope and in the process we learn something new about ourselves.  Seeking God is hard.  We would much rather just let him find us, but seeking him forces us to grow into an area of faith which we had not previously ventured into. 

During Jesus' ministry, multitudes of people followed him.  Many followed him because he was giving them something they wanted or needed (John 6:26).  He gave freely and so they stayed with him.  But when Jesus put the hard word on them, they faltered (Matt 19:16-22). 

"Hmm.. I'm not sure I want to follow him anymore, he is hard to understand and he asks too much." 

It can be like that for us too. 

"Jesus is not shining his face on me anymore.  I'm not having fun.  I give up.  Let's go get drunk!" 

Have you been hanging around Jesus only because he is giving you something you want?  Would you follow him even if he didn't give you that thing?  If your faith faded and you started to feel depressed, or if you lost faith in your fellow Christians, or in God, would you follow him anyway?  If God disappointed you or let you down in some way, would you still follow him? 

Search the motives of your heart.  Why are you a Christian?  Is it because you have decided to go after Jesus?  Do you want him more than anything else?  Do you want him more than health, happiness, wealth, riches, freedom? 

Seek the Lord.  Not because you want or need something from him in return, but because you want to give something to him - yourself. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 4:29, 1 Sam 7:24, 2 Sam 24:10-25, Ezra 6:21, Psalm 9:10, Psalm 14:2, Psalm 25:1-4, Psalm 27:4-5, 7-10, Psalm 34:4-6, Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 63:1, Psalm 123:1-2, Prov 2:1-5, Isa 55:6-7, Isa 64:7, Isa 65:10, Jer 6:16, Jer 18:19-23, Jer 29:11, Jer 50:4, Lam 3:25, Hos 10:2, Zeph 2:3, Luke 11:5, 1 Tim 5:5

### ... When He Disciplines You

Let everyone call urgently on God.  Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  Who knows?  God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."  Jonah 3:8-9

There is no better time to seek God than when everything has turned to putty.  Sometimes God uses those times when you are sinking in stinky custard as a form of discipline.  He is shouting out: "HEY!  WAKE UP!  STOP, LISTEN AND LEARN!  COME BACK TO ME!"  Check your life.  Do the troubles you are going through contain a rebuke from God?  Is the dry emptiness you live through every day a wakeup call?  Seek God.  Even if you are not being disciplined, it is always good to seek the Lord.  When he is speaking to you directly in the form of any sort of discipline or punishment, it is even more important to seek him.  Turn away from the cause of this discipline and turn back to him.  If you don't know what you are doing wrong, ask: "What have I done to cause this?"  What or how do I need to change?"  If you ignore God's discipline, things will only get worse.  He is trying to get your ear and tell you that he wants the best for you and he has your long term interest at heart. " Choose life", he says, "Choose me!" 

_Read_ _also:_ Prov 1:23,Jer 50:4, Daniel 9:13, Hos 5:15, Hos 7:14, Joel 1:5, Amos 4:7-13, Jonah 3:8, Zech 1:2-3

## Draw Near to God

Come near to God and he will come near to you.  James 4:8

Draw near to God.  Go on!  Sidle up to him, sneak an adoring gaze.  Tell him you're a crazy fool for him.  Tell him you need him.  Admit to him that he's a rather splendid chap after all, don't you know.  I know it's not easy being all gooey and doe-eyed to an invisible, supernatural dude.  You can't see him blush when you tell him how beautiful he is.  You can't see him smile when your heart softens towards him, you can't hear him gush when you sing his praises.  You have to take it on faith that he does all of these things.  Maybe he doesn't really blush, but he gathers a rush of emotion and sends it darting your way when you pronounce your love for him (Jer 31:20, Isa 43:4).  My friend, a fairly new Christian, was for a long time perplexed as to why he unaccountably felt like crying while he sang during worship time at church.  It was obvious.  God was responding to his worship and he couldn't help but feel deep emotion at the love God was throwing back at him.  I'm sure many of you have experienced the same sort of thing: get fervent with God, whether in praise, worship or intercession and your heart just wells up from somewhere within you.  Tears seem the only satisfying expression of what it is saying.  That naughty book, The Song of Songs, isn't just about King Solomon's love for his babe.  It's an expression of the love Jesus has for his church as well.  That means you.  You are a pillar of his temple (Rev 3:12), you are his church, so you are the recipient of those loving words as well.  Draw near to God, don't be shy.  He wants you close, to share his love for you.  He wants to draw you near, to hold you tight and keep you all to himself. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 84:1-2, Isa 34:1, Isa 48:14, 16, Isa 55:1, Jer 30:21, Zeph 3:2, Zech 1:3, 1 John 1:4, Heb 10:19-2

## Return to God

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.  Your sins have been your downfall!  Take words with you and return to the LORD.  Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.  Hosea 14:1-2

As the saying goes, if God is far from you, it is probably you who has moved.  Sometimes we just have to sigh, admit defeat, turn around, and go groveling on hands and knees back to God.  Admitting we are wrong is often painful, though, and the personal shame we fear we will suffer sometimes makes us look for other ways out instead.  But looking for other ways out is never a good idea, it just prolongs the pain.  Return to God.  Don't delay and make things worse than they already are. 

_Read_ _also:_ Prov 1:23, Isa 31:9, Isa 55:6-7, Jer 4:1, Jer 32:33, Dan 9:14, Hos 6:1, Hos 14:1, Joel 1:5, Joel 2:12-14, 16-17, Amos 4: 7-13

## Trust God

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding... Proverbs 3:5

Trust is a capacity some of us have in greater measure than others, but which can also grow or diminish depending on life experiences and how we face them.  Lessons learned in life's circumstances as we grow into adulthood often determine who we trust, how much we trust them or whether we trust at all.  A lot of the time we have no idea why we trust someone or why we have trouble trusting.  Both responses may come from something inside our personality which is not under our conscious direction.  Not to trust at least some people leads to a very isolated, lonely life.  Some would argue that trusting too much leads to a life filled with pain, betrayal and disappointment.  I suppose this last point depends on who you put your trust in to some degree and how much trust you put in them.  If you trust someone to be a good, faithful friend, yet he has a history of betraying friendships, then you are highly likely to have your trust betrayed and end up disappointed (although the life-changing power of Jesus Christ may be working in them to change them to be more trustworthy - give people a second chance just as Jesus gave you a second chance).  If, on the other hand, you put your trust in someone who has always been a faithful and true friend to all who know her, then you are likely to have your trust rewarded with constant friendship (although anyone is capable of betraying our trust, even the most saintly among us). 

If you trust an untrustworthy man a little only, your trust may end up being rewarded when he displays a greater degree of trustworthiness than you had expected.  Also if you place a great deal of trust in someone who can be trusted implicitly, you may feel let down when he falters in only a minor matter. 

So trust is not a simple matter, but our capacity for trust is not something which remains rigid from youth.  Most children trust innocently until they encounter situations where they are disappointed, or let down, or hurt.  Some have such bad experiences that it knocks their ability to trust anyone at all.  Meeting someone who lives up to our level of trust over an extended period of time can slowly change how much and how easily we trust others.  Lots of encounters with people we have trusted who have not let us down, build our confidence and our ability to trust again.  Conversely, constantly dealing with people who end up being untrustworthy degrades our ability to trust.  How we personally handle trust issues also affects our trust.  If we are constantly let down or betrayed by everybody we meet, it is theoretically possible to shrug each blow off and retain a healthy optimism toward our fellow man.  On the other hand, a single bad experience can cause us to lose trust in everyone. 

Jesus taught that we should forgive one another.  Forgiveness is a powerful antidote to a lack of trust.  It restores trust within us toward our fellow humans and it builds esteem in the person being forgiven that the untrustworthiness they displayed can be forgiven and rebuilt, because they have been given another chance.  The key to forgiveness, though, is based on trust itself.  If we don't trust at least one person or thing pretty solidly, we have nothing to use as a foundation for the renewal of our trust.  I argue that to really forgive effectively we need a rock, a solid, immovable reference point from which we can take our bearings.  There has to be some foundational person or thing in our lives which we can have absolute and implicit, rock-solid, earth's core, anchored assurance in.  Someone or something whose trustworthiness we have absolutely no doubt about, which we never even question.  A solid foundation like this would make us strong.  It would make us resilient to all of the unfaithful actions of people, and to all the fickleness of life's encounters.  An unquestioning trust like this is foundational to a strong ability to trust and to forgive.  We need such a rock of trust to base our lives on.  Jesus is that rock.  In him there is no falsehood (John 7:18).  When he says yes, he means yes.  He does not change his mind (1 Samuel 15:29).  He does not change (Psalm 55:19).  He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb 13:5) no matter where we are, what we have done or how we feel (Rom 8:38-39). 

You might not be able to trust anyone very much.  But you can change that.  It is not a foregone conclusion that you will never trust again.  Just choose the right person to trust - Jesus.  He won't let you down, betray you or disappoint you.  When you have reached the end of your life you will see that the trust you placed in him has never been let down.  But don't wait 'til the end of your life to trust him.  Trust him now.  He will not let you down. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 31:14, Psalm 33:20-22, Psalm 37:1-7, 34, Psalm 40:4, Psalm 43:5, Psalm 52:8-9, Psalm 56:1-4, 10-11, Prov 3:5-6, Jer 32:27, Zeph 3:2,2, Cor 1:10-11

## Have Faith and Believe

" _Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you."  Matthew 17:20_

An anchoring, foundational level trust in Jesus grows over time.  Small steps of faith and belief are what are needed to initiate the growth of trust in him.  So, though you trust him only a little, have faith that you can trust him more.  Have faith in Jesus and believe his message to you.  Believe in him and his promises of eternal life, even of life overflowing in this world.  Build your faith by having a little more faith next time and a little more the time after that.  As you grow in small steps of faith, one day you will still be taking those small steps of faith, but to others looking at you, they will see giant strides.  They were not privy to all of the thousands of small steps which were needed to build up to these great strides. 

In the same way, physical fitness does not come overnight.  All athletes of any description have to put in long, arduous, often boring hours of training to develop fitness.  They are sustained by focusing on a goal - the achievement of their aims.  As they train they know they are getting fitter.  They know they have worked hard to get where they are.  They remember the icicles which formed on their mustachios when they arose early to run five miles, then ten miles, then fifteen miles each morning.  They know the number of shoes they have worn out, they know the amount of washing powder their running shorts have needed to smell fresh again after each run.  Yet to spectators seeing them speed past, they seem almost superhuman.  We have only caught a moment in time of their full athletic life. 

Paul tells us that we need to have faith in order to please God:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  Hebrews 11:6

Without faith, our best efforts at pleasing God are futile.  Try to keep the Ten Commandments, fine, but if you don't keep them with a basis of faith underpinning your actions, it ain't pleasing to God.  In fact, in the New Covenant which Christ introduced, we are supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit in faith, and living our day to day lives by faith is what makes God happy with us.  Of course this has always been the case.  Adam, Abraham, Moses all lived by faith before the Law and Commandments even existed, and the figures of Scripture who were pleasing to God were pleasing not because they were pure and perfect, but because they approached God with faith that he existed and would respond to their prayers.  So pleasing God through living by faith is nothing new. 

James urges us to act upon our faith and not to merely believe in something without acting upon it.  Faith without actions is dead, he says (Jas 2:14-25).  Consider your faith in chairs.  Each time you sit on a chair, you have faith that it will hold you up.  If you see a chair that looks rickety, you will, at first, only gingerly try sitting on it, testing your weight little by little, making sure your legs are under you so you can carry yourself if the chair buckles beneath you.  If you had no faith that the chair could hold you up, you would not sit on it.  But the fact that you have sat on chairs for the whole of your life and very, very few have ever crumpled under your weight, assures you that you can have perfect faith in any old chair which happens to come along and present itself to you.  You have faith in chairs without even thinking about it.  But if you say you have faith in chair X, yet refuse to sit on it, then your faith is false.  You don't really believe it will hold you up; you are just giving your faith in it lip service.  James tells us to sit on the chair, not just look at it and declare it fit to be sat upon.  If you really believe that Jesus died for your sins and that you have an eternal place ready for you in heaven, you should approach life being bold about Christ and taking his teachings to heart, then acting upon them.  Go into all of the world and make disciples.  Offer your left cheek when you are hit on the right.  Give the poor the clothes off your back.  Have faith that God can heal you.  Have faith that Jesus can overwhelm your church community with his presence, even if they seem implacably opposed to letting him do anything real and effective in their lives. 

Jesus often bemoaned the fact that he found so little faith amongst the very people who God had set apart for himself - the Jews (Mat 17:14-20).  He told us that we don't need a huge barrel of faith for God to act, just a thimbleful will do.  Faith as small as a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain, so a thimbleful should be able to move planet-sized objects, like the local municipal council.  Faith in God's powerful presence and in his unbounded love for all of humanity is what gives us the confidence to seek healing for the lame, to seek to bring the dead back to life and to seek for God to do miraculous things in support of his claims of salvation. 

Build your faith like an athlete.  Step out, taking small steps, and then keep on doing so.  Your faith will grow without you even realizing it.  Approach faith in Jesus as you approach sitting on a chair, you don't even question the fact that it will hold you up.  Practice your faith actions so that faith in the love and power of Jesus Christ is as automatic to you as plopping down on a Chippendale. 

_Read_ _also:_ Jonah 3:5, Matt 21:21-22, Mk 11:22-26, Luke 17:6, Luke 1:11-22, 26-45, Heb Ch 11, Jas 1:5-8

## Circumcise your Heart

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem... Jeremiah 4:4

Circumcision means "cutting around" something, but the 'something' mostly referred to on a man is not usually brought within ten feet of anything sharp.  That's why boys are usually circumcised as infants - they haven't learned to run yet.  But the physical circumcision which God required Israelite men to undergo was an external symbol signifying that they had entered into covenant with God.  It signified that they were dedicated to him: given over to him, and to no one else.  The act of circumcision itself is pretty much useless if the person circumcised grows up and does not live according to the requirements of the covenant it symbolizes.  You see, the external symbol of adherence to the covenant has to be accompanied by an inner decision to abide by the covenant.  The first, physical act is often done on the child's behalf, without his knowledge.  The second, spiritual act of circumcision must be done by the child himself (or the grown man).  No one can do it for him. 

Circumcising your heart to the Lord means cutting off everything from your heart which is not appropriate to your covenant of love and devotion to him.  It means trimming your soul's aims and desires to match those of your God.  It means cutting off anything within your heart that causes offense to God, and it means cutting off anyone or anything which could come between you and God. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 84:5, Psalm 86:11, John 17:1-5, Rom 2:28-29

## Seek God's Guidance

_God_ _helps_ _those_ _who_ _help_ _themselves,_ _or_ _does_ _he?_ 

Harrumph!  Where is this teaching in the Bible?  Can't find it?  That's because this teaching is not from the Bible.  In fact the Bible teaches almost the opposite.  King Saul was constantly helping himself, making the most of what he thought were opportunities not to be lost, but forgetting to ask God for advice first.  Result: God got grumpy with Saul and replaced him with a new king - King David.  David asked God about almost everything before he acted on it, and when God said go, David went.  When God said don't go, David did not go.  God was pleased with King David because he sought God's guidance in everything and did not run ahead of God.  Depending on God like this is hard, though.  You can't just get the rules from the coach and go ahead and run with them, you are forced to turn to relationship: to seek guidance on how to apply the rules in each case.  Some of us are not happy with this idea.  We would rather just be told what to do and do it.  We don't want to be dependent on God's guidance every time we do something.  Jesus should be our ultimate example though, and his example is plain:

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  John 5:19

He watched his Father and only did what he saw him doing.  He didn't make his own way and seek advice after he started or as he went along.  For us the message is just as clear:

I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

Apart from Jesus we can do nothing useful for the kingdom.  If we help ourselves, we do only that - help ourselves.  We do not help the cause of God's Kingdom.  We need to seek God's guidance at every turn and walk in step with his Spirit if we are to be effective in our work for him.  The well known saying above should be changed to say:

_God_ _helps_ _those_ _who_ _ask_ _for_ _help!_ 

_Read_ _also:_ Ex 40:36-38, Num 9:8, 23, Num 14:39-45, 1 Sam 8:6-9, 21, 1 Sam 13:7-14, 1 Sam 14:18-19, 1 Sam 23:1-5, 9-12, 1 Sam 30:7-8, 2 Sam 2:1, 2 Sam 5:19-25, 2 Sam 21:1-2, Psalm 32:8-9, Psalm 85:8, Psalm 90:10-12, Hos 8:4, Zeph 1:6, Zech 8:22, Matt 4:1, Acts 1:24-26

## Devote Yourself to Prayer

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.   
Colossians 4:2

Here's a clincher: devote yourself to prayer!  I hear you groaning already.  Definition of devote: to concentrate on a particular pursuit, occupation or purpose.[1] Yep, the verse above is telling us to concentrate on prayer as a specific pursuit or occupation.  It is saying that prayer should not be something we fit in around the edges of a busy life, but it should be one of the central core elements of your life and everything else should fit around it.  And we should do this for the rest of our lives, not just as a temporary pursuit like a diet or a course of antibiotics.  We should build our whole life around the central pillar of prayer. 

What?  Why are you still groaning?  You'll willingly spend two nights a week at football training and one day of your weekend playing the match, then another night watching the national league games.  You'll spend three hours a night watching television, making sure you don't miss your favorite shows, and then another two hours each week reading the entertainment guide.  You'll spend at least an hour each night making a meal which tastes marginally better than fried cardboard, setting the table, eating, and then washing the dishes afterwards.  You've devoted yourself to these pursuits without even realizing it.  Now God wants you to devote yourself to talking to him. " Oh, but it's so unrewarding," I hear you say. " It's so boring!"  Yes, but so is frying cardboard after the 451st time, brushing your teeth, and getting stuck in the morning traffic every day, yet you still do those things. 

I know, I know, you'll have to think this one over.  Fair enough, but when you're done, the Bible won't say anything different, even if you use a different translation.  While you're gone, I'll just take this opportunity to encourage everyone who is still reading this to take the plunge.  Don't change your work/life balance, change your life.  Make prayer a pillar of your life.  Devote yourself to prayer. 

_Read_ _also:_ Acts 2:42, Acts 6:4, Rom 12:12, 1 Cor 7:5, Col 4:2-4

## Wait Patiently and Watch for God

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  Psalm 37:7

No instance in Scripture typifies this topic more than when Daniel mourns for twenty one days before receiving a word from God which had actually been sent the very moment he began his vigil three weeks earlier (Dan 10:2-14) .  Daniel persisted until he had a response from his God.  He persevered, deciding to eat no meat or wine or any fancy food as a sign of his mourning, despite God's response being delayed by a spiritual delay tactic from the prince of the Persian kingdom - Satan.  In the fullness of time, however, God's message got through. 

The temptation in prayer is to have your say and get on with things.  When an answer does not seem to be forthcoming within minutes, hours or days, we completely forget about what we prayed for.  Often we experience a very large dose of discouragement from such a situation.  In fact a lot of us begin to doubt the efficacy of prayer at all, especially when our prayers never ever seem to get a response.  Be encouraged, though, God does hear you when you pray and he does answer.  Live by faith and by the promises which the Bible gives us.  God will not stay quiet; he will not ignore your prayers.  Sometimes, though, we have to wait for him to speak. 

G.C. Bevington, a famous "holiness preacher" ministered for God in the mid-west of America in the early years of the twentieth century.  He was a man of prayer and patience who waited on the Lord and witnessed remarkable things happen as a result.  On one occasion he withdrew to be alone and pray to God, climbing into a hollow log in the middle of a forest so he would not be disturbed.  He stayed there for five days before he believed God had given him the answer to prayer he had been seeking.  During his vigil, he was fed by squirrels, which dropped acorns into a hole in the log, but only after the man complained to God that he was hungry.  On other occasions he prayed for seventy two hours straight in a hay mow, and for nine days under the shade of a tree.  He persisted before God until he had "prayed through" as he called it, not satisfied with his prayers until he had heard God's response to them. [ 2]

People before us have experienced the same misgivings in regard to prayer as we have and yet have lived to see the outcome of their fears.  God did not abandon them or leave them guessing.  He came through for them.  Take heart from the experience of Brother Bevington and of the men and women of Scripture, and be patient as you wait for God.  Keep your eyes and ears peeled for his response. 

Try using a prayer diary so that you can keep a tab on the prayers you have prayed and record the answers and responses God gives you.  Over time, it might just reveal a pattern of activity from God in response to your prayers, which is much more lively than you might have believed.  Use this information to relax in the knowledge that God is there and he is listening, and occasionally we just have to wait for him to give us an answer. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 27:14, Psalm 38:15, Psalm 40:1, Psalm 106:13-14, Psalm 130:5-8, Mic 1:3, Mic 7:7, Zeph 3:8, Heb 6:15

## So Then...

Pursue God.  Don't wait for him to come to you.  He already has.  He has done overwhelmingly more than he ever needed to do, considering our sinful state and rebellious nature.  He came to earth as a human being and died in our place.  Now he stands before us with hands outstretched saying, "I have come to you, and done all that I needed to do for me to be with you forever, now turn to me and live".  Turn to him and pursue him until he takes you home to be with him forever. 

