Hidden Prayer

Hey everyone, I wanted to share with you a note I sent to some colleagues on Sept. 10, 2010. This came after I had my immersion experience with the Holy Spirit and later I started to pray "in secret." I write this to encourage everyone who has been part of the revival to seek God in solitude and silence - Our Father wants us to meet Him in secret, where He will reward us. I have found the reward is Himself, and He is so good, more than any of us can imagine. My prayer for our campus is that we would be more excited about seeking God than about talking about revival. He wants us to want HIM!  He is so GOOD! All for His Glory!  

I've been thinking about the transformation the Spirit has been working in my life since I began praying in secret. I thought I would give you a short update on the experience, if for nothing more than documentation of the Holy Spirit's power and goodness. Perhaps it may encourage you as well - and it gives me much joy to share this with you:

The more I pray in secret and seek His face, the more I simply desire to be with Him and Him alone. I have no strivings or desires other than to be with Him. He is so beautiful and good. He is sweet, and perfect, and true, and wonderful. All else fades compared to His majesty and beauty. Nothing compares to Him. I have no desire for success, no desire to be heard, or seen, or known - simply no ambition to be anything other than in His will and in His manifest Presence. I simply have no need for any of those other things anymore, for I have Him, and His grace is sufficient. I find myself turning to Him almost moment-to-moment throughout the day, desiring His Presence only, not with requests or for intercession, but simply to be in His Presence, to be with Him and to enjoy Him in joy and fellowship and love.

Today I was reading John 10:14-15: "I am the Good Shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father." (NASB). Isn't that beautiful? We are His own, and we know Him with the same 'knowing' that He has with the Father. Why desire anything but Him? So good.

Nothing now causes me wild alarm. Students, faculty, staff, and family come to me with their concerns and drama, and in some ways it amuses me...it's almost like it confuses me..it all seems so small and trivial compared to knowing Him, and it's like I can't seem to understand why there would ever be worry or cause for alarm or gossip or the like. (Another professor was expressing some concerns/ideas to me today, and it was like all I could hear was "blah, blah, blah, blah"). It's really a strange and a new experience for me. He is Shalom Shalom - Perfect Peace. In Him there is no fear, for perfect love drives out fear. I have never known this kind of bliss before - what a small taste of what heaven certainly shall be like - to be present with Him. What a joy divine.

It's the peace - the shalom - that has surprised me. (Maybe I should write a book like CS Lewis and NT Wright - "Surprised by Shalom" - haha). What would our world be like if all Christians rejected Satan's lies and truly believed God's Word - that He is Love, He is Good, He is Just, He is Truth, He is Faithful? So few, it seems, really truly believe these truths deep in their hearts...what a grief it must be to our Father for so many not to truly trust Him, to not believe that He always and only wants what is good and best for them.

Anyway, that's where praying in secret has led me. Very awesome. Jesus really knew what He was talking about when He told us to pray this way. The Father DOES reward us, beyond anything we can imagine! :D

Esther - A Model for Intercessory Prayer

This is what I shared in our Prayer Chapel on January 14, 2011.

These Scriptures are from the Book of Esther

Chapter 5

1Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace.

2When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.

Chapter 7

2And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done."

 3Then Queen Esther replied, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request;

 4for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated.

Chapter 8

3Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept and implored him to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews. 4The king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king.  5Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces. 6"For how can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?"

Commentary

Esther is a portrait of an intercessor. In ancient times, “to intercede” meant to petition the King on the behalf of others. Intercessors are not prayer warriors. Prayer warriors ride into battle with blazing eyes and swords held high, ready to route the Enemy.  Intercessors, on the other hand, put on their royal robes – they clothe themselves with Christ, and they boldly approach the King – the King who is also their Father.  They throw themselves at his feet and lay their head upon his chest and listen to his heartbeat.  From that place of divine communion, they pray the Heart of the Father into the world – His Heart that IS Love.  They know they do not deserve this honor. It is only the favor of the King – it is grace – that allows them to plead their case before Him.  They also know they are not alone, for their Great High Priest, Jesus, is kneeling beside His Beloved Bride, also interceding: “Father, how can I bear it if my people perish? How can I endure the destruction of my kindred?” From that place of communion, intercessors pray the Love of God into our wounded world through the Holy Spirit.  Intercessors are, as Mother Teresa would say, “Contemplatives at the heart of the world.”  Intercession is a Trinitarian response to the brokenness, sin, and darkness we see around us.  The Father, Son, and Spirit – Prophet, Priest, and King – in divine communion, share their heart with the intercessor who acts as an intersection point between heaven and earth, allowing the Holy Spirit to breathe life, healing, and shalom to a world desperately in need of hope.

