Connecting with God through Prayer
Series: Connecting with God
Brad Bailey – May 12, 2024
Intro
Today we are concluding our series “Connecting with God”... in which we have
engaged identifying our location... that is...the position we are in...including being finite
beings...who have tried to hide from our own defiant independence... and then how the
very nature of creation whispers... and how our longing for justice is an echo of God’s
voice... and then how our desire for significance is vain apart from a larger purpose.
Finally last week... Josh described how we connect with God in stillness...calm...
for that is what the presence of God bears.
Jesus declares that God rules over chaos... he stills the storms... because his
presence is connected to the calm...not the chaos.
God’s call to us is captured in Psalm 46:10 [1]...
“Be still, and know that I am God...” - Psalm 46:10
Today...as we conclude this series...I want to expand on that... on how we engage
God in that space.
While a quiet soul is not limited to quiet places, it may be developed there.
This is what we see in Jesus... Jesus began his days in quiet places...where it was
easier to quiet his soul. His was so often found praying... and spoke of living out of
what he heard and saw from the Father in heaven through prayer.
When God embodied a human life in Christ...he showed and shared the connection
we can have with God.
When those closest to Jesus saw his life.... They asked him to teach them to
PRAY... to teach them how to actually have a relationship with God.
And Jesus begins....Matthew 6:5-6
"... when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth,
they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Hypocrites.... Is a translation of the Greek work used in theater...which reflects the
actor who in those days wore a mask... and tried to convince an audience they were somebody
other than who they really were. That is what the religious leaders were doing. [2]
The simple but significant truth is that if we carry on as actors... to be accepted
by others... we may indeed have some who like our performance... but that will
be our ‘reward in full’... that’s all we get.
The first thing Jesus says is that we need to go into our room and close the door.
Jesus isn’t challenging a place for public prayer per se, but rather the very essence
of performing...of trying to be somebody we are not.
We can all become performers... actors among actors... never able to escape the
false selves we have formed.
As Brennan Manning describes all too well [3]...
“Have you ever felt baffled by your internal resistance to prayer? By the
existential dread of silence, solitude, and being alone with God? Beware the
impostor!
The false self dreads being alone, knowing "that if he would become silent within
and without he would discover himself to be nothing. He would be left with
nothing but his own nothingness, and to the false self which claims to be
everything, such a discovery would be his undoing."
As he describes... we can all become imposters...we can all develop some type of
identity that we believe will make us acceptable. We’ve played the part so long we
don’t know any other way to be.
> To be in the presence of the one who sees us beneath the character we play... is
uncomfortable.
The truth is that we long to be loved...but we fear being seen.
But God knows... that our false selves will never be loved...because they are not real.
They will never hear God...because God knows that only real people can hear.
What Jesus is teaching us... is essentially ... that God is seeking our true and full
presence...so we need to get real.
It’s fascinating to me that Jesus doesn’t focus on God showing up...but on what
we need to do to show up.
He says “God sees what is done in secret...and WILL reward us.”
Jesus knows that God is always present.
What if the truth is that God is more present than you right now?
What if God who is Spirit is always present... and waiting for our true selves to
show up... to close the door to the audience we perform to ...and center
ourselves before the one true source of our existence?
Jesus is telling us that connecting with God begins with bringing our true selves
before His presence.
And what Jesus describes is how we come before God’s presence...He is at the
center.
We tend to think of praying as a way of asking God for what we need ...or
want....and it certainly includes that. But ...
Prayer is not trying to pull God’s strings...but of aligning ourselves with Him. It is
not trying to pull God into our orbit... but bringing ourselves into His orbit. He is
the true center of existence.
To help orient ourselves in connecting with God...I want us to grasp 5 things we
need to understand about God...and how they help us engage in prayer ...and hear
His voice.
1. God is Relational.
We can hear God because He created us to be united in His eternal love.
God created us in His image...that is...to distinctly share something of His
nature...so that we could be united with Him.
As described in the Biblical Book of Ephesians...
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great
pleasure. - Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
As expressed in the Message paraphrase...
“Long before He laid down the earth’s foundation, He had us in His mind and
settled on us as the focus of His love to be made whole and holy by His love.” -
Ephesians 1:5 (Msg)
You were created to be “the focus of His love.”