#  Call Out to the Lord

Call out to God.  Let your concerns, your fears, and your anguish pour out of you in a cascading maelstrom of expression.  If God is there for anything, surely it is to receive our heartfelt pleadings.  Go find a lonely hill and yell for help.  Huddle under your blankets in the night and squirm as you release your inner agony for his ears alone.  Express your need to him.  Let everything out before God.  Let God be your punching bag.  Release your anger, your frustration, your fury, your sense of injustice, your misery to God.  Grab him and drag him into the pit of your existence, and scream for his help to get you out of the mire you've found yourself sunk into.  The Lord wants to hear our calls.  He waits for us to call (Jer 33:3, Rom 10:21), he yearns for us to ask for help. ( Jer 31:20) He longs to show us his comfort and to give us his peace.  He's not too busy for you, in fact he's hanging around waiting for you to call.  You're not beneath him or too unimportant for him to consider; he died for you.  He's not afar off, isolated and unreachable; he lives within you.  When darkness of soul, or the fog of confusion, or the stench of betrayal descends upon you, scratch, claw, crawl your way through and shout at the top of your lungs:

_God_ _where_ _are_ _you?_ _ I_ _need_ _you!_ 

## God is our Refuge

I only added this section after reading the book of Psalms and noticing how consistently first David, and then the other psalmists describe God as our refuge.  Particularly when the psalmist is in trouble, being attacked, or running in fear of his life, he runs to God as his hiding place.  God literally protected David during many of his adventures, and the promise of his protection remains with us even now.  Go to him for the regeneration you need.  Hide in him to be taught, renewed, affirmed and just loved.  Let him shelter you when you need to be alone as well as when you need to face a multitude.  The number of times he promises to be with us, to never leave us, to protect us and hedge us safely in, reveals his willingness to be our shield (Psalm 91:4).  He offers his protection at no cost: we don't have to bribe or cajole him to accept us.  He is inherently protective of both weak and strong, because even the strong seem weak when compared to his strength.  The Psalms portray God as our protector, describing him as our breastplate, our shield, and our sword.  With this sort of palaver, this prayer lark sounds like a military affair, and so it is.  Prayer involves spiritual warfare, but we fight from a fortified position - the protective shield of the Lord who surrounds us (Psalm 32:10). 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 2:12, Psalm 7:1,10, Psalm 9:9, Psalm 11:1, Psalm 14:6, Psalm 16:1,8, Psalm 18:2,30, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 31:2-3, Psalm 32:7, Psalm 33:20-22, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 35:1-3, Psalm 43: 1-2, Psalm 46:1-3, Psalm 57:1-3, Psalm 59:17, Psalm 62:1-2, 5-8, Psalm 71:1-4, Psalm 73:28,  
Psalm 144:1-2

## God Sees Us

I have been watching declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 7:11

God might seem silent and invisible much of the time, but he is still there.  In fact, wherever you are right now, he is there with you.  God watches and waits for you to respond to him.  He has already  
pre-empted your next words: why doesn't he do something first?  Well, he has done something: he sent his Son to die on the cross for you, now it's your turn to do something in return.  Acknowledge the Lord, submit to him and do what he says.  Psalm 139 gets right to the heart of the matter.  No matter what we do or where we go, we can't escape God's presence.  He knows us from within and without.  He knows where we go, whether public or secret, he knows where we don't go, he knows what we do, he knows what we don't do, he knows what we say, he knows what we don't say, he knows what we think, he knows what we don't think.  We can't hide our movements, our actions, our words, our thoughts or our feelings from him, nor can we hide the lack of each of these, our lack of movement, our lack of action, our lack of words, our lack of appropriate thoughts, or our lack of feeling.  This is bad and this is good.  That God sees us is bad because it means he sees and knows everything about us.  Even the stuff we have never told anyone else about, ever.  The saying goes that you can know a person's character by finding out what they are like when they are alone.  Well, if this is the case, then God knows your character well, because he is always with you, especially when you are alone, so actually, you never really are alone (Psalm 139).  Most of us know ourselves too well to be able to say that we have no secret foibles or character faults.  That God sees us means we have to face up to our faults and confess our sins before him, but it can also be a motivator.  It can motivate us to steer away from sin, and to keep our lives pure.  It can motivate us to set our eyes on him, not so as to catch the moment when he stops looking at us, so we can do something naughty, but so that we can grow closer to him and learn to do what he does.  That God sees us is good because he knows where we are and can shelter us.  He knows what we do and can direct us to do good.  He knows how we feel and is able to comfort and encourage us.  He knows the words in our minds, even knowing what we are thinking before a word is on our lips (Psalm 139:4), and he can prompt us to keep quiet, or to speak boldly as the occasion merits.  He knows what we think and can help us to pray.  It may feel as if you pray to a vast empty, loneliness, but God is there.  Your thoughts and actions, your words and movements, your feelings and prayers, he sees and hears them all.  He sees you. 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 28:15, Job 10:12-14, Job 33:11, Psalm 1:6, Psalm 14:2, Psalm 33:13-14, Psalm 53:2, Psalm 66:7, Psalm 121:3-8, Psalm 139:1-24, Psalm 146:9, Prov 22:12, Jer 1:12

## God Hears Us

God sees us and he hears us.  I know it often feels like he does not hear us, but the Bible says that he does (Psalm 34:17).  God is unchanging.  When he says he will hear your prayers, he means he will hear your prayers.  If we don't feel heard, it doesn't mean that we aren't heard.  That's the trouble with talking to our invisible God, you can't tell what he is thinking all of the time and you can't tell if he has heard you or not.  So you have to rely on trust.  You have to trust that the things he said in the Bible about hearing you are actually true.  You have to have faith that he hasn't slipped off quietly to have a milkshake and a cookie. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 6:9, Psalm 10:17, Psalm 34:15-18, Psalm 94:8-11, Psalm 116:1-2 Isa 65:24, Isa 38:2, 4, Jer 31:18, Jonah 2:2, Matt 6:8, Luke 1:13, Heb 5:7, 1 Pe 3:12, Rev 5:8, Rev 8:3-4

### ...and Answers Quickly

Not only does God hear us, but God also answers us when we pray, and he answers quickly.  Take Daniel as an example.  Right in the middle of his earnest prayer to God on behalf of sinful Israel, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and said, _"_ _As_ _soon_ _as_ _you_ _began_ _to_ _pray,_ _an_ _answer_ _was_ _given,_ _which_ _I_ _have_ _come_ _to_ _tell_ _you,_ _for_ _you_ _are_ _highly_ _esteemed._ _"_ ( Dan 9:23).  As soon as he began to pray, the answer was sent.  This happened to him again in the next chapter (Dan 10:12-13).  There are numerous other examples of God answering quickly, or even immediately, when prayer is offered up.  Elijah was praying for rain and so he sent his servant out seven times to see if clouds had formed yet.  The seventh time the servant went, he finally saw a cloud as small as a man's hand rising from the sea.  Very soon it was raining heavily (1 Kings 18:41-45).  Cornelius the Centurion was praying when a man in shining clothes stood before him and told him to send for Peter so that Peter could tell Cornelius and his family about Jesus (Acts 10:30-33).  While Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns in prison, the doors to their prison cells flew open and they were able to lead the jailer and his whole family to believe in Christ as a result (Acts 16:25-34).  Of course there are times when God's response doesn't reach us immediately, for whatever reason, but we need to live by faith in the claim made in Isaiah 30:19 that:

As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 

_Read_ _also:_ Isa 65:24, Dan 9:20-27

## Speak to God

We ask God for help, we praise God, we thank God, we cast all our cares upon God, we exalt God, and we worship God, but do we ever just sit down and have a good old natter with God?  Do you only talk to God about big, important or desperate things?  Or do you share with him that your fountain pen nib is broken because you tried to unblock the sink with it and then spilled ink all over your favorite shirt.  You know, the one you found near the railway station stuck to the handrail with bubble gum, and which fits you like no other shirt ever has and you're sure no other shirt ever will.  Yes THAT shirt!  Not to mention that the sink got blocked in the first place because you tried to squish your grandmother's rock hard pecan and coconut cookies down it with a garden gnome and a soldering iron. 

Do you have a giggle with God when the stunningly beautiful, immaculately dressed woman, who elegantly boards the morning bus, sneezes indelicately and is left with a big ribbon of snot dangling from her now flaring nostril?  Do you scrunch up your face and share with God your repulsion of the burly construction worker who bends over and reveals more of his nether regions than is advisable for someone of your frail disposition? ( I thought swooning had gone out with whale-bone corsets.)  Do you inquire of him why your armpits smell like four day old socks drenched in Balsamic vinegar and grated Parmesan, when the only physical activity you have done all day is to flutter your eyelids, wince and shudder violently at the onset of the dawn?  Perhaps you ought to. 

God is your Lord, your savior, your King, your help, your refuge and your best friend.  Tell him about the unreliability of Fitzgibbons, your manservant, the untimely arrival of the rain, your sore pinky finger, your joy at the arrival of your fourteenth child, the anger you feel when lightning strikes your house and fries your television set, causing you to miss the grand final, the elation you experience when you finally manage to get a great photo of a newly discovered sea-cucumber.  Whatever it is you want to speak about, just speak to God about it.  Don't go to your family or friends first before you tell God.  Speak to God first, then your family and friends.  When you're bored and don't know what to do, talk to God before you phone your friend.  When you're too busy to make it to that Dentist appointment, speak to God first, before you call the Dentist to cancel.  God wants to share in your whole life, not just your emergencies.  Speak to him about the banal and trivial things which make up your day.  Tell him the things you would share with your best friend.  Speak to God now, speak to God later, speak to God all of the time.  Use a memory aid to remind you to speak to God.  Pin it on your fridge, wrap it around your wrist, use it as your computer's desktop background, record it on your iPod, print it on the inside of your sunglasses.  Speak to God, speak to God, speak to God. 

_Read_ _also:_ 2 Sam 7:18-27, Jonah 2:1-9, Hab 3:2-19, Luke 11:1-2, Acts 1:14, Acts 21:6, Acts 20:36

## Confidence in Being Heard

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  1 John 3:21-22

When we approach God in prayer, the Bible tells us that we can be confident that we will receive what we ask from him.  The reason for this confidence?  Firstly, we know in ourselves that we are right with God because our own hearts confirm this fact, they do not condemn us.  Secondly, we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  Ah, I see, so any confidence we have must be based on obedience and an ongoing relationship with God.  We can't expect to have the same level of confidence if we don't do what God tells us to do, or if we harbor in our hearts something which gets in the way of our relationship with God. 

Jesus used similar words to describe his own standing with his Father:

The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.  John 8:29

He also tells us that the pure in heart are blessed and that they will see God (Mat 5:8).  Jesus should be our model of obedience and purity of heart.  We should set ourselves the goal of repeatedly dipping our hearts in the cleansing waters of personal confession to Jesus, and we should set our hearts always to seek to do what pleases God.  If, in our hearts, we know that something is not right between ourselves and God, it is a warning to us that we need to deal with it (1 John 3:20).  God knows our hearts (1 Sam 16:7) and he seeks in us purity and holiness, free of the influence of lingering sin. 

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened... Psalm 66:18

So with pure hearts and lives lived in obedience, pleasing to God, we can be assured that we can approach him in prayer and have our requests heard.  Whatever we ask of him he will give us, as long as we ask with right motives, of course (Jas 4:3). 

**Boldness** **in** **Approaching** **God**

With this in mind, we should also take to heart Jesus' words teaching us to be bold and persistent in prayer (Luke 18:1-6).  Just as Abraham pleaded boldly with God on behalf of any righteous people who might be found in Sodom and Gomorrah, we should also seek his face on behalf of the lost (Gen 18:20-33).  In one sense, God is giving us an inch and telling us to take a mile.  He says, "I've taught you how to pray, now pray and go hard at it!"  We have a place of privilege before God.  When we pray, we appear before the very throne of the creator of the universe, and we have confidence that we are acceptable and pleasing to him when we do.  He wants us to use our position of great influence with him to pray for the lost, to pray for the coming of his Kingdom, to help God display his love to all people.  God wants us to play an important part in the work he is doing.  We are a part of his plan to present his offer of salvation to the world and it is through our confidence in approaching him that we can do this. 

**Breaking** **Taboos**

For some of us, being bold like this before God involves the breaking of taboos we might have about how we should talk to God.  Some of us would never dare to question God's motives, yet Job was commended for speaking boldly and honestly to God about his misfortunes, even though God still gave Job a good rollicking to make sure he understood who was boss (Job 42:7).  Jonah expressed his anger to God because the people of Nineveh did indeed repent and turn to God when he prophesied that they should.  Jonah didn't like the idea of Israel's enemies being forgiven by God rather than having destruction poured onto their heads (Jonah 3:10-4:10).  David poured out his anguish, asking why God would not answer him (Psalm 22:1-2).  God is OK with us baring our souls and being honest with him. 

Some people feel that they need to adopt a certain tone of voice or type of language when they communicate with God.  For them adopting any other approach is just not done.  I know a wonderful man whose hair is quite gray now and who is well into his waning years.  He speaks to those he meets with normal, everyday language, yet when he prays, he immediately launches into King James English. " Lord thou art God indeed!  Bless thee our meal, I pray."  Now there is nothing wrong with praying to God like this as long as it does not present a barrier to your prayers.  Personally, if I used this sort of language, it would be a barrier to my intimacy with God.  It just wouldn't seem right to talk about, say, being constipated, using King James English: "O Father, mine load art heavy and tortuous art the travails of mine belly!"  God made you who you are and he knows you inside and out.  He knows your words even before they form on your tongue (Psalm 139:4), so you can tell him whatever you want to.  He already knows what you are thinking, so it's no use speaking to him differently from what you are thinking and feeling.  If you blame him for some misfortune and hold anger toward him in your heart, he knows it, even though you speak to him politely when you pray to him.  Just be honest and sincere with him all of the time, no matter what your thoughts and feelings are.  He has seen and heard much worse than you could ever throw at him during his many thousands of years of dealing with humanity at its very darkest. 

So approach the Lord with confidence and use your privileged position with him to help him build the kingdom of God.  Speak plainly and from the heart, and be persistent and bold in your prayers. 

_Read_ _also:_ Jer 4:14, Matt 18:18-20, John 14:13, John 15:9-17, John 16:23-24, Eph 3:12, Heb 4:12, 16, 1 John 3:21, 1 John 5:14-15, Rev 1:17

## Pour Out Your Soul to God

Here we are all on more familiar ground.  Nearly all of know at least a little about pouring our hearts out to God.  It's often the only time any of us pray.  When everything is running smoothly in life, we forget about God and just get on with things, but when it all goes turnip flavored, no we don't seek God for help, we try to muddle on by ourselves.  Not until we are deeply buried in rotting rhubarb and artichoke hearts do we finally remember that God is there and maybe he can help us out of the stinky mess we are in, but then we really go for it.  GOD!  HELP ME!  What's happened?  Why is life so unfair, etc, etc?  And strangely enough, even though we've ignored him most of the time when we should have been praising and thanking him, he comes through and pulls us out of our mess, only for us to maybe say thanks and then just as quickly forget him again.  We're pretty thick really.  We don't learn our lessons from God. 

Anyhow, in spite of all of our failings, the thing we need to keep in mind about the Bible's teaching on calling out to God is that we don't do it near enough.  Christians get called _God_ _botherers,_ but often we don't really deserve that epithet, because most of us don't bother God enough.  We think we can get through on our own strength.  We have a silly notion that God is too busy for us to bother him with our trivial worries.  Or maybe we think he doesn't care about them anyway.  The Bible says it differently.  It is loaded with exhortations for us to call out to the Lord, to cry out to the Lord, to pray earnestly, to pray with mourning and grieving, to pray with cries and tears, to pray whenever we are in trouble, whenever our hearts are full with whatever sort of emotion: anger, joy, desire, strain, stress, happiness, sadness, mourning.  We are told to express our feelings to God (Psalm 55:22), but too often we don't.  I urge you, in light of the teachings of Scripture, to pour out your soul to the Lord, to pour it out and not hold back.  When a situation seems unbearable and you pray to God but nothing happens, instead of giving up on God because he has done or said nothing, latch onto him like a leech onto a hiker's ankle and don't let go.  Let your soul rip into God.  Claw at him for attention; gnaw at his nerves until he can't resist your pleas.  Jesus told us to do this (Luke 18:1-8), so why don't we?  Too often we give God a go, but give up on him and return to our own wisdom and our own solutions in our pain and anguish.  We know from experience that they don't work, yet we return to them like a dog to its vomit.  Try something new: _trust_ _in_ _the_ _Lord_ _with_ _all_ _your_ _heart_ _and_ _lean_ _not_ _on_ _your_ _own_ _understanding_ (Prov 3:5).  Pour yourself out to him and then, when nothing is left to give, let yourself melt into him with all that you are.  Abandon yourself to him and he will receive you and comfort you.  He will lift you up, he will renew you, he will make you whole again in time, he will reform you, building a new heart in you which is more than you could ever have imagined yourself to be.  Pour yourself out to God.  It is utterly against his nature to betray you or to treat you with disdain.  He has already poured his life out like an offering for you, so that you could live and know him.  He longs to help you, to heal you, to comfort you and to console you.  He longs to be your shield, your strength, and your backbone.  He waits for you to share yourself with him like the lover in the Song of Songs waits for her heart's delight.  All of the wealth of heaven is at his disposal to help you.  All of the potions and elixirs for a broken heart are in his apothecary, all of the peace which passes all understanding rests with him, the waters of renewal flow from his throne, and the milk of nourishment is ready to flow for your refreshment.  Tap into the riches of his love for you.  Deliver your soul's deepest needs at his door and he will meet them with much more to spare.  Depend on him to fill any void within you.  Accost him with the tortuous details of your worst moments and he will hear them and provide the poultice of his healing hand to them.  He will bind you and fix you.  He will treat you gingerly and not snuff you out like a smoldering wick.  He will not break a bending reed (Isa 42:3).  It is who he is, his very nature, the nurturer, the healer, the one who completes you and all things.  Ask and you will receive.  Jesus told us to ask, seek and knock (Matt 7:7-8).  He wants us to be needy for him.  He wants us to get our resources from him.  He is the sole stockpile of everything we need.  He has blessed us with every good thing in heaven (Eph 1:3).  We have such a wonderful, eternal and heavenly resource and God repeatedly tells to to make use of it.  We should make use of it.  He is sufficient for every occasion, not just the big things, like losing your foot in a freak accident involving a mouse and a sledgehammer, or the disaster of your third successive chocolate sponge collapsing when you gently remove it from the oven.  For these and much more, pour out your soul to God. 

_Read_ _also:_ 1 Sam 1:15, 12-13, 15-16, Psalm 42:4-5, 9-11, Psalm 44:23-26, Psalm 54:1-2, Psalm 55:22, Psalm 69:1-3, 13-18, Psalm 77:4-9, Lam 2:19, Daniel 9:3-19, Zech 8:22, Acts 27:29

_Call_ _Out_ _to_ _the_ _Lord:_ Neh 9:4, Jer 33:3, Psalm 4:1,3, Psalm 17:6, Psalm 28:1-2, Psalm 30:2-3, 8-10, Psalm 50:14-15, Psalm 61:1-8, Psalm 86:1-7, Psalm 145:18-19, Joel 1:19, Jonah 2:2

_Cry_ _Out_ _to_ _the_ _Lord:_ Num 11:10-17, 1 Sam 11:9-12, 2 Sam 12:15-23, Neh 9:27, Psalm 3:4, Psalm 5:1, Psalm 17:1, Psalm 18:6, Psalm 22:5, Psalm 77:1-3, Psalm 88:1-3, 9, 13-14, Psalm 107:10-32, Psalm 130:1-2, Psalm 142:1-2, 5-7, Psalm 143:1-2, Joel 1:14, Amos 7:2, 4-6, Jonah 1:14, Jonah 3:8, Hab 1:2, 5, 12-2:1, Hab 2:2

_Pray_ _When_ _in_ _Trouble:_ Gen 32:9-12, 22-29, 2 Sam 15:31, Psalm 6:2, Psalm 12:1, Psalm 20:1, Psalm 25:17-18, Psalm 35:22-25, Psalm 38:21-22, Psalm 40:11-12, Psalm 55:1-8, 16-19, Psalm 81:7, Psalm 102:1-2, Psalm 140:1-4, Psalm 143:6-10, Luke 22:39-46, Philippians 4:6-7, Acts 12:12, Jas 5:13-18, 1 Pe 4:19, 1 Pe 5:7, 2 Pe 2:10-12, Jude 8-10

_Pray_ _While_ _Full_ _of_ _Emotion:_ Psalm 6:6, Psalm 31:9-10, Psalm 38:9-10, Jonah 4:2, 4, 9-10

_Pray_ _Earnestly_ _with_ _Cries_ _and_ _Tears:_ Psalm 39:12, Matt 27:46, Mk 15:34, Acts 12:5, Heb 5:7

_Mourn_ _and_ _Grieve:_ Ezra 10:1, Neh 1:4, Neh 9:1, 5, Psalm 22:1-2, Psalm 35:13-14, Isa 22:12, Isa 37, Jer 4:8, Lam 5, Dan 9:3, Joel 1:11, 13, Hab 1:2, 5, Hab 1:12-2:2

## Ask God for Things

Ask God for things.  Simple advice, but advice that often goes unheeded.  You want something?  Ask God.  Even better, you need something?  Ask God.  Someone you know needs help?  Ask God for help.  Someone you know needs encouragement or comfort?  Ask God to comfort them.  God might not give us everything we ask for, for example, I never did get my red Ferrari, but when we ask with right motives, and especially when we are asking for things which his team needs to get their job done, he will answer by supplying our needs. 

A friend of mine was worried about the security of the job she had at the time, so she asked God what he thought she should do.  Should she look for another job?  If she should, then could he please tell her somehow?  The next day she received a job offer out of the blue, which was just too good to refuse, so she prayed just to make sure, then she took the new job.  By golly that encouraged her!  Ask, seek, knock.  Jesus told us to ask for things.  He told us to keep on asking even when we don't seem to get things straight away. " Ask, Ask, Ask, Ask, Ask, Ask" he said.  So ask and keep on asking! 

