All things are possible with God. That beautiful truth has been the mantra on the lips of Christians for centuries. If perceived, truly perceived then responded to, it emboldens us; it makes us unconquerable. Where many stumble is when that truth arrives at their own doorstep. There is a general acceptance of such a declaration as it relates to others. It is nigh to fantasy or wild imagination when it is viewed in relation to ourselves. We concede the ease with which He founded the earth, set the stars in their place, raised Christ from the dead or miraculously touches people around us. However, when it becomes personal, when it relates to His capacity to totally alter or transform every aspect of our being, we choke on carnal, self centered thorns. If all things are possible with God, then all things are possible with God in us. When that becomes real, we cease to struggle spiritually and we become a miracle.
Though frequently the object of scorn, Peter's denial should serve as a tremendous encouragement. In fact, the seemingly endless wavering of all the disciples deserves our careful consideration. The fact of the matter is, most Christians have found their ship tossed to and fro in the sea of unbelief. We are in good company.
It can be said that sometimes the best way to tell a story is to begin at the end and work backwards. The sovereignty and power of God is demonstrated in that the disciples were not only established eventually, but these very same men in whom we see their failures, became pillars to generations. Being established is what God has in mind for us as well. We shall anchor our ship in the restful harbor of grace. Let the crashing waves rise as they may, we shall not waver in the tide.
Make no mistake, if you continue to sail in the sea of unbelief, you will sink in the waters thereof. But, if you can believe, only believe, there are no waters on which you cannot walk if Christ bid you come.
Against that truth will life, people, trials and even the devil wage war and demand the relinquishing of faith on your part. As we abide in His word, by faith, our thoughts are established. The deadliest deeds ever committed began with one thought. The same can be said of faith that moves mountains.
If your thoughts lead you to the place where you fear what man can do to you or if you fear what man can take from you, you will fear man and not God. If it is our habit to seek the approval of men, then it is impossible for us to believe. Consequently, if we cannot believe, we cannot fulfill what is the most elementary of Divine interests. If we cannot believe because of our inappropriate esteem for friends, coworkers, spouses, Pastors- then we are trapped before we even begin. All of it is initiated with a thought and the source of that thought. As long as your thoughts are consumed by people's opinions of you and how they will react to your obedience of God, you will never have the capacity, focus or determination to obey what God has called you to do.
When our thoughts become sourced in something other than the truth, it changes how we relate to God. When things change in our relationship with Him, it is not God who changes. There is not an alteration of His love, good intent or faithful promise to us. What changes is that we will not abide in what has been freely given to us because our vision has been darkened by a lie.
As an example, we can come to believe the assertion that in yielding fully to God, we lose something of ourselves because we are no longer in control- as if we ever were. When that occurs, the mentality can subtly become such that we want God to be God, but we want Him to act according to our expectations. It is a battle for control with the living God based on a lie which took root in our thoughts.
Encouragement comes in knowing that God is greater than our thoughts. Because we can identify the points of battle does not mean the war is not won. If our sins, weaknesses or failures stopped God, the world would have ended long ago and no one would be saved. By His grace, he raises our eyes to an upward gaze which makes for planted feet and a steadiness of focus towards those things which are richest.
As we grow in The Lord, we learn to weigh every thought against the truth we know and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. With spiritual maturity we learn to establish our thoughts through the normal habit of waiting on God.
Waiting on God is a way of life, not the implementation of a method. Simply put, it is setting your gaze, your mind, your attention on the living God until you see Him move or hear Him speak. Nothing about it is complacent, but rather it ushers us into perfect paths. Jesus said "I only do those things I see my Father do." That is why we wait on God, so that we might do what we see our Father do. We wait so that our spiritual senses become trained to the voice and movement of our Father.
The life we have in this world is a gift. When experienced through Christ and in Christ, life is seasoned full of flavor. At the same time, this world will dangle dainty distractions in front of our nose to draw attention away from our true source of life. Waiting on God creates an environment, an awareness of our connection with God that allows Him to sort through those distractions. Having sorted through them, He helps us refocus on where priority should lie. Put another way, waiting on God offers to Him the opportunity to gain the ground of our heart and mind so that the fruit of His Spirit may flourish there.
When we hunger for bread, it is from a place of need or lack. Our hunger is created by the body's need for nourishment and energy. In essence, there has been a decrease in us that has created that hunger. However, it is different when we hunger for God in many respects. Hunger for God increases in a place of plenty. What that means is that the presence, the rest, the life of God creates in us an insatiable appetite for Him as we partake and taste of those things. That which is in Him fills us, yet there is no end to the bounty of our feast at His table. The more we partake, the greater our desire to partake- the deeper our hunger though we are filled. In our longing for more of God comes deeper contentment as we grow in Him.
