Prayer; Our Intimacy with Christ
This is part 3 on growing in the identity of Christ, you can find part 2 here.
Today, we are going to dive into the aspect of intimacy with God; more specifically to do with prayer.
Let us start off by praying: Heavenly Father, i give thanks to those who have come across this topic on prayer, may you open the eyes of their hearts to be transformed and bring about a revelation that prayer is our ultimate weapon as believers in a world filled with hopelessness. Lord, may you allow whoever reading this; the ability to understand that they have been given an access to you because of the blood of the lamb which is your son, Jesus Christ. As a result, may they embrace the fact that you do move on their behalf when they communicate with you through the form of prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen.
This teaching will be taught from Luke 11:1-13. But before we get started, it's important for me to start with the sentence "you can't take on the identity of a person you do not know or aren't intimate with". This bring me to ask the question, would you marry a man/woman that you do not know anything of or for the ladies, even take on his last name? My prayer is you wouldn't if given this choice. Instead, you will take the time to find out whoever this person is before you make a life-long commitment to them.
The question which i hope to answer today is, what does Intimacy with Christ/God look like through Prayer.
The first step is to define Prayer:
- Prayer is simply a way of communication with God.
If prayer is simply a way of communicating with God, this simply let us know that a Christian misses out on fellowship with God if they do not pray. The beautiful thing with Prayer is, it's God's way of initiating conversations with us by dropping things into our minds so we can go to him for help or stay connected to him. When i talk about help, it encompasses everything from financial, emotional, physical to spiritual burdens.
God invites us to pray as a way of being connected with him and ultimately for his will and not ours to be done; because of this, he releases his blessings to us. Because prayer is a conversation, you must also believe that God listens to you and shall respond back to you. David says in Psalms 17:6-9 “I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. [7] Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. [8] Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings [9] from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me".
David knew who he was to God, the apple of his eye, a treasure. Do you know and believe that you're the apple of God's eye and that he is your protector? To be sure of all this and that your prayers are heard is to have a true relationship with God himself.
Intimacy with God through prayer moulds/conforms us into the identity of Christ. As Jesus is our pioneer and as we follow him, we get to be more like him every day.
One crucial thing we ought to know about Jesus was, when he did walk the face of earth as a man; he made it a habit to be intimate with the father because he couldn't physically see and be with the Father like he did in Heaven. Therefore, he needed that connection that he was so used to having with him in Heaven.
We see a lot of scenarios mentioned in the Gospels where Jesus took time to isolate himself, even from his disciples, to fellowship with the Father.
Here are couple of examples:
- Matthew 14:1-13 - When Jesus faced the loss of his cousin, John the Baptist. This was him walking through grief.
- Luke 6:12-16 - When Jesus was about to appoint his 12 disciples. Facing an important decision.
- Mark 6:45-46 - After the feeding of the 5,000; he needed to recharge.
- Luke 22:39-46 - Just before his crucifixion, so a time of heavy distress.
One can deduct by looking at these examples that prayer is our lifeline, it keeps us connected to the father thus if the enemy actively tries to prevent it and we ourselves do not cultivate the discipline of an active prayer life, we will inevitably die. Spiritually you'd be dead and powerless.
We must devote ourselves to prayer as it says in Colossians 4:2, otherwise we'd turn into the dry bones mentioned in Ezekiel 37:1-14. Therefore, it's not a shock when Jesus made the statement in Matthew 21:13 that his Father's house shall be a house of prayer not preaching or praise and worship (though these acts of worship unto the Lord are important). This is why it's important to know how to pray to the Father just as Jesus taught his disciples (including us) in Luke 11:1-13; you can cross-reference this to Matthew 6:5-15 which includes more details on the principle of prayer.
The backdrop to Jesus' teaching on Prayer in Luke 11:1 starts with the disciples observing Jesus pray thus leading them to ask him to teach them once he was done. It's very important to note that at the time of this question, the disciples had been with Jesus for quite a while, which meant they have had the opportunity to observe his lifestyle i.e. giving thanks before them and praying, isolating himself to pray etc. They also had gotten front row seats to the miracles Jesus had performed so far, they had been sent out by him with power to preach the word of God, cast out demons and heal the sick.
You would think with all the disciples had witnessed they might have asked Jesus to teach them how to maybe preach more effectively because some were indeed uneducated men or better yet how to perform jaw dropping miracles.