God says He made you, to love you.
He didn’t need you, He wanted you. We have to understand this is what on earth
we’re here for – to be loved by God.
Jesus came to restore that connection... and it’s the connection he bore...
Jesus.... on the night he is betrayed... there in the Garden in which he will soon be
taken... he prays for the ultimate goal of his mission.
John 17:20-21
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of
them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be
in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Jesus prays for us to be united with God and united together in God.
God is bound in unity
In Jesus’ prayer, he describes it as oneness. Jesus is describing how God ... manifest in
three persons... Father, Son and Spirit....are united.
Imagine a relationship where there are no barriers between you and the other.
> God has come to bring you into that connection... including you in relationship
with this everlasting love.
We need to take this is: You are created for connection.
God knows we may feel alone... very important to know that He is not a substitute
for human companionship... but He is the answer to our deepest existential
aloneness.
God has created you for relationship. God’s will is to be personally present with
you as you go through life.
2. God is Spirit.
God communicates to our spiritual nature ... both through and beyond the
boundaries of our physical and rational nature.
The working of God’s Spirit forms the physical realm (Genesis 1:1-2). These two
realms are not opposites... but the spiritual transcends the physical.
We are connecting to that every time we see a sunrise...sunset... beauty of any
kind... every time we feel a reaction to what is deeply wrong...or inspired by that
which is deeply right. These experiences do not reflect biology being misinterpreted
as something transcendent... but rather they reflect that we are more than biological.
The Holy Spirit has come to bring new life... new spiritual life....in each of us who
receive Christ. [4]
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. - Romans
8:16
Prayer involves what is essentially Spirit to spirit communication.[5]
Hearing God involves developing an inner dialogue between our spirit and the Spirit of
God. [6] How do we experience this?
God generally speaks to us by the Spirit’s inner voice that is distinct from our
own thoughts, an inner image, that upon reflection or further revelation, offers
meaning, a feeling that comes upon us (such as a peace, faith, etc), or a
prompting that directs us.
The Spirit may also communicate through bringing a word from Scripture to
mind, a dream or vision, words given by another, and in the context of praying for
others, sympathetic sensations in your body.
What to listen for?
We all have a lot of thoughts that run through us... so I find it helpful to wait on that
which is distinct from my own thoughts. Whatever tends to come from outside your
own current ideas and thoughts.
As God declared through the prophet Isaiah,
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
This doesn’t mean that everything God says will conflict with all common wisdom
or thought... God gives us wisdom... and true wisdom will lead us well. But when we
are trying to listen to what may be God’s Spirit speaking ...it is helpful to listen
for that which is not a reflection of our own thoughts. [7]
We should embrace our own natural thoughts as potential God-given wisdom...
and inner words, images, or senses “outside” our natural thoughts as a potential
God-given “word.”
Examples of...
- Our church building process – the night we were to prepare our offer... and spoke to
me and says: “Offer the least”... which would mean giving up what we knew would
be needed to secure it against the other bidders. Everyone shared a sense we
should offer more...but we took that word in...offered the least we could...and a
couple days later were told that they chose us...and then added...against higher
offers.
- Praying for one of my children...ahead of his age in school...struggling...2nd
grade...all my best thinking said yes... I spoke with friends...they shared the same
basic natural thought...Leah and I prayer...with that decision already planned...and
immediately God spoke into my mind.... “Let him rise up.” Wow. It’s not something I
wanted to risk...but we did. At the final day of the school year...and as he won the
award for most improved student...with outstanding grades...I wept at how God had
transcended our understanding. He rose up. Now exactly ten years later he’s being
accepted into top colleges I could never have imagined applying to.
3. God is our Spiritual Father.
More than just directing us, His voice is often focused on developing us.
I believe this is where we often can get the most confused about hearing God.
We may want God to tell us what the right decision is, to tell us whether to go left or
right... who we should marry... what job we should get.
But God doesn’t want to program us, He wants to parent us.
As our ultimate Father... we should realize He is not usually going to tell us “the
what and who and when” of life’s choices...but rather the how.
God will most often be more interested in the formation of his children than the
dictation of decisions... and more likely to speak into “how” we live than simply
“what” we do.
Ex – On the morning of the day I planned to ask my wife Leah to marry me.... Prayed...