There is a familiar passage in Isaiah 40:30-31 which says:
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
No one anticipates rest as much as when they are desperately weary. No one hesitates to continue on more than when ominous woods are what lie ahead. Yet, our greatest testimonies are often the tales of what we find as we pass through places we least wanted to go. Under the dark canopy of the woods, frightened by unfamiliar sounds, we find hidden trails that reveal majestic scenes of beauty only when once they are traveled.
If we wait on God, listen to His voice- if we will abide in His resting place as we traverse these trails, wonderful things happen. So often, it is in the dark that His pure word brings the greatest illumination. It is in peril that His pure word becomes an impenetrable shield from present danger. It is in the press that his pure word produces excellent fruit and new wine.
As human beings, it is normal that we long for the other side of the woods- for bright skies and green pastures. Hope is, after all, a tremendous motivator. Whether we find ourselves in dark woods or green fields, God's objective is the same. That objective is that Christ should be formed in us and we find the power of His rest to be our home. Increased is the volume of Heaven's sound to the quieted soul, waiting on God.
Even the strongest and fittest amongst us grow weary eventually. For us, as human beings, natural strength and resolve has a limitation that ends at a circumstance greater than the sum of our strength.
With God, it is not so. He does not grow faint, nor does He grow weary. There is no circumstance greater than the sum His strength or length of time that can outlast His resolve. What’s more, God is not driven by the same urgencies that often fuel our passions or pursuits, nor is He constrained by the timelines we create or expect. Everything is made beautiful in its season.
As we wait, then restfully respond, we gain unwavering focus. That focus brings boldness, the same boldness we see in the nature of Jesus Christ. His boldness is audacity without arrogance, conviction without compromise, and unwavering intent to obey God regardless of cost. Within His nature, boldness is not part time. You will not be bashful, shy and fearful as a normal pattern of life, and then turn on the boldness for your faith in certain circumstances. You are either bold or you are not.
The boldness we gain translates into the way we relate to God, particularly in our prayer life. That does not suggest we become impudent, demanding or prideful in how we approach God, but bold in the fact that we can. Even the scriptures admonish us to come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need.
James 5:16-18
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
We are heard, not because of how passionate we pray, how loud we cry out or how many words we use. We are heard because we are righteous before Him. We are heard because He has given us the right, as His children, to come boldly into the innermost place and make our requests known to him. We may very well pray with passion because of the fire of God within us. In fact, the righteousness we have received often stirs those passions and fervency in prayer. But with that said, it is not why we are heard.
James makes reference to Elijah and the encounter he had with the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. The story is found in 1Kings chapter 18. At the time of this encounter, Israel had been in a horrible drought for three and a half years. This drought began when Elijah declared it because of the wickedness of the nation. That wickedness was fostered by the king who reigned over Israel at the time whose name was Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel.
Elijah reappears on the scene after three and a half years, issues a challenge to the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, and meets them on the mount. The challenge was for them to pray to Baal, and he would pray to The Lord. Whoever answered by fire was God. So it was that the priests of Baal prayed from morning to evening, thrashed about, cried out, cut themselves and implemented all manner things in an attempt to conjure Baal. Yet, when they were done, no one heard and no one answered.
The first thing Elijah did was gathered the people and rebuilt the altar of The Lord. After he built the altar with twelve stones, he dug a trench around the altar, placed the wood and then laid the sacrifice on the altar. What he did after that is of extreme importance. He took four vats of water, and poured them on the altar three times. In essence one vat was poured on the altar for each of the tribes of Israel, just as the altar was made of twelve stones for the same reason.
The reason why pouring twelve, huge vats of water on the altar was so important is because Israel had been in severe drought for three and a half years. Water was the most precious, sought after and valuable commodity in all the land- they were desperate for it. To them, water was their greatest need. Elijah took what they longed for the most, what represented survival to them, and poured it out as an offering to God.
Then he prayed, and this was the extent of his prayer:
“Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
As soon as he finished praying, fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. God took up by fire the stones, the wood, the bull, the dust and the water. What He left behind was revival. The people cried out to the Lord, turned to Him, and put away Baal.
Several things are noteworthy of this account, not the least of which is the fact that in our prayer to God, we are never outnumbered. It does not matter what the odds are we face or perceive. If God is with us, we are the majority.
Also of great importance is understanding that God is not conjured. Unlike the priests of Baal, Elijah spent more time preparing his heart and the hearts of the people, than he actually did praying. His prayer was all together unlike that of the priests of Baal. There was no rolling about or vain efforts to gain a response from God. First, the heart was prepared in obedience to the word that had been spoken to him- then he prayed. We see then that Elijah did not go to Carmel in an effort to get God to respond. Elijah went to Carmel in response to God and the content of the words of his prayer was few in number.
