Hello Everyone,
Prayer is a very powerful tool that directly connects us to the heart of God. It’s the way we communicate with Him and it transports us right into His throne room where we can hear and receive from Him in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].”
The idea of us approaching God and speaking to Him is not uncommon at all, but you may be as shocked, as I was, to hear how many people struggle with the concept of God speaking to us. Now, anyone who reads the Bible knows and understands that from the very beginning, God has always wanted to have a meaningful relationship with man. He created us for fellowship and to be inseparably connected to Him in a partnership where we are completely loved and filled with His Spirit and carry out His purpose for our lives. This purpose is one He predestined for us to walk in before the foundation of the earth - one that we were created to flourish in.
Hearing God’s voice is exactly what He expects us to do. Look at what John 10:27, says, "The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me." Jesus said when we belong to Him, we are listening to His voice. That phrase is written in the continuous tense - conveying the idea that this is what is an expected, on-going practice for a child of God - to constantly be listening for and to the voice of our Good Shepherd. We do this so that we can follow Him and walk in His ways - which are always perfect! In fact, His Word ensures us that He will always lead us into safety, provision and victory - as we listen to and follow His voice.
Now let’s take this communication and connection we have with Him one step deeper. Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being;... For we are also His offspring.” It’s pretty obvious that the relationship we have in the Lord Jesus is far more than a religious, one sided dialogue, where we offer up religious prayers to a far-off being who is relatively uninterested or unconcerned with our day to day lives. No, we are completely know by Him, we are cherished by Him and He calls us His very own treasured possessions. We were created by Him to live and move and exist vitally connected to Him - through His indwelling Holy Spirit!
Now take a look at what 1 John 1:3 says, “What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realise and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).” Being vitally connected to God is a distinguishing mark of Christians!
In saying all this, I’m trying to explain and emphasis how when our lives are yielded to the Holy Spirit, we can enjoy such a oneness or unity in Him, where even our desires are directly in sink with His, and our agendas become aligned with His kingdom agenda. And this is extremely important when we pray! Why? Because when we pray in tune and in harmony with the Holy Spirit, our prayers are in perfect line with His will. Now mix faith in with that and God’s creative power is released - calling those things that are not seen in the natural, but are in line with His Word - as though they already exist in our natural lives!
The problem comes when we are overwhelmed, or distracted by the circumstances around us. Or when our own human nature gets in the way of us clearly hearing and speaking God’s perfect will in our prayers. That’s when we can apply the powerful gift of praying in tongues where God’s Spirit prays His perfect will, into and through our own spirits. As we open our mouths and pray in the Holy Spirit - our words (inspired by Him) become the conveyer belt of His truth and power. He prays through us. As this happens, it immediately cuts off the influence of our natural, fleshly thoughts; and like a switch - fine tunes us into focusing in on, sensing and receiving God’s heart and perfect will - while He prays through us.
If you remember, in previous letters we drew reference from Romans 8:26 with regards to having God Himself pray on our behalf when we are at first unable to do so.
Romans 8:26 says, “So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.”
When God prays through us, the supernatural presence and power of God dominates the natural world around us - and the impossible becomes possible. Our own faith is stimulated and energised; and just like an athlete is warmed up and has stretched out his muscles, preparing them for a race - our spirits as well as our faith are being stirred up and made ready for supernatural action. We are ready to hear and receive God’s perfect will for us to speak into any situation we are praying over.
Next week I’d like to spend some more time speaking about the special partnership we have with the Holy Spirit and how praying in tongues is our special, supernatural prayer language known only to God - that can become our highest level of thanksgiving - bringing astounding results!
Until then, treasure your relationship with the Holy Spirit and practice having Him pray through you!
All my love,
Jenny
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