Knowing God...in prayer

(Message by Pastor Philip Joseph on November 22, 2009, at NLF-Vashi. Here’s hoping I haven’t missed much. Happy reading!)


Hebrews 8:11 says “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them”

We are living in these privileged times of the New covenant where God declares ‘…ALL shall KNOW Me…’. It is talking of not just knowing God as the Savior, but also really knowing Him in a personal way…in an intimate relationship. This is quite a contrast to the days in the old covenant, where there was a chosen leader who ‘knew’ God, yes even face-to-face, and who would be the mediator between God and His people. The ‘rest’ of them were merely instructed on what to do, how to walk, follow His commands. But now, there are no boundaries. Every person whether in their teen ages or in their sixties, can take hold of this privilege of knowing God. The verse says, ‘…from the least of them to the greatest of them’. Don’t just settle down like the people in the old covenant. Don’t settle down for anything less than a close relationship – a personal walk with God. This is my burden today, to share with you my own personal experience of knowing God, day by day, year by year, right from my teenage years and now for the past thirty years. You know something – you cannot live by the faith of your leaders; you cannot live by the faith of your parents. Your parents may be great men and women of God; I too was brought up in a Christian home. But somewhere in my teen years, I made this decision to know God personally. It is for you to make that decision for yourself. By faith, we can know Him as our Savior.

Our God is a perfect Gentleman; He will not force you to do something which you do not WANT. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. After you've known Him as your Savior, it's for you to long for a closer walk with Him. Draw near to Him-make an attempt, make an effort...then you will find Him drawing near to you. You can have all of Him that you really want of Him. Otherwise, you can live all your life, knowing God just as your Savior and miss out on so many other areas, in a relationship that is so special.

In Matthew 15:8 Jesus says, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me”. Let this not be His heart-cry concerning you as you come up to praise, sing, dance and worship with your lips! Or do you draw near to God only with your mouth as you say some lofty words and honor with your lips as you mumble some familiar phrases? God is more concerned about matters regarding our heart condition! And God wants to have a heart-to-heart relationship with us. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We must relate to God in our spirit. As a human being, we possess a spirit, soul and body. Now we can worship Him with our lips-that is our body; or we can worship Him emotionally charged up-which is our soul part. But God really is concerned about our spirit. We can really draw close to God only in our revived and renewed spirit; because God is Spirit. 1 Cor. 14:14 says that we can pray in the spirit. This is what I would like to explain today…how we can draw near to God in prayer; whether young or old, from the newest believer to the oldest, we can all know what it is to know God and draw near to Him.

You know, in the world around, people can understand ‘body’; and people can understand ‘soul’; but it is only us-the believers, who understand the ‘spirit’-our innermost being. It is in our spirit man that we relate to God and His voice.

Let me give you an illustration of prayer from the Old Testament-the tabernacle. You know, the tabernacle is divided into three distinct regions-the outer courts, the holy place and the Holy of Holies. The outer courts signify our body; the holy place-our soul; and the Holy of Holies-our spirit. The outer court is where God’s people gathered to make their sacrifices, washing themselves bodily. In the New Covenant, we remember Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed for our sins; we are washed, cleansed by His blood. This is the salvation experience-where we know Jesus as our Savior. We can enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. We offer the sacrifices of praise-the fruit of our lips in exalting Him for who He is. We understand Him as God with us. We are free from any condemnation, and are now ready to enter the Holy Place.

In the old covenant, only the priests from the tribe of Levi, only one of the twelve tribes of Israel, were allowed into the Holy Place. You know, a person can spend the rest of their lives just being satisfied to remain in the outer courts like the people in the old covenant. But there are still two more steps to ‘know’ God in the place where He is. In the new covenant, Jesus has made us ‘kings and priests’, and we can enter the Holy Place. In the Holy Place was kept the table with the show bread, signifying the Word of God. We receive the richness of His word, the fresh ‘Rhema’ that satisfies our soul. We begin to know something more of God. On the other side was also kept the lit lamp-stand, signifying the Holy Spirit. We walk in the light of His Word and are guided by His Spirit in us. We understand Him as God in us. Is it enough? We can be like the priests in the old covenant, satisfied to just be in the Holy Place. But it’s my burden today, that you will go one step further-one step closer to God.

In the outer courts, there is dancing, singing; we raise our hands, wave and clap-expressing our joy in our body. But remember, it is only the outer courts. In the Holy Place, we can experience an emotional release. We can laugh, cry and feel elated-all in the emotional relation with our God. But let us go further. In the old covenant, not even the priests were allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. Only the High priest, and that too only once in a year, entered the Holy of Holies with the blood of the covenant. But in the New covenant, Jesus has made a way…He Himself became our High Priest, entered with His own blood, and obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9). The veil is torn; the way is open for you and me to enter into the Most Holy Place. It is here that we come face to face with God. It is here that we know how we are found in God. It is here that we can have a meaningful relationship with our God.

