Pray this way

“The reason people bow their head or close their eyes is to cut out all the stimulus around them so they can concentrate simply on what they’re thinking about,” explained Jordan in his Sunday morning sermon. “But if you’re doing that for personal prayer, that’s a baby way to pray.

“If the job of the Holy Spirit is to literally take you by the hand and lead you into a conscious presence of the Father and make the Father’s plan real to you, how’s He going to do it?

“Do I need to find me a closet to sit in and say, ‘Okay, Lord, hit me!’ You know that’s religion.

“I was raised in a contemplative religion where you found a quiet place and sat down and said, ‘Now, Lord, I pray you to speak.’ We would sing, “Pass me not O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While another’s eye is calling, do not pass me by.’

“I’d sit there in church and put my feet under the pew thinking, ‘The Lord’s going to walk down the aisle in front of me and I’m going to trip Him up.’

“There’s all kind of religious confusion about that. How is it that the Holy Spirit’s going to give me access? How is He going to make real down in my soul, and in my understanding, and in my heart, the Father’s will?

“In Ephesians 3:14, Paul prays, ‘For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
[15] Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
[16] That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
[17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love.’

“You get the idea there there’s some thinking you need to be able to do here? You need to get your mind around some things here?

“Down in your inner man the Spirit of God’s going to work, and when He works there Christ is going to dwell; He’s going to settle down and feel at home in your life because you comprehend some things about His love and His grace.

“The way the Spirit of God’s going to WORK and bring this stuff to reality in your life is through His Word in your inner man.

“Don’t look for circumstances and situations out there for confirmation of God’s approval and that you have His access. Don’t look for a raise in your paycheck as an affirmation of God’s love. Where you find this is in your inner man.

“That’s why most of what religion does is so useless because it’s all focused on your OUTER man and God says, ‘I want to work on your inner man.’

"Roman 8:14, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’

“You have the conscious awareness produced by believing His Word. I don’t need any more discussion. I don’t need confirmation. I don’t need a priest, or a preacher, or a pundit to put a stamp of approval on me. In fact, when they do it kind of takes away from my ability to say it’s Him and Him alone.

“When you believe it, it begins to produce some confidence in your inner man because God’s Word works effectually in you that believe, and one of the things it does is give you the full assurance of faith. He bears testimony through His Word.

“You see how he says in verse 15, ‘Whereby we CRY Abba Father?’ To me that’s one of the most important words in that verse and there are a lot of important words in that verse; that one gets overlooked.

“He doesn’t say, ‘Whereby we make the statement Abba Father.’ He doesn’t say, ‘Whereby we logically deduce that it’s the Father.’ He doesn’t say, ‘This is a doctrinal affirmation that we make and proclaim.’ He says, ‘Whereby we cry out of a heart that understands I’ve reached the Father’s heart.’

“When you cry, you’ve reached down into the depths of the reality of who you are and all the other stuff is taken away.

“A cry is something that reaches down into the depths of your soul with the reality of the moment and that personal affection.

*****

“If you’re complete and totally satisfied with who you are, then who is there to live for? Others. That’s what eternal life is all about.

“When you cherish the Lord Jesus Christ, and you think about Him, and you glory in Him the way the Father does, you thrill the Father’s heart. You are delighting in what the Father delights in. You’re thinking like the Father thinks.”

(To be continued tomorrow . . . I just got Microsoft Office downloaded this evening—after a $140 purchase!—and man is it different. Also, my new keyboard is WAY different with a whole calculator to the right of the Enter, Backspace and Delete buttons! Right next to Backspace is a numeral lock button I keep hitting by accident. Also, the arrows are way out of place from where I’m used to hitting them. Slow going . . . )