Do you pray in private?

I encourage you to spend a moment, clearing off your table, sitting still for a few moments, and put your mind, heart, and hands at ease - even stop what you are doing, and sit in the middle of a room or the middle of your yard for a moment and be still. Wander into an open area, but find yourself alone, and you'll realize you are not so alone.

Do we pray with expectancy? Do we pray with vigor? Do we pray without ceasing? Do we pray until our prayer is answered? Do we pray because we are supposed to? Do we pray the right things? Do we pray as though my next breath was dependent on an answer or some kind of breakthrough? Will you contend that God would bring forth your destiny to be manifest in your life?

Perhaps the most important question to be asked is, "Will you pray in secret and allow Him to go where no one has gone before?"

I am here to tell you that you must pray in secret. You must pray alone. You must put EVERYTHING down, even your toys, and tools, phones, to-do lists, and your agendas, and your obligations to your own time commitments. It may mean that you even need to put down your instrument of worship, and your soaking music. Unless you learn to be alone with the Lord, you will not be able to portray nor testify of an intimate relationship with Jesus, or the Father, or create a frame of reference in which the Holy Spirit can operate.

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Oh Lord, your ways are so perfect, and I declare publicly, now that I have spent years in secret honoring you, asking You for the desires of your heart, that You would reach deeper into the hearts of all of those people I know, and have influence into their lives, that they may have an encounter with the Father's love that goes beyond being able to tell someone what happened! Lord, I do pray from the bottom of my heart, that your overwhelming presence would invade our homes, the roots of our governing systems, and that You would bring inspiration to those who have been patient, and I pray Lord, that I might provoke You to begin to release your reward to the saints that have found their home in their prayer closet, in your humble royal chamber.

Oh precious Jesus, let my desires be as bold as yours, and Lord, give me strength to pray longer, harder, and Holy Spirit, give me grace to pray as long as I need in order to see the Father's will played out in every arena of my heart, my family, and any other influence in which I have been given authority to govern. Don't hide your face Lord - I can't stand to imagine one day without your hand in my life. If I am too blind to see it, Lord please heal my sight. If I am too busy to notice it, strip me of my self-made dignity and humble me with it. Lord, if I won't identify it, teach me to know more sincerely the purity and boldness of your works.

Oh Holy Spirit, You are so kind, and You are so benevolent to reveal truth in as much measure as I can handle. May the incense of your words be carried on my person all the days of my life, to remind me of your endless provision of insight to the way of Freedom, and teach me to be as benevolent with it as You have been to me.

Let your love, oh Lord, be as a seed that I plant into the fields of the earth, and let me be expectant that I will reap a harvest because of the abundance that was first dealt toward me, and I pray that this abundance would in turn, be harvested by seed sowers in as many generations to come as You can promise.

Your love is better than anything that I have ever experienced, and your love carries more weight in my heart than I could ever have imagined on my own, so I thank You for expanding the borders of my heart, and I will forever thank You for the gift of perception, that allows me to realize transformation, count my blessings, and sing of your endless goodness for You alone are great, and greatly to be praised.

Oh ageless One, I will speak of your great and wondrous ways all the days of my life, and I will dedicate all of my heart, mind, and soul to believing all of your promises, seeking You and finding You, obtaining grace and freedom, operating in faith to produce works that are worthy of your approval, and providing You with avenues to bring you glory in my life, wherever, whenever, and to whichever degree You find pleasurable, and satisfactory.

Blessing and honor to You my King, Jesus, as You are worthy to receive the reward of your suffering. Hallelujah!

For God SO Loved the World

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

I’ve had a revelation recently – God Loves US! I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Lord, thinking, meditating, praying, desiring, asking for healing to flood my unbelieving heart, and crying out for glory to be released among those that have desired more for so long.

On my long 1900 mile journey a couple of weeks ago, the Lord showed me something that I had never seen before – perhaps never even thought before – and I almost had to pull off the road because of the magnitude of what this spoke to my heart. Exodus 20.

Do you remember this passage? Every human has it written in their heart – it’s a code – the code to the gates of heaven. Hint: It’s a bunch of ‘THOU SHALTS’ that have shaped, molded and imprisoned generations of multitudes, their cultures, and their religions.

My point is not to bring up the improper interpretation, but the original one, which leads me to what the Lord told me. It goes something like this: “I gave you these ten commandments to tell you how I always have, do, and will love you. I will not put anything between you and me, so I ask you to do the same. I will never speak against your identity as my son or speak of you as less than you are. I will always take a Sabbath so we can spend time together, life is about more than the pursuits that seem to be made available. I will always keep my word and provide for you when you honor your parents. I would never murder you in cold blood, I will not go behind your back to fulfill my emotional/physical needs but wait patiently for you. I am a gentleman, and I won’t take from you what is truly of any value to you. I will never testify against you.  And please know, that I won’t desire anything of yours that I don’t have the right to touch.”

Seems pretty basic, yeah? Somewhere along the way, through all of the things I’ve experienced and reasoned my way through, I think that I’ve allowed this Message from God himself to become muddy, complicated and I’ve devalued it’s deepest interpretation. I’ve tried to interpret interpretations, pray prayers that I thought were deeper in meaning, and cried out for revelations – that apparently I’d forgotten I’d been given some time ago.

God gave us the 10 commandments to tell us about His moral code, about Heaven’s honor system, and the secret to long life and success. He told us how He loves us. He told us how free will works. I heard it said recently, that freedom is not about doing whatever it is you please. Freedom is about doing what is right. He told us that if we will do these things, they will be our testimony, our love language, our story – and in this story we become re-presentation of His reputation. Maker of all things good. “God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!”

Father, you are good, and your covenant is perfect – better than any other vow that could be made or agreed upon, so please let it play out in my life in a way that is honoring to your gift of free will, as well as your even better gift of forgiveness, and let me know your voice, as you surely know mine.

Jesus, you are good, and your obedience is perfect, so please let it change my life in a way that is honoring of the Father’s perfect covenant to do only what is good, and let me love others in the way you’ve loved me with the Father’s love – even unto death – furthering the conviction that God is good to countless others.

Holy Spirit, you are good, and your guidance is perfect, so please let it bring freedom and healing to my heart in the places it has neglected to believe that the Father’s love is good, and that Jesus’ sacrifice is perfect – even unto madness and infatuation with something that can’t seemingly be seen.

Oh perfect Lover, come inspire me again with the story of why you made me, and let my restless heart be settled in knowing that you are Good, and even your judgments are full of righteousness, and your reproof full of a longing and desire to see me choose not only what is right, but what is best according to and in serving the covenant that you made with man when you breathed your first breath into the dust.

Oh Lord most high – let my declaration of love and belief in your compassion be heralded from all corners of the earth – and let your glory be established in my heart – and let my expectations be full of good things – and let my hands not be idle in obedience but accept that you delivered me from evil that I might see your kingdom come and become everything you intended for it to be.