Even though God will not give us some things, that doesn't mean you should stop asking.  Ask him whatever you want to even if it seems silly or stupid.  Your best bet, though, is to ask with right motives and to ask for things that are in line with his plan and his will.  That doesn't mean they have to be only holy and righteous requests.  God needs you to be yourself, not a super-spiritual or super-successful whatever.  Just be who you are, and ask whatever you want to or need to ask from him.  When you are completely yourself, if there any bits of you which need to be changed or cleansed, he sees them, you are shown them, and he can more easily mold you into who he wants you to be.  Don't imagine that you have to be successful in your own eyes, or the eyes of other people in order to be successful to God.  No one would have thought Jeremiah was successful, having to lie on his side for months, getting chucked in a well, and ranting and raving like a loony.  Think also of Jesus.  Although he did amazing things and said stuff people could not refute, not many people wanted to follow him when the going got tough, and in the end he got beaten, ridiculed and nailed to a cross with two criminals as his companions.  He didn't seem very successful at the time.  He seemed a miserable failure, a fake and a show off, until three days later when he just happened to change the world forever.  So ask God for things.  Ask for things all of the time.  Be a big fat pain in the neck with your incessant requests to God.  He tells you to be so in the Bible (Luke 18:1-8).  Bother him like the woman who knocked on the judge's door all night long.  Be bold and spirited in your requests, learn from the things he won't give you and when he responds keep hammering and hammering and hammering.  He wants to use you to build his kingdom on earth and show his love to the world and preach his salvation to all men.  Align your requests with God's designs, get to know what he wants and ask for more of it.  You are praying to bring in his kingdom and his kingdom's purposes when you do so.  Ask, Ask, Ask.  Don't hold back. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 2:8, Prov 16:3, Isa 8:19, Dan 9:20, Hab 1:2, 5, Hab 1:12-2:2, Zech 10:1, Matt 7:7-12, Mk 13:16, Luke 11:9-13, John 16:23-24, Acts 4:29-30, Jas 1:5-8, 3 John 2

## Pray for Others

A big topic.  Our salvation is complete.  We have eternal life, guaranteed one hundred percent.  Pray for your needs, sure, but God has already given you every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3).  Your needs are daily being met by God, so stop thinking only about yourself all of the time, let him get on with looking after you and turn your hearts to the welfare of others.  You may not be able to afford to buy them dinner, they may laugh at your attempts at persuading them that Jesus gives fullness of life, they may spurn your charity because they are too proud to accept it, but the one thing you can do for people, which blesses them, whether they accept what you have to say or not, is to pray for them.  Of course, act on your faith by doing good things for people, but pray for them.  You may think prayer is a waste of time compared to doing something or saying something to reflect the love of Christ, but if so then you greatly misunderstand prayer.  Our attitude is often that prayer is the last resort of the weak and powerless to a situation they have no answer for, but this is not the view of prayer taught in the Bible.  The big, scary, white-haired figure sitting on a bejeweled throne, glowing and rumbling in the heavenly realms, is the one who created everything there is.  He's the one who is the only true living God.  He's the one who does not stand afar off and watch us from a distance, but gets down and dirty with us.  He's the one who repeatedly tells us to pray to him and to ask for whatever we need, saying he will give it to us as we live in obedience to him.  He's the most powerful one in existence.  When we pray to him then, we tap into the biggest nuclear, coal, hydro-electric, solar or wind-powered energy source in existence.  We are on his team, so, as we work together to fulfill his goals, we have the sum of his unabated power and of all of his resources at our disposal to get his work done. 

Prayer then, is not a wimpy, loser's solution.  Praying for someone, or the seemingly impossible situation they are in, is not avoiding reality or living in a fantasy world.  Our simple little prayer on behalf of another unleashes the torrent of might available from the most powerful being in all of existence.  Prayer, rather than being the little runt of the "solution" family, is the all-powerful, unstoppable big brother to the actions we perform. 

While I was studying at Bible College, a friend of mine approached our Theology lecturer for advice about an issue involving someone he knew, which was concerning him greatly.  What should he do in response to the situation?  Pray, he was told simply.  My friend stormed off in a huff.  He was expecting words of wisdom and consolation from the lecturer, inspired by years of study, spiritual maturity and experience.  He felt instead that he got a flippant, trite response which had not been accorded the respect and concern commensurate with the depth of the problem he was facing.  In the end, though, my friend did pray and his problem was thereafter very quickly resolved, much to his shock and not a little accompanying chagrin.  He was forced to go back to his Theology lecturer and admit that his advice had indeed been sage and had arisen from a depth of wisdom he had hitherto not been privy to.  He had learned a very important lesson: prayer is indeed very powerful and effective.  So when you set your heart to caring for others, let prayer be the first tool of choice in your work.  It will prevail where your labors sometimes end in vain (Psalm 127:1). 

_Read_ _also:_ Num 11:2, 1 Sam 7:5-9, 1 Sam 12:9-25, Ezra 6:1, Neh 1:5-11, Isa 37:5, Jer 29:7, Dan 2:18, Luke 22:32, John 17:6, John 17:20, Acts 7:59-60, Acts 8:24, Rom 16:25-27, 2 Cor 13:7-9, Eph 1:16-19, Eph 3:14-19, Eph 6:18-19, Philippians 1:9-11, Philippians 1:18-19, Col 1:9, Col 4:2-4, 2 Thess 1:11-12, 2 Thess 3:1-4, 1 Tim 2:1, Philemon 6, Jas 5:14, 1 John 5:16, Heb 13:18-19, 3 John 2

## When We Don't Know What We Should Pray For

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  Romans 8:24

When you don't know what to pray for, ask God what to pray, then pray what he tells you to pray.  Sometimes his Holy Spirit within us will take over and act as autopilot, guiding our hearts as we pray.  He knows what he is doing, and he knows the thoughts and desires of our hearts.  He knows the situation you are praying over, so he knows the best way to pray about it.  He sees the big picture from where he sits, so trust his point of view and let him guide you how to pray when you need his guidance. 

## Commit People and Things to God

Paul committed the church at Ephesus to God because he had been compelled by the Holy Spirit to leave there and travel to Jerusalem (Acts 20:16-38).  He knew that, once he left, he would probably never see them again.  He couldn't minister amongst them anymore, but he wanted to leave them in good hands.  He left them in the best hands there are: he committed them to God.  Paul's responsibility for the church had come to an end and from now on the church was God's responsibility. 

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.  Acts 14:23

The verse above is instructive for this topic, particularly in the final clause: in whom they had put their trust.  When we commit someone to God, we trust him to look after them and to do what is in their best interests.  The whole reason we commit anyone or anything to God is because we are unable to look after the situation ourselves.  We may have run out of time or resources, we may need to move to another place, or we may be unable to deal with the situation.  When we are at a loss, or when we can be of no further help, we give the people or situation to God to deal with.  And we have to trust that God will know what to do.  When you don't know what to do next, when you have come to the end of your tether, commit your situation to God.  Give it over to him and let him deal with it.  Trust him to deal with it. 

_Read_ _also:_ Luke 23:46, Acts 14:23, Acts 20:32

## Pray that New Believers Receive the Holy Spirit

Many in Paul's day had only repented and been baptized into the baptism of John the Baptist (Acts 18:25).  For them no spiritual renewal had occurred, their baptism was merely a symbol of their repentance and their turning to God.  They had not received the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ as a sign and guarantee that their faith had indeed been acknowledged.  They had not been sealed for salvation on the Day of Judgment (Eph 1:13-14, 2 Cor 1:21-22). 

Today when we hear the question "Have you been baptized into the Holy Spirit?"  it usually really means "Can you speak in tongues yet?"  The instances in the Bible where people were baptized into the Holy Spirit do indeed say that these people did speak in tongues when they first received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:6), so I can understand why this is so firmly believed by some.  Yet many, very, very many who do sincerely repent and give their lives to Jesus, consequently receiving the Holy Spirit, do not speak in tongues when they receive him into their hearts.  Think for instance of Moody, Wycliffe, Martin Luther, Wesley.  No one would argue that these men had not received the Holy Spirit.  God used them to change the world through the strong guidance of said Spirit.  Yet, as far as I know, none of them is recorded as ever having spoken in tongues. 

However, some would still say that if you don't speak in tongues then you have not been baptized into the Holy Spirit.  The test for the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer's heart is simple enough:

Firstly does the person display the fruit of the Spirit in her life?  Obviously this fruit does not always display itself overnight _._ _ Love,_ _joy,_ _peace,_ _patience,_ _kindness,_ _goodness,_ _faithfulness,_ _gentleness_ _and_ _self-control_ _(Gal_ _5:22-23)_ are not all blisteringly obvious qualities immediately evident to the casual observer.  They take time to develop in a person as she allows the Holy Spirit to influence her life, so that she makes decisions based on his guidance and so that her words and actions are advised by his conviction. 

Secondly does the person exhibit the gifts of the Spirit?  Speaking in tongues is one such gift, but not the only one.  Does she exhibit the gift of faith, or the gift of administration?  Does she use the gifts of the Holy Spirit for their intended purposes - to build up the body of Christ? 

We shouldn't reduce this topic to an argument over whether the baptism of the Holy Spirit equals the ability for a person to speak in tongues.  The apostles prayed that new believers would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15).  There is no reason for us not to pray in a similar manner, asking the same thing.  Which gifts the Holy Spirit decides to bestow upon the new believer and whether they are immediately evident is surely a matter for the Holy Spirit to decide.  He is, after all, God. 

_Read_ _also:_ Acts 8:15-17

## Pronounce Blessings

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.   
Hebrews 13:20-21

Quite often we read verses in Scripture wherein a blessing is pronounced either upon the reader, or upon some other person or persons.  If it's in Scripture, I see no reason why we shouldn't do the same.  I have a friend who speaks a blessing to his adult children whenever he visits them.  He tells me they really appreciate it when he does this, feeling that it is a gift given in love.  A common theme from the Old Testament is that of a father pronouncing a blessing upon his children.  In the blessing he bestows good things upon their lives.  We can pray blessings upon our children in the same way.  Even while your children are still infants you can begin to pray blessings upon them.  We can pray blessings upon our fellow believers and those serving God in ministry to help them in their tasks.  A blessing prayed is a powerful gift.  It comprises a spiritual empowerment or enrichment endowed upon the recipient in the spiritual realm.  You might not be able to see it or feel it, but when you ask God to bestow a blessing in this way, he does something in the woozy, woo-woo ether, which applies the blessing.  How he applies the blessing is up to him really.  We ask for an egg sandwich and he prepares the ground, plants a crop, waters and weeds it, reaps the harvest, mills the grain, builds an oven, bakes a loaf of bread, cuts some slices, milks a cow, makes butter, spreads the butter on the bread, collects eggs from his heavenly chickens, boils an egg, cuts it up, adds it to the sandwich, picks pepper from the pepper plant, dries it, grinds it, adds it to the egg and finally hands us our sandwich.  We don't know the workings of God behind the scenes.  All we know is that we ask him to bless and he does some tinkering, doodling and fiddling about in his shed and emerges with just the right blessing to meet our prayers.  So leave the details to God, but pray blessings upon people to build them up and to give them good things from God. 

_Read_ _also:_ Num 16:22-27, Deut 1:11, Deut 33:1-29, 1 Sam 2:20-21, Psalm 128:1-6, 2 Thess 2:16-17, 1 Thess 3:10-13, 2 Tim 1:16-18, Heb 13:20-21, Rev 1:4-6

## Pray in the Spirit (A "Constantly" Thing)

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  Ephesians 6:18

Speaking in a tongue is not the only way we pray in the spirit.  Paul describes the Holy Spirit as uttering _"groans_ _which_ _words_ _cannot_ _express"_ when our own words fail us. 

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.   
Romans 8:26

The Holy Spirit within us urges us on in our prayers and can often prompt our thoughts and hearts to pray for particular people, countries or situations.  He knows what is going on in a broader sense and he knows where prayer needs to be applied for God's work to forge ahead, so it makes sense that he directs our prayers.  So be conscious of the guiding of the Holy Spirit as you pray and follow as he leads you.  It usually takes more than a quick one or two minute prayer time to really enter into good, meaty prayer.  When you have been praying sincerely and from the heart, and when you have been allowing the Holy Spirit to butt in if he needs to and have a word in your ear as you pray, you eventually notice that prayer seems to be simply oozing out of your pores.  It can actually be hard to stop praying when you get into the prayer groove like this.  I have trouble going to sleep after such times because my mind is still buzzing and I'm still yakking away with God about whatever enters my mind next.  During such prayer times we are _in_ _the_ _spirit_ , and in this place, God can do and say lots of things because we are just a little bit more inclined towards his world - the spiritual world - than we are at other times.  The apostle John was _in_ _the_ _spirit_ when the revelation of Jesus Christ was given to him (Rev 1:10), the revelation which he wrote down and which became known as the Book of Revelations.  In fact other prophetic writings were also delivered to the prophets in Scripture while they were _in_ _the_ _spirit_ (1 Sam 19:20, Ezekiel 11:5).  But the verse at the head of this topic urges us to pray in the spirit on all occasions, not just when we are in the prayer groove after twenty minutes of intercession and worship.  It tells us to pray with all kinds of prayers and requests.  This falls into the category of being a "constantly" thing, one of the types of prayer we are urged to do constantly.  In your reading of this book, you will notice that there are a number of "constantly" things which we are urged to do in prayer.  Being faithful in constantly observing these "constantly" things alone is enough to develop a pretty healthy prayer life and that is why I've given them a category of their own. 

Praying in the Spirit is a critically important part of our prayer lives.  We can pray in our minds, as Paul said he would as his Spirit speaks in an unknown tongue, we can pray from the depth of our hearts, as we do when we cry out to the Lord, but we also need to pray in the Spirit.  How?  Hmm.. Praying in the Spirit means you have to be in tune with the Spirit, listening to his voice and directing your prayers his direction.  I don't really know the mechanics of it, but there seems to be a sort of heart-mind-spirit junction thing where all three work together, and then sometimes the spirit directs, sometimes your heart directs, and sometimes your mind directs your prayers.  My advice is to ask God how to pray in the Spirit if it doesn't make sense to you, and then go and practice, practice, practice.  It obviously can't be an impossible goal if we're supposed to be praying in the Spirit on all occasions.  It can't be something that only hermetically sealed, cave-dwelling mystics do.  Rely on the Holy Spirit when you pray in the Spirit, he'll show you the way. 

_Read_ _also:_ 3 John 20, Jude 20, Rev 1:10

## Pray in Tongues

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.  Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit....He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself...  
1 Corinthians 14:2-4

If you have the gift of speaking in a tongue, Paul says that with it you speak to God, uttering mysteries with your spirit.  Speaking in a tongue edifies you, so use it to edify yourself.  It is given as a gift for you to use to build up your faith, so use it to build up your faith.  It is a wonderful thing to be able to speak to God in your spirit in this way.  Of course you don't have to be speaking in a spiritual tongue to be able to speak to God with your spirit, but the gift of speaking in a tongue is a particular way of speaking to God, so be encouraged that you are speaking to God in a way which he understands even though you may not.  It is a gift which nourishes your spirit and fulfills the yearnings of your heart to communicate with God.  It is a gift which encourages relationship with your Father in heaven.  So please use it to build your faith, use it to build fellowship with the Holy Spirit, use it to glorify God. 

Paul says that if you use the gift of tongues to edify the body of believers who are meeting together, then only two or three people should share, one after another, and that an interpreter of the tongue should interpret it for the whole congregation, so that all can be built up in their faith through the message (1 Cor 14:26-28).  We are urged to pray that, when we speak a message in a tongue, we could also interpret it for everyone to understand and be encouraged (1 Cor 14:13).  If no one is present who can interpret it, then we should use our gift to edify our own faith, speaking to ourselves and to God.  Paul's premise is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit should be used to strengthen the church and that speaking in a tongue to the congregation when it cannot be interpreted cannot strengthen or encourage others because they do not understand what is being said (1 Cor 14:6-19).  When we pray in a tongue, Paul goes on, we pray in the spirit, yet our minds are not active in the prayer.  He goes on to say as far as he is concerned that when he prays in a tongue he will also pray with his mind. 

1 Corinthians 14:23 describes a situation in which an unbeliever comes into a church where believers are speaking in tongues.  The unbeliever's reaction is that everyone present must be loony tunes!  We have the same reaction, don't we, at least initially.  But God is not a civilized God.  He is by definition a spiritual being.  A supernatural being - super natural \- above nature.  It's no big deal for him to give us weird gifts, because, although we live in a physical universe and the bounds of our understanding reach only a little into the supernatural, God is completely supernatural and any incursion he makes into our lives at all, moves from the supernatural to the natural.  Speaking in tongues is a supernatural gift from a supernatural, mysterious God, not a weirdo manifestation from a natural, understandable God who otherwise is perfectly civilized and respectable.  If he has given you this supernatural gift, use it to edify your faith.  Let it expand your understanding of who he is and let it lead you into a deeper relationship with him. 

_Read_ _also:_ Isa 28:11, Acts 10:46, Acts 19:6, 1 Cor 14:13-25

## Prayer as an Offering (A "Constantly" Thing)

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name.   
Hebrews 13:15

In the old covenant of the Old Testament, animals and produce were offered as a sacrifice to atone for sins.  Under the new covenant in the New Testament, our sins are cleansed by faith, Christ's death as an atonement for our sins is the sacrifice we have faith in.  Yet, in the New Testament, prayer is sometimes described as an offering pleasing to God.  The prayers and gifts to the poor of Cornelius the centurion are described as being a memorial offering to God (Acts 10:4).  In the verse from Hebrews above, we are urged to offer a sacrifice of praise to God continually: our prayers and praise form a means for us to offer something acceptable and pleasing to God.  It is not a law or requirement that we do offer prayers or a sacrifice of praise, when we offer them they should be offered freely and with joy. 

In the old covenant, diseased or disfigured animals or grain offerings were not acceptable as sacrificial offerings.  Anything offered to God on the altar had to be from among the first fruits of the crop or an animal which was first-born and without blemish.  When we put God first in our lives and make prayer our first priority, we are signaling to God that prayer is amongst the first fruits of our lives.  When we regularly come before him seeking cleansing and forgiveness, and when we pray with sincere hearts, our prayers rise to him unblemished and pure.  This is the offering he is pleased with.  This is how we can be pleasing to our God.  We don't need to flagellate ourselves or hold on to deep seated guilt over sins which he has long ago forgiven.  We don't need to do penance to pay for our sins, yet remain unchanged internally by his Holy Spirit.  The return he requires of us for forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life are obedience, thankfulness, praise and the prayer that builds our relationship with him and which contributes to the cause of bringing the Kingdom of God to fruition.  If you want to offer something to God in thanks, or in some form of repayment for his love, offer your prayers.  If you want to repay his sacrifice for you, offer in return a sacrifice of praise. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 141:1-3, Acts 10:4, Heb 13:15

## Prayer not Answered

After having earlier gone to all the trouble of advising you to start a prayer journal and record your answered prayers, here are some verses from Scripture describing why prayer is not answered. 

Disobedience

When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart.  He enquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets...Samuel said, "Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has departed from you and become your enemy?...Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today.   
1 Samuel 28:4-20

Sin

" _I have sinned greatly in what I have done.  Now, LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant.  I have done a very foolish thing." ... David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.  Then the LORD answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.  2 Samuel 24:1-25_

_Wrong_ _Motives_

You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  James 4:3

_Stubborn_ _Refusal_ _to_ _Listen_ _-_ _Hardening_ _of_ _Hearts_

" _This is what the LORD Almighty said: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.  Do not plot evil against each other.' " But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears.  They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.  So the LORD Almighty was very angry. "' When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.  Zechariah 7:9-13_

_Evil_ _Deeds_

Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them.  At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.  Micah 3:1-7

_Injustice,_ _Unrighteousness_

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.  Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.  Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. ..." I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.  Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.  Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.  Away with the noise of your songs!  I will not listen to the music of your harps.  But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!  Amos 5:14-24

_Refusal_ _to_ _Repent,_ _Disregard_ _of_ _the_ _Lord_ _'_ _s_ _Advice,_ _Spurning_ _God_ _'_ _s_ _Rebuke_

Repent at my rebuke!  Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.  But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. " Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD.  Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.  Proverbs 1:23-31

Idolatry

" _So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.  Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?  The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.  They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.  But am I the one they are provoking?  declares the LORD.  Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?   
Jeremiah 7:16-19_

_Not_ _Belonging_ _to_ _God_

Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.  The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.  John 8:42-47

As you can see from the variety of verses above, the causes of unanswered prayer are various, and usually in some way nefarious.  However, it seems that if you generally steer clear of sin, idolatry, stubbornness, disobedience, injustice, and doing evil, then you can be pretty certain that God is not closing his ears to you.  Furthermore if you decide to repent, obey God, worship him alone, seek good, seek justice and righteousness, to soften your heart and listen to him, then you can be assured he will be listening to every word you pray. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 3:23-26, 2 Sam 21:14, Prov 28:9, Isa 1:15-17, Isa 59:2, Jer 11:11, Lam Ch 3, 14, Ezek 8:1-18, Ezek 20:3, 31

## The Fight is against Spiritual Powers

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Ephesians 6:12

Every single time you pray you participate in warfare on an unseen plane.  One of the reasons that we all find it so hard to pray consistently is because there is a battle going on in the spiritual realm.  The enemy doesn't want you to pray, because when you pray God's plans surge forward.  So how do we prevail in the struggle against authorities, powers and spiritual forces of evil?  Should we wear red pajamas and speak in Latin?  Should we speak in tongues and wave our hands up in the air?  Should we kneel and sway from side to side as we recite the Lord's Prayer?  Should we be sensible people, using our common-sense and logic to overcome these unseen adversaries?  Truth is, we don't know all of the details on how to fight the spiritual battle we are in and we don't need to.  We pray simple prayers and God does mighty things.  We ask for a kitchen sink and in the heavens, God mines the iron, smelts it, rolls the steel into sheets, and presses it into a sink mold and in the end we have a sink.  We don't know the process God went through to put the sink there, all we know is that we asked for a sink and we got a sink.  We don't know all of the minutiae of the spiritual conflicts and struggles which are going on around us every moment, but we don't need to.  We just need to pray and live in obedience to God and he will take our prayer and fashion it to his ends as it needs to be fashioned for its purpose.  When we pray that our colleague might turn to Christ and be saved, who knows what casualties God inflicts upon the spiritual forces of evil as a result.  Who knows how many angels he has assigned to the task of putting that prayer into action?  Who knows what battles are fought in the unseen realms as a result.  We know God is acting and we know there are spiritual shenanigans afoot, but we don't know details.  Even Elisha didn't know all that went on the day when he and his servant saw chariots of fire surrounding them (2 Kings 6:8-23).  We don't know because not knowing causes us to be dependent upon God.  This is one of the most important facets of spiritual warfare: we are blind to much of the spiritual reality it involves, so we must depend totally on God to guide us through it.  This is why it is so crucial that we are continually led by the Holy Spirit in our lives and when we pray.  He is our seeing-eye dog, so to speak.  He steers us to avoid the potholes which we can't see, and he directs us to the next battleground and prompts us how to pray and how to act.  Take the words of Ephesians 6:10-18 to heart:

...be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes...Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. 

These verses are a wonderful lesson on how to conduct spiritual warfare.  And what do they say to us?  Simply to stand firm, have faith and pray.  For such an important passage, you would have thought there might be some teaching on the strategy needed to invade the enemy stronghold, perhaps a mighty discourse on spiritual swordsmanship, or a field guide to identifying nasty, evil stuff, but no, just a repeated entreaty to take your stand and to stand your ground.  The belt of truth is buckled on, the breastplate of righteousness is put in place, the readiness provided by the gospel of peace is fitted to our feet, the shield of faith is lifted in protection, the helmet of salvation is placed on our heads, the sword of the Spirit is brandished and the battle is fought all so that we can stand firm and pray.  A little counter-intuitive if you ask me, but God seems to know his stuff. 