Prayer of Intercession

O Great Father, King Divine, Grant us, we beseech Thee, Your Divine Favor.  We live in a lost and broken world, that is marked for destruction and annihilation.  How can we bear it, if our people perish?  O Great Father, pour out Your Love and Life upon us. Send your Spirit to renew, to restore, and to awaken Your People.  Please empower us by Your Spirit to preach Good News to the poor.  Heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. Set the captives free – set free those who are imprisoned by sin and by lies – by lies of Satan, by lies of the world. Set us free by your Truth. In Your Light, we see Light. Open blind eyes, shine into their darkness and reveal yourself to them as the One Who is ALL – All they need for life, for joy, for hope, and for healing. 

Father, our world is so dark and at times we want to shield our eyes from the wounds that surround us. Please send healing in your wings, and open our eyes to see as you see, to love as you love, to forgive as you forgive, to bless as you bless. Please transform us to be like Jesus.

God, we long for your Presence. Please – please – show us your Glory. Let all of your Goodness pass in front of us. We want to be aware of Your manifest Presence surrounding us. We want to be aware of Your Holiness, Your Power, and Your Goodness. O God, it is your kindness – your kindness - that leads us to repentance. Pour out Your Kindness upon us.  Forgive our iniquity and our transgressions, and, if we have found favor in your sight, take us as Thine Own – as Thine Own -Possession.

Please, O King, we beseech Thee – we beseech Thee… for You – humble us, Adonai, as we seek Your Face. We ask, please, pour out Your Spirit upon us. Open our eyes to see You as You really are and to see ourselves as You see us. We beseech Thee, as we kneel and pray with Your Beloved Son, Our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Amen.

The Glory of God or our glory?

This is from the Lord. You may forward and share this with anyone you want.

The word of the Lord came to me, "Go back to 1 Samuel as I showed you last spring:

"The Glory has departed." 1 Sam 4:22

"Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, 'If you return to the Lord with all your heart, then PUT AWAY the foreign gods and the ashtoreths from among you, and PREPARE YOUR HEARTS TO SERVE HIM ONLY, and He will deliver you from the hands of the Philistines.' So the children of Israel put away the ba'als and ashtoreths and served the LORD ONLY." 1 Sam 7:3-4"

Questions:

1) Why did the Glory depart?

The Israelites used the Ark of God like a good luck charm, and they tried to control their future with their own reasoning and strength. We also use God. We pray as a last resort, NOT as a FIRST priority. We also rely upon our own intellect, skills, and abilities rather than on God. The Israelites did not TRUST God. Do we? When we get honest with ourselves, do we trust God to be ALL to us?

2) What do the ba'als and ashtoreths represent in our day?

'Ba'al' means 'possessor,' and 'husband,' and was the fertility god of the Canaanites. Ashtoreth was the 'mother of the gods,' and Ba'al's consort. Thus, poles to her were set up near Ba'al's altars. The Israelites were relying upon these detestable idols to 'provide' for them. In our age, this may be likened to the 'gods of productivity and success.' What do we worship? Intellect, reason, knowledge, skills, money - why? We want to be successful, and to be successful, we must be productive. We rely upon our knowledge, skills, abilities, money, programs, and campaigns - in other words - our Selves, not God. Just as the ashtoreths were set up near Ba'al's altars, we establish our own shrines to our Selves - power, prestige, and acclaim. We steal God's Glory and miss His Glory for our own small monuments to our Selves.

We need a passionate and fervent desire to see GOD'S GLORY restored at Bethel. HE IS ALL.

It is all about God's Glory being restored in US. We are the Tabernacles of the Holy Spirit - intersection points between heaven and earth. We are supposed to meet God face-to-face in us and have His likeness - His Glory - restored in us. This is ONLY accomplished by the Holy Spirit. We need to pray His Spirit would be poured out on us for our sanctification - to be made holy, set apart Tabernacles where people see God's Glory and meet Him there. 

We should no longer pray as Moses did, "Please, show me Your Glory," but rather, "Please FILL me WITH Your Glory."

The Glory of God is seen in the Face of Christ Jesus - Christ who died upon the Cross, and Christ who rose triumphantly from the dead.  When we cease to focus on the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection we slide back into a 'works' mentality - into reliance upon our Selves rather than reliance upon God's Grace Alone. We forget the Lord ("And - you have forgotten Me." Ezekiel 22:12). 

The Ministry of Christ and of His Spirit is God's Glory being restored to all the earth. Like Paul, we must preach Christ crucified and risen from the dead - just as on the day of Pentecost. Our value, worth, and identity as His Own Possession - as His People - MUST be found in God's GRACE ALONE, as demonstrated on the Cross: "For God shows His Love for us in this: while we were YET sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)."

I am praying for an outpouring of God's Spirit, that we may be filled with His Glory, all the Fullness of Christ.  "The secret is this: Christ in you, the hope of Glory (Col 1:27).". Holiness is not the absence of sin, it is the manifest Presence of God in a redeemed person's life, filling them with Christ's Glory.

I am praying God's people would fervently desire an outpouring of His Spirit. We - God's people - His Own Possession - are the plan - His plan - for spreading His Glory throughout all the earth.

"Come, Holy Spirit, we invite you to come and revive Your people, filling us with Your Glory, and to come and awaken the dead."