You know, repetitive actions have a tendency to become a ritual. Like the Holy Communion, where people sometimes lose sight of the meaning in prayers that has been repeated so many times. It is the same way, with the reading of God’s word, just for the sake of reading – maybe sub-consciously ticking off as ‘one of the things’ to be done in the day. And same with prayer-some people have a chain of beads and keep repeating prayers meaninglessly and finally count and see how many times they have ‘prayed’. You know, many will understand prayer as communicating something to God, making your request to God; asking God for His favor. But you know what, prayer can be more than just all those, when you’ve entered the Most Holy Place. Proverbs 8:34 says “Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My gates…”. You see, prayer is also God talking to you. God is asking you to listen to Him. If you do listen, you are blessed; and it is a daily happening, as you see in the verse.

No more is prayer a mere ritual; but an expectation of God speaking to you in your spirit-heart to heart. And prayer therefore must become our priority to have an intimate relationship with God. And we must daily enter the Most Holy Place to listen to Him. Jesus asked us to do this while we pray…that we go into the inner room, shut the door and there pray! This is the secret of intimacy with God…just you and Him, no one else. We shut out everything, and everybody, else as we enter the Most Holy Place.

Jesus also taught us that we must ‘pray’-speak out, verbalize when He taught us the Lord’s prayer. Some people say that they are praying in their minds and so do not speak out. Of course, God can ‘hear’ your prayers while it is still in your mind; but it is better that you ‘hear’ your own prayers too and know what you are praying! And there are many postures mentioned in the Bible for prayer-standing, sitting, and even while lying down. But the most common posture, for men in need has always been ‘kneeling’ in prayer. But whatever be your posture, we must pray in accordance with God’s will. And we will receive from Him (1 John 3:22). Jesus in His example prayer, showed us; how we ought to be concerned about God’s name-‘Hallowed be Your name’; God’s kingdom-‘Your Kingdom come’; God’s will-‘Your will be done’ (Matthew 6:9, 10).

You know, when we all get to heaven, we think that we’ll find it’s wonderful and beyond our imagination in meeting with God Himself. How awesome! But you know what? We can experience those days while we are still here on earth! Meeting with God on a daily basis…eternal life begins here. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain…”. Yes…God’s own throne of grace…we can come to it! Not when we get to heaven…but while we’re still here on earth.

As I said earlier, our God is a perfect Gentleman. He will not interfere in your life without your permission. If you want to live your own life, have your own way, do your own will, you may! If you’d like to carry your own burdens…you may! But His call is clear…you may choose to cast all your burdens on to Jesus. And you may ask Him for His will in your life. If this becomes your plea-your prayer, God will certainly draw near to you. Prayer is also our guard against the enemy. Jesus said ‘Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation’ and ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one’. Thanks be to God who daily bears our burdens!

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” We can ask God for wisdom and direction daily-in our day-to-day lives. Jesus chose His twelve disciples after spending a prayerful night with God. Jesus taught us to ask ‘Give us this day our daily bread’- we can ask God for our bodily and material needs. Job? Money? God knows that you need these things. Philippians 4:6 says “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. Jesus has comforted us with His assurance, “Let not your hearts be troubled”. Do not be fearful.

He speaks to us in our prayers. “My sheep hear My voice”. We can distinguish His voice from all other voices craving for our attention. If somebody is familiar to me, with whom I have interactions on a day-to-day basis, I need to only pickup the phone, hear one ‘hello’ and immediately know that ‘It’s him’ on the other end. Same is the way with our God. When we have a heart to heart conversation with Him everyday, we know for sure, it's Him who speaks and not our own voices-voices of the soul, mind, emotions and will. You see, God can speak to us in an inaudible way too; because He communicates with our spirit. And our spirit has no limitations like our body-which needs ears and sound for the brain to process the audio. But in our spirit, God can impress upon our hearts, His voice-clear and distinct. And we are sure, "It's Him".

So this is my desire for us today, that we all step into an intimate relationship with God in prayer, in the Most Holy Place and recognize and know His voice. Yes! Really ‘know’ Him as more than just our Savior. 1 Peter 3:12 says, “…The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers”. Song of Solomon 2:14 talks of God saying to us, ‘Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet…’. That is God’s desire for you and me. Now it depends on how further you would like to take your relationship with Him.

So the next time you spend in prayer, I urge you to go into the Most Holy Place and there meet with God, from the least to the greatest…from the teenager here to every elderly person.

I pray that every brother and sister here, who feed on your word, will bear fruit in their lives for sure. Help us enter the Most Holy Place and lead us closer to You, for this is our desire; in Your name, Lord Jesus, Amen.