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Perhaps the verse that best sums up spiritual warfare then is this:

Be still, and know that I am God... Psalm 46:10

"Be at peace, while you dwell in me.  Come into my rest and remain in me by faith.  Stand firm in me.  Acknowledge me as Lord, let me show you how I will use you to fulfill my purposes."  Spiritual warfare involves standing firm in your faith, being certain of your position of honor in the eyes of God as you obey him, offering your praise and worship to him as you go about your day to day tasks for him, and watching as he destroys all the curmudgeonly spiritual opponents who stand in your path.  Be still and watch him be God.  Let him be God, the powerful, righteous God who has already overcome death and who has already won the final victory. 

Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31), our enemy.  Yet Christ has won the victory over death and so has been given authority over heaven and this world (Col 2:10, Matt 28:18).  However, Satan doesn't want to give up his captured ground just like that.  So we are God's shock paratroopers, dropped into enemy territory in order to hold the captured ground while God builds his Kingdom around us.  We just need to hold our ground in order for God's plan to work out right.  Wherever we go in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we capture enemy territory by simply holding our positions against the assailing forces of evil around us.  We expand the sphere of influence around us for God by using the sword of the Spirit: the Word of God, both by speaking out the message of the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection, and by walking in obedience to the leading of the Word of God in our lives. 

If we quickly gather together some verses, we come out with a natty little series of thoughts which can help us to understand how we can enter into spiritual warfare and come out with all of our limbs intact:

  * Submit yourself to God (Jas 4:7). 

  * Humble yourself under God's mighty hand (1 Pe 5:6, Jas 4:10). 

  * Take your stand against the devil's schemes, stand your ground (Eph 6:11-13). 

  * Stand firm - it is by faith you stand firm (2 Cor 1:24). 

  * Stand firm - it is God who makes us stand firm (2 Cor 1:21-22). 

  * Stand firm - give yourself fully to the work of the Lord (1 Cor 15:58). 

  * Be self-controlled - prepare your minds for action (1 Pe 1:13). 

  * Be self-controlled and alert (1 Pe 5:9, 1 Thess 5:6). 

  * Be self-controlled and clear minded so that you can pray (1 Pe 4:7). 

  * Be self-controlled - through the the Holy Spirit who gives us self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7, Gal 5:23). 

  * Resist the devil - come near to God and he will come near to you (Jas 4:7-8). 

  * Resist the devil - cast all your anxiety upon the Lord in prayer (1 Pe 5:6-9). 

  * Be on your guard - stand firm in the faith (1 Cor 16:13). 

  * Be on your guard - with the help of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 1:12-14). 

  * Guard your own house - keep your faith possession safe (Luke 11:21). 

  * Guard yourself in your spirit (Mal 2:15-16). 

  * Be on guard against hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). 

  * Be on your guard against the greed for possessions (Luke 12:15). 

  * Guard your heart (Prov 4:23). 

  * Guard your heart - through the peace of God (Philippians 4:7). 

  * Be strong in the Lord (Eph 6:10). 

  * Be strong and courageous (Deut 3:16, Josh 1:9, 1 Cor 16:13). 

  * Be strong and courageous - there is a greater power with us than with them (2 Chron 32:7, 1 John 4:4). 

  * ...the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Cor 4:20). 

  * We are given power and authority in Jesus (Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Luke 24:49, 2 Cor 12:9, Eph 6:10, 2 Tim 1:7). 

  * We have power from God through the Holy Spirit - power to be witnesses of Christ (Acts 1:8, Acts 4:33, Acts 6:8, Rom 1:16, 1 Cor 1:17-25, 1 Cor 2:4-5, Col 1:29). 

  * We are given power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor 10:4-6). 

  * Pray for strengthening of God's power within us (Eph 3:16). 

  * Prayer is powerful (Jas 5:16). 

  * Wrestle in prayer (Col 4:12, Rom 15:30). 

  * Pray so that you don't fall into temptation (Luke 22:46). 

  * Pray that you may able to stand - and watch (Luke 21:36). 

  * Pray in the Spirit - and be alert (Eph 6:18, Jude 1:20). 

Look at that.  Notice any recurring themes in there?  The ultimate point of all of that armor and weaponry?  The powerhouse of God's military-industrial complex?  Humility, faith, prayer and living by the leading, indwelling and power of the Holy Spirit.  The prayer of faith is the ultimate weapon against the spiritual forces arrayed against us.  Why?  Because the battle is against the spiritual forces of evil around us, not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). " What spiritual evil forces?  I can't see any spiritual forces!"  That's right, you can't.  Remember we are new-born spiritual beings, born of the Spirit (John 3:5, 1 Pe 1:23), and we are learning to live in this new spiritual reality little by little, led by our spiritual seeing-eye dog, the Holy Spirit.  We don't know how to fight; we are blind to most of the things going on in the spiritual battle, but prayer arrays God's power to win battles for us and for his ends.  We provide the simple but effective prayer, God arranges the details.  We are the front line troops, communicating the needs of the battle field to our commander and he sends his reinforcements where they are needed as he sees it from his observation post on the hill.  We can't rely on our own strength, or our own knowledge.  We can be as prepared as we want to be, studying the tactics of our enemy and moving in the full power of the Spirit, but in the end we are like blind moles in the sunlight battling chariots with knitting needles.  Our role is to pray as we are led and God provides the covering fire.  Instead of knitting needles he sends flaming broadswords and showers down clouds of arrows as thick as torrential rain.  It is helpful if we know something about the enemy's schemes, so that we can guard against them, but we should not focus on them.  That would be allowing him to have precedence over Christ in our hearts.  Rather we need to fix our eyes on Christ (Heb 12:2) and set our minds on things above (Col 3:1-2).  Nor do we need to spend our time discovering the minute details of the enemy's dealings with humankind, which only serves in distracting us from the work God has for us in moving his Kingdom forward.  Rather we should focus on sharing the love of Christ with the people around us and in our communities. 

One aspect of spiritual warfare which we tend to forget about is Christian community and its importance to our continued security in Christ.  I have often heard people say that you don't need to go to church to be a Christian.  Now while this is technically correct, in practice it just doesn't work in the long term.  The community of believers is designed to build each individual believer in their faith.  Sometimes the building process has to do with teaching about forgiveness (Col 3:13) and putting up with one another in the church (Eph 4:2), realizing that all Christians are broken sinners and not perfect saints.  In community we also have the continuing influence of fellow believers struggling in their faith to encourage us to keep going on in the Lord, to keep working at our faith, to keep applying the teachings of the Bible to our lives and not just read them and then forget about them.  Without other people reminding us of God, we more often than not drift away from him, our minds distracted by our own particular thoughts and interests.  When we stop regularly meeting with fellow believers, we are like the slow, crippled gazelle which has strayed from the herd, wandering about to forage for food by itself.  Alone and spiritually isolated like this, we are easy prey for the devil, the lion who is " _seeking_ _whom_ _he_ _may_ _devour_ " (1 Peter 5:8).  Our defenses are more easily breached when we live apart from the Christian community.  We are less able to keep a guard against the devil's schemes (Eph 6:11) and we miss out on the strongest defense of all against the enemy: Christians gathered together worshiping and praising God in unity.  So do not stop meeting together (Heb 10:25). 

Finally, if we combine the words of Ephesians 6 with the words of Christ in Matthew 28:19-20, we have the crux of the Christian war strategy:

_Therefore_ _go,_ _and_ _wherever_ _you_ _go,_ _stand_ _firm_ _in_ _your_ _faith,_ _defeating_ _the_ _enemy_ _'_ _s_ _spiritual_ _attacks_ _through_ _the_ _power_ _of_ _the_ _Holy_ _Spirit_ _living_ _within_ _you,_ _so_ _that_ _you_ _can_ _pray._ _ And_ _with_ _the_ _sword_ _of_ _the_ _Spirit,_ _the_ _Word_ _of_ _God,_ _proclaim_ _the_ _gospel_ _and_ _make_ _disciples_ _of_ _all_ _nations,_ _baptizing_ _them_ _in_ _the_ _name_ _of_ _the_ _Father_ _and_ _of_ _the_ _Son_ _and_ _of_ _the_ _Holy_ _Spirit,_ _and_ _teaching_ _them_ _to_ _obey_ _everything_ _I_ _have_ _commanded_ _you._ _ Remembering_ _that_ _we_ _do_ _all_ _of_ _this_ _in_ _the_ _power_ _of_ _God_ _and_ _with_ _Christ_ _as_ _our_ _constant_ _companion_ _-_ _surely_ _I_ _am_ _with_ _you_ _always,_ _to_ _the_ _very_ _end_ _of_ _the_ _age._ 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 4:7, Ex 14:13-14, Deut 4:16-20, Isa 7:9, Matt 10:22, Matt 18:18-20, Mk 14:32-42, Luke 21:36, 1 Cor 15:58, 1 Cor 16:13, 2 Cor 1:24, Eph 6:10-18, Heb 10:25, James 4:7-8, 1 Pe 5:6-9, 1 John 4:4, 1 Pe 5:8

## Therefore ...

Reach out to God in prayer; you don't have to suffer through things alone.  God is able to comfort and encourage us when we need it most, but we can't always benefit from that comfort if we don't ask for it.  Don't be afraid to involve God in more of your life, even in your darker moments, because he delights in you and wants to share in everything you do and to come beside you to encourage, heal and uphold you through everything you face in life. 

#  God Speaks

God speaks to us.  He speaks before we pray, while we pray and after we pray.  This is one of the single strongest themes in the entire Bible.  So much so, that after some eight hundred or so years of almost constant rebellion and disobedience from Israel and Judah, God's patience with them finally runs out, and his ultimate act of punishment?  He stops speaking to them (compare Psalm 74:9).  This is after he has sent disaster upon disaster upon them, after he has sent Egypt against them, after he has sent Assyria against Israel, after he has sent Babylon against Judah, and after he has sent Judah into exile for seventy years.  He no longer sends his prophets to warn, chide, encourage and affirm them.  For about four hundred years there is no prophetic voice of God heard amongst his people, no canonical prophetic record.  For four hundred years they suffer the rejection and isolation which they first meted out towards their God.  This fact is shocking to God.  For him not to speak to his people is anathema to his nature.  He cannot help but speak to us.  For God to be silent is second in magnitude of horror only to his complete absence, which is the fate of those assigned to Hell. 

We, therefore, should expect God to speak to us, but when some of us try to hear his voice, we hear nothing, because we are listening for an audible voice or some extremely obvious manifestation of God's communication with us.  God can speak in this way, but more often he does not.  With such an expectation we fail to listen attentively.  Our attitude is: "I'll just go about my business as usual, until God knocks me off my feet with a miraculous intervention."  I don't know why he designed it this way, but he wants us to listen intently for his voice even though he will not always speak to us audibly, in fact, most of us will not hear him speak out loud until we get to heaven.  God wants us to train ourselves to distinguish his voice from the multitude of voices in our hearts, our minds and our lives.  He wants us to listen, not just with our physical ears, but with the ears of our hearts.  Some of us do not hear God because we listen for his voice only with the big flappers on the side of our heads, yet we fail to listen with the ears of our hearts.  Indeed, because we have not used them, they have never fully developed.  They remain shriveled and stumpy, like a second-rate prize fighter's ears.  Don't let them stay cauliflower-shaped, instead listen to God.  Open your ears and hear the voice of the living God, however he wants to speak to you.  Soften your heart towards his voice:

' _For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'  Matthew 13:15_

Be sensitive to his Spirit speaking to you:

You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!  You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!   
Acts 7:51

Listen as God speaks. 

## Consequences of not Listening to God

Ignoring God's voice or denying his presence in your life has its consequences.  Once the effect of these consequences has settled upon you, it is more difficult to return to God when you finally decide you must.  Not only do you have to repent and accept his forgiveness, but you now also have to wade through the quagmire you've landed yourself in.  It's like a stroke victim who has lost the use of his entire right side and has learn how to walk, eat, comb his hair, brush his teeth, feed himself, and even speak all over again.  Don't let yourself descend into this state. 

Some of the outcomes of not listening to God include: receiving the fruit of your ways (Prov 1:23-31), which might seem good to begin with, but which inevitably descends into misery; and a hardening of the heart (Zechariah 7:9-13), leading to you becoming spiritually blind and deaf. 

" _Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people.  They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.  Ezekiel 12:2_

Paul really lets loose about the consequences of ignoring God's voice and denying his influence.  Romans 1:18-32 contains what has to be the clearest and most poignant summary of the subject in the entire Bible.  Paul tells us that living in deliberate denial of God leads to: suppression of the truth (Rom 1:18); the exchange of the truth of God for a lie (Rom 1:25); futile thinking, darkening of the heart (Rom 1:21); descending into foolishness (Rom 1:22); a depraved mind (Rom 1:28); and approving of others who also do evil (Rom 1:32).  One of the most pointed outcomes of living this way is that we descend into blaming God for almost everything that is bad in the world and for everything that goes wrong in our own lives.  If we persist in ignoring God's voice, he also stops listening to our prayers (Zech 7:13).  Avoid the heartache all of this brings upon you.  Listen to God and do what he says. 

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.   
Hebrews 4:7

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 81:11-12, Jer 6:8, Jer 7:13, Jer 25:3I, Jer 32:33, Jer 35:15, Jer 22:2, Jer 19:15, Jer 36:31, Jer 44:1-6, Jer 43:1-4, Ezek 3:7,  
Ezek 33:30-32

## God is the Revealer of Mysteries

God is the revealer of mysteries.  Daniel 2:47

God knows everything.  He knows the answers to all of the mysteries which we ask questions about.  He also knows about all of the mysteries we don't even think about.  If he is the God he claims to be, the only true living God (Isa 45:5), creator of all things (John 1:3), all-powerful (Mat 19:26), all-knowing (Psalm 147:5), then he is the holder of all mysteries, and as the holder of all mysteries, he is really the only one who can reveal them.  God revealed the mystery of Nebuchadnezzar's dream to Daniel and gave him the interpretation of it (Daniel 2:1-49).  God revealed to Paul the mystery of his salvation offered to all people through Jesus Christ (Rom 16:25-27), a mystery which Paul says is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who believe in him (1 Cor 1:18).  Nothing remains hidden from God (Psalm 139).  He says that eventually all things will be brought into the light (1 Cor 4:5), indeed we are to walk in the light, not hiding ourselves or anything about our lives in darkness (John 3:20-21). 

Three things arise from this:

Firstly, even if we try, we can't hide from God, he knows all about us: our thoughts, deeds and words as well as the motives which drive them. 

Secondly, when he speaks to us, he reveals himself to us.  Maybe not in one, blinding flash of discovery - no-one could handle that - but he does reveal himself little by little to us.  Before we came to know Christ we were blind to the mystery of his salvation.  Christ came to open the eyes of the blind, both those physically blind and those who are spiritually blind (Luke 4:18), so that now we understand that his death and resurrection gives us certainty of life eternal and hope for our future with him. 

Thirdly, we have access to the the revealer of mysteries through prayer.  We can ask him to reveal to us what we need revealed in order to do the work he has prepared for us. 

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.  Jeremiah 33:3

**What** **does** **God** **reveal** **to** **us?** 

  * He reveals his offer of salvation for all people (Eph 3:6). 

  * He reveals his love for us (1 John 4:9). 

  * He reveals his thoughts and plans (1 Cor 2:9-16, Amos 3:7). 

  * He reveals his world (2 Kings 6:15-17). 

_He_ _reveals_ _mysteries_ _to_ _give_ _us:_

  * Understanding (Prov 1:1-7 and the whole book of Proverbs). 

  * Intimacy in relationship with him (Jer 33:3, 2 Cor 12:2-4). 

  * Encouragement (1 Cor 14:3, Rev 2:8-11). 

  * The information we need to serve him (Luke 21:12-15). 

In the verse above from Jeremiah 33:3, God tells us to ask him to reveal mysteries to us.  So we should ask:

" _Lord,_ _reveal_ _to_ _us_ _all_ _that_ _we_ _need_ _to_ _see_ _and_ _know_ _in_ _order_ _to_ _be_ _able_ _to_ _serve_ _you_ _faithfully_ _and_ _with_ _boldness._ _"_ 

_Read_ _also:_ Jer 33:3, Mat 11:27, Gal 1:12

## God Seeks Us

I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.  To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations... Isaiah 65:1-2

We have spoken about how important it is for us to pro-actively seek God, but this might be a new concept for some of us.  Why should we seek God?  Surely if he wants to know us, then he can come find us.  The thing is, as we can see in the passage above from Isaiah, God has always been seeking us, and he will always continue to seek us.  When we forget about him, he comes after us.  He bugs us to re-establish the relationship between us.  He won't let us slip quietly away unnoticed.  He won't let us simply fade away and be forgotten.  He chases us, especially if we have developed an intimacy with him.  If we are his friend, he will fight to retain and improve that friendship.  Starting in Genesis, when God was looking for Adam in the Garden of Eden, down through the stories of the Bible, God has consistently sought to make people aware of his presence.  He tries over and over and over again to establish a relationship with the people we encounter in Scripture.  Seeking God is not a one way activity: as we seek him, he is also seeking us.  When he meets us seeking him, he melts with delight in us. 

He longs for us (Isa 30:18), he yearns for us (Jer 31:20), he desires to have us (Song of Solomon 7:10).  He is like the father of the prodigal son waiting day by day for us to come back to him (Luke 15:11-32).  The truth is that he waits, straining his eyes into the distance looking for us, holding his hands out for us every day.  When we seek him in return, it is like the homecoming of a very greatly loved son or daughter. 

The living God is an active God and he could force us to obey him if he wanted to, but he has given us the freedom to choose him, because if he forced us to love him, we would be robots.  He doesn't want us to be robots, only obeying him out of duty, or as a result of empty discipline.  He wants us to come to him and serve him as a freely taken personal choice, arising from a sincere desire to know him and to obey him.  He wants us to see the immense value of being in relationship with him and to serve from a motivation of loving devotion.  He waits for us even though we go our own ways.  He seeks us even when we deliberately walk away from him.  God wants to share himself with you, he wants to reveal himself to you, he wants to give himself to you.  Respond to his seeking.  Seek him in return. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 53:2-3, Luke 13:34, Rev 3:20

## God Speaks to Us

If you told your work colleagues that God speaks to you, many of them would quietly label you as a little crazy.  In fact, many Christians would think you were a little crazy too.  But if God really is the God which the Bible describes - the only true, living God, the creator of all things - then it is the most natural thing in the universe for him to speak to you.  In fact, if he did not speak to us, that would be more than enough grounds for us to agree with the claim that we Christians are all talking rubbish, that God and religion are just the opiate of the masses.  If God does not talk to us, then I don't think the Bible can be trusted.  It is absolutely fundamental to the story of God's dealing with mankind that he speaks to us, not only as a group through prophets, and not just to the apostles and leaders of our faith, but he speaks individually to each of us.  If God does not speak to us, then we are lost and our faith is useless.  God makes many promises that he does speak to us (Psalm 50:7, Jer 33:3, Isa 30:19, Matt 7:7-9).  If these promises are not true, then how can I trust anything else in the Bible?  These promises are fundamental to the Christian faith. 

I cannot envisage a faith in the risen Christ if he doesn't talk to me.  He died so that he could re-establish our relationship with God.  How can you have a relationship without speaking to someone?  We speak to God when we pray.  If God does not answer, if God doesn't speak back, then our prayers are no different from talking to a blackboard.  They are no different from prayers offered to the idols which the Bible describes as having no voice, that do not hear or speak and that do not give guidance. 

The Bible says over and over again that God speaks to us.  That means you.  No matter how unworthy you feel, God has promised that he will speak to you.  Indeed, the Bible says he has been speaking to all of us our whole lives through his creation, but he promises that he will speak to you personally and intimately as well (Matt 7:7-8).  You just have to let him know you are available and you have started listening for his voice.  He will teach you how to hear him.  Sometimes it will be through an audible voice, for some of us through fellow Christians, for some of us through the living words of the Bible, which seem to jump out at us, or through the words of a sermon or song.  For most of us it will be a mixture of some or all of the above. 

As for us, what do we do to hear God?  The answer?  Pray and then just listen. 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 6:13-22, Gen 12:1, Gen 13:14, Gen 17:1-22, Gen 18:17-21, Gen 21:17-19, Gen 26:24, Gen 31:3, Ex 3:1-6, Ex Ch 19, Lev 1:1, Num 1:1, Num 2:1, Num 3:5,11, Deut 5:22-27, Deut 31:14, 1 Sam 3:4-14, 21, 1 Sam 15:10-11, 16-23, 2 Sam 7:4-17, 2 Sam 12:1-14, Psalm 25:14, Psalm 65:5, Psalm 91:14-16, Isa 5:9, Isa 6:8, Isa 7:3, 8, Isa 8:1, Isa 28:11, Isa 37:21, Isa 38:1, 7, Isa 65:12, Isa 66:4, Jer 1:2, 4, Jer 7:1, Jer 30:1, Ezek 1:3, Ezek 2:1,2, Ezek 3:24, Ezek 6:1, Ezek 7:1, Ezek 10:5, Ezek 11:5, Ezek 12:1, Ezek 13:1, Ezek 14:1, Matt 3:16-17, Mk 1:11, Acts 7:6, 31-32, Acts 9:4, 10, Acts 22:14-15, Acts 22:7, 17, Acts 23:11, Heb 1:1, 2 Pe 1:16-19, 2 Pe 1:20, 2 Pe 2:15-16

## God Speaks Through the Bible

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.   
2 Timothy 3:16-17

I believe that the Bible is the Word of God.  I believe that both the Old and the New Testaments were written by ordinary people inspired by the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.  As such, what they wrote is what God intended for them to write.  The Bible forms the basis for our whole Christian belief system and I believe that, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is sufficient for every occasion and purpose.  The Christians at Berea are praised in Acts 17:11 because they _"_ _examined_ _the_ _Scriptures_ _every_ _day_ _to_ _see_ _if_ _what_ _Paul_ _said_ _was_ _true._ _"_  We also need to be searching the Scriptures.  While reading this book, please read the Scriptures associated with each chapter and make sure that what I am saying is in fact what the Bible teaches.  I am only human and lo and behold I could be wrong!  I also urge you, when you read Christian books, not to just read one and take it as the absolute authority on a subject.  Read widely in Christian literature and across a wide range of views.  You need to apply yourself and think about what is being told to you because writers are not perfect.  Books are, after all, opinions and interpretations of Scripture.  Authors can't claim to be authoritative like the Bible is, though we do pray that our words are also inspired by God and pleasing to him.  This leads to the onerous matter of those people who claim to have had knowledge or insight which is a "new" revelation from God, effectively adding to the revelation of Christian Scripture.  This is not good.  I believe people who claim to have new revelations which expand upon Christ's teachings wander into rocky ground where their feet are easily injured and they fall and break the ankles of their faith.  The Bible alone is what we have been given for our written spiritual authority and the Bible's spiritual truths, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, provide enough guidance for every and any situation we might find ourselves in.  God speaks through the Bible because his word is eternal (Psalm 119:89), it will not return to him empty, but will accomplish what he has in mind (Isa 55:11).  The Bible has inspired generations of men and women to follow Jesus Christ and to do wonderful things in the power of his Spirit and in the strength of purpose which faith in its words delivers. 