Jesus speaks to this in Matthew 6:5-8 which says:
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Noteworthy is the fact that prayer is an intimate thing, not about outward appearance, but that which occurs between you and God in secret- in the heart. Your reward will be open and God shall surely answer you before men. With that said, the greatest reward is the riches received from the presence of our Father in the secret place.
Jesus makes it clear in this passage that it is not about the volume of words, but the kind and their origin. One word, uttered in prayer by faith and with sincerity of heart is of greater significance in the eyes of God than a million words breathed in vanity.
Prayer is not an incantation, nor is it something we utter to persuade God to bend a particular circumstance to an outcome based on our natural perspectives or desires. That statement does not negate the truth that we are encouraged to make our requests known to God and that we are to ask for things from Him by faith. It is meant to emphasize the fact that prevailing prayer begins with the condition of the heart, gains both perspective and motivation from the truth of His word, and finds its power when breathed out by The Spirit. As we learn from Elijah, it begins at the place of reconciliation God has provided. From there, it flows in an abundant, ever increasing river of life issuing forth from our innermost being. It flows from a place of worship.
Our
Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
What Jesus shows us in this prayer are not words that we are meant to simply recite. We are shown the nature of what prayer is. It begins with worship then moves to a seeking of God’s will. From there it deals with some of the deepest, most complex issues and hindrances in the heart of people such as our need and concern over daily provision. In addition, it brings forth forgiveness and our need for deliverance from temptation. Finally, it ends once again with worship. The entirety of the prayer is encapsulated by worship and is uttered in a spirit of worship.
Prayer is also much more than going to God and making requests. There is a critical vitality found in presenting ourselves alone to God without an agenda. In other words, it is a time we set ourselves apart to commune with God and it is solely for Him. There is no agenda for Him to give a word so we have something to teach or prophesy. There is no agenda of obligation whereby we make it something we do to fulfill our Christian duty. Instead, we set aside the difficulties of life and the needs that have come to occupy the forefront of our mind. In this time, we rest in the garden of God and our agenda is solely communing with Him, listening and responding. Within this place, the movements of our dance become His to lead and ours to follow. Those hours bring unto us stability, direction and peace. Only then are we prepared to advance in the battle. Only then are we equipped.
How burdensome it is when God becomes a side note in our life and ceases to be the meaning of it. We weary ourselves with the pursuits of this life and make time for God if we can. The most valuable time we have is that which is spent with God without an agenda. Priceless and pure is the occasion we present ourselves to God solely for His pleasure.
Sometimes, there are misperceptions we lean toward concerning how we interpret God's answer to our prayers. What we perceive as silence can be misinterpreted as "no". But, the silence itself is an answer declaring to us any number of things. Most commonly it is showing us our heart is not right, that we need renewal in our perceptions, or we have already received an answer but not responded to it. Whatever the case may be, it is ultimately the result of an effort to usher in our own expectations.
Prayer must become His dance to lead and cease to be nothing more than our agenda to demand. The music that provides the rhythms for our dance is love. When love is the actual, central, driving force, it changes the nature of all of our movements. This being so, it radically alters the nature of our requests and our desires as well.
Love not only changes the aim of our prayers, it deepens our senses to the realities of what cannot be seen as we pray. A heart filled with Divine love does not pray because it has to, nor does it pray because it is a duty, a debt we owe to God as service to Him. A heart filled with His love need not be coaxed to communion. In such a heart, there is a longing, a yearning for the continual, abiding presence of our Father speaking into the deepest parts of who we are- deep calling unto deep.
When the love of God is absent, or not central to our requests, even the noblest prayer is perilously in danger of becoming a selfish root producing the vile fruit of self will and all that is opposed to the nature of God. We increasingly find His will as we flourish in His love
According to Jesus, we express our love toward Him by keeping His commandments. However, keeping His commandments is about much more than simply what you do "for" Him. Many can be your works, laboring night and day, yet still find His inexpressible love far from you. Labor apart from His love and the light of your lamp shall surely grow dim and fade. Remain in His love and joyfully give light to all who are in the house. When your journey is finished, and the days of this life are gone, only what is found in Him shall mean anything at all. The love of Christ compelled Paul to places such as Ephesus, Lystra and Derbe to spill his blood in their soil while he sowed the word of God in their hearts. What he sowed produced a harvest unto everlasting life. He was compelled by love.
Love is more than a virtue God possesses. He is love, both the embodiment of it and the origination. When Christ is formed in us, when it is His fruit being brought forth, love is the choicest of all. Divine love is, for us, an acquired virtue. Its seeds are scattered as The Holy Spirit, like a gentle breeze upon the golden plain, brushes across the spirit and soul of a man. Thus it becomes ever increasing.
Such love is not the substance of fancy tales or humanistic pretense. It is at once pure, practical and clothed in selflessness. The unconditional care of Divine love places the ultimate well being of another as its highest priority. Greater love has no man than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends. The love of God lays un-hewn stones on a perilous path that another may find passage.