However, the one thing they requested from their master was that he teach them how to pray. This highlights the importance of prayer and having a good prayer life. The disciples might have understood that there was something divine that came with prayer especially if their master practiced it, so they wanted the ins of it.
It's said that Rabbis taught their students formula/structure on how to pray, the fact the disciples mentioned John the Baptist teaching his student (It sounds to me like they were saying "well Jesus, if John taught his students, we also want your formula"). It's important to note that, though Luke talks about his witness of this incident; Matthew adds depth to what also took place before Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. In Matthew 6:8, Jesus establishes the point that God already knows what we need before we come to him hence, we can come with confidence. (Read Matthew 6:5-15 in your free time, cross reference for deeper understanding).
In Luke 11:2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come". Jesus starts by teaching them how to pray and if you break down the verses; you observe Jesus started off by recognising that God is our Father and in the same breath praises his name (the word hallowed means to be greatly revered/honoured and in God's case, he is, in the sense of Holiness). Meaning, we must recognise that the Being we are talking to is the Almighty God and not our little friend (humility is key here); if we could get our lives together by our might then we wouldn't need to pray to God.
Therefore, we firstly must put God in the position of authority and great reverence in our lives; in which he alone is deserving of while having faith in him. If you love the Father, you would also love and believe in Jesus for he is one with the Father who sent him.
In the same verse it says your Kingdom come and in Matthew 6:10, it adds your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Praying that God's Kingdom comes, and his will be done on earth as it's in heaven, is another way of praying that the evil of this world come to an end and for us to become available vessels for God's kingdom to be manifested on earth. This is done by repenting and accepting the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, putting God first in everything and sharing the Gospel in hopes that many souls will be restored from the Kingdom of darkness to that of light. This is the Great Commission seen in Matthew 28:19-20, that we all have been commanded to do as Christians. Allow me to reiterate, disciple making is all about allowing Christ to live through you.
Additionally, we are to acknowledge that whenever we go to the Lord in prayer, we are to seek his will to be done and not ours. We must be willing to accept his will to be done even if it's completely opposite to ours. For you to know and discern God's personal will for your life, means reading his word and being yielded to his Spirit that resides in you.
It says in Romans 12:1-2 "[1] Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. [2] Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will".
Let's be honest, praying the prayer of God's will to be done can be very painful because it means totally yielding to the unknown and trusting not by sight but by faith and trusting the Father to take us from glory to glory. Jesus is an example of one who prayed for God's will to be done, in Matthew 26:36-44; just before he went to the cross, in the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed thrice if it was possible, that God the Father should take the cup of death from his head but above all; to let his will be done.
God's will be and still is; for mankind to be restored, although Jesus went through such brutal death for us, something beautiful came out of it; eternal life and reconciliation with God through Christ for everyone. This was the joy that was set before him and the reason why he disregarded the shame of the cross. Jesus knew what his death will bring, as he shall receive the title Christ (anointed one or Saviour) and sit at the right-hand of the Father. He had us all in his mind as we are also raised up and seated in Heavenly places with and in Christ according to Ephesians 2:6.
I will urge you to completely yield to what God wants to do in your life; for there's beauty on the other side of being yielded no matter the pain you experience during the process.
In the next verse Luke 11:3, Jesus says we are then to ask God for all our needs to be met each day. This is reinforcing that God will meet your needs daily thus you should not worry about tomorrow. Matthew 6:25-34 dives into this. God provides a day at a time, in order for us to learn how to depend on him.
A good example of this were the Israelites. During the time of their Exodus from Egypt and their time in the wilderness, they were at some point instructed to pick the Manna that would fill them up in a day and no more than a day; they did the opposite, and this caused the Manna to rot. (Exodus 16:1-20). At times, we very much behave like the Israelites, and we stockpile in order to depend on ourselves, the root of it; is just lack of trust in God. No matter how much God has blessed us, he still wants us to humble ourselves and rely on him for our daily needs; it doesn't always have to be financial! as we need him for daily direction, protection, wisdom etc. All of which allows for God to be involved in our lives.
The next verse, Luke 11:4 talks about forgiveness by saying 'Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation'. This brings me to make the point, you cannot, and I repeat cannot enter further into the presence of God if you're living in sin and wouldn't repent; sin blocks our prayer, it's detestable to a Holy God.