When we pray, the Bible should be constantly with us.  God often speaks to us by prompting us with Bible verses and having the Bible on hand makes it easy to look up the verse to reinforce his prompting.  As ever, consider and pray when you hear his word through Scripture.  Most importantly, when you hear God's voice through the words of Scripture, don't just accept them as intellectual confirmation.  Don't just use the Bible as a rational tool of affirmation.  Do what it tells you to do.  Live by the example of the obedient people of God in Scripture.  Live as Jesus lived, pray as Paul prayed, open your heart to God as David opened his heart.  God uses the Bible to speak to us by speaking to us from specific verses suitable to a particular occasion, such as when we ask him for an answer and he provides it through the chapter and verse we are up to in our regular reading for that day, and he also uses the Bible to speak to us when we are not seeking specific answers to prayer.  He speaks to us even when we are not speaking to him or inquiring of him.  This is why it is important to read the Bible regularly and make it your principal means of understanding who God is, what he wants from you and how to live out your Christian faith. 

Every day Bible readings allow God to speak into your heart every day.  But you don't have to be limited to physically reading the printed book every day.  I have a friend who travels half an hour to work each day.  During that half hour, he listens to a sermon on the the local Christian radio station.  This is also a wonderful way to let God speak into your heart.  The sermons he listens to are always based on passages of Scripture and so he gets the Bible reading as well as its exposition through a gifted preacher.  Similarly, a work colleague of mine used to listen to the Bible on CD through his portable music player as he went for his lunchtime walk.  Sunday sermons based on Scripture teach us about the passages under examination, regular Bible readings in our church services also add to our Bible exposure.  Regular reading of the Bible makes you fruitful in your faith, so use any method you can to get Bible input into your life.  Listen to the recorded Bible as you drive to work, be encouraged by worship songs which have Scripture as their subject matter, use daily reading guides, yearly lectionaries, different translations of the Bible, the original Greek and Hebrew, if you know how to read it.  Vary your Bible reading and make time and space to spend time in Scripture.  Once again, it doesn't have to be at six every morning with a cup of coffee.  You could read on the train, at lunchtime over a green Thai curry, in the evening during dinner, before you go to bed at night.  You can listen to the Bible recorded onto a music player while you train for your triathlon.  Use whatever means you have available to you to get the Bible into your head, so that it can be an encouragement to you, so that it can teach you, and so that God can speak to you through its words: the living words of God. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 32:46

## God Speaks Through Prophets

Many years ago I attended a small church.  During a meeting after church one day, there was a woman who claimed to have words from God for the church.  The minister allowed her to share her thoughts within the meeting.  Those present listened politely, but generally ignored what she had to say.  I got the feeling that they were quietly mocking her, believing she was just a misguided dreamer.  The prophecy she had was that God was not happy with the ways of the church and if they did not change he would close the church down.  Nobody paid any attention to the prophecy.  A year or two later, the church was folded into a larger church in the area.  The people of the smaller church had to travel to the larger one and the small church building lay closed and forlorn. 

The Bible reveals that God has spoken to his people through prophets for millennia.  The New Testament reveals that, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he still speaks to us through prophets.  Some say this prophetic word is limited to preaching and teaching.  The Bible is clear, though, that it also extends to a specific gift of the Holy Spirit given to some people (1 Cor 12:7-11).  They utter God's words to his people specifically to give guidance and build his people up.  Do not make light of this gift, because it is a real, living means by which God speaks directly to his church, Cherish his word when you hear it through prophecy, and respond to it. 

_Read_ _also:_ Num 11:26-27, Ezra 1:1, Ezra 5:1, Isa 7:3, 8, Hos 1:2, 4, 6, 9, Hos 3:1, Joel 1:1, Amos 1:3, Amos 7:15, Amos 8:2, Jonah 1:1, Jonah 3:1, Mic 1:1, Zeph 1:1, Hag 1:1, Hag 2:1, 10, Zech 1:1, Zech 8:1, Acts 19:6, Acts 21:10-11

## God Speaks Through Visions

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Joel 2:28

God has historically revealed himself and his plans to his people through visions.  Visions provide guidance, encouragement, rebuke and the revelation of God's mysteries to us.  They are a means for God to give us an insight into the spiritual world which he dwells in, and which we now also belong to, if we have been born of the Spirit ourselves (John 3:5).  They can give us a foretaste of the things to come in the life we are to lead after we pass away physically.  As such, visions can be fairly astounding things to experience.  Prophets in Scripture describe their experience of visions in many ways, citing instances where their strength left them so that they found it hard even to breathe (Dan 10:4-18), where they had an immediate sense of personal sin and uncleanness (Isa 6:5), an immediate reaction of humility and bowing face down to the ground (1 Chron 21:16), and where they trembled in fear (Acts 7:32), to name a few.  Visions are not the sole domain of super-spiritual prophets, however, God also gave visions to everyday folk like you and me: Cornelius the centurion saw a vision of an angel of God who told him to send men to go and fetch Peter from Joppa (Acts 10:1-8), Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, saw a vision of an angel of the Lord who foretold John the Baptist's birth and ministry (Luke 1:11-22), Ananias was given a vision and told to go to Paul and restore his sight (Acts 9:10-19), and the parents of Samson saw a vision of a man of God rising into heaven in the flames of a fire (Judges 13:3-23). 

Nor have visions ceased being given to God's people in our present age.  The verse above from Joel is repeated in Acts 2:17, where it says that God will pour out his Spirit on all people in the last days, and in Acts 2:33 he points to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people then and there as fulfillment of this prophecy.  The last days started with Jesus' death and resurrection and have continued on to this very moment.  We live in the last days ourselves, and these Scriptures tell us that we ourselves will prophesy, dream dreams and see visions given by the person of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 15:6, Gen 28:12-17, Gen 46:2-4, Num 12:6-8, Isa 2:1, Isa 5:9, Isa 6:1, Ezek 1:1, 3, Ezek 2:1, Ezek 8:1-11:25, Ezek 3:22, Ezek 11:1, 24, Ezek 40:1-2, Ezek 44:4, Dan 2:19, Dan 7:1, Dan 8:1, 15, Dan 10, Hos 12:10, Zech 1:8, Acts 7:55-56, Acts 9:3-19, Acts 10:3, 10, 30, Acts 11:5, 14-17, Acts 16:9, Acts 18:9, 19, Acts 22:14-15, 17, Acts 23:11, Acts 26:14, Acts 27:23-24, Mk 9:2-10

## God Speaks Through Angels

Angels, winged messengers of light, or so they are popularly portrayed.  Angelic is a word which has come to mean pure, sweet and innocent.  The Bible describes them as looking like men (Ezek 40:3, Zech 1:8), no mention of wings, although there does seem to be a splash of light accompanying them from time to time (Acts 12:7).  The messages they deliver can be positive and reaffirming, or they can be warnings and messages of judgment.  An angel was ready to strike Balaam dead with a sword if he did not turn from his reckless path (Num 22:21-35).  So angels don't always deliver good news and they are not always sweet and and innocent the way we like to think of them.  Angels are one of the most spectacular ways which God speaks to people.  They don't only appear to important people or to righteous people; they appear to all manner of folk.  They appeared to people in the Old Testament period and they appeared to people after Jesus died.  They still appear to people today, but if an angel appears to you, you shouldn't get hung up on the fact that a supernatural servant of God is standing in your living room.  Get excited instead by the fact that God is talking to you.  Yes, it is freaky and scary and amazing when an angel appears to you, but don't exalt the angel.  The angel is just a servant of God - his messenger.  Don't dwell on the messenger, Dwell on the message he brings.  It is God after all, who is talking to you, through the angel. 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 16:7, Gen 18:1-5, Gen 19:1, Isa 6:8, Dan 8:17, Zech 1:9, Matt 1:20, Matt 2:13, 19, Luke 1:26-45, Acts 5:19, Acts 7:38, Acts 8:26, Acts 10:3-8, Acts 12:7-12, Acts 27:23-26, Rev 1:1

## The Holy Spirit Speaks to Us

The importance of the Holy Spirit in our Christian faith should not be underestimated.  He is far more important than we give him credit for.  We've discussed previously how the Old Covenant has been fulfilled and a new one has been introduced in its place.  The new covenant says that we need to have faith in Jesus for our salvation: translated - "If I tell you that you are saved from your sins, then you are saved from your sins, so believe me."  In this new covenant our faith leads to our being born again.  A new spiritual being is created within us.  That being is our new, spiritual self.  Along with the spiritual birth we undergo, we are marked with a living seal to seal us as belonging to God - the Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a guarantee of our salvation.  The first thing to take from this is that if we don't have the Holy Spirit, we can't be sure that our salvation is complete (Rom 8:9), and conversely, if we do have the Holy Spirit living in us, then we are guaranteed, rock solid, that we will go to heaven to be with Jesus when we die.  This gives me a lot of confidence.  The second thing to take from the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is that there is a purpose behind his indwelling.  The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is given to us to remind us of what Jesus taught and to teach us how to live the way he wants us to live (John 14:26).  He is given to us to be our helper (John 14:16-17), he is given to us to provide leadership and guidance (Gal 5:16-18, 25), he is given to us to give us wisdom and understanding (Col 1:9, Eph 1:17), he is given to us to help us to pray and communicate with God (Rom 8:26, Gal 4:6), he is given to us to provide us with freedom (2 Cor 3:17), and he is given to us to help us to grow into the unified body of Christ - the church (Eph 4:3).  The Holy Spirit is like God's personal spruiker for each one of us. " Come over and smell these tomatoes!  Look how fresh and ripe and red they are!  How can you resist these lovely tomatoes, just $2.50 per kilo today only as a special offer to you!"  The Holy Spirit doesn't sell us tomatoes, but he does speak for God, indeed he is God speaking to us.  He speaks to us in community by giving words to his prophets, or by giving teaching guidance to his preachers and Bible study leaders, or by giving translations of people speaking in tongues in an assembly of believers.  He speaks to us individually through personal revelation, personal prophecy directed to us alone, he edifies us when we speak in tongues (1 Cor 14:4), and he guides us when we read the Scriptures or listen to others teaching us about God.  He leads us where God wants us to go and he stops us from going to places we should not go (Acts 16:6).  He makes us feel remorse when we are not right with God, leading to repentance (2 Cor 7:10).  He grieves within us when we disobey his voice, and we know we have grieved him.  This grieving is also designed to lead us to repentance and to change our ways.  He unites the church, co-coordinating its efforts.  He changes and builds our personal character as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit, he builds his body of believers, the church, by giving us each spiritual gifts, which are designed to work together to make us all grow as a body and to work together to fulfill God's plans for the salvation of the world and the revelation of his glory.  Without the Holy Spirit, we are just babbling fools.  If your theology sidelines the Holy Spirit, his fruit and his supernatural gifts, then you have emasculated and emaciated your faith.  Without the Holy Spirit you work in your own strength and you live according to your own abilities.  Without the Holy Spirit, you speak only rules and regulations and your faith becomes dry.  It is no wonder that so many churches seem dry and dead when the Holy Spirit is denied, or it is taught that the gifts of the Holy Spirit died out with the first apostles.  I seriously believe that it is heresy to teach this.  The Holy Spirit is central to God's plan of salvation for all mankind.  With the Ten Commandments fulfilled through Christ living in us, how do we now live?  God's laws and requirements have been written on our hearts, but who will remind us of them?  Who will teach us how to walk in their ways?  In the fulfillment of the laws and commandments of the Old Testament, God has done away with relationship bounded by external written rules.  The new contract says that we must now live in relationship with God, bounded by a living relationship with his Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is God living in us and it is he who speaks to us, teaches us and leads us.  It is he who gives us insight when we pore over the Scriptures.  Without him the Bible is just another book.  He is the decryption algorithm to unlock the truths of Scripture for us; he is the interpreter to translate it into words and thoughts which our minds and hearts can understand. 

Pausing for a moment, I really feel that I have to briefly address the fear, whether conscious or subconscious, which some Christians have towards the Holy Spirit.  We fear that because we can't see, hear, touch, feel or taste him, he will do something to us which we don't want him to.  We fear that he will embarrass us, that he will take control of us and force us to do things we do not want to do.  We fear that we will do or say crazy things which will make us look stupid.  But the Holy Spirit does not possess you, rather he came to free the captives.  Yes, this is a teaching relating to Christ, but the Holy Spirit is Christ's Spirit (Rom 8:9).  It was by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus drove out demons.  People who were really possessed were set free by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does not invade your body and force you to do things you don't want to do.  The people Jesus freed from evil spirits were not in control of themselves before he freed them.  When they were set free, they returned to their right minds and had their self-control restored, one aspect of living in the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23, 1 Cor 14:33).  The fruit of the Spirit reflects a change in your personality, but not a change towards disorder and confusion, rather a change towards peace.  When you are led by the Holy Spirit, rather than him taking control of you and forcing you to do things you don't want him to, he gives you more self-control.  This is reinforced by the verse in Ephesians 4:30 which says that we should not resist and grieve the Holy Spirit, indicating that we are able to say no to his influence.  We can choose to shut him out, but we should not grieve the Holy Spirit, we should not ignore him or deny him.  He is here for our benefit not to use us like a robot.  1 Corinthians 14:32 also says that the spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.  When the Holy Spirit gives us gifts of the Spirit, they do not overpower us and make us do embarrassing things beyond our control.  We remain in control.  He guides, leads, prompts and prods.  We obey and we follow his lead in faith and by raw trust that he will not harm us (1 Pe 2:6). 

The Holy Spirit frees us from slavery to the law.  We don't have to be bound by living by dry rules and regulations, instead we live by a living relationship with him as he speaks to us directly, and we live moment by moment in him.  He teaches us to obey him by teaching us as we read the Bible.  Through our reading of the Bible, he teaches us to live by the law written on our hearts and minds. 

So the Holy Spirit will not posses you, he will set you free.  He will not enslave you, but sets you free from slavery to the law, rules and regulations.  The Holy Spirit will not control you like a robot, he will give you more self-control to be able to say no to sin, to be able to say no to disobedience, to be able to say yes to God, to be able to say yes I will follow your leading, and to be able to say "I'm scared, I need to follow you one little step at a time, please be patient with me."  Yes, freaky things might happen when you let him lead you, but those freaky things are designed to glorify God and to build you up in your faith.  He is the comforter, the encourager, the Spirit who builds up rather than destroys.  He will lead you into peace and joy and fullness of life, rather than confusion, slavery to boring rules and a dry and empty religion.  The things he does through you and through others are designed to make you sit back and go "Wow, God is great!  Wow, God loves me!  Wow, this is hard, but I can do it with his help!" 

_Read_ _also:_ Acts 8:28, Acts 10:19, Acts 13:2, Rev 2:29, Rev 3:6, 13, 22, Rev 13:9

## Live by the Spirit

Views on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's walk with God can be very polarized: some believe his influence disappeared with the first disciples; some believe he makes you levitate and turns your hair into Japanese Udo noodles.  It is sad that this is the case (not that he turns your hair into Udo Noodles, but that people have such polar views on the subject), because it means that the Holy Spirit and his role in our faith is very often misunderstood, both by straight-laced Evangelicals and by happy-clappy Pentecostals.  Because we misunderstand how the Holy Spirit fits into God's scheme of things, we either fear he will posses us and force us to do things we violently object to, and therefore we do whatever we can to make sure he doesn't get involved in our churches or our personal lives, or we create a form of spiritual apartheid, only acknowledging someone as having been baptized in the Spirit if they speak in a tongue, or show supernatural evidence of his indwelling presence.  Both approaches can lead to a misrepresentation of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives of faith.  God hasn't made it easy, for his part, because the writings of Paul, which are our best guide on the subject, can be very difficult to understand. 

An attempt at a very brief summary of the Holy Spirit's role in our new lives in Jesus Christ might be encapsulated thus:

  * We are given the Holy Spirit as a seal and a deposit when we believe in faith in the saving work of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. ( Eph 1:13-14)

  * The seal of the Holy Spirit within us, one hundred percent guarantees that we have been saved by faith  
(Eph 1:13-14, Eph 2:8, Jas 2:24). 

  * If we do not have the Holy Spirit living within us then we are not saved (Rom 8:9). 

  * The Laws and Commandments of the Old Testament will never be abolished (Mat 5:17)

  * The Laws and Commandments of the Old Testament have, however, been completely and utterly fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Matt 5:17).  Jesus died on our behalf, to pay for our sins  
(Rom 5:7-8, 1 Cor 15:3). 

  * The Laws and Commandments of the Old Testament do not apply to us any longer after we die. ( Rom 7:1)

  * We have died in Christ, therefore we are dead to the Laws and Commandments of the Old Testament (Rom 7:4-6). 

  * Living by the Laws and Commandments does not save us from death - we are saved and made righteous by faith  
(Rom 10:10, Philippians 3:9). 

  * We have now entered into a new way of living approved by God: we must now live by the Spirit (Rom 8:5-17).  We are dead to the Law but alive by the Spirit and we must now live by the Spirit in order to be pleasing to God.  Attempting to live by the Law is no longer what is required of us (Gal 5:18). 

  * The principles of the Laws and Commandments of the Old Testament stand and are still relevant for our lives as Christians (Matt 5:17, Rom 7:12), but now rather than being the "written law", they have been written on our hearts and in our minds (Rom 7:6, Heb 10:15-17). 

  * The Holy Spirit is our teacher, day-by-day and moment-by-moment teaching us how to live by these laws written on our hearts and minds (John 14:26, Heb 8:7-13, 1 Cor 2:13). 

  * The Holy Spirit does not possess you, he does not make you a slave to his influence (Rom 8:15).  Instead he sets us free, gives us dignity (Mark 5:1-15) and self-control.   
(Rom 8:2, Gal 5:13, 22-23). 

  * The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each of us, to build up the community of believers into a body led in obedience to God  
(1 Cor 12:7, 12-14). 

  * Instead of living in relationship bounded only by written rules, we must now live in relationship guided by the Holy Spirit. 

In the old model (the old covenant), God gave us a Monopoly set and said here are the board, the pieces, the money and the rules.  Now go and play Monopoly.  Problem was we went and played Monopoly.  We went _away_ and played Monopoly.  We forgot about God and played the game all by ourselves.  We were supposed to play Monopoly with God there with each move to guide us and help us as we played.  In the new model, the Holy Spirit lives within us and says "Let's play Monopoly!"  We say "Sure," and he says "OK then, do what I do and say what I say.  I will show you how to play."  He does not give us the pieces, the board, the money, or the rules, he is the pieces, the board, the money and the rules.  We can't go away and play the game by ourselves without him.  He needs to be present all of the time to teach us how to move according to the rules, to tell us when to buy a house or a hotel, and so on.  He needs to be present, advising us on every move and transaction we make in the game.  The old model was relationship bounded by written rules, the new model is relationship directed by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. 

We can't please God under the new model by taking the rule book and going off to play our own way, apart from the Holy Spirit.  Yet people still do this.  I recently heard a sermon in which the preacher taught that it is easy to know what God wants you to do, just read the Bible and do what it says.  He was right about this, but the message he conveyed with the words he left out spoke more than the words he included.  What he implied very clearly was that the Bible and the Bible alone contains everything you need to know and do God's will, and that you don't need supernatural guidance from the Holy Spirit.  You can figure it all out in your own strength and with your own God-given brain.  He was emphatically implying that you shouldn't be influenced by silly people who say you need to listen to vague, emotional feelings of guidance from a voice in your head or heart which directs you to extremely specific ways of applying the Bible in your life.  This guy was preaching "Just take the rule book and do what it tells you."  He was telling people it was OK to follow the rules without involving the relationship.  In this I am convinced he was wrong. 

On the other hand, I heard an (unconfirmed) story of a young man who was hoping to become a pastor in his local church.  His church had a requirement that everyone who enters into ministry with them must have the spiritual gift of being able to speak in a tongue.  He had not received this gift and so he was told to pray and seek God about it before he would be allowed to minister.  He prayed and sought God for many years until one day he did finally receive the gift of tongues.  He was then able to enter into pastoral ministry in his church. 

Is this what Jesus taught we should do?  Is this what Paul taught we should do?  I think not.  This is the same as telling a man he is not allowed to eat in the front seats of a restaurant because his skin is black or his hair is red.  The people of that church had no right to segregate ministerial hopefuls on the basis of a gift, or lack of a gift given freely by the Holy Spirit.  Speaking in tongues is a gift.  The man has no control over whether he receives it or not.  He can't do anything to earn it.  He can't buy it.  He can't conjure it up with voodoo magic.  All he can do is ask for it, but if the Holy Spirit says "No, you have all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which were chosen for you.  You do not need the gift of tongues", then he has no recourse to follow.  This is an absurdity.  It might be understandable if they sought God and ensured that the young man had been given the gift of teaching or of apostleship, but tongues?  The error of this church is that they are idolizing supernatural powers, even if they are given by God.  They are supplanting our relationship with the Holy Spirit, which is supposed to guide the use of his gifts, with the gifts themselves. 

