Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers… For the last few days I have been humming and muttering one of the oldies but goodies from the traditional hymn collection. As I lay in bed last night asking the Holy Spirit for a prompting concerning today’s message, this line popped into my head and made itself right at home. You might recognize it as the second phrase of the traditional hymn entitled, “What A Friend We Have in Jesus”. The whole stanza goes like this: “What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.” Wow! What power; what truth in those few words.
Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that we are to “pray unceasingly.” This can be a bit confusing. Obviously he did not mean that we should go around with our heads bowed all day. I believe that Paul is not referring to non-stop talking, but rather an attitude of God-consciousness and God-surrender that we carry with us all the time. Every waking moment is to be lived in an awareness that God is with us and that He is actively involved and engaged in our thoughts and actions.
My definition of prayer is simply “a conversation with God.” Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here (at Mount Gerizim in Samaria) or in Jerusalem. But the time is coming, and is already here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship Him that way.” (John 4: 21,23)
This is also a good time to reference the meaning of the torn curtain in the Temple at Jesus’ crucifixion. Matthew 27:50-51 tells us, “Then Jesus shouted out again, and He gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” This massive curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the Temple, and only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place as the people’s representative to offer sacrificial blood and to burn incense. But that rending of the curtain symbolizes the removal of any obstacle between man and God. No longer must man appeal to a Priest to access God; Jesus IS our High Priest! If we are in Christ, we can come boldly into God’s presence, sit on His knee, and call Him “Abba Father.”
We were created for a relationship with God, and nothing does He like more than when we are engaged with Him. The first Commandment makes that abundantly clear; “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” The fact is, we all have a god of one sort or another in our lives; God Jehovah makes it perfectly clear that He is not sharing that number one spot with anyone or anything else. He told us in Hosea 6:6-8: “I don’t want your sacrifices; I want your love! I don’t want your offerings; I want your heart!. In other words, He wants us to know Him personally and intimately.
When we turn our attention to Jesus and begin a conversation, we have entered into the spiritual realm. Nothing gets His attention more than our attention. The fact we turned to Him to ask for wisdom, insight, courage, strength, patience, whatever it is that concerns us, this is an act of obedience. He delights in this! This action brings James 4:10 to life: “When we come humbly before the Lord and admit our dependence on Him, He will lift us up and give us honor. God loves to bless us, and this behavior certainly opens that door.
The third verse of the hymn tells us, “Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear.” Our human nature tells us that we can fix our problems; we don’t need any help. But the truth is, we’re no match for the evil schemes of the devil. Thankfully, God knew that too. That’s why He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the essence of Jesus Christ living in us, so we can be victorious in this world right here, right now. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and the Holy Spirit working through us is His plan for our victory.
I have said time and time again, “I don’t know how people who don’t know Jesus make it in this crazy world today.” When we come to know Him and truly understand what it means to be in Christ, there is a sense of confidence, security, peace, serenity and joy that comes from knowing that we are empowered to do greater things than we could ever do through our own effort. All of a sudden there is hope, especially when we realize that we ARE being transformed into the person God created us to be. And here is the super-naturalness of all of this: we realize it is happening because we are getting “self” out of the way and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our path, to give us the right words, to give us His wisdom, to give us His courage and strength. Proverbs 3:5-6 nails this principle: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your steps.”
The more we do this, the more we are maturing as Christ-followers. This is what is referred to as walking (or living) in the Spirit. It’s about us realizing our own insufficiency, then getting out of the way and using the gift (the power of the Holy Spirit) to be victorious in this world. Remember, Jesus told us in no uncertain terms that “in this world you will have trouble, but fear not for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) When Jesus said this, He knew that as Christ-followers we were going to have the Holy Spirit residing in us. Therefore, we are already victorious; we just have to know that (not only in our heads, also but in our hearts) and let His supernatural power to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Prayer is the key that sets that process in motion. First, we call on God (Jesus or the Holy Spirit. They’re one in the same); we praise His name, then we thank Him for His many blessings. Then we tell Him what we need: “Holy Spirit, give me Your wisdom, insight, patience, courage, strength, the right words”, whatever it is you need, because you want your choice to bring honor and glory to God. Then we thank Him in Jesus’ name. Our motivation should always be to honor Him, or to help us become the person He created us to be. When we do this, we are bringing James 4:10 to life. When our request is in line with His will, His Word says He will hear and honor that request.
What a privilege we have to come before the Throne of God and talk to Him as our Abba Father. There is no reason to forfeit any peace or bear any guilt or shame. Honor Him by calling the Holy Spirit into action. That is every Christian’s secret weapon in our war against satan’s evil schemes and deceptions. That is precisely why God blessed us with this gift.
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May God Bless you abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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