Sincere Prayer

One of the reasons many consider prayer a challenging practice is we may have an incorrect expectation for the purpose of prayer. With incorrect expectations, we cannot properly understand the answers to our prayers. If we ask for one thing or multiple, conflicting things, we will likely become disenchanted when we don’t recognize any expected answer to our prayers. God does answer prayers for the believer, "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him - (Jn. 5:14-15). So, in our view, were the prayers answered or not, did God meet our expectations? What should be our expectations when we pray? Should we expect exactly what we ask for or something better? This quandary may be overcome when we fully comprehend what prayer should be. Use of words create conceptional images in our minds. Even different words for the same item may cause different shades of description around this mental image. As an example, in the English language, the word “prayer” is usually understood as the idea of requesting something. An earlier part of English, Old English offers the example of a request either to God or to anyone else as: “I pray thee to do something.” Regarding physical communication, the basic image conveyed is that of a request. The request could be a surface-level request, or perhaps a deep heart-felt request. As we consider spiritual communication, there were many instructions for both the disciples and believers to pray. The apostles received guidance in passages such as Jesus answering their request about how to pray. [Jesus said] “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” - Matt. 6:9-11. When Jesus spoke to His disciples, He would have used the Jewish concept of prayer. This prayer concept is best defined by the Hebrew word  “tfilia” (תפילה). “The primary meaning of the verb “lehitpalel” (להתפלל), the verb behind the noun, is self-judgement or introspection. “Especially in Jewish Hassidic traditions, “tfilia” is understood to be an introspection that results in bonding between the creature and the Creator, as a child would bond with his/her father.” (Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg - Israel Bible Center). Further Dr, Eli says, “The answer lies in understanding that Hebrew prayer is not only a “request-making session.” It is a communal bonding between God and his child. The house of “his prayer” is, therefore, where God himself engages in introspection and in so doing bonds deeply with his people. They in turn reciprocate this action in their own prayers and bond with Him.” It is not a surprise that when the Jewish Christ was asked by his disciples how they should pray, how to bond with the Father as he did, Jesus clearly responded. Jesus taught them what to request, making sure to address their Heavenly King as “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9). Shortly before this Jesus had warned them to avoid using vain repetitions that characterized pagan approaches to prayer (Matt. 6:7). This introspection is also revealed in His instructions to use a closet and avoid crowds when they prayed (Matt. 6:6). Beyond this, toward the end of His ministry, Jesus told His disciples:

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” - Jn, 14:13;

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” - Jn. 15:7;

“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” - Matt. 18:19;

“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” - Matt. 21:22;

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” - Mk. 11:24.

There was usually an expectation of believe, faith, and according to God’s will. For the disciples, believing after asking was critical. Beyond this, Paul told Christians to “pray without ceasing,” implying constancy of reference to God, 1 Thess. 5:17; Col. 4:2. A major means of promoting religious joy is this bonding prayer. These statements are capped with the revelation that the indwelling Holy Spirit communicates our prayers in a special way to the Father. This communication, bonding, submission is accomplished with a form of feelings that cannot be described by words. Paul says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” - Rom. 8:26.

As we should understand, prayer or better, communication with God is a very personal encounter. Prayer can be thought of as close to confession, homologéō, ("say the same thing about") properly, fully agree and to acknowledge that agreement openly (whole-heartedly) (Strong’s). When we agree with God as best we understand, it signifies we are intending, trying to place His desires above our own. When we do this, our never-ending, or frequent prayers may shift from our desires and material items, to other goals. We should first desire for others to believe, praise, and know Him better. After this, a desire for people to follow His desires. After these, our minds should turn to our requests for His actions. As we align our prayers closer to His will, we may find we recognize more of our prayers being answered.
 (All scriptures from ESV)