In both of the cases above, the relationship with the Holy Spirit living within had been abandoned.  Don't abandon that relationship yourself.  When we die with Christ and are raised with him into new life, we are born again of the Spirit (Jn 3:3-8, 1 Pe 1:23).  We are like new-born children who can't see.  Even though new-born babies have eyes, they don't work yet.  Their brains need to be wired as they grow to understand how to process all of the sights coming in through their eyeballs, so that they can make sense of it all.  We are the same.  When we are born again of the Spirit, it is as if we are born blind.  We have been born into the spiritual, supernatural realm of Jesus Christ, but our newly born spiritual eyes cannot interpret what we see.  We need some form of guidance to help us while our spiritual eyes develop.  The Holy Spirit is our spiritual seeing-eye dog, leading us about in the supernatural realm we now live in.  We don't understand how he leads or where he is leading us, but we have to trust him, just as a blind person trusts his faithful guide mutt not to let him bump into lamp posts.  Put another way, the Holy Spirit is our in-car GPS system, guiding us where we should drive to get to the destination he needs us to go to.  We are the driver, he is our guide.  When we miss the turn he intends for us, he starts beeping: "You missed your turn, do a u-turn and make the first turn left, do a u-turn and make the first turn left, do a u-turn and make the first turn left."  And he will keep beeping and telling us to get back on the path until we do what he tells us. 

But how do we recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit?  Is it a feeling he gives us?  Is it a voice in our heads?  Does he make verses from the Bible pop out at us while we read them?  Does he grab our hands and lead us about physically?  The Bible doesn't give details.  It just says people were led by the Spirit to do things.  Jesus was led into the wilderness (Matt 4:1).  Philip was led to stay near the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:29).  Paul was stopped by the Spirit from preaching in the province of Asia and from entering Bythinia (Acts 16:6-7), but then he was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22).  The Bible doesn't tell us how these people sensed the leading of the Holy Spirit on these occasions.  It doesn't give us hard and fast rules or guidelines indicating when we can be sure the Spirit is the one leading us.  This level of detail is left out on purpose.  This is because God's desire is for us to remain in relationship with him at all times.  We need his guidance to understand how he guides us (frown).  He wants us to be dependent upon him for our instructions on how to walk in the Spirit.  We can't take a set of rules for understanding the leading of the Spirit and apply them in our own strength.  We need to be constantly attuned to him, constantly in communication with him, constantly dependent on him spoon-feeding us.  We can't live independent of Jesus Christ and we can't move in the will of God independent of the leading of the Holy Spirit within us. 

I know how you are feeling right now.  This is all so inconvenient.  First of all it doesn't fit with my theology and secondly, if it is true, then I don't want it to be.  I don't want to have to be dependent on God for everything.  I don't want to have to learn about supernatural, spiritual stuff.  It's scary and I don't believe in that stuff anyways.  I thought I could just read the Bible and work in the homeless shelter and everything would be fine.  I thought I could earn my brownie points by being a good person, not swearing and not associating with people who wear Metallica t-shirts and have gold fillings in their teeth.  This is all too hard! 

Well, I can't say sorry, because it's not me making all of this up.  God wants us all to live in a personal, intimate relationship of dependence upon him.  The way he's designed this to happen is by providing the Holy Spirit to live within us and be our constant guide and companion.  You gotta live by his guidance, you gotta listen to his lead, you gotta go where he points, and you gotta figure it all out by talking to God a lot, asking a lot of questions and making a lot of mistakes. 

Live by the Spirit.  Play Monopoly the way he guides you, and your life of faith will be productive and pleasing to God. 

_Read_ _also:_ Joel 2:28-29, Acts 11:12, Acts 16:6-7, Acts 20:22-23

## Test the Spirits

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  1 John 4:13

Having attempted to make the case for living by the Spirit in the topic above, we need to visit the reality that when we are dealing with touchy-feely guidance by an invisible being who lives inside us, it is easy to get it wrong.  But this does not mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water.  We can't throw out the concept of living by the Holy Spirit because this is the way God wants us to live in him now that we have been saved and made into a new, spiritual creation.  Instead, we have to face the fact that we now have to learn how to discern between the guidance of the Holy Spirit and guidance which is not from him.  Touchy-feely?  I hear alarm bells ringing there in your head.  We are dealing with a relationship with God and his Holy Spirit, of course it is going to be touchy-feely.  All relationships are.  We will hear his voice and our spirits will rise.  We will feel his discipline and repent in shame, we will feel it when we grieve him and know we must turn around and not take that path any longer.  We will sense his stirring in us when we must speak the words of God or when, while we are in the middle of preaching a sermon, he leads us to go off on a tangent about why Balaam was not stunned into silence when his donkey spoke to him, instead acting as if this sort of thing happened to him every second Tuesday. 

We are often told that we can't live out our faith based on our feelings, but this is not the complete picture, is it?  It is only a half-truth.  The Bible teaches that at times God produces in us sorrow which leads to repentance (2 Cor 7:8-12).  Sorrow is an emotion, a feeling.  God uses a feeling to lead us into repentance.  When he does this, we live out our faith very much based on our feelings.  Again, when we contravene the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can cause him to be grieved within us (Eph 4:30).  Unfortunately, I have lived a life which has, at times, grieved the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit grieves within me, I feel it!  It causes me to live my faith based on my feelings - I don't like the feeling and so I repent as a result and return to God.  Jesus, when he witnessed the tables of the money changers in the temple of God, was spurred on by zeal for his father's temple and drove them out (John 2:13-17).  He lived his faith guided by a zeal which is described as consuming him.  This is not simple intellectual assent; he was fanatical about God's temple.  He was guided in his faith by his strong zealous feelings.  Again, just before he was due to be hung on the cross, he felt anguish over his impending death and so prayed more earnestly (Luke 22:44).  Jesus was led by his feelings to enter into earnest prayer.  Note, however, that he did not let his feelings influence his final obedience to God.  He obeyed and went to the cross as God desired, even though he asked his Father to take the cup of suffering from him because of his great anguish. 

I sometimes don't feel like going to church or to my Bible study group, but I know that the Bible teaches us that we should not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing (Heb 10:24-25).  Usually, when I feel this way, I do end up going to church or Bible study in obedience to the teaching of the Bible, rather than in obedience to my feelings, and that is how it should be.  When my feelings disagree with the teaching of Scripture, I should follow Scripture.  When my doubts disagree with the promises of the Bible, I should doubt my doubts and trust in the Word instead.  Often we feel as if God is so far away from us that we lose hope and we stop praying.  We should not follow our feelings in this matter.  God has said in Scripture that he will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).  Never, ever.  He will never leave us, so when we feel that he is distant and absent from our lives, our feelings are lying to us.  God has promised that he is always right here with us, no matter where we are or what we are doing.  Our feelings are wrong.  We should ignore them when they tell us that God is far from us.  We should trust in the teaching of God's Word to us in Scripture. 

So that old steadfast that you mustn't live out your faith based on your feelings is only half true.  Living out our faith requires us sometimes to be led very strongly by our feelings in accordance with the teaching of the Bible, and sometimes to ignore our feelings, also in accordance with the teachings of the Bible. 

Neither can you live out your faith based only on reason, since we live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).  God is an unreasonable God.  If I were to rely purely on reason for my beliefs, then I would deny God's existence.  He is, after all, not visible to the naked eye, at least most of the time he isn't, and to many people it is very hard to prove that he exists in a purely rational way.  God is freaky and supernatural and he does freaky, supernatural things.  We can't explain them all with logic and common-sense. 

As for living by our experiences, if you have not experienced Jesus Christ in your life, then I would be worried that something is not right.  Christianity is not just a mental assertion of a spiritual reality.  It is a holistic faith, involving all of you: your mind, your heart, your soul, your feelings, and your rational, reasoning self.  We study the Scriptures with our rational minds, getting theological training and learning the principles of research and critical thought, yet when it comes down to it, our faith is excited most by the experience of what we have believed in.  When Jesus really does talk to us, through the Bible, through a sermon, through a song, it enters into our register of positive experiences a hundred times more readily than mere bookish knowledge.  When our minds are excited by truths revealed by the Holy Spirit within us, the buzz it gives us excites us a thousand times more than the dry facts surrounding Pilate's pet Zebra, or the methods used by ancient Bakers to create pink lamingtons and cream-filled apple turnovers. 

Paul was a very learned man of his time (Gal 1:13-14).  He knew the Scriptures backwards, yet, when Jesus stopped him in the road and asked him why he was persecuting him, Paul was a little taken aback (Acts 9:1-30).  He now had to figure out how this experience of the living Jesus Christ fitted into his academic framework of God's revelation through Scripture.  The results of his meditations have been recorded for us most clearly in the book of Romans, but they are also scattered throughout all of his writings.  His experience brought his knowledge of Scripture vividly to life.  His experience of Christ led to a complete turnaround in his behavior and thinking.  Without this experience, he would have probably remained a legalistic, Jewish scholar who persecuted Christians, believing they were living in contravention of Scripture. 

On the other hand, even dramatic and incredible experiences of God's presence and power, while living in close fellowship with him, is not always enough to keep us strong in our faith.  Elijah called down fire from God on a water soaked altar to prove that the god Baal was no god at all, but that the Lord God of Israel was the true God.  Almost immediately after this event, Jezebel, the wife of Israel's King Ahab, threatened Elijah with death and so Elijah ran away, traveling for forty days and forty nights to flee her (1 Kings Ch's 18 and 19).  Admittedly, I would probably have done the same.  In hindsight we can see that Elijah should have sought refuge in the Lord.  He should have remembered the wonderful power which God had revealed to him throughout his ministry for him.  He should have lived by faith in God's ability to look after him, but he forgot all about him and took his eyes off of the ball, so that Team Jezebel was able to put points on the scoreboard big time. 

So, our mental faculties are important in guiding us in our faith, but they are not our only guide (Prov 3:5).  The Bible is fundamental to our instruction and needs to be considered on every occasion (2 Tim 3:16-17).  Our feelings need to be weighed up to see if they contribute to what God is trying to say to us or if they are trying to lead us astray, and our experiences can be valuable in bringing our faith alive, yet they too can lead us astray if we trust our judgment to them over the words of the Bible. 

Yet still, in listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the impressions he gives us can get mixed up with our own emotions and feelings, and our own internal dialogue, as well as the voice of the enemy trying to divert our attention from God's "still small voice" within us (2 Cor 11:14).  As with prayer, discerning between the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit, and any other leading takes time and practice.  God speaks to each of us the way he wants to.  Some hear his actual voice audibly, others sense a deep peace when they know they are in his will, yet others hear God's voice directing their internal dialogue.  Some are led through Bible verses as they read Scripture, or a sermon which they feel is directed to them and them alone in a congregation of four hundred.  I dare say that, for most of us, the voice of the Holy Spirit is a mix of all of these and more. 

The importance of discerning the Holy Spirit from other impressions is paramount.  We need to know the voice of God so we can follow his lead in our lives of faith, but it takes time and practice to discern God's voice and it takes time and experience to distinguish his voice from our own imaginations and the leadings which originate from Satan.  Many people and Christian movements throughout history have done things in the name of God, believing they were directed to do so by him, but which, in truth, came from Satan or from their own imaginings. 

_Test_ _the_ _spirits_ _against_ _the_ _teaching_ _of_ _Scripture._  The Holy Spirit will never contravene something he himself has said (Matt 5:17).  He will not lead in contradiction to the teachings of the Bible, no matter how strongly you feel led, no matter how convincingly you have had your prayers for confirmation answered.  If the leading and the confirmation point to something which goes against the teaching of Scripture, then it is not from the Holy Spirit. 

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.  Keep away from them.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.  By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.   
Romans 16:17-18

Satan works the same way as the smooth-talkers mentioned in the verses above from Romans.  He is serving his own ends, and seeks to cause confusion and division between believers.  Paul reiterates that we should hold to the teaching we have learned, and for us that means the teaching we have learned from Scripture.  The verse is also a warning to us that we should not be naïve in our faith.  We should be aware of the fact that Satan tries to cause confusion and division and sets up road blocks to divert us from the true leading of the Holy Spirit.  He even uses Scripture to try to convince us to sin.  He tempted Jesus by using Scriptures to lure him to throw himself from the temple roof.  Jesus responded with another Scripture:

" _Do not put the Lord your God to the test" Luke 4:9-12_

_Test_ _the_ _spirits_ _by_ _discussing_ _the_ _impressions_ _and_ _leading_ _of_ _the_ _Holy_ _Spirit_ _within_ _you_ , with trusted, mature Christians who hold firm to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the promises of Scripture.  My first and most frequent source of aid in helping me to discern what I believe is a leading from the Holy Spirit is my wife.  I tell her many of the things which I believe God is saying to me, and very often find myself walking away from her frowning and chagrined because what I had so fervently believed was God's voice has so simply and innocently been shot down in flames by her simple and matter-of-fact assessment. " That doesn't sound like what God would say, it sounds very self-centered" and so on.  I'm blessed because God has gifted her with a strong sense of spiritual discernment (and plain ol' common sense as well), but it may be someone else or some other group of people in your life who provide the spiritual checks and balances you need to have in place when you are living by the Spirit.  This is what all of us need to put in place when we live by the Spirit this way.  We need men and women of God around us who have the wisdom, experience and knowledge of God's word and his leading in their own lives to be able to put the brakes on our misguided enthusiasm when what we hear is actually not from God.  Conversely, they need to be able to discern the movement of God as well, so that when we do feel God's leading, our fire is not quenched and our faith extinguished, as has happened to some of us already. 

_Test_ _the_ _spirits_ _by_ _bringing_ _our_ _impressions_ _and_ _our_ _doubts_ _to_ _God_ repeatedly and consistently so that he can keep speaking as he is, if indeed it is him leading us, and so that his voice can rise above the tumult within us, when we are being led astray. 

So test the spirits against Scripture, against the discernment of godly men and women, and by repeatedly seeking God's further guidance in prayer.  At some stage, however, you have to step out in faith and follow his leading.  And sometimes still, you will find that you have been misled.  Do not be discouraged.  Make failure your oft, but briefly visited friend.  Drop in for a cuppa, have a cookie, catch up on the latest news and then quickly excuse yourself again saying: "Sorry, but I have to go back and try again."  Success, as the popular saying goes, consists of getting up one more time than you fall down.  Do not be afraid to fail.  Do not be put off by the fear of making mistakes.  You will fail in hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.  You will make mistakes in your discernment of his leading. ' Fess up, learn from your errors and try again.  It is only with real-world experience, with triumphs and with failures that you will move forward in this new life in Jesus Christ living by the Spirit. 

## The Holy Spirit Speaks for Us in Prayer

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  Romans 8:26

Not only does God speak to us through his Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit speaks to God on our behalf.  The yearning we feel, and the groans which we do not understand, as described in the passage above, add to the thoughts and feelings of our hearts.  When we don't know what to say, God knows our hearts and so he speaks for us.  The Holy Spirit within us yearns to bring us to be with the Father.  The two are one and they belong together.  So it is that our spirits, inspired by the Holy Spirit within us, yearn to be with our Father as well. 

My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.  Isaiah 26:9

Jesus' words in John 14:26 tell us that the Holy Spirit has been given to us to teach us.  He teaches us about everything Jesus said and did and he teaches us how to live to be pleasing to God.  He also teaches us how to pray. 

_Read_ _also:_ Isa 26:9, Acts 3:6, 13, 22, Acts 8:28, Acts 13:9, Gal 4:6, Rev 2:29

## God Answers Us

The Bible says that God answers us (Psalm 91:15).  Sometimes this is hard to believe.  We're supposed to live by faith, though, not just by what we see or hear or experience around us.  If the Bible says he answers us, then he must answer us.  There that's fixed.  That doesn't really help much though, does it?  When you feel that God really has not answered your prayers, telling you to just believe that he does is a tad condescending. " He might answer you because you're an upright, righteous person who has the strength of will to get up at four in the morning and pray for two hours before breakfast, but I can't even pry apart my eyelids in the morning without passing a double shot of coffee over my lips as soon as my feet hit the carpet.  You have to prove to me that God answers us, because, in my experience, he just plain doesn't!"  Neither I, nor anyone else has to answer for God, he is a big boy and he can answer for himself.  So, tell him your complaint: "You don't answer me, please answer me when I pray!"  Then start writing down your prayers and keep a record of them.  If you get an answer to any of them, write it down next to the original prayer.  Let God stand or fall upon his own promises, upon the words he has written in the Bible.  Let God show you whether he answers you or not. 

_Read_ _also:_ Gen 24:12-16, 45, 1 Sam 1:26-27, 1 Sam 7:10-13, 1 Sam 1:19-20, 1 Sam 8:7-9, 1 Sam 12:18, Ezra 8:23, Psalm 99:6-8, Psalm 120:1, Isa 65:24, Zech 10:6, Zech 13:9, Hab 1:2, 5,  
Hab 1:12-2:2

## Listen to God

The list of verse supporting this section's plea is large indeed.  Listen to God!  If there was ever any doubt that God does speaks to us or that God does answer us, surely it must be put to rest considering the multitude of times God himself says to you and I through Scripture: listen to me!  Why would he say listen to me so many times if he does not talk to us?  Why would he say listen to me if he does not speak when we listen?  Is he a dummy?  Does he say listen to me and then not speak?  Does he say listen to me and then snigger in his celestial, deep, throaty, sound of rushing waters, baritone voice, "Ha ha ha!  Made you listen!"  No he doesn't. 

The Bible teaches this message to us again and again.  God tells his people to listen through the Old Testament prophets (Isa 34:1), he tells it to his people through New Testament visions (Rev 3:22), he tells it to his people about Jesus Christ (Mark 9:7), he tells it to his people through an 80 year old man (Ex 15:26), he tells it to his people through a 30 year old man (Luke 16:31).  He tells it to his people through wise kings (Eccl 5:1), he tells it to his people through the most educated men in society (Acts 25:25-28), he tells it to his people through angels (Ezek 40:3-5), he tells it to his people through fishermen (1 John 4:6), he tells it to his people everywhere and through everyone. 

In Ezekiel 33:30-32 God says to his people " _listen to me_ ", and then tells them that they do listen, but don't act on what they hear.  So you can't fool him.  When he says listen he means listen and let the words sink in.  He means you haven't heard me until you do what I tell you to do.  He doesn't mean hear and just enjoy the melodic, lyricism of his voice.  No, he means hear, think upon what I say and do what I say.  Listen to me as in "Flush out the stinky ear wax and let the words into your brain."  He means mull over them, count the cost and act in response to them.  He means MOVE!  Get off you amply cushioned behind and rumba when I play the rumba for you!  Stop being simply a Christian of intellectual assent, and become a woman of God.  Stop being a Christian of approving nods and disapproving whispers and get the log out of your own eye by active obedience.  He means get so busy being obedient yourself that you don't have the time or inclination to judge even those who are obviously living lives in rebellion against God. 

When he says listen to me, he means listen to me!  So listen to God, and when you listen to God, do what he tells you to do. 

_Read_ _also:_ Deut 8:3, Ecc 5:1-2, Isa 1:2, Isa 28:23, Isa 32:9, Isa 34:1, Isa 48:1, 12, 14, 16, Isa 50:4, Isa 51:4, 7, 21, Isa 55:1-3, Isa 57:1, Isa 66:4, Jer 2:4, Jer 6:8, 10, Jer 7:13, 19, Jer 8:6, Jer 11:7, Jer 17:23, Jer 19:15, Jer 22:2, Jer 25:3, Jer 31:10, Jer 32:33, Jer 35:17, Jer 35:15, Jer 36:31, Jer 43:1-4, Jer 44:1-6, Ezek 3:7, 10-11, 16, Ezek 12:2, Ezek 13:2, Ezek 20:8, Ezek 33:30-32, Joel 1:2, Mic 6:1, Mic 1:2, Zeph 1:7, 14, Zech 1:4, Zech 2:13, Zech 7:11-12, John 8:47

## Respond to God When He Speaks

This all sounds a bit obvious: respond to God when he speaks to you.  You may one day surprise yourself when you realize how flippantly you have sometimes reacted to God's voice.  It's like we are a diesel freight train engine with a plain blue and white livery and God is directing us to go left down this track, then straight along this line, but we instead jump off the tracks and go downhill skiing in a fluorescent orange ski outfit.  If we don't do what God tells us to do, we go off the rails.  Then what happens once we are off the rails is that we start to complain that God doesn't answer our prayers or make our life any easier, at the same time changing into running shoes and starting out on an ultra-marathon in the opposite direction to that which God told us to go.  You have to respond to God when he talks to you.  You have to listen to him, to respond in praise or worship, to respond by being obedient to what he tells you, by doing what he wants you to do.  Would you consult a doctor about the little toe on your left foot, which is hanging on by a sliver of skin after you dropped a meat slicer on your bare foot, and then ignore his advice to go to hospital and have it re-attached?  No you wouldn't.  Actually I can imagine that some of you would just snip off the toe and get on with it, but you get the point.  If you consult God, if you ask him a question, if you pray earnestly for his help, you are going to get a response from God.  And you have to listen to him and be encouraged, or act in obedience to what he tells you.  Did you think he wasn't really real when you prayed to him?  Did you just pray because it was a ritual or a religious observation, expecting him to behave like an idol or a false God?  He is the one true, living God.  When you come to him in prayer, he will communicate back to you.  When he talks back, in whatever manner, respond to him.  When you hear God's voice listen to it. 

_Read_ _also:_ 1 Sam 3:10 1 Sam 9:15-17 1 Sam 10:17-22 1 Sam 15:1-3 1 Sam 3:19 1 Sam 16:1-13, Isa 65:2, 12, Heb 3:7-8, Heb 12:25, 2 Pe 2:15-16, Rev 1:19-2:1

### ...and Accept Correction

When the Bible tells us to accept correction, it means just that: we were wrong, God is correcting our wrongdoing.  He is providing the right way to do something or the right attitude to have in a situation.  When he tells you the right way to do something instead of the wrong way which we had been following, accept his guidance.  Do it the right way, let your heart be infused with the right point of view.  He is correcting your error.  Allow yourself to be corrected.  Do it right.  Don't persist in your error. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, this all sounds very authoritarian and awfully fundamentalist, but come on!  Is there a God?  Is he actually God?  Did he create the universe?  Does he give you breath even as you read this?  Why then will you not take on board the little bit of fine tuning he wants to perform on your life?  Don't you want him to interfere with your life?  How dare he?  Who am I to tell you how to live?  Who does God think he is telling me how to live my life?  If you must know, he is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29).  We were all taught as children not to play with fire and the same rule applies here.  Do not play with fire!  Do what God tells you to do.  When he corrects you, get corrected! 

