Prayer: Living in the presence of God

Bikers Church Cape Town

Prayer: living in the presence of God By Pastor George Lehman God always knows where we are. Are you always aware of His presence? Prayer is the breath of our Spirit man. (Prayer is the very pulse of our spiritual life.) No pulse in your body equals no life, No Prayer in your spiritual man No life either. Seeking God through prayer Elliot, a boy aged 10 wrote: “Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I’m not praying.” This sums up a praying persons life - always in communication with God. The power of Polly’s prayer: There was a pastor who had a parrot. All the parrot would say was, “Let’s pray, let’s pray.” The pastor tried to teach him to say other things but to no avail. He learned that one of his deacons had a parrot. The parrot would only say, “Let’s kiss. Let’s kiss.” So, the pastor decided to invite the deacon and his parrot over to his house. When the deacon arrived, they put the parrots into the same cage to see what would happen. The deacon’s parrot said, “Let’s kiss. Let’s kiss.” The pastor’s parrot said, “Thank you, Lord. My prayers have been answered.” There’s great power in prayer. Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know that I AM God… The main objective of seeking God is to draw closer to Him and to know Him more. Prayer places us in the presence of God. Probably the first and most important step to accomplish this is: PRAYER (The pulse). If you’re not praying, you’re straying. Possibly the greatest area most Christians fail in is: “their prayer life”. YET it is the key to seeking the presence of God. PRAYER is like a diamond – one precious gem with many facets. Some of the different kinds of prayers: Conversational prayer: - Sharing your highs and lows with God (as you would share with a friend). - Just pouring out your heart in honesty before Him. Intercessory prayer: - It’s standing seriously in the gap for a specific person/situation. - It’s carrying a prayer burden from God in your heart. SOS prayers: They are prayed in an emergency: “Help Lord.” It’s so comforting to know we can call on God in times of trouble. Supplication*(Smeking) prayers. For many Christians, it’s the grocery list prayers all about what I want. Making a serious request to God on important issues. This is something we do regularly. When we bring our family, ministry and work situation before God Focused prayer: (is the diamond): This prayer is seeking God exclusively: - It’s not about things; - It’s not about people or needs; - It’s about Him. -This is seeking prayer. There are many kinds of prayers and many ways to pray like the diamond. We must always remember that God loves it when we seek Him and pour out our hearts to Him. Prayer is never a one-way street. We must make room for God to speak to us. Psalm 40:1 (NIV) - I waited patiently for the Lord;(he prayed) He turned to me and heard my cry. How did David know God answered him by the outcome of his prayer a two-way communication The base of all prayer is wrapped up in Heb 11:6– where seeking meets FAITH. Hebrews 11:6 (Amp) - But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. Notice - it does not say who diligently* seek: - His answers - His provision - His healing - His blessings - or what we can get out of Him. BUT, who diligently seek HIM. *diligently = careful; with effort The most important step in prayer is coming to God FIRST – Focused prayer. When you come seeking God in prayer, is He a God far away or is He God living inside of us? Jeremiah 23:23(Amp) – Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? For us to have a real effective prayer life, we must know that He is near to us. It’s not a casual coming though; it calls for desperate seeking. Hungry and thirsty = coming diligently carefully and with effort. We often seek in so many other places before we come to God to seek Him first. Answers to life are only found in Him. The trigger for God-Revelation. Imagine your finger on the trigger of a hunting rifle as you take aim. You need to pull the trigger for the shot to go off. In the spiritual realm, many Christians are waiting for something to happen, BUT there’s a specific trigger that needs to be pulled to release the super-natural. Psalm 46:10 – Be still and know… The trigger for revelation is: BE STILL - and then the rifle fires AND KNOW -revelation comes and impacts your life and you begin to understand and experience that God is who He says He is. Like Heb 11:6 – seek Him diligently. The devil will oppose any attempt we make to “be still”. He knows we receive awesome power against him. You will never be the same again, you can never be the same again (it’s the pulse of your spiritual life) when you decide to seek God in PRAYER First. Seeking Him first, diligently. When you’ve placed God first, Be still and knowledge of Him comes. Then we will know how to pray for our needs, our problems, our healing, our blessings, our many answers. What is your prayer life like? Are you living in the presence of God; or do you only have an occasional visit?