Continually

Many of us have read that King David was a great king and a man after God’s own heart. The Holy Spirit lived inside him and used him to speak encouraging words. [Jesus said,] “David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ - Mk. 12:36 (ESV) {From Psa. 110}. Although David was indwelled by the Holy Spirit and spoke by Him, how could the events surrounding Bathsheba occur? David was guilty of lust, adultery, premeditated murder, and instructing others to perform sinful actions. We might say, “he was really messed up.” Where was the Holy Spirit when all this took place? How could the Holy Spirit allow a person to do such things? How could the Holy Spirit remain inside such a “messed up” person? In this history, we observe a mystery of the way God works with His creation. He has given them free will, the privilege to make decisions and choices, while holding them responsible for the resulting implications. At the same time, He will never leave them despite their sometimes appalling choices. In the case of Bathsheba, David’s repentance did not prevent a baby’s death, but it brought him back to following the pathway of God. Such is the case of modern Christians which all have the Holy Spirit living within them. We can make decisions and choices that leave us, “messed up.” While the Holy Spirit may help us recognize harmful choices, He will not prevent the person from ultimately making their individual choices. Although we all sin on numerous occasions, He will not leave the Christian alone. It is true, He cannot remain close to sin, but He certainly remains with those who are continually forgiven of sin. Even when we make poor choices, as long as we continually repent and our continual intent is to follow His guidance, our sins are immediately and continually absolved, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 Jn. 1:7 (ESV). {the verbs “walk”, “have”, and “cleanses” in this sentence are continual} Like David, our choices and decisions may sometimes be minimally or grossly sinful. They may cause physical and emotional discomfort or pain, but He will not leave us. He is continually working to sanctify us for the next part of our existence.  {Please Like this post to see more, later.} [if you would like more encouraging notes, please visit www.rediscoveringthespirit.com and select Twitter: @RediscoverSprt].

Temptation

Many of us have read that King David was a great king and a man after God’s own heart. The Holy Spirit lived inside him and used him to speak encouraging words. [Jesus said,] “David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ - Mk. 12:36 (ESV) {From Psa. 110}. Although David was indwelled by the Holy Spirit and spoke by Him, how could the events surrounding Bathsheba occur? David was guilty of lust, adultery, premeditated murder, and instructing others to perform sinful actions. We might say, “he was really messed up.” Where was the Holy Spirit when all this took place? How could the Holy Spirit allow a person to do such things? How could the Holy Spirit remain inside such a “messed up” person? In this history, we observe a mystery of the way God works with His creation. He has given them free will, the privilege to make decisions and choices, while holding them responsible for the resulting implications. At the same time, He will never leave them despite their sometimes appalling choices. In the case of Bathsheba, David’s repentance did not prevent a baby’s death, but it brought him back to following the pathway of God. Such is the case of modern Christians which all have the Holy Spirit living within them. We can make decisions and choices that leave us, “messed up.” While the Holy Spirit may help them to recognize harmful choices, He will not prevent the person from ultimately making their individual choices. Although we all sin on numerous occasions, He will not leave the Christian alone. It is true, He cannot remain close to sin, but He does remain with those who have been continually forgiven of sin. As long as our intent is to follow His guidance, our sins are immediately and continually absolved, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 Jn. 1:7 (ESV). {the verbs “walk”, “have”, and “cleanses” in this sentence are continual} Like David, our choices and decisions may sometimes be minimally or grossly sinful. They may cause physical and emotional discomfort or pain, but He will not leave us. He is continually working to sanctify us for the next part of our existence. 