_Read_ _also:_ Zeph 3:2, 5, 7, Hag 1:12

## Shh!  Pray and then Just Listen...

#  Praise God

One of the most consistent themes in the Bible is his people voicing the worship and praises of God.  Praise for God simply pours out of people's mouths in virtually every book in both the Old and the New Testament.  Obviously then, worship and praise are a vitally important part of our prayer lives. 

## Worship God

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.  Psalm 95:6

What is worship?  The Macquarie Concise Dictionary describes it something like this: reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred [1].  That description doesn't really do worship justice, though.  During Christian worship we sing, make music, give thanks, praise God, rejoice, shout, delight, revere and honor God, but these are things we do while we worship.  They form part of our worship, but are not worship in and of themselves.  Once all of our singing, dancing, praising, speaking, shouting and exalting is done and we listen to our hearts, we realize there is something else, something even deeper going on, then we begin to get a grasp of what worship is about.  It's really our hearts doing what only our hearts can do one-to-one with God's heart.  It is like a union of our hearts with God's, enjoying the ultimate expression of oneness and intimacy.  There don't seem to be any words which go along with it.  There doesn't seem to be any way of really making someone else understand, apart from encouraging them to experience it for themselves. 

During worship, there can be an inexpressibly deep ache of longing to be with God.  He is all that matters, as everything else fades out of focus and he becomes the center of our existence.  Worship of God is elemental.  It is not at all cultured, civilized or structured within us.  It rises from the deepest part of your being and is satisfied by the deepest part of God's being.  David was right to abandon himself to worship when he accompanied the Ark of God, because that is what it is all about.  Worship is abandoning yourself to God.  Removing every obstruction, hurdling every barrier and melting all resistance to be with the one who makes you whole. 

Worship like this can have unexpected consequences, though.  David's wife, Michal, was appalled at his behavior when he danced before the Ark (2 Sam 6:12-23).  In her opinion, he had let himself go too far, humiliating himself and dishonoring the prestigious and reverent position of his kingship.  He was almost pagan in his worship, utterly abandoning himself to the one who was his whole being, who completed him and in whom all of his deepest needs and desires were satisfied.  Worship like that makes us uncomfortable, but don't let it make you fearful.  Worship is a very private matter, which we express when we come together in our church meetings, but if you don't feel you can express yourself like this in an assembly of people, abandon yourself to him in a secure, private place where you know you will not be seen or heard, except by the living God of course.  He is the one who gives your life meaning, he is the one who has given you hope, he is the one who is all that you have ever been looking for.  There is none like him (Isa 45:5). 

_Read_ _also:_ Neh 8:6, Neh 9:3, Psalm 5:7, Acts 8:27, Heb 1:6, Heb 12:28, Jude 24, Rev 4:8-11, Rev 5:14, Rev 7:11-12, Rev 11:16-18, Rev 15:2-4, Rev 19:1-10, Rev 22:8-9

## Glorify God

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.   
Psalm 63:3

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, a protestant doctrinal statement which came about as a result of the English Reformation (circa 1647-8), states that _"_ _Man_ _'_ _s_ _chief_ _end_ _is_ _to_ _glorify_ _God,_ _and_ _to_ _enjoy_ _him_ _forever._ _"_  To glorify means to magnify with praise, to extol, to promote the glory of [1].  To glorify God then, leads us into praise and exaltation of God.  We glorify God when we say good things about him, when we raise him up in our own estimation and when we recommend him to others.  Glorifying God involves showing him off to people, putting him on a pedestal, raising him above others in worth and value.  We can glorify God individually, so that it remains just between ourselves and God, or we can glorify God in a community of believers, in speech, song, music and in our actions.  We are told to lead lives of obedience and goodness after the example of Jesus so that others are also led to to glorify God (1 Pe 2:12).  Amongst our Christian communities, we are encouraged to live lives of unity, so that we can glorify God with one heart and one voice (Rom 15:5-13).  As with other worshippy things, like exaltation and praise, we may need to give ourselves an electric jolt from time to time so that we glorify God on purpose.  I've just been trying it and I'm of the opinion that when we deliberately give God glory, it's hard to be grumpy or miserable.  In fact glorifying God chases away the doldrums and makes the sunshine seem just that little bit brighter.  So, the chief end of man is to glorify God, eh?  If so, we have here the recipe for the meaning of life.  Is it really that simple?  Is the meaning of life to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever?  Personally, I think it is. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 19:1, Psalm 29:1-2, Psalm 34:1-3, Psalm 63:3-8, Psalm 69:30, Psalm 86:12, Psalm 115:1, Dan 4:37, Matt 5:16, Luke 2:20, John 12:28-33, 1 Cor 10:31, Eph 3:20, Philippians 4:20, 2 Tim 4:13, 1 Tim 1:17, 1 Pe 2:12

## Exalt God

Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.   
Psalm 34:3

To exalt, put simply, means to lift something up in honor, power or quality, to praise, or to extol [1].  In Scripture we are urged to exalt God: to lift him up in honor, power, greatness, and character.  In other words, it means to tell him how good he is, or to speak to other people about him in glowing terms. 

When you plan to build a house, you seek out a reputable builder.  You ask your friends and colleagues if they know anyone who does a good job but doesn't charge too much.  They will tell you of their experiences.  Some will relay horror stories of builders they think you should avoid, others will tell you of someone they know who does a good job, and a few will regale you with the excellent qualities of their particular builder and how you really should engage them to build your house.  They describe his work in very positive terms, building up his reputation in the process.  They are exalting him. 

That's what the Bible means when it tells us to exalt God.  Tell people how good he is, how amazing his works are, what a friend and companion he is.  Learn from the examples in the Bible.  David is a premier role model in this respect.  He is constantly going on about how wonderful and praiseworthy God is.  How God is his refuge, his shield, his help in time of trouble.  He doesn't have a negative word to say about God, but instead always builds him up.  We too should present God in such a positive light, sharing all of the good things he has done for us. 

So really, it's not so hard to exalt God.  It isn't some mystical rite only performed by super-spiritual, hyper-Christians.  You can do it, even I can do it without trying too hard.  God is easy to exalt, because he is a wonderful God.  He is kind, caring and just.  He is loving, protective and zealous for you.  I recommend you choose him to build your house (Psalm 127:1). 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 9:1-2,11, Psalm 18:46, Psalm 21:13, Psalm 30:1, Psalm 57:5, 9-11, Psalm 93, Psalm 99:5, 9, Psalm 113:1-6, Psalm 118: 28-29, Psalm 145:1-7, Isa 25:1-9

## Praise God (A "Constantly" Thing)

Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.  Amen and Amen.  Psalm 41:13

To praise means to express approval or admiration for someone or something [1].  We are encouraged quite often, nay very often, nay I say again, all of the time (Heb 13:15), to praise God.  This is one of the "constantly" things: you know, one of the things we are taught to do constantly when we are speaking to God.  So to praise God, express approval or admiration for him.  Express it to God, but express it to others as well. 

"Hi Montgomery the Milkman, I approve of God!" 

"Howdy Ogilvie the Optometrist, I really look up to Jesus as my role model!" 

"Hello Nancy the Nautical Knitwear Maker, I admire God!  Isn't he good?  I recommend him to you!" 

Oops!  I put a bit of exaltation of God in there too, never mind.  Praise is most often associated with singing hymns or worship songs, and rightfully so, but you don't have to always sing it.  You can pop it into the idle chatter you're having with your local dung-beetle salesman or pitch it in there when you're paying your fruiterer for his lovely cabbages.  Tell your friends how much you like God, how you think he's worthy of your attention, how he sets an example for you to follow, how you look up to him and want to be like him.  When you pray, speak to God himself about the admiration you have for him, how you could never have had nails hammered through your hands without screaming and gurgling quite a bit.  There you go, see, when you have a little think about it, these big, worshippy/praisy things aren't so mysterious after all.  You can be quite practical about them.  You can also be swept away by them when you worship and praise God in fellowship with other believers.  So praising God can be a practical, everyday thing you share with your friends, neighbors and fruiterers, and it can be a deeply moving experience which you share with God in the intimacy of prayer, or in the uplifting moments of a worship service.  Either way, praise God! 

_Read_ _also:_ Ex 15:1, Ex 18:9, Deut 9:10, Deut 32:3, 1 Sam 2:1-10, 2 Sam 22:1-51, Ezra 3:10-13, Ezra 7:27, Neh 5:3, Neh 9:5-10:39, Psalm 7:17, Psalm 8:1-2,9, Psalm 9:1-2,11, Psalm 16:7, Psalm 18:3,46,49, Psalm 21:13, Psalm 22:22-23,26, Psalm 26:12, Psalm 28:6, Psalm 30:11-12, Psalm 31:21-22, Psalm 33:1-3, Psalm 35:28, Psalm 41:13, Psalm 44:8, Psalm 48:1, Psalm 54:6-7, Psalm 64:10, Psalm 65:1-2, Psalm 66:17-20, Psalm 67:3-5, Psalm 68:19,26, Psalm 69:30-33, Psalm 71:14-18, Psalm 72:18-19, Psalm 75:1,9, Psalm 86:12-13, Psalm 103:1-5, 20-22, Psalm 104:1, Psalm 106:47-48, Psalm 109:30-31, Psalm 111:1, Psalm 117:1-2, Psalm 134:1-3, Psalm 135:19-21, Psalm 145:21, Psalm 148:1-14, Psalm 149:1-9, Psalm 150:1-6, Isa 12:1, Isa 24:15, Isa 38:9-22, Jer 17:14, Ezek 3:12, Dan 2:19-24, Dan 3:28, Dan 4:3, Dan 4:34-35, 37, Dan 6:26-27, Hab 3:2-19, Matt 11:25, Luke 10:21, John 19:37-40, Acts 2:47, Acts 3:8, 9, 21, Acts 4:21, Acts 10:46, Acts 11:18, Acts 21:20, Rom 11:33-36, Rom 15:10-11, 2 Cor 1:3, 2 Cor 2:14, 2 Cor 8:16, 2 Cor 9:13-14, Eph 1:3, Heb 2:12, Heb 13:15, Jas 3:9-10, Jas 5:13, 1 Pe 1:3-9 1 Pe 2:9, 1 Pe 4:11, 16, 1 Pe 5:11, 2 Pe 3:18, 3 John 24, Jude 24

## Give Thanks to God (A "Constantly" Thing)

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:20

" _Thank_ _You_ _"_ _._ 

Apart from anything else, these words can be an ice-breaker:

_"You_ _'_ _ve_ _done_ _something_ _for_ _me,_ _I_ _feel_ _that_ _I_ _owe_ _you_ _something,_ _but_ _I_ _can_ _'_ _t_ _repay_ _you._ _ Thank_ _You!"_ 

Uttering these words can soften a proud heart just enough for humility to be encouraged that it might be able to sneak in. 

" _Thank_ _you,_ _I_ _will_ _never_ _be_ _able_ _to_ _repay_ _you_ _for_ _what_ _you_ _'_ _ve_ _done._ _ Saying_ _thank_ _you_ _is_ _all_ _I_ _can_ _give_ _in_ _return._ _"_ 

Sometimes we forget that thank you is the only thing we can say in response to Christ's great work for us.  Life bogs us down, bad things happen to us, we get busy, we get depressed, we get distracted.  We certainly don't feel like saying thank you in these situations.  But saying thank you makes life better.  It takes our minds off our problems and helps us, just for a moment, to focus on Jesus. 

Say thank you again and start to think of things to say thank you for, and you will realize that, actually, there are a lot of things to be thankful for.  Saying thank you and making a little, teeny effort to find things which we can really be thankful for, actually starts to make us feel better.  What have I got to be thankful for?  Hmm... Well, Jesus has promised that if I believe in him, I will live forever.  That's not so bad.  When I live forever I will see my best friend all of the time (Jesus).  I will have a great big, massive pile of other friends around as well (everyone else in heaven with you).  There'll be no more pain or suffering.  I will be able to ask God why he made hair grow from my ears, and so on and so forth. 

Thanksgiving forms a powerful part of our praise and worship.  It ushers in humility, and sets our heads straight as to who is the boss.  It may not start off heartfelt, but say thank you again, soon it will be from your heart. 

_Read_ _also:_ Neh 12:24, 46, Psalm 7:17, Psalm 35:18, Psalm 105:1-4, Psalm 106:1-2, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:1-6, Psalm 136:1-26, Isa 12:4, Jer 33:11, Matt 15:36, Matt 26:26, Mk 6:41, Mk 8:6, Mk 14:22, Luke, 22:19, Luke 24:30, John 6:11, Acts 27:35, Acts 28:15, Rom 8:1-10, 1 Cor 1:4, Eph 1:16-19, Eph 5:19-20, Philippians 1:3-6, Philippians 4:6-7, Col 1:3, Col 2:7, Col 3:16-17, Col 4:2-4, 1 Thess 1:2, 1 Thess 5:17, 2 Thess 1:3, 1 Tim 1:12, 1 Tim 4:3, 2 Tim 1:3, Philemon 4

## Rejoice (A "Constantly" Thing)

Rejoice with all your heart Zephaniah 3:14. 

Give thanks from your heart, praise God with all your heart, sing, shout and make music from your heart.  Really this whole chapter is about pouring out your heart in adulation and glorification of God.  Rejoicing is another one of those "with all of your heart" things.  It is closely allied to giving thanks, and it's one of those things that really can make you feel better just by doing it, even when you don't feel at all like rejoicing.  Oh yeah, I know you can still say "Rejoice, rejoice, woop!  woop!"  with all of the enthusiasm of someone coming out of an induced coma, but if you put your heart into it, you can indeed muster enough feeling to warble a few hearty hoots before dropping back off into that dream you were having about being all heroic and saving Xena the Warrior Princess from a ferocious tiger. 

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!   
Philippians 4:4

See, even Paul had to convince us to give it another try.  Really though, you are going to heaven where you will live forever with the most beautiful, most wonderful, most powerful being who ever was, is or will be.  And he's crazy about you! 

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.  Hebrews 12:22-24

So I add my words to Paul's, making it the third time we've told you: rejoice! 

_Read_ _also:_ 1 Sam 2:1-10, 2 Sam 22:1-51, Neh 12:43, Psalm 9:2, Psalm 13:5, Psalm 16:9, Psalm 21:1, Psalm 30:11-12, Psalm 31:7, Psalm 32:11, Psalm 33:20-22, Psalm 40:16, Psalm 70:4, Psalm 97:1, 12, Psalm 118:24, Isa 25:9, Isa 38:9-22, Isa 49:13, Isa 61:10, Joel 2:23, Zeph 3:14, Acts 2:26, Acts 8:29, Philippians 1:3-6, Philippians 3:1, 1 Pe 4:13

## Shout

Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.  Isaiah 12:6

It's all very uncivilized, this talk about shouting to God. " Shout and be glad.  Shout aloud and sing for joy."  Sounds like the antics of a seven year old.  In fact, my seven year old son behaves in exactly this way.  When he is happy, he is loud and boisterous and rough, and he shouts and yells and screams.  When he is sad, he whines and complains - also loudly.  When he is angry, he also shouts and screams - once again loudly.  We bought him a t-shirt recently.  It said on the front: "Quiet is not in my vocabulary."  We have two other kids and both of them are fairly boisterous at times, but nothing like our youngest.  Somehow though, my heart warms to his noise, when I'm not tired and when I'm not trying to concentrate on something (then I get just as loud telling him to be quiet).  He lays his heart on his sleeve.  When he is around, everyone in the vicinity knows exactly what he is feeling.  It's refreshing because you don't have to figure him out: he is who you see him as.  I think God wants that simple honesty of feeling from us as well.  Maybe it wouldn't be appropriate to shout out loud in your congregation.  Either way, you can still shout and and praise God by yourself or with a small group of people who want to express their joy this way.  Shout in your house, or find a wine cellar or secluded forest, or an empty recording studio (for the sound insulated walls), and shout away.  It's quite exhilarating to do so and can break you out of a funk if you're in one.  Be like my son, just let it all roar out and fill the air with shouts of joy and praise.  Praise be to God! 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 47:1-2, Psalm 47:6-7, Psalm 81:1-2, Psalm 100:1-5, Isa 12:6, Isa 24:14, Isa 49:13, Zeph 3:14, Zech 2:10

## Sing

Singing is supremely important to the way Christians worship God.  All over the world, when people worship Jesus Christ, they sing.  Some with instruments accompanying them, some with voice alone, some with choirs to lead them, some with cassettes or CDs.  The Bible encourages God's people to sing.  It pushes singing as a means to worship and praise the God of the universe, because singing can express the thoughts and feelings of our hearts in a way few other forms of communication can.  Recite the lyrics of a beautiful song.  If they are well crafted, they will be poetic and beautiful in their own right and cause us to delight in them just through the eloquence of their construction.  But when they are sung, they are elevated to a new plane.  Singing lifts the soul, and when we worship God in song, our souls are lifted to worship him.  While singing in itself isn't all that worship comprises, it is a powerful resource which can assist us in our adulation. 

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.  Ephesians 5:19

You don't have to be a good singer to sing in worship and praise of the Lord.  I recall on one occasion how my singing was severely distracted by the woman behind me because she was so tone deaf that her voice thundering loudly in my ear made me lose the tune myself.  God didn't mind.  He was pleased that we were both bellowing out our praise from our hearts.  Some of us are gifted with wonderful voices, some of us sing like croaking frogs, but God listens to the source of our singing.  He listens to our hearts as we sing, and he doesn't care about how it sounds, he hears the praises and worship rising from within us and that is what pleases him.  You can sing without opening your mouth and he still hears it.  I take heart in the verse above because my wife has recently alerted me to the fact that she thinks my singing is a trifle stinky.  It matters not, because I can still sing and make music in my heart to the Lord (or even sing very loudly to annoy my wife) and no matter how bad it is, God is delighted in my song.  Those gifted with wonderful voices often end up as part of the worship team and so their gift is enjoyed by us all as well as by God.  Again, this is pleasing to him because they are using their gifts to encourage, delight and build up his church, leading them in praise and worship. 

_Read_ _also:_ Neh 12:27, 31, 40, 46, Isa 12:5, Isa 12:6, Isa 24:16, Isa 38:20, Isa 49:13, Isa 24:14-16, Jer 20:13, Jonah 2:9, Zeph 3:14, Psalm 13:6, Psalm 18:49, Psalm 21:13, Psalm 30:4-5, Psalm 32:11, Psalm 33:1-3, Psalm 66:1-4, Psalm 68:4, Psalm 68:32-35, Psalm 81:1-2, Psalm 89:1-2, Psalm 95:1-9, Psalm 98:1-9, Psalm 101:1-3, Psalm 104:33-35, Psalm 135:1-3, Psalm 138:1-5, Psalm 146:1-2, Psalm 147:1, Acts 16:25, Rom 15:10-11, Eph 5:19-20, Col 3:16-17, Heb 2:23, Psalm 22:22, Rev 5:9-14, Rev 7:10, Rev 14:3

## Make Music

Praise the LORD.  Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.  Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.  Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise the LORD.  Psalm 150

Music is a fantastic medium of communication with God.  It helps us to sing, drowning out the wailing of those, like myself, whose gifting in life lies in pursuits other than harmonious warbling.  Music is a form of worship in itself for those who have been gifted with the ability to create it.  The words accompanying music often form the most public and emotional form of prayer.  Music helps to lift us from the mundane existence we suffer under, and focus our hearts on higher things.  Through it we are removed to a purer place, where the realities of our personal imperfections can be forgotten for a while and we can lift our eyes and hearts to the living author of such an inspirational activity.  As we've stated above, Ephesians 5:19 tells us to sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord.  God won't mind how bad or out of tune your music is, he just wants you to make music to him in your heart.  Coming from you, a fresh creation from your heart, music is a form of communication which God delights in.  Delivered in this way, music is an intimate gift to God which no one else can give to him.  Only you know the tune you have made for him, only you know the score and lyrics, only you can beam this through the spiritual airwaves to tickle the ears of your Father in heaven.  And, like a doting parent, he hears the music of your heart and finds in it no discordance, no mistimed beats, no ill-judged attempts at syncopation.  He hears only mellifluous melodies and rhapsodic rhythms.  Make music to God, both out loud and in your heart. 

_Read_ _also:_ Psalm 27:6, Psalm 33:1-3, Psalm 71:22-24, Psalm 92:1-5, Psalm 95:1-9, Psalm 96:1-13, Psalm 108:1-5, Psalm 144:9-10, Eph 5:19-20

## Dance

David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.   
2 Samuel 6:13-15

Wahay! 

_Read_ _also:_ Ex 15:19-21, Psalm 30:11, Psalm 149:3, Psalm 150:4, Jer 31:4,13

#  The Effects of Prayer

Prayer has an effect on the person who prays.  Ideally it should change us to become more like Jesus Christ in our thoughts, our actions and our attitudes.  In reality, this process is messy: the journey from where we are now to where we completely imitate Christ in our lives rarely follows a straight and level course.  God is an amazing fellow, however, and even through our imperfect efforts, he is able to produce great things when we pray. 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

## The Effects of an Encounter with God

Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.  When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.  Acts 8:38-39

The verse above is what most of us expect to hear when we talk about people having an encounter with God.  Finding salvation brings joy and newness of life, causing us to rejoice and to sing and dance for joy.  This is the case for many people in Scripture who encounter God.  I'll call this the _I_ _'_ _ll_ _rejoice_ _because_ _God_ _has_ _given_ _me_ _something_ response. 

There are other responses to a personal encounter with God as well.  There is the _please_ _get_ _someone_ _else_ _to_ _do_ _it_ response, characterized best by Moses and Jonah, who both probably would have preferred it if God had spoken to some more willing recipient.  Poor old Moses, eighty years old, having spent forty of those years in the peace and quiet of a vast desert, dragged back into the hubbub of the sweaty crowds, the screaming babies, the trumpeting Coots and the cackling Loons of metropolitan Egypt (Ex 3:1-4:14).  I wonder whether he ever pined for the stillness and simplicity of the shepherd's life after God had called him.  Jonah made no secret of his attitude to God's call upon him when asked to prophecy to the city of Nineveh. " No way!  I'm not doing that!  Run Away!  Run Away!" ( Jonah 1:1-3). 