“Lord, is Leah the one I’m to marry?” Immediately I heard God speak in my mind, “You
are ready to commit the rest of your life to someone.” I already had total peace about
her being a great life partner...so God spoke to something that spoke even more
deeply. God spoke as the ultimate Father...not simply declaring a decision...but
developing me.
A good parent knows that most often...what matters most is how we work more than
what job we have...and how we live out a marriage relationship more than “who” we
marry.
In fact... the Scriptures describe what is referred to as the fruit of the Spirit. In other
words....this is what the Spirit of God is trying to produce in your life...
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “ - Galatians 5:22-23
What the Apostle Paul understood and was teaching us...is that the greatest work of
God... the lasting fruit... is what God is seeking to form us. We may want to gain the
inside information ...but God will usually speak into our formation.
4. God is Unchanging.
God’s voice will become more familiar when we are familiar with His Living Word
(The Scriptures).
As the Scriptures declare [8]...
"I the LORD do not change.” - Malachi 3:6
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." -
Isaiah 40:8
What does that imply to us?
It means that while we may have a fascination with discovering something new...
God is seeking us to align with what is unchanging... with who He is and what He
has already set forth.
We believe that God has spoken through His word... the Scriptures... that the written
Word of God tells us all we need to know about the way to salvation, right beliefs and
what is true and good in general. But we believe the God who spoke still speaks. His
nature and truth are unchanging...but He speaks to our individual hearts and
circumstances. God brings revelation to personal and specific matters that is not
“adding new truth but applying that truth.” [9]
What’s helpful to realize is that they are the same voice...so familiarity with the
Living Word of Scripture, helps us to recognize the voice of God.
We all become more naturally attuned to what we have been exposed to... become
familiar with.
- A musician learns to distinguish the key of F from the key of C by listening to
their sound over and over again. They develop an ear for music.
- Mechanics hear the engine of my car and tell what’s wrong...so familiar with the
sound.
- The new parent may sleep through many sounds... but develop an acute
familiarity for one voice you heard all day... so that when it calls out to you at
night...the familiarity is natural.
- I can be at the park amidst a lot of children... hear my child cry... or yell ‘daddy’... it
stands out. The voice and words of God can stand out amidst the many voices that
surround us, as we become more familiar.
Our minds develop a “mindset”... an inner framework for how we interpret reality. We
relate to everything based on the framework we have been given. The truth is that
we have all had a lot of voices that have taught us...that have been internalized... that
are familiar...and these may shape the voices that naturally run through our thought. If
we are going to hear God’s voice... we may need to transform our minds.
We are also not yet fully redeemed from a fallen state ... we and the world are not
operating in full harmony yet with all that is true and good. We grow as we develop
more understanding about God and his will and purposes.
Do not conform any longer 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. - Romans 12:2
The point is that discernment develops as we mature in knowing God and His
will.
5. God Reigns Over a Larger Reality.
God’s voice will usually challenge and expand our faith.
Romans 10:17
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
God wants to lead us into the reality of His Kingdom. So He is going to lead us into
that which is beyond our limited understanding...and requires trust.
He will call us to step out and serve when we don’t feel fully capable.
He will call us to pray for someone... or share something from God with
someone....when we don’t know if it will make sense.
He may speak to us about going to someone to ask forgiveness...that we can’t
imagine doing.
He may speak to us about giving beyond what we can imagine.
(Ex. Building campaign... double what I had landed on)
> So if we want to hear God...we need to loosen our comfort zone.
Prayer is quieting the claims of chaos... to connect to the calm... when centered in...
we are engaging the larger reality.
CLOSING:
I want to close with a simple call... to embrace that you are connected to God.
I believe that...we all hear God.
I believe every one of us can hear God... and has heard God in some form and
fashion....and will hear more.
God has spoken....that is why you exist ...why you are hear.
There are no unseen lives.
PRAY > Take a moment and welcome His presence... as it’s own gift.
Sense His pleasure with your presence.