Wisdom of Respect

Respect is perhaps a person’s deepest value. People are unique and different, yet they want to manage their own differences and commonality to some self-envisioned model. While doing this, they want to be accepted by others, yet maintain some level of uniqueness. Many struggle with this conundrum at various levels, but in the end, whether slightly or radically different, and whether others agree or disagree, people want others to respect them and their opinions or decisions. Most people recognize they need love, but in the beginning, they may need to feel respected even more than to feel loved. When people are expected to embrace something new or an unanticipated challenge, they find it easier to build new experiences based on modifying a basis of previous thoughts or opinions. As many people seek friends, they usually look for others who have shared some common experiences. By doing this, they anticipate an immediate basis for mutual struggles and a sense of struggles they share. From this common basis, people can move forward to modify their thoughts and actions with greater confidence. When one person does not accept and respect another person’s decisions or present situation, there will be great challenges to discussing any needed change with this person. When people can realize that we all have been sinful people in the past, including themselves, as Jesus chided the people who were about to stone the woman caught in adultery, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her”, Jn. 8:7 (ESV) Paul would later say, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom. 2:23 (ESV). It can be difficult to remember sometimes that those who have been cleansed, have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, are somewhere along a unique individual spiritual journey. Paul encouraged the Galatians, “For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.” Gal. 5:5 (ESV). Those who are targets of suspicion have not yet achieved full sanctification, but neither have those who are looking on. We all need to exercise grace toward others, respect them for the progress they have made; we must also realize neither are we at the end our own spiritual journey. We have more following the do before we achieve perfection.

Accepted

Most animate beings thrive on acceptance. Animals seek others who will accept them and help protect them from predators. For animals, it is critical to be of a like kind leading to easily acceptance by other members of the group (some call this a herd mentality). While there are some examples of animals going beyond this general practice, opposing situations are quite rare. When we consider humans, there is also a sort of herd mentality; the need for companionship and acceptance is quite strong. This has been the case since Adam was created. God provided a companion, helper, a woman for him. Today, many humans engage in various actions suggested by others without sufficient thought about the ramifications for doing them. Humans place a high value on companionship and will do amazing things to achieve acceptance of others. Part of this is the desire by humans to avoid being different from others. There are also people who do not want to standout, but would rather disappear into the shadows of a crowd. These humans do not want to be independent. Since these possibilities are true of humans, those who look for companionship need to exercise great care when choosing those from whom they seek acceptance. Christians should remember we are called or invited to be different from the world that surrounds us; we are to follow or imitate the principles of Jesus as the Holy Spirit guides us to do so. We should also remember we have a great cloud of witnesses to encourage our reliance on the Holy Spirit to lead us along our unique individual spiritual journey, (Heb. 12:1-2). Christians need to trust these witnesses and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to accept those people who will provide the best examples for us to follow.

Insults

Few people can sustain long periods of person insult. This action is extremely exhausting and drains the sustenance from self-worth. Insults, demeaning comments, and even torture are tactics that have long been used on prisoners of war to diminish their self-control and extract important information about opponents. Because of this, soldiers are trained how to deal with this sort of treatment should captivity ever be experienced. However, there is another type of insult that can be helpful and foster greater self-worth for a Christian. “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” - 1 Pet. 4:14 (ESV). When we purposely talk to others about Jesus and are personally rejected, sometimes we become disappointed. When this happens we can remember that this is likely because the “Spirit of Glory and God rest upon you” is being revealed. We Christians are to be different than those who follow worldly pathways. Regardless of what people say about us due to godly actions, we must realize that we are representatives and servants of Jesus; the indwelling Holy Spirit will provide strength, if we ask. He is as much an integral part of our lives as we will allow Him to be. We need to strive for faithful service to God. We need to remember will are sealed as children of God and no matter how we are insulted or what we suffer, Jesus will return for us one day.