In Psalms 34:15-16 '[15] The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; [16] but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth'. Therefore, even the act of holding a grudge against someone, unforgiveness, bitterness and anger will cause your prayer request to be unanswered. If you want your Heavenly Father’s forgiveness, you also must learn how to forgive (God grants us forgiveness through Christ so we can extend it to all and not SOME around us!).
It says in Matthew 5:23-24, to leave your gifts at the altar to reconcile with those who have hurt you before you go further to present it/give worship unto the Lord. I will say this because it's not in our human nature to forgive naturally. As a result, we should always ask God to teach us how to forgive and to pour out his love in us through his Spirit for us to extend it to those who have hurt us.
The final part of verse 4 says 'and leads us not into temptations but deliver us from the evil one'. First and foremost, God does not, and I repeat God does not tempt us for he is Holy. However, he does let us go through testing to reveal our heart and where our faith lies. Our trials/testing are meant to build our faith.
On the other hand, we all know the enemy is sour and will try to use all means to tempt us back into our old lifestyle of sin. This is the reason we must ask God who has the power to deliver us from the evil that wants to take us captive. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it".
Luke 11:5-10 says '[5] Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; [6] a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ [7] And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ [8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. [9] “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened'.
In verses 5-10 we not only see persistency that's required on our part in prayer but when we also read between the lines; Jesus is making an important point and this is, God doesn't sleep like a human father does. He wants us to come to him whenever, no matter the time, to 'disturb' him; he doesn't mind.
However, unlike the neighbour at the door that kept on pestering his friend for loaves of bread and waiting to be answered but was only answered because of his shameless persistency and for his friend to avoid being shamed (underlying selfish reason); our Father in Heaven is not like that. He answers right away so you don't have to wring his hands for him to answer your prayers, though you must change your perspective and thank him that he has done so.
You see, we all would love to see an immediate physical manifestation to all our prayers but for some, the timing might not be right. Moreover, you can trust that your prayers have seen spiritual manifestation and Daniel is an example of this, he prayed and fasted for 21 days only for his prayers to see physical manifestation on the 24th day (Daniel 10:1-14).
As mentioned before, this is why gratitude is very important. I have always pondered why Jesus gave thanks before he performed miracles (feeding of the multitudes (Mark 6:35-41), also the 4,000 (Mark 8:1-10) and before raising Lazarus from the dead John 11:41-44). Jesus already knew his father had permitted this so all that was left was to thank him for the outcome. The reason why we fail to see the physical manifestations to our prayers is because we haven't thought about praising God/thanking him for answering the prayers we are hoping to see answered. We are still stuck on the level of, will he? or when will he? rather than he has done and i will praise him till i see it.
I encourage you to walk in the identity of Christ, by being intimate with God so that when it comes to prayer you walk in Victorious (even during those days you do not "feel" like it) and walk out knowing that you're Victorious. Have faith, never give up and keep persevering for whatever God has promised, he's faithful to deliver. As 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says '[16] Rejoice always, [17] pray continually, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus'.
Finally, unto the question of who helps us to have intimacy with the Father and conforms us into the image of Christ?
The answer is the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:13 says "[13] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” The answer to the question the disciples asked was now revealed to them. The Holy Spirit is the gift that Jesus is talking about (talk about Jesus, the gift that keeps on giving! Giving the gift which is the Holy Spirit!).
We come to find out from this verse that it's Intimacy with the Holy Spirit that teaches a believer how to pray effectively. Thus, we cannot afford to neglect the role of the helper in our lives as Christ followers. If his Spirit doesn't identify with ours; can we truly say we are the sons of God and call him ABBA, our Father? Absolutely not! we don't have intimacy with him hence we do not have his identity.
The Holy Spirit unlike the Old Testament in which he only came upon those whom God had commissioned for a task/role is now available to dwell in us permanently at the point of our Salvation. The Holy Spirit is very important in prayer as it says in Romans 8:26-27 '[26] In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. [27] And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
The Spirit of God is the one that allows us to pray according to God's will. He shifts our selfish desires (if you'd let him) and aligns it to Godly desires. The transformative work done by the Holy Spirit in you allows you to pray God's will and during times you have no words to even mutter, the Spirit of God intercedes for you and conveys it to our Father in Heaven.
To conclude, we thank God for the gift of Salvation which comes with the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit who helps us to keep our lifeline (prayer), fellowship/relationship with God stronger thus enabling us to walk in Christ' Identity.
Click here to read the next topic on the theme of Identity.