SEEKING GOD

PART 7 OF 8
Seeking God Through Daily Prayer

In chapter four I shared with you an encounter I had in my front room with the Lord while praying. I was recently divorced and felt that God knew that I needed some validation, comfort, and love. However, I believe that there was a second reason why He allowed the experience.

I had committed to pray with Him for one hour each morning and had forgotten about what Jesus said to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when He caught them sleeping and asked them, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour [1]?” He was about to die for them and they couldn’t even watch and pray with Him for one hour [2].

Access to God
When Christ died on the Cross [3], the Father tore the veil of the Tabernacle leading to the Holy of Holies, in two [4]. This gave us unfettered access to God. However, up until that point the only person allowed into the Holy of Holies was the high priest, and then only once a year. They tied a rope and bell on him in case he was not clean enough, either physically or spiritually, to go in. If he wasn’t, he died on the spot. If they did not hear the bell ring, they’d have to drag him out.

Christ’s death not only delivered us from the curse but God now had an open door policy; or should I say, He had an open veil policy to His throne room? It still takes the high priest to gain access but we have just such an advocate with the Father [5]. He takes us by the hand and leads us in. His name is Jesus.

Christ calls each and every one of us into deep intimacy and relationship with Him [6]. We are one with Him “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely [7].”

Communicating With God
God communicates with each of us in many ways: through prayer, the Bible, our circumstances, other people, and even His audible voice. Christ has said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me [8]. If I was to hear what God was saying, I would have to get closer to Him by moving to the other side of the gully as in my earlier story. In other words, back then, the reason I did not know the will of God for my life and whether the voice I heard was Gods or not, was because I was not relationally close enough to Him.

When we talk with God, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a formal prayer each and every time as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 might suggest when it says, Pray without ceasing. We can chat with God anywhere, anytime, no matter what the reason, whether we are in our house, car, church, sidewalk, field, or lake; it’s possible too casually talk with him all day long by involving Him in everything that we do, just like you would with any friend who was visiting. He is always there [9] to listen. This way, pray without ceasing becomes valid and true. (God is right again. . .Go figure.)

Prayer is a dialogue with God not a monologue to Him. Give the Holy Spirit a chance to interject something. Many times, I have left God standing there stuttering, “But. . .but I wanted to give you an answer and tell you that I love you. Oh well, I still love you Jim [10].”

I am wondering how many edifying and blessed moments I have lost because I prayed to God, said amen, and then went about my business. I did not give the Holy Spirit a chance at reciprocity. I am also wondering how many times I have neglected to thank Him for answered prayer and for what I had already received before asking Him for something else. Please forgive me Father.

Types of prayers
God gives us many opportunities to communicate with Him. There are prayers of salvation, petition, and supplication. There are personal prayers, conversational prayers, and prayers of fasting and worship. There are devotional prayers, formula prayers, and intercessory prayers. When we get into intercession, there will be prayers of birthing and travail as well. We do not lack any situation where we can’t converse with God and build that relationship.

Expounding on each and every type of prayer is beyond the scope of this book and is not a how-to writing but just an overview on prayer. It is my desire to share with you a couple types that may benefit your relationship with God. Daily prayer is an individual and subjective process, but mostly, it’s a heart process [11].

Formula Prayers
There is nothing wrong with prayer formulas but after a while, if we let them, they can become mechanical, meaningless, and just repetitive words. Like the Pharisees, they had their rewards [12]. Formula prayers are good for teaching aids for new converts just learning to pray. The Lord’s Prayer [13] is just such a prayer. Each stanza of the prayer is a topic for the believer to pray through.

In Luke 11:1 the disciples asked Jesus, “. . .Lord, teach us to pray. . .” Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer completely in Matthew 6:9-13. This prayer was just a guideline and not supposed to be a regimen of mechanical prayer by itself. It is edifying to self but there is no power in it.

Before Jesus came to Earth, the Israelites learned how to fellowship with God through the Tabernacle. Each of the tools, doors, altars, instruments, and the gate, had significance and were symbolic of the Lord. Even the colors, ropes, and poles were symbolic.

Fasting
In chapter one, an assailant pointed a gun at our victim and the man cried out to God. When we fast, our physiological body cries out to God in the same way. We are desperate for nourishment and our body aches but the Lord says “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst [14].”

The idea behind fasting is to get closer to God by shedding all earthly needs so that all we rely and focus on is God and for Him to sustain us. When I go to Him in prayer and fasting, the pain disappears and He refreshes me. After I connect with God, I am renewed and He magnifies His presence. I no longer need physical sustenance and I bask in the sustaining power of His love. From this position, things happen: healing, power, deliverance, revelation, and much more.

Word of God
The most effectual prayer we can pray is when we do so according to God’s will, as I intimated in chapter two. The best way to know of God’s will is to read His Word. The Bible is replete with verses on prayer with copious ways to pray them. We just need to emulate those who are doing the praying.

A reassuring verse regarding the power of His spoken Word is Isaiah 55 verse 11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. That sounds adamant enough for me.

The catch is, we not only need to pray the word of God, but we also have to take into consideration His will. Knowing God’s Word is tantamount to effectual prayer. An ever-present help to the Scriptures is a topical Bible. This will give you many topics with which to pray for any given subject covered in the Bible.

If you want to learn how to pray, get around someone with a prayer spirit but when you offer up your daily prayer to the Father, get by yourself [15] . . .and then give Him your heart [16]. God says there is no wrong way to pray [17]. Man on the other hand. . . [18]
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[1] Matthew 26:40 - Verse
[2] Matthew 26:41
[3] Matthew 27:50
[4] Matthew 27:51
[5] 1 John 2:1
[6] John 17:10; John 17:21-23; John 4:23
[7] Revelation 22:17
[8] John 10:27
[9] Psalms 139:7-10
[10] I was just projecting a perception of how I felt God might have felt when I didn’t allow Him to respond back to me.
[11] 1 Samuel 16:7
[12] Matthew 6:2, 5, 16
[13] Matthew 6:9-13 The Lord’s complete teaching on prayer is contained in this verse. He gives a partial in Luke 11:2-4.
[14] John 6:35
[15] Matthew 6:5, 6
[16] 1 Samuel 16:7
[17] 1 Samuel 16:7
[18] And I refer to chapter eight’s anecdote and my own perceived inability.