A very short word:

On prayer

WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW THAT I DIDN’T KNOW, ABOUT DEVOTION

 

 

In the late 1990s I abandoned the extreme axis of the charismatic movement & with it, everything I had learned & thought that I knew. Slowly but surely, I was determined to clear away the erroneous rubble that I had accumulated over time & rebuild my life as exclusively as possible around The Lord. Initially, I failed miserably. There was so much more to unlearn than I’d anticipated. Eventually, I realised that the only way for me to do this successfully would be to embrace God’s Word & prayer properly as they are & disregard whatever principles I had been taught previously. This article represents my departure from the word of faith mythology of prayer & its other seductive doctrines. They also symbolise my wholehearted desire to make my christian life about Christ alone. I have many regrets, but I don’t live in remorse. The Lord has faithfully made up for whatever I thought I had lost at the time & He continues to take me to school on a daily basis. For those of you who read this blog & may have walked a similar path to mine, I encourage you to take heart. Prayer is one of the most beautiful activities there is for the believer. The privilege of being able to openly commune with God is often misrepresented, misunderstood & underutilised in our lives. Why? Mainly because it has been viewed as a solemn & time consuming duty governed by spiritual laws, rather than being embraced as a pleasurable practise. Brethren, God wants us to pray. He has opened access to Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:18, Hebrews 4:14-16). Pray. Speak to Him. On your feet; on your knees; on your face; on the bus; in the bath. Wherever it may be. Pray. 

There is no working definition of prayer. Not an honest one at least. This is because prayer is not an abstract thing. I am not attempting to examine the mechanics of prayer, because there are none to speak of & those who claim to teach said systems will often employ the principles of The New Age, Mind Science, Metaphysics or Gnosticism & Eastern Mysticism. Not to mention Contemplative techniques & Centring. These are huge no-nos. The elements that we do have are two-fold; God & us; His will & ours; His Word & ours; His way & ours. If nothing else, your life & mine must conform to the things of God & not He or His to us & ours. This is where I began again. On my knees & sometimes on my face before Him. It’s the best place to be. 

We may often have heard the words or phrases, seeking The Lord & seeking His face, as being representative of prayer, but never understood them. Do these expressions mean trying to find Him or see what He looked like? I’m sure that many of us have quoted the following verse, often by rote, with no idea of its implications; ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land’ (2^nd Chronicles 7:14). We’ve all said it, prayed it, sung it & begged God for it. But apart from the obvious problem of lifting verses out of their context, we have missed something basic, but vital. How are we to know whether God’s face is turned towards us, unless we turn our faces towards Him? 

⁸ When thou saidst , Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek (Psalms 27:8). 

I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the Athenians, concerning their altar with the inscription TO THE UNKNOWN GOD on it; ‘God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us’. (Acts 17:24-27). 

Our prayer lives & time spent in The Word of God are periods of sweet communion between us & our Saviour. Both of these fundamentals go hand in hand; they are not to be separated. Both of these essentials reveal His will; they are not to be neglected. Both of these necessities show us His way; they are not to be taken lightly. It’s quite a thing. Let’s look at what The Scriptures say. For starters, I found the following gems in The Psalms & they are more comforting than I can possibly convey to you here. 

⁶ There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. ⁷ Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. ⁸ I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. (Psalms 4:6-8). 

¹⁵ My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. ¹⁶ Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. ¹⁷ Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. (Psalms 31:15-17). 

¹ God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. ² That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. (Psalms 67:1-2). 

¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. ² Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. ³ Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved..⁷ Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved..¹⁵ And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. ¹⁶ It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance..¹⁹ Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Psalms 80:1-3,7,15-16 & 19). 

¹ A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. ² Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily (Psalms 102:1-2). 

¹ O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. ² Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. ³ Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. ⁴ Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. ⁵ Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth (Psalms 105:1-5). 

¹³² Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. ¹³³ Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. ¹³⁴ Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. ¹³⁵ Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes. ¹³⁶ Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law. (Psalms 119:132-136). 

Whether our prayers to God are our adoration; affirmation; dedication; supplication; petition; confession; intercession or consecration; we approach The Lord for He Himself, as well as His answers & responses. Our primary instinct must be for fellowship with Him. This must be first & foremost. Remember God’s admonition of Cain; ‘but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.’ (Genesis 4:5-7). God’s face & the light of His countenance reveal His attributes to us. They also reveal His will, His heart, His grace & His favour to us. When His face shines upon us He has turned his attention towards us. When He lifts up the light of His countenance upon us he reveals His presence to us. There is no off switch with The Lord. We must turn our faces toward Him. 

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them (Numbers 6:22-27). 

This is not something that they initiated. It is He Who blesses & keeps. It is He Who is gracious. It is He Who makes His face to shine. It is He Who lifts up His countenance & gives peace. In our prayer life & in our time of fellowship with His Word, we are in a position for God to reveal Himself in His time & on His terms. This is of paramount importance, as we will come to see. In the performance of this blessing over God’s people, the Priest would raise his hands. The Lord Jesus, our High Priest did this to His disciples before His ascension (Luke 24:50) ‘And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.’ We must approach prayer & the study of God’s Word as an acknowledgement that we are seeking His face & that we need  the light of His countenance.

²⁹ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. ³⁰ And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. ³¹ And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. ³² And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. ³³ And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. ³⁴ But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. ³⁵ And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (Exodus 34:29-35). 

Again, The Lord initiated this audience with Moses. As we are encouraged to enter His presence & study His Word, there, in that place He will manifest Himself as He chooses. Although Moses was not allowed to look upon the face of God at that time, hurriedly bowing his head, the glory & presence of The Lord was evident throughout their discourse together. This was a time of specific instruction, but also a time of intimacy. To neglect prayer & God’s Word, is to miss effective change in our lives which may in turn affect the lives of others. We must quickly become conscious of the fact that in prayer we approach the same God that Moses did in Sinai. However, we are afforded a better place before God, in Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 12:18-25). This is not a contrived experience. This is something that The Lord does.

²⁸ And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. ²⁹ And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. ³⁰ And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: ³¹ Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. ³³ And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said. ³⁴ While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. ³⁵ And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. ³⁶ And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. (Luke 9:28-36). 

The Lord specifically chose to take Peter, James & John with Him when He ascended this mountain to pray. In this setting, we see the same elements that were present when Moses ascended Sinai to receive instructions from God & the man himself appears alongside Jesus, with Elijah. If we look at the prayer life of Christ & His relationship with The Father, we see how gloriously God is revealed in & through The Word. Peter later refers to this in his epistle; ‘For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount’. (2^nd Peter 1:16-18). In this instance, ‘the fashion of His countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistening’. Any time spent in the presence of God will affect us. We will not be afraid or have to draw back as the Israelites did when they saw the face of Moses, neither will His face be hidden from us. ‘But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’. (2^nd Corinthians 3:18). 

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2^nd Corinthians4:6). 

This verse says it all. Christ enables us to see the face of God & live. In Christ Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead & as our representative before The Father, He makes intercession for us. In that place, we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace & in our communion with God through Jesus Christ, He blesses & keeps us. He makes His face shine upon us. His lifts up the light of His countenance on us & gives us peace. As our High Priest He pronounces the blessing of God over us. The lifting of His hands is significant in that this is the manner in which Aaron & every High Priest blessed Israel. I am convinced that this happens when we pray. Pray. Speak to Him. On your feet; on your knees; on your face; on the bus; in the bath. Wherever it may be. Pray.  

 

 

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