Then there is the _Holy_ _Moley_ _I_ _'_ _ve_ _wet_ _my_ _pants_ response.  Job is a good example of this.  Lots of very very bad things happen to him, he refuses to curse God, his wife abuses him, his friends try to help but end up making him feel more miserable and he asks God to take his life away, whining a lot in the middle there somewhere.  In the end God says "Hey!  Stand up and face me like a man while I dissect your self-righteous tirade with my super-strong, wafer-thin, deadly Ninja blade!"  Job crumples like a sack of wood shavings spear-dived by a Jumbo Jet, slapping his hands to his mouth in horror when he realizes just how insolent his thoughts and words have been before God (Job 40:1-42:6). 

There is also the _blabbering,_ _gob-smacked_ _pile_ _of_ _gooey_ _jelly_ response exhibited by such highly esteemed and holy men as Daniel and Ezekiel.  After seeing a vision one day, Daniel felt so discombobulated that he had to go and have a quiet lie down for several days (Dan 8:27).  Ezekiel wasn't much better.  He saw a vision from God as well, and decided it would be best for his embattled constitution if he had a little sit down for seven days to regain his composure (Ezek 2:1- 3:15). 

Then we have the one I really like: the _utter_ _and_ _complete_ _devastation_ response.  Isaiah displays this when God speaks to him in chapter 6.  Wow, God spoke to the guy!  How wonderful!  How exciting!  How utterly amazing!  Not from Isaiah's immediate perspective: " _Woe_ _to_ _me!..._ _ I_ _am_ _ruined!_ _"_  he splutters.  God has broken me.  The truth is revealed - I am full of sin! ( Isa 6:1-5).  The same could be said for Paul's encounter with Jesus. " Who are you Lord?"  he asks. " I am Jesus whom you are persecuting," comes the response. " Oh dear, I seem to be in a pickle," thinks Paul. " Quick think of an excuse!" ( Acts 9:1-9). 

Paul also exemplifies the longer term effects of an encounter with the living God.  He becomes a world changer, because God has changed him.  Coming face to face with God re-calibrates our souls.  At first it might be joyful, or scary, or annoying, or inconvenient for God to interrupt our peaceful, self-absorbed universe, but once the dust has settled and our compass has stopped spinning and found its new true north, we follow it with a renewed sense of wonder for the God who made us.  The people above with their variety of responses all went on to achieve God's ends through their ultimate obedience.  Moses rescued a nation held captive and led them to the promised land.  Job was assured of his standing before God and had his fortunes restored.  Daniel served God faithfully in the court of the Babylonian kings.  Ezekiel and Isaiah went on to be a fearless prophets of the Lord.  Paul turned his attentions to winning the gentile world for Christ.  Even Jonah, with all of his reluctance and grumpiness, managed to save a whole city from destruction.  God does wonderful things with us, no matter how we first respond to him, as long as we are open to his continued interference in our lives.  In fact, it seems that the only bad response to an encounter with God is to ignore it or not to respond at all. 

_Read_ _also:_ Isa 6:5, Isa 8:1, Ezek 1:28, Ezek 3:14-15, 22-23, Ezek 8:8, Ezek 11:13, Dan 8:17-18, 27, Dan 10:8-9, 15-16, 19, Heb 12:21, Rev 1:10, 17, Rev 6:15-17

## Fellowship with God

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.  And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make our joy complete 1 John 1:3-4

The principal effect of prayer is the same as the principal purpose for God's dealings with mankind throughout history: fellowship with God.  We pray so as to be close to God, more accurately to be entwined with God. 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.   
2 Corinthians 13:14

From the verses above, we can see that we have fellowship with the Father, his Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.  We are entwined intimately with each of the persons of the godhead.  That's a staggering thought really.  I'm staggered! 

This concept links in with the idea of our unity with God and with one another as expressed in Jesus' prayer from John 17:

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one...My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  John 17:11-23

Fellowship and unity go hand in hand.  In spiritual terms, we are united with one another in fellowship with Jesus Christ.  He in turn, is united in fellowship with his Father and so we also have unity and fellowship with the Father.  This sort of talk is all very ethereal and other-worldly, but Jesus is the one who brings it up.  He speaks a bit like a ragged hippie here, all woo-woo and mystical like, but if he is bringing this issue up, there must be some depth and merit to it.  Fellowship for us does not exist solely in the spiritual realm, however, we have fellowship with one another as well: we share in the same faith and the same hope of salvation here in the physical world. 

Fellowship involves relationship, but it describes a bond built upon a common goal.  When we live in fellowship with God, we share a relationship with him, which also involves working with him to achieve his ends.  When we live in fellowship with other Christians, the bond we share includes our common goal of glorifying God and ushering in his Kingdom through love for one another and obedient service to him. 

To live in fellowship with Jesus means to share in his sufferings (Rom 8:17):

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, Philippians 3:10

It also means we share in his work:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.   
John 14:12-14

The difficulties we experience in fellowship with Christ are not unrequited, however.  Paul tells us that just as we share in the sufferings which Christ endured, and just as we strive to fulfill God's purpose for us in this life as Christ did in his, so we will also share in the glory which Christ received from the Father! 

...from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Thessalonians 2:14

Wooaaaah!  Say that again!  Our fellowship with Christ extends even to sharing in the glory which God showers upon our savior?  Count me in! 

_Read_ _also:_ Rom 8:17, Rom 15:30, 1 Cor 1:9, 1 Cor 16:15-16, 2 Cor 1:7, 2 Cor 6:1, 2 Cor 8:23, Col 1:7, Col 4:10-11, Philippians 3:10,17, Philippians 4:3, 1 Thess 3:2, 2 Tim 1:8, Philemon 1:1-2, 1 John 1:3-7

## Prayer is Powerful and Effective

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.   
James 5:16

This is all very well for that righteous fellow from that verse above, but what about me?  Am I to take from this verse that my prayer will not be powerful because I am not righteous?  Let's break it down a little bit. 

  1.  We want our prayers to be powerful and effective, yes?  This verse says that if we are righteous they will be. 

  2.  Our aim then, is to get righteous. 

How do we get righteous?  You might say we do good things like helping old ladies cross the road and stealing from the rich to give to the poor (just kidding), but no, the Bible tells us that we do not get righteous by doing good things, or being good people.  It says righteousness comes from faith.  Whatta Whatta Huh?  Yeah, you get righteous by having faith in Jesus Christ.  In simple terms, you are righteous because God says you are righteous, and not because you do good things, or obey him, or anything else like that.  So if God says you are righteous, then I guess you must be righteous.  Who is going to argue with him?  This sounds absurd.  You get righteous by believing that God has made you righteous through your faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, even though you have done not a single thing in an effort to get righteous. 

"Wait a minute," you say, "This is stupid.  I've been busting my guts to make God happy and all I have to do is believe that he has made me righteous?" 

Yep! 

"No, no no no!  That can't be right!" 

Well, you don't have to take my word for it.  Read what the Bible says:

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.   
Romans 3:22-24

Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.  Romans 10:4

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  Philippians 3:7-9

There it is in black and white.  You are righteous when you believe in Jesus Christ.  You then my dear fellow, and you then my dear woman, are righteous!  Thus, now and henceforth, your prayers are powerful and effective.  QED.  So get to it and pray those powerful prayers! 

_Read_ _also:_ Heb 4:12, Jas 5:13-20, 1 Pe 3:12

## Prayer Precedes Great Moments

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.  When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God...After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.  Acts 4:23-24 & 31

When big things happen in the Bible they are often preceded by prayer, particularly community prayer.  Tens, hundreds or thousands of voices raised to God in unity of purpose seem to be a very stirring motivator for God.  In the verse from Acts above, the believers are gathered together, praying and worshiping God, when the Holy Spirit descends upon them.  This is a pivotal moment in God's dealings with mankind: the old covenant has been fulfilled in Jesus' death and resurrection and now the new covenant is introduced.  Instead of living in relationship with God, bounded by external rules (the Old Testament laws), the followers of Jesus are now expected to live in relationship with God, bounded by listening to and being led by the Holy Spirit, which they have just received.  Another pivotal moment is described in Acts 10:9-48 when Peter is praying on the roof of a house and sees something like a sheet containing all manner of beasts and birds let down from heaven.  Peter hears a voice telling him to kill and eat anything he sees.  Soon after, a delegation from Cornelius the centurion arrives for him and he goes with them to deliver the gospel message to Cornelius and his family.  He ponders the vision and the situation he is in and realizes that God is telling him that the good news of Jesus death and resurrection, and a saving faith in him, are not limited to the Jews alone.  Parallel to this event is the occasion, in Acts 13:2-3, when the Christians were gathered together worshiping and fasting and God told them to set aside Paul and Barnabas to go and minister specifically to the non-Jewish world.  Countless other instances of prayer before great events are recorded in Scripture.  An interesting study is to follow the life of David in 1 and 2 Samuel, comparing it with the Psalms he wrote.  The books often align at key times of pressure or affliction in David's life.  The greater the affliction, the more desperate the prayer in the Psalms (compare Psalm 3 and 2 Samuel 15).  David's prayers were answered and his grave situations turned into victory on more than one occasion.  Be encouraged by this to bring your desperate pleas before God as David did.  We learn from the verses of Scripture in this topic that big consequences arise from small prayers.  We need to bring all of our plans before God to ensure that he can help us to align them with his (Prov 16:1).  When they do, he moves in powerful ways to fulfill those plans before our very eyes. 

_Read_ _also:_ Acts 4:23-31, Acts 12:12, Acts 13:2-3

#  Summing Up

People like things explained simply.  This book has presented some of the teaching of the Bible on prayer, not too deeply, but with a fair bit of breadth.  Enough breadth that once you've finished reading it, you may find you've forgotten what was said at the start.  Most of us need something far simpler to take away into our day-to-day lives, so I present to you my attempt at summarizing what the Bible teaches us about how we should pray.  I emphasize that this is a list of my own devising, but I believe it accurately reflects what the Bible says about prayer. 

## Pursue

Pursue God vigorously and pro-actively. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  Matthew 22:37

Number one on my list is the same as the number one on Jesus' list.  This verse conveys that we should push ourselves to love God.  We need to give it all we've got, holding nothing in reserve.  We need to purposely pursue loving God as our prime objective in life.  The verse really encapsulates what it means to seek God as well.  We seek him so we can love him.  The very act of seeking him is proving our love towards him: we are willing to dedicate ourselves to making him the first priority of our lives.  God doesn't want us to sit back and wait for him to act before we respond to him.  He wants us to act in recognition of him even before he responds.  Right recognition of God consists of acknowledging his existence in praise, worship, humility and constant communication with him.  Like a marathon runner, he wants us to push through our pain barriers to establish a relationship with him and to keep doing so in order to maintain that relationship for the rest of our lives.  If we stop pushing towards God, a form of spiritual entropy sets in and we revert back to a state of least effort towards him, sort of like having your grandmother fall asleep in front of you, with saliva dribbling off her partially dislodged dentures, and snorting loudly through her nose, in the middle of talking to you about the dead snake she keeps in her freezer.  I don't imagine God would enjoy it if you acted like that to him any more than you do when your grandmother does to you.  Push towards God.  Pursue God.  Research God.  Try to unravel the mystery of who he is.  Make God your hobby.  Choose God.  Then choose him again and again and again.  Set your face like flint towards God.  This is a defining characteristic of many of the most prominent people of the Bible.  Joshua, David, Daniel, Jesus, Paul.  It might require God to first pursue you as he did with Moses, Jonah, Ezekiel and Samuel, but once you have discovered him, make it your life's work to find out more about him and to seek to obey him and get to know him more and more.  This, in my opinion, is the single most important ingredient of a rich, full prayer life. 

## Phaith

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  Hebrews 11:6

Yes, yes, I know, faith is not spelled that way, but all of the other points in this chapter begin with the letter P and I couldn't think of a synonym for faith which begins with P, so faith with a 'Ph' it must be.  Anyhow, to the subject at hand.  The opposite of sin is faith, not goodness or holiness, but faith.  Faith puts us right with God, so that in his eyes, we have no sin within us.  Faith restores us to full relationship with God.  Faith gives us the ability to move forward in Jesus' name, and work to build his Kingdom's outcomes.  Jesus often bemoans the fact that those around him have so little faith in God (Luke 8:25, Matt 8:26).  In Luke 18:8 he asks _"_ _...when_ _the_ _Son_ _of_ _Man_ _comes,_ _will_ _he_ _find_ _faith_ _on_ _earth?_ _"_  Jesus found faith wanting in the people around him.  Don't let yourself be counted among them.  As the verse above from Hebrews chapter 11 teaches us, faith is essential to our...well to our faith!  Trust in God.  Stop looking at situations only with your physical eyes and human reason. 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding Proverbs 3:5

Our God is just that – God, and he _"_ _is_ _able_ _to_ _do_ _immeasurably_ _more_ _than_ _all_ _we_ _ask_ _or_ _imagine,_ _according_ _to_ _his_ _power_ _that_ _is_ _at_ _work_ _within_ _us_ _"_ (Eph 3:20).  So have faith in God and move in the power of his Holy Spirit to glorify his name. 

## Persevere

Push through.  Don't give up when your prayers go unanswered.  Don't put up with silence.  Don't make do with inaction.  Don't make excuses for God.  He can answer for himself, thank you very much.  Be bold and get in God's face.  That's what he taught us to do (Luke 18:1-8).  He told us to be like the pestering widow, continually pleading for justice from the judge.  He told us to be like the man who asks his friend for bread at midnight, even though the house is locked and all inside are asleep (Luke 11:5-13).  Such annoying persistence.  Such shameless audacity!  That is how we are to pray.  Keep on praying, and don't give up until you break through (Luke 18:1). 

## Persist

Another important aspect of prayer is summed up perfectly in the "constantly" things you've been seeing throughout this book.  These "constantly" things are Bible verses which urge us to pray to God or praise him all of the time, without ceasing.  If you do nothing else with your prayer life but try to follow these "constantly things", then your prayer life will be always strong and healthy. 

  1. ** Pray** **always:**

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  Luke 18:1

  2. ** Praise** **always:**

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name.   
Hebrews 13:15

  3. ** Give** **thanks** **always:**

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:20

  4. ** Rejoice** **always:**

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!   
Philippians 4:4

  5. ** Pray** **in** **the** **Spirit** **always:**

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  Ephesians 6:18

  6. ** Seek** **God** **'** **s** **face** **always:**

Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.   
Psalm 105:4

There we go.  The constantly things listed for us.  Now, there may be other "constantly" things which I have missed.  If you find others, add them to your list of things to do constantly in your prayer life, but whatever you do, pray constantly. 

## Ponder

Give thought to your ways.  Meditate on God, on what he has made and done and how he has influenced mankind and your own life.  Listen to what God is saying to you as you pray each day and consider how he has been an influence on you over a longer period of time.  He teaches you just as much by what he does not say as by what he does say.  Be a thinker.  Think about God.  Consider the birds of the air, consider the grass of the field, consider the ways of the wicked, consider the lives of the righteous, consider the words of Scripture.  Learn from them all and change your ways and your thoughts as a result.  When you respond to your meditations in this way, you are aligning yourself with God's purposes for you and your prayers will align themselves with his ways as well. 

## Perform

Finally, learn from your meditations and listen to what God says to you through prayer, so that you act upon the things you hear and learn.  Respond not just in words and thoughts, but also in what you do.  If prayer for you is only ever a lovely conversation with God, then you have not met the living God.  A life of prayer leads to a life of action in obedience to God. 

Step out in faith.  While you've been praying, you've been in dialogue with the creator of the universe.  Dwell upon that and expand your horizons.  He really is there!  He really can do!  He really will do!  I want to be a part of what he really can and will do.  I'm steppin' out in faith! 

## Preamble

Don't you hate books like this one?  It claims to be a guide to prayer but doesn't actually give you the step by step instructions on how to finish the job completely.  It's more like a preamble than a complete book. 

I like to build furniture for a hobby.  Give me the right tools and I can knock together a whole warehouse of attractive and versatile tables, cabinets, desks, beds, side tables and cupboards.  Often I design the piece in my head and then transfer my design to paper, plugging in dimensions as I go.  Sometimes the design document is fairly ragged, but the finished item turns out very beautifully, in my eyes at least.  That's because most of the design is in my head and I follow that as well as the written outline to produce the piece I envision in my mind.  When I create furniture like this, I have all of the timber, its sizes and shapes and all of the components I will need mostly sorted out before I even begin.  Some things are fuzzy and take firmer shape as I proceed, but for the most part I have everything laid out ready to go.  From there it is just a matter of making pieces A, B and C like this, pieces D and E like that, and fitting A to B and C to E and so on and so forth.  The design takes time, but the execution then becomes like an enjoyable jigsaw puzzle.  I have all of the pieces, they just need to be shaped and put together the way I've designed them to be put together. 

Books like this are not like that.  They can only take you so far.  They can give guidance on what sort of timber to use and what sort of glue you will need, but they can never slap the whole design and all of its components into your hand so you can go off and make a beautiful prayer life.  The reason for this is that, above all, prayer is a living relationship, and you can't write a living relationship down on paper.  This book has tried to arrange the first introductions between you and the living God.  It has talked a little about how you might proceed together when you meet as relative strangers for your first outing together, and it has tried to encourage you to keep meeting so that you can get to know one another.  Now the rest is up to you.  I can't have that relationship for you.  This book can't substitute for the personal relationship you need to have with the living God.  We've delivered you at the dockside, now you have to board the ship alone with only its captain for company (the living God), and the two of you have to sail off into uncharted waters.  Take the Bible with you.  You won't need this book any more on that journey; the Bible is the only book which can be of help there.  Talk to your captain.  Get to know him.  Get to recognize his voice and watch to see what he does.  Then you do it too.  Jesus' words to his disciples ring in my ear as I write this:

...the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing John 5:19

It's like that with you.  If you want to be a powerful influence for God in this world, pray, seek the face of the Lord always and then do what you see him doing.  No books can tell you how to do that.  No short course in the Holy Spirit can train you to know his voice.  No one can build intimacy with God on your behalf.  Only you can do that. 

You can't be lazy in prayer and expect an amazing prayer life in return.  You have to put in effort and you have to do it all by yourself.  God is there to help you, books like this are there to teach you, the people of God are there for you to learn from and be encouraged by, but when it all comes down to it, no one can know God for you.  No one can experience his presence for you.  No one can hear his voice within you and be your interpreter.  God lives within you so that he can share himself with you.  God lives within you so that you can share yourself with him.  After all is said and done, you are back to the same situation which Adam and Eve were in.  You stand alone, face to face with the living God and you can't hide from him anywhere.  You are naked and alone and vulnerable in his presence and there is nothing you can do to avoid the situation.  You have absolutely nowhere to run and hide.  There are no excuses you can use to get out of talking to him personally.  There is no power on heaven or earth which can rescue you from this predicament.  You must face the living God all by yourself.  Be encouraged though, he wants you to face him and to speak to him.  He is waiting for you to open yourself up to him.  He is shaking excitedly with anticipation of your first words to him.  He yearns for you to share yourself with him and he aches to be your shield and protector.  Speak to your savior and he will clothe you with his love, and give you the security of eternal life in his comforting presence. 

He is the Lord God Almighty!  He is your friend.  He is the creator of the universe!  He is your companion.  He is the architect of life everlasting!  He is your very great reward.  The reason for all of God's efforts to restore us to himself is because he is what we receive when we are dragged into heaven.  There are no vestal virgins and no mountains of gold.  We receive a treasure beyond words, beyond human understanding: God himself is our personal reward, forever. 

Jesus' parable of the man who finds riches in a field teaches us something about God which we find very hard to grasp.  The man sold all that he had in order to gain the riches he had just found.  What is the most valuable thing you can think of?  What would you sell everything for?  Gold?  Silver?  Platinum?  Family?  Husband?  Wife?  Children?  Money?  Land?  Power?  Jewels?  We all have ideas of what is valuable to us, but if you think about it, God made all of these things.  God makes everything that is of value.  So it follows that the maker of these valuable things must be more valuable than the valuable things he makes.  God is the most precious thing in the universe.  He makes Gold, Silver, Zinc, Manganese, Cadmium, Deliquescent Anhydrous Iron (III) Chloride.  He gives us good things, makes the most precious things ever known, and can make more precious things yet. 

God is also the most beautiful thing in the universe.  No, that thought doesn't seem to come naturally, but think about it.  God made the sunrise and the sunset.  He makes the waves of the ocean, the breeze on a summer's afternoon, the snow on a winter's night, the crisp clear visions that we see in the most beautiful places on earth.  A wisp of wind stirring the leaves of a swaying willow tree in a grassy dale, the beauty of birdsong in the morning.  The face of a newborn baby, the sad eyes of a forlorn cow, the graceful lines of a cheetah as it walks across the Savannah.  God makes all of these.  If he has this creative ability, how much more beautiful then, must be the creator of these beautiful things?  He gives us the skills to create beautiful things ourselves.  The gift of making music, the gift of song, the human voice and so on. 

God is both precious and beautiful.  He is the most precious, most beautiful, most desirable thing there is anywhere.  So if we then think of the parable of the loving father who gives his children good things (Matt 7:9-11), what can we expect to receive from God as a reward when we meet him in heaven?  If you loved your children and wanted to give them something of value what would you give them?  You would give them the most precious thing you could.  God has in store for us something more valuable than all else.  What is more valuable than he himself?  Nothing.  That is why God says to Abram _"_ _I_ _am_ _your_ _shield,_ _your_ _very_ _great_ _reward_ _"_ (Gen 15:1), because when we meet him in heaven we will be rewarded with _him_ : his presence, life in his company, life more richly fulfilling than anything we can imagine, life as God designed it to be, life forever united with him.  This is our very great reward.  Not things, not earthly riches, not pearls, or gold, not anything else, but relationship with him. 

Relationship with God is the most precious thing in all of creation, in all of the universe, in all of heaven.  And in prayer we can begin to experience that precious relationship for ourselves right now.  Prayer is the beginning of a relationship which will never end and which will eventually give us perfect fulfillment, a relationship which is life itself. 

So seek your reward.  Seek the Lord. 

#  Bibliography

[1].  Macquarie Concise Dictionary, Fourth Edition.  Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia, 2006. 

[2] G.C. Bevington.  Remarkable Miracles.  Bridge-Logos, Alachua, Florida, USA, 1991.