Persistance

While some the following is not explicitly stated in scripture, it seems to be a safe deduction. Most scholars will agree that the apostle Paul was a highly educated person. His ancestry was from the tribe of Benjamin, called himself a Hebrew of Hebrews and a Pharisee of Pharisees, the strictest sect of Judaism. His command of Biblical Hebrew and common Aramaic would have been superb. In addition, his writings demonstrate a huge vocabulary in Koine Greek, and possibly classic Greek. Paul had taken the time to accumulate an impressive understanding of the Jewish law and prophets; he was considered a rabbi by many of his peers. He was passionate and dedicated his life to attempting to follow God as he best understood according to his conscience. Luke introduces Paul as one who radically opposed anything that might pervert the Jewish people from serving God. He supported the stoning of Stephen. After this event, the Jerusalem religious council gave him letters authorizing arrest of anyone around Damascus who had supposedly denied their understanding of God’s desires and accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah. Along the way to Damascus, Paul encountered the risen Jesus. This meeting caused many of the rigid conclusions Paul held to evaporate. Many of the teachings about God from the prophets Paul had been taught were obliterated. After his meeting with Jesus, Paul was made blind and had to retreat into his mind to resolve what he had just witnessed. It is probable that since he now had demonstrative evidence that Jesus was who He claimed to be, Paul reviewed and rethought many of the “truths” he had come to believe. It is very likely the Holy Spirit began to help Saul as he examined each of these partial truths he had come to believe so strongly. After revisiting his convictions, Saul was so thoroughly convinced that, after his healing and baptism, he went forward immediately and directly teaching others about Jesus. “And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” – Acts 9:20 (ESV). The Jews at Damascus were not ready to accept what Paul had to say and this changed, passionate servant, now named Paul; he caused such a disruption that the authorities tried to stop him. "At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.” - 2 Cor. 11:32-33 (ESV). Scriptures do not provide clear details, but Paul spent the next 3 years in Arabia, or the desert, (there are many conjectures, even perhaps a visit to Mt. Sinai) following a pathway guided by the Holy Spirit possibly focusing on the Nabateans and their capital, Arabia Petrea. “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. - Gal. 1:15-19 (NIV). The Holy Spirit did not leave details about these activities of Paul, but based on the activity descriptions left, it is a very good assumption that Paul would have continued to preach about Jesus and dodge authorities who would have opposed him. If the three years he was away from Damascus allowed time for the authority who wanted to arrest him to be deposed, this would help date the time Paul was in Damascus. Paul became a powerful and dedicated servant of Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit who helped achieve conversions of many Jews and Gentiles into Christians. Paul was viewed as successful because he followed directions from the Holy Spirit. While the needs of today are somewhat different than those in the time Paul lived, we also need to be as passionate as possible to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we are willing servants to support His goals, God will be glorified.

Freedom

As individuals, we really do not enjoy other people dictating our every thought and action (of which criticism and judgement are parts) – this is bondage. As humans, we have unique and individual beliefs, opinions, and motivations. In many ways each of us is free to choose our thoughts and subsequent actions. Most of us change our choices when we learn the ramifications associated with this freedom of choice. While we may not have the ability to do every action we would like, we each have the ability to think whatever we want. This freedom can be problematic when we think thoughts that are not godly. Satan feeds on thoughts like this and tries to embellish them. Satan will literally do anything to sever a person’s relationship with God and leave a person struggling for a solid foundation in life. This bondage of thoughts is real and along with it comes present dissatisfaction with life and an innate fear of final judgement. There is only one pathway out of this bondage, Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus, we are exempted from final judgement for our thoughts and actions. When we accept Jesus we begin a unique individual spiritual journey towards sanctification, a long word for becoming more dedicated to godly thoughts and actions. This process is led by the indwelling Holy Spirit, as quickly as the individual will allow. This is true and complete freedom. It is freedom from judgement and freedom to follow God’s principles. These are things even the angels long to achieve. "[Thinking of God’s Servants] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-- things into which angels long to look." - 1 Pet. 1:12 (NASB)

Help from the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit speaks to us via the scriptures. He takes what we read or hear, helps us put the pieces together and understand the teaching. He helps us remember guidance from His previous statements and create mental pictures of which we can understand the meaning. The Holy Spirit does not make decisions for us. He prompts us with confidence to follow those plans associated with godly principles. He does all this in preparation, but leaves the final decisions for thoughts and actions to the individual. In this way we progress along our unique individual spiritual journey one day at a time. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." - 2 Tim. 3:16-17 ESV