Notes:
1. Similarly in another Psalm we read: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. -
Psalm 37:7
2. The formality of the Jewish religion included that of praying while standing with hands
stretched out, palms opened and heads bowed, 3 times each day, at 9 a.m., Noon and 3 p.m.,
wherever one was. It was easy for a man to be sure that they would find themselves at a busy
part of the marketplace or the top step of the synagogue and there, offer lengthy and
demonstrative prayers as a sign of piety. Jesus makes clear the how much is defined by this
one choice...whether to seek the approval of others or God.
3. Brennan Manning, "Abba's Child", p. 39-40.
4. Once in harmony, now the created realm is separated from the eternal reign of God. The
physical realm is in a state of death. Our understanding has become darkened... seeing only
through a glass dimly.
God spoke prophetically saying...
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will
dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I
will pour out my Spirit in those days. - Joel 2:28-30
Jesus explained that this was now what being fulfilled in the sending of the Spirit to live within
those who receive him. (John 14:15-17 & John 16:14).This began on the day of Pentecost when
the Spirit was poured out into the lives waiting as Jesus had told them to. (Acts 2:1-2,4) [3]
5. Regarding the nature of the Spirit, the text continues:
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children....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 with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our
hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance
with God's will. - Romans 8:16, 26-27
This may reflect what Jesus was explaining when he told the Samaritan women he met at a
well, that “the times had come when those who worship God must do so in “spirit and truth.”
(John 4:24)
It has been noted that there are two Greek words in the New Testament that are translated
“word”: logos and rhema. “Logos” tends to be used in speaking of the objective truth of God’s
Word.... and “rhema” of the personal spiritual impartation of God’s Word. As such, the
Scriptures can be both logos and rhema...logos in the fundamental truth of the content ...and
rhema as God speaks personally to our spirits.
As Mark Virkler describes, “We need both logos and rhema. The content of the Bible (Logos) is
necessary because it gives us an absolute standard against which to measure all “truth.” It is
our safeguard to keep us from error, and our instruction manual for life. Rhema, or the voice of
God, is Spirit-to-spirit communication—where the Holy Spirit, in union with your spirit, speaks
directly to you.” [Virkler, Mark. 4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice (pp. 97-98). Destiny Image.]
Jesus spoke of people needing to “have ears to hear”... which clearly is not speaking about our
auditory receptivity...but rather our spiritual receptivity. In speaking of the coming of the Holy
Spirit, he speaks of the one who will impart truth. As Jesus described (John 14), the Holy Spirit
is, truly and literally, God within us. So God speaks by His Spirit in relationship to our spirit.
6. If you look to Hollywood for examples, you’d probably be expecting a big booming voice from
the clouds. But in 1 Kings 19, God shows himself in quite the opposite way. Elijah waits to hear
God and doesn’t hear Him in the wind, an earthquake, or a fire, but in a gentle whisper.
7. Embrace the freedom to listen “beyond your own understanding.” Our faith is rational, but
God is not bound by our understanding. Those of us that are more left-brain and analytical need
to embrace that there is a larger reality. We do well to stand back and realize...what is true and
real is never defined by just a physical measurement.
Our entire lives are lived out of what we understand physically as well as relationally and
intuitively and spiritually. As such, knowing someone involves more than mere material
information. If you ask me to tell you about my wife...listing the names of the chemical
compounds that she is made of would be a limited level of knowing her to say the least. Deeper
knowledge transcends material knowledge.
8. We also read:
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.
God is unchanging. His mind is eternal... His heart is eternal... His purposes are eternal.
9. A further affirmation about being: A People of Word and Spirit
The role of the Holy Spirit, and particularly the nature of God “speaking,” raises issues about the
relationship between the role of the Bible as “God’s Word” ...and the role of God’s Spirit
speaking to us. We hold to what the Bible clearly teaches, which sets the Scriptures apart as
distinctly trustworthy in their Spirit-inspired testimony.... as well as the ongoing relationship by
which we share communion with God by His Spirit at work within us. We believe that God has
never been “bound within Scripture” ... but has rooted his revelation distinctly in Scripture so as
to set forth that which is foundational... a plumbline which serves to provide alignment for all
understanding.
God has rooted His revelation of Himself in the uniquely inspired testimony of Scripture... but He
is not bound within it.
Our lives are guided by the nature of truth...but such truth is empowered by the working of
God’s Spirit. These two facets have been likened to the role of both a rudder and sail in boating.
These two work together to move forward toward the destination.
