Praise the Lord! He is ever faithful to reveal himself to us! These past few years God has been teaching me something about prayer I had never realized. You know how that sometimes God just brings all the parts together and makes something out of them. I have been learning one of the secrets of how Jesus prayed and how the Father effected His works in Jesus. Once we learn this we can see how Jesus does the same thing in us today if we are willing. Back in the 1980's I had a vision of Jesus coming from His prayer time. The Holy Spirit was on Him truly without measure. People were stirring around Him and as He walked, suddenly He turned and our eyes met! The first thing I saw in His face was the entire Word of God! Then I saw something that is still teaching me today, I saw Jesus put all of His strength into keeping Himself down out of the way so that the Holy Spirit could pass through Him untouched! Wow! Even though the Lord blessed me with this revelation about Himself, the prayer part was still seemingly hidden from my view. I had not seen into His prayer time. I would soon learn that true prayer is learned from the Lord in a relationship with Him and can't be discovered in teaching alone.
At this point I would like to quote some scriptures
1. Ephesians 2:10; For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 2. Jeremiah 1:5; Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest out from the womb I sanctified thee a prophet unto the nations. 3. Matthew 13:35;I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
I would like to begin now to write about the secret I have been learning. God knew us before the world ever was! He has a book of how our life is suppose to be in Him. He ordained us to walk in good works before the foundation of the world! The present day revelations we are receiving have always been there and we are beginning to see them even though they have been there all along! Jesus said of Himself "I only do what I see the Father do and I only speak what I hear the father speak." When we give account in that day when we all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, we will be measured by the record of works we were fore-ordained to walk in and how many of them we actually walked in! ( see 2 Corinthians 5:10) The measure of our life is Christ and His works. ( see John 14:12) Note: salvation is a free gift, but still for the believer there is a day when we shall be held accountable for our actions and words before the Lord. So then, what has all this to do with a prayer secret? When Jesus went away in secret to pray, He met with His Father in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus spent time in His Fathers presence. Prayer is so much deeper than the words exchanged! If would realize what actually transacts when we are in His presence we would go there much more often and have a much greater expectancy about the outcome. We then would be driven to continuous prayer without ceasing! The current standard so many of us use to measure whether or not our prayer time was successful is faulty because it is based on a lack of information. We say things to ourselves and others like: God doesn't talk to me very much, or He doesn't seem to answer me like He does others and so on.... Listen! God is a Spirit! When Moses was in the Lords presence, so much of the Lords virtue came on him that when he came down from the mountain He glowed so bright no one could look at him! What really happens with us in prayer most of the time is without the coarseness of human words (unknown tongues included). Yes it is necessary to speak our mind with God and to intercede in our prayer language, but there is something much more important that needs to be understood. We should go to prayer with an expectancy to be in His presence much like Moses did and exactly like Jesus did. When we are still before the Lord in His presence, there is a nonstop stream of transactions being made between us and the Lord and they are being made without words. Words would only slow down the flow! God is writing on us faster than our minds can receive. As we are filled in His presence by Him, we are receiving the virtue needed to walk in the works for that day that He already for-ordained that we should walk in! Jesus Himself would get alone with God and receive the virtue of His Father to walk in the works of His Father. (John 14: 12says we will do the works Jesus did and even greater works!) After Jesus was filled from His Father, He would go where the Holy Spirit led Him and He would always know what to do when He arrived because the Father had already placed in Him what to do! We all have had those days when we knew we were filled and everything seemed to fall into place all day long! We need to go be with the Lord often and be filled so we can always be ready when the Lord needs us.
Finally I would like to share one more additional secret to always being filled. Stop being a container and start being a vessel. A container once filled cannot be filled again until it be emptied! A vessel however was made to be filled only long enough to carry its contents to where it needs to be poured out! This means that you cannot continue to seek the Lords blessing simply for yourself! You must get a real desire to be used up over and over and over! What a waste it is when we involve God simply to fix our own problems, especially when God promised that if we would take care of Gods needs He would take care of ours! (Matthew 6:33) So remember when you pray, have faith that God is faithfully transacting heaven into your person while you are there with Him, even when there are NO WORDS BEING EXCHANGED!At that moment you are being prepared by God to walk in the very works He has fore-ordained you to walk in. How excellent is our Lord!
May God richly bless you as you follow Him,
Pastor Steve Anderson
P.S. I heard a great saying:
If you will put wheels on other peoples ministries,
God will put wings